The Division of Economic and Community Outreach (DECO) announces today that the Director of the Center for Geographic Information Sciences (CGIS), Dr. Jay Morgan, has decided to return to his faculty position with the Department of Geography and Environmental Planning. Matt Felton, currently Chief Operating Officer for CGIS will assume the role of Director.
Dr. Morgan, a Towson faculty member since 1984, founded and served as director of CGIS since it?s inception in 1991. Over the years, Dr. Morgan has successfully guided GIS, growing the self-support center from 1 full-time staff member to a staff of 40, 36 of whom are full-time contractual employees of the University. During his tenure, over $13 million in contracts and grants were awarded, the majority by Maryland State agencies. In addition to teaching GIS and other courses, Dr. Morgan will continue to serve as Director Emeritus of CGIS, will work to create a new academic Center for Geospatial Research and Education within the Department of Geography and Environmental Planning, and will work with the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts to increase faculty grant and contract submissions and awards within that college.
Matt Felton has worked for CGIS for over 10 years. He began his tenure as a student intern during the first years of the Center?s inception. In 1996 he became a Senior GIS Specialist, assisting in development of technical methodology for projects and serving as project manager for a variety of CGIS clients. From 1999 to 2003, he served as Assistant Director for the Technical Services and since then has served as the Associate Director for Technical Services and most currently the Chief Operating Officer. Among his numerous responsibilities over the years were proposal development, planning, procurement, training, establishment and implementation of technical policies and procedures as well as long-term strategic planning initiatives. He is an active member of the Maryland State Geographic Information Committee (MSGIC). Matt graduated in 1996, summa cum laude with a B.A. in Geography and Economics from Towson University and earned a M.S. in Information and Telecommunication Systems from Johns Hopkins University in 2003.
