Workforce Preparation
"Find the need and endeavor to meet it" is the seminal quote from David A. Sinclair, Director of YMCA of Dayton, later named Sinclair Community College, from 1887 to 1902. This powerful message still serves as a mantra for the institution’s faculty and staff. The original mission of D. A. Sinclair and the YMCA was to support the Dayton community by providing services such as adult education courses and job training (YMCA of Greater Dayton, n.d.). Subsequently, due to the proliferation of automobiles in the late 1800s to early 1900s, an automotive technology curriculum was developed by the...
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Moraine Valley Community College is committed to providing students with the resources they need to be successful. Understanding that students cannot accomplish their educational goals if they face challenges in meeting their basic needs, the college developed the Project Care initiative, which offers an array of wraparound services and resources to help them meet those needs, ultimately allowing them to better focus on their education.
According to Teresa Hannon, a counselor at the college’s Counseling and Career Development Center (CCDC), the initial focus of Project Care was the campus...
Arapahoe Community College (ACC) celebrated the completion of Phase 1 of its Health Innovation Center in October 2024 with healthcare and education partners, state and county officials, donors, civic leaders, and ACC students and employees. The Center’s simulated education spaces are used across ACC’s healthcare programs to improve functional collaboration between disciplines while preparing students to better serve patients. This expansion of healthcare programming, which began as a vision in 2017 before finally commencing in May 2023 with the renovation of ACC’s existing two-level annex...
In fall 2024, Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) began offering its first bachelor’s degree: a Bachelor of Applied Science in integrated digital manufacturing (IDM) engineering technology. To understand why Tri-C developed a four-year IDM degree, we need to look at some historic and recent economic data about Northeast Ohio.
Ohio has held a notable position in the manufacturing sector, typically ranked number three in the U.S. with over 14,000 manufacturing companies (IndustrySelect, 2024). More importantly, Northeast Ohio is a crucial player within the state, with over 6,000 manufacturers in...
Noncredit workforce education has long been an important function of community colleges. These programs typically prepare students for industry-sponsored certifications, licensures, and/or college-bestowed certificates. They have traditionally been siloed away from credit programs, and, thus, do not have to match credit hour requirements and semester schedules. Yet, in recent years, the landscape of noncredit workforce education—in terms of funding availability, program offerings, and its stature and location within colleges—has shifted dramatically (Van Noy & Hughes, 2022).
Changes to...
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Predicting the future may be a fool’s errand, but as technology evolves and societal changes occur, it is necessary for higher education leaders to consider the next phase of curriculum offerings. For the purposes of this article, the next phase will be viewed through the lens of new courses that institutions may offer as soon as 2030, if not before. A common phrase touted by college leaders and administrators for several years now is, “We are preparing students for jobs that do not yet exist.” Thankfully, there are thinktanks, advisory boards, datasets, and other tools offering predictive...
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The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OMHAS) found a 353 percent increase in demand for behavioral health treatment between 2013 and 2019 (Hernandez & Lampl, 2021). Additionally, 2.4 million Ohioans live in communities that lack adequate behavioral health professionals (Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addition Services, 2023). In response to this crisis, a collaboration was formed between OMHAS and the Ohio Departments of Higher Education and Medicaid. The mission of the resulting Ohio Wellness Workforce Great Minds Fellowship is to increase the number of...
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In November 2021, 16 unemployed or underemployed individuals began their journey toward bettering their lives and those of their families by becoming the first cohort to participate in Santa Fe College’s (SF) new Achieve, Conquer, Believe and Excel (ACB Excel) program. ACB Excel’s mission is to empower members of the SF community who want to break the cycle of poverty, but need the financial and emotional support to do so. The concept for this program stemmed from conversations that the college’s president, Dr. Paul Broadie II, had with community leaders regarding local economic needs and...
Career development programs provide students with valuable skills required in today's job market. Technical proficiency alone is no longer sufficient; employers now prioritize strong interpersonal skills, effective communication, collaboration, and meaningful connections. In response to these demands, Miles Community College (MCC) introduced the Opportunity Realized Program in fall 2022, targeting high school students across eastern Montana. This program equips students with critical social and emotional competencies, bridging the gap between their aspirations and employer expectations and...
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Kirkwood Community College kicked off a new Aviation Maintenance Technology (AMT) Associate of Applied Sciences (AAS) program this fall. Since its announcement, this innovative offering has garnered a lot of excitement from students as well as community and business leaders. The start of the program, which is expected to pay big dividends not only for students and the college’s seven-county service area, but also for the regional aviation industry, was a historic moment for Kirkwood.
