For The Record:
Amir To Head
Montgomery County,
D.C. Centers

Amir will head two centers--one at Shady Grove near Rockville and the other near Dupont Circle--that together enrolled about 4,750 part-time adult students in academic year 1995-96. The centers' students, most of whom also work full-time, earn master's degrees in fields as diverse as business, engineering, public health, education, environmental sciences and government.

"Our Montgomery County and Washington centers serve students who want advanced education, employers who need a highly skilled work force and local governments promoting a technology-based economy," said Steven Knapp, provost and vice president for academic affairs. "Elaine is superbly qualified to work closely with all these constituents--students, business and government-- and to enhance our contributions to economic development in both the county and the district."

Amir has spent more than 20 years in leadership positions in higher education, training and work force development, most recently as dean of business, industry and government services at Montgomery College in Rockville and Germantown. She worked with county employers to create programs, particularly at the college's High Technology and Science Center in Germantown, that served their work force training and development needs.

"I believe that education and work are inextricably linked," Amir said. "The relationship between them energizes individuals of any age to take on challenges and succeed at both work and learning."

"And education is increasingly recognized as a force in economic development," she said. "In a technological community, you need education to foster continued growth. My job will be to continue, and to raise to a new level, what Hopkins has contributed to the economic development of the Washington metropolitan area through advanced education."

Amir succeeds Edgar E. Roulhac, now the university's vice provost for academic services, who opened the Montgomery County Center in 1987 with 200 students in just three degree programs. Roulhac built the center--and later the Washington Center, which opened in 1992--into comprehensive mini-campuses offering a total of 17 degrees at Shady Grove and 12 in Washington. Four Johns Hopkins divisions--the schools of Arts and Sciences, Continuing Studies, Engineering and Public Health--now teach courses at the two locations.

Roulhac will now concentrate on coordinating university-wide response to major issues and opportunities in the growing field of part-time education. About half the university's more than 16,000 students are registered part-time.

Among Roulhac's other projects will be the further development of a university-wide Education Forum involving Hopkins' pre-collegiate and teacher education programs.