A partnership among Keystone College, King's College, Luzerne County Community College, Marywood University, Misericordia University, Penn State Wilkes-Barre, The Commonwealth Medical College, University of Scranton, and Wilkes University.

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Staff Profiles

Teri Ooms, Executive Director

Teri Ooms was appointed Executive Director of the newly formed Joint Urban Studies Center (The Institute) in 2004. In 2008, JUSC became The Institute for Public Policy & Economic Development. The Institute is a think tank that has been established to provide essential research, analysis, and consultation to entities looking for revitalization and long-term sustainability. The principal purpose of The Institute is to increase the capacity of organizations to solve their own problems and become thriving entities.

In the first two years, The Institute secured thirteen clients requesting various research/feasibility reports, provided ongoing consulting and technical assistance to several communities, published a number of research studies released to the public, including the Regional Indicators Report, and wrote weekly guest editorials for the local newspapers throughout the region. The Institute also graduated over 100 students from its internship program. Ooms was appointed Research Fellow to the Pennsylvania Legislative Office of Research Liaison. Since then, The Institute has produced almost 40 community based research projects, operates five task forces and has prepared studies for a number of public, private, non-profit, and institutional clients including the federal government.

From 1997 – 2004, Ooms served as President/CEO of the Inland Empire Economic Partnership (IEEP), Riverside, CA and of its two sister companies. IEEP is responsible for the regional marketing, attraction, and recruitment of new business to the region, the expansion and retention of existing business, film, tourism, high tech regional development, a workforce collaborative, regional visioning & planning, legislative advocacy, and the Small Business Development Center.

As President/CEO, Ms. Ooms completed a reorganization of the company resulting in new programs and services, financial stability and increased prominence in the community. In the period of 1997-2003, IEEP had 70 successful business attractions and retentions resulting in over $730 million in new investment into the region creating over 9,500 jobs. The region had over 5,000 film shoots, demonstrating a little over $425 million in regional impact in the same period. In 1999, she was awarded "Management Leader of the Year," by the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management, and in 1998, 1999, and 2000 was a recipient of the "Women of Distinction" award given by the Business Press. During her term as CEO, IEEP’s membership grew by 10% and maintained an average membership retention ratio of 93%. IEEP evolved to include a high technology development program and coordination of the region’s workforce collaborative to bring education and business partnerships to benefit employers, employees, and students; and a regional collaborative focused on regional visioning, planning, advocacy and implementation.

Ms. Ooms joined IEEP in 1991 as the Executive Director of its Inland Empire Small Business Development Center. Under the direction of Ms. Ooms, the Center grew to a staff of 21 with multiple regional locations, and its program has increased funding to $1.1 million, making it the
largest California program. The Center created numerous special services and training programs, and demonstrated economic impact of over $300 million in its eleven-year history.

Ms. Ooms is a cum laude graduate of the University of Scranton with a BS in Public Administration and an MBA in Finance.

 

Sherry Tracewski, Research and Policy Analyst

Sherry Tracewski possesses a Master of Public Policy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the University of Scranton.

As the Research and Policy Analyst for The Institute, Sherry gathers quantitative and qualitative information and analyzes data from a variety of sources for the development of studies to be published by The Institute; researches a wide range of policy issues related to revitalization, community and economic development, education and workforce, and health and healthcare; prepare reports, brief papers, articles, and letters that reflect the results of the research and analytical activity; review proposed state legislation and write position statements and policy briefs; and represent The Institute in meetings with external groups and individuals.

Prior to her position at The Institute, Sherry worked for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services where she developed and recommended solutions to issues, and systems - this resulted in new and improved regulations, and policies, which affects the operations of a variety of offices at different echelons within the Agency and other Federal, State, local, and private organizations. In her position at the US Office Personnel Management she collected and analyzed data for development and revision of new and existing classification standards, regulations, and policies, and compiled, analyzed, and evaluated data and statistics for inclusion in new or revised classification standards, regulations, or policies.

 

Kate Wassel, Research Assistant

Kathryn Wassel graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2006 with a BA in Political Science. During her time at the University, Kathryn learned the principles of social science research as well as software including SPSS and Microsoft Office. She also completed several graduate credits in Politics and Policy at Florida State University, where she worked with data collection, interpretation and software including SAS and GIS. Her professional experience includes campaign work as a community organizer and assistant to the comptroller. Through this work she gained valuable skills in conducting interviews, surveys and public presentations. Kathryn was also in charge of overseeing the daily budgets of state level Congressional campaigns and standardizing financial data for government reporting. She received special recognition from public officials for her coordination of several large grassroots events in Tallahassee, FL. Her other experiences include researching and implementing a major fundraising program, tracking state legislation for clients of a lobbying firm and completing and editing a variety of forms and legal documents.