Soon after Kirkwood President Dr. Lori Sundberg began her tenure in late 2018, Eastern Iowa Airport (CID)...
According to a study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (Skorton & Bear, 2018), "educational programs that mutually integrate learning experiences in the humanities and arts with science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM) lead to improved educational and career outcomes” (p. 2). With a focus on such outcomes, it's time for community colleges to thoughtfully and intentionally weave the sciences, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) into students' learning experiences. An integrated STEAM curriculum fosters key skills which...
For the first time in its 57-year history, Dallas College is graduating a class of bachelor’s degree students this year. This occasion marks a pivotal moment for more than 100 students at one of Texas’s largest community college systems, which previously offered associate degrees as its highest degree credential. The program presents students with a life-changing opportunity via a full tuition scholarship and career pathway toward a $60k first-year job. Furthermore, this innovative program attracted the attention of the Bezos Foundation, resulting in the launch of a tuition-free, on-campus...
As apprenticeships gain momentum in higher education across the U.S., students are finding that these opportunities are the perfect springboard into a career they love while businesses are receiving qualified employees who can make a quick transition into their workforce after graduation. And community colleges are the vehicles that bring everyone together, making apprenticeships a win-win-win for everyone involved.
Moraine Valley Community College offers students in its Automotive Technology Program an apprenticeship opportunity through a unique partnership with Nissan North America, Inc. In...
We’ve all gotten emails that attempt to gain sensitive personal information or hack into our employer’s systems. The pervasiveness of malicious hacking, including phishing campaigns, has made the need to combat such efforts a top priority for businesses across the globe. Santa Fe College (SF) is revolutionizing its security curriculum by training students in the Information Technology Education (ITE) department’s ethical hacking class to conduct phishing campaigns in collaboration with Information Technology Services (ITS). Students gain real-world experience protecting the college’s systems...
In anticipation of the coming tax season, Paradise Valley Community College (PVCC) in Phoenix, Arizona, is partnering with Jackson Hewitt and Fresh Start Women’s Foundation to expand the pool of highly qualified tax preparers. This strategic alliance between education, business, and nonprofit partners gives students the opportunity to acquire in-demand job skills and offers guaranteed interviews at Jackson Hewitt for PVCC students and Fresh Start women who successfully complete the Enrolled Agent (EA) program.
PVCC’s EA program Certificate of Completion (CCL) prepares students for the...
Ohio has the third largest manufacturing workforce in the United States, employing approximately 700,000 individuals (Wile, 2021). According to the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (2022), about 17.5 percent of Ohio's gross domestic product was based on manufacturing in 2020. Intel (2022) recently announced that it will build two new microchip factories in Ohio. According to Intel (2022),
As the largest single private-sector investment in Ohio history, the initial phase of the project is expected to create 3,000 Intel jobs and 7,000 construction jobs over the course of the build, and to...
Working professionals like Mohammed Alani are seeking out new ways to expand their skillsets and fit training into their busy schedules. As a professor of cybersecurity at Seneca College and research fellow at Toronto Metropolitan University, Alani doesn’t have the luxury of taking scheduled in-person courses. He was drawn to the Microsoft certificate offerings through Surge Micro-credentials, stating that, “The timing and format were very suitable for a working person like myself.” These online courses offer self-paced lectures, interactive labs, practice exams, live instructor office hours...
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The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shift to online learning demonstrated to us that students can not only adapt, but also thrive when provided with diversified and complimentary instructional modes (Ascione, 2021). Inspired by the resiliency of our students, the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) department welcomed students back to Austin Community College (ACC) campuses by piloting a new course modality—Hybrid Flexible, or HyFlex. The HyFlex modality combines online and face-to-face teaching and learning activities in a regularly scheduled class where students are given the choice to...
America's workforce now has greater access to Rio Salado College classes, micro-credentials, and degree programs through a new partnership with Guild (n.d.), “a Career Opportunity Platform that enables forward-thinking employers to invest in their employees, unlocking life-changing opportunities for personal and professional growth through learning programs, career development, and one-on-one coaching” (Who We Are page).
Rio Salado College is among Guild’s newest academic partners, and one of the only community colleges to join Guild’s growing Learning Marketplace. The Marketplace provides a...
Competing with 32 teams across the U.S., Calhoun Community College’s student manufacturing team placed second at the 2022 Project MFG National Championship in Wichita, Kansas. Project MFG shines a light on the need and opportunities for skilled trades by focusing on the development of new talent to provide a path forward for individuals and our country. Project MFG competitions throughout the U.S. promote the trades across industries and help advance the next generation of highly skilled trade professionals.
According to Tad Montgomery, Calhoun Machine Tool Technology instructor, the two-day...
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