asapm Position Descriptions:
Director of Education

Major Responsibilities
1. Serves on the Board of Directors as a voting member.
2. Assures that asapm Education activities are aligned with the society’s strategic goals and plans.
3. Plans and execute activities in accordance with the Education budget.
4. Coordinates Education activities with other professional associations, as required.
5. Represents asapm on Education matters with other professional associations.
6. Ensures that Education activities are conducted in a professional manner.
7. Prepares a plan of actions for the next year and presents it to the Board of Directors.

General Duties
1. Develops annual plans to guide Education activities.
2. Contributes to the strategic plan for Education activities and long-term goals.
3. Manages asapm’s Education program, to include recruiting volunteers.
4. Establishes and appoints members to the Education Committee.
5. Develops policies and procedures for development and maintenance of the Education Program.
6. Coordinates the development and provision of presentations to Project Management Communities
    of Practice, or for use in Chapter meetings.
7. Manages the Learning section of the asapm website.
8. Classifies, inventories and maintains knowledge and learning sources that advance the Society in
    the field of Project Management.
9. Maintains and provides to members an inventory of vendors whose products or services advance
    the Society’s objectives in the field of Project Management.
10. Coordinates Education activities with other Directors and interested parties, as necessary.
11. Reports progress and status on Education activities to the Board of Directors at meetings, or as
      required.

Term Of Office: July 2009 – June 2011

Currently Serving as Director of Education:
Neeraj Parolia, Assistant Professor of eBusiness and Technology Management at Towson University in Towson, MD.

About Neeraj
Neeraj Parolia is currently an Assistant Professor of eBusiness and Technology Management at Towson University in Towson, MD.  He completed his PhD from University of Central Florida. His dissertation was on IT Program Management.  He currently teaches the undergraduate course “Introduction to Project Management” at Towson University.

Before entering academics, he served in the IT department of a Vehicular Inspection Consulting firm in Ann Arbor, MI.  He has had a strong interest in IT project management, has been a member of the Project Management Special Interest Group of the Association of Information Systems – the leading professional organization for Information System interests among university faculty.

Statement of Intent
I will continue on the path outlined by the previous Director, Dr. Gary Klein namely, in reducing the gap between education and profession. I would carry forward the development of PM curricula at multiple educational levels based on industry standards, such as the IPMA Competence baseline. This should be jointly developed with asapm members, organizations in need of employees with a PM background, and educators.

I will advance the partnering of asapm and faculty on research projects.  There are benefits available to asapm and academia in exploring topics of mutual interest.  These might include the benefits of maturity models to organizations or the individual or collective benefits of certification. 

The IPMA has an experiential learning program named “Young Crew”, that is now beginning in the USA.  This program will serve as a model for involving future leaders of project management in novel learning environments.  I would especially encourage participation of students from the Project Management track at Towson University in creating a new Young Crew chapter.

I will continue to advocate educational programs offered by asapm for industry stakeholders and academia. These include the Speaker’s Bureau, PMCoPs, and the Competence Enabler program. I would support closer interaction between asapm and academia in popularizing asapm certifications and development of PM course curricula.