by Erin Brown, Communications Specialist
Imagine you’re a prospective student with little or no English language skills and limited resources. Next, consider you’re a business owner, needing to fill jobs at every rung of your employment ladder, but struggling with the challenge of finding educated and highly skilled workers to fill those positions.
Now, think of yourself as a taxpayer, or even possibly, a state legislator. How do you make your taxpayer dollars stretch to create a thriving economy that offers limitless opportunities for the citizens of Washington state?
Your solution, in any of these scenarios, would likely include a strategy for connecting the business community with educational partners. The goals would be to develop specialized training programs for industries identified as economic drivers of the state’s economy, and to create information “hubs” to serve as points-of-contact for industry information.
It is with these goals in mind that the Washington state community and technical colleges created “Centers of Excellence.”
“To date, this is the very best answer to the community and technical college system’s role in the economic development of the state,” stated State Board Policy Associate Michelle Andreas. “With Centers, we get the ‘biggest bang for the buck’ to ensure Washington businesses can compete globally.”
There are currently 11 Centers in Washington – each demonstrating statewide leadership and the promise of a bright future as they embark into their second year of operation, according to Andreas. Centers represent a broad range of specialties, from allied health to marine manufacturing and technology.
One of the fundamental responsibilities of a Center of Excellence is to develop and maintain strong partnerships with its workforce community.
Washington state is a true leader in partnering education with economic development, said State Board Executive Director Earl Hale. The framework for the Centers of Excellence was built on years of research in identifying industries that are drivers of the state’s economy and pairing them with educational partners to develop a skilled workforce. Each Center serves as a statewide specialist for their industry and supports the entire two-year college system.
“Centers of Excellence are mutually beneficial,” stated Hale. “Businesses that support Centers of Excellence spend less money on recruiting and training employees, colleges benefit by sharing curriculum and best practices, and students receive relevant training that will help them get a job or move up their career ladder.”
Shoreline Community College’s Center for Manufacturing Excellence shares an active partnership with its advisory board, which is comprised of members from the manufacturing community, from aerospace to food processing.
The advisory board helps guide the Center in the right direction and assists in the design of manufacturing job skills courses to be shared statewide amongst two-year colleges.
“We work with our board in much more than an advisory capacity,” explained Phil Savereux, director of Shoreline’s Center for Manufacturing Excellence. “We have advisory board members teach in the classroom and they generously donate equipment in order for us to train students with the relevant hands-on experience students need to work and succeed in the field.”
Centers of Excellence serve as leaders in disseminating information statewide about their targeted industry. When Green River Community College was selected to be the Center of Excellence for Careers in Education it already had partnerships with six local school districts and other nearby community colleges.
The Center’s Director Leslie Heizer said they are now focused on assisting other colleges statewide in developing education programs on their campuses – from early childhood development to teacher and faculty training – and working with partners from all levels of the educational community to share information and best practices. In the future, Centers will help develop curriculum for colleges across the state.
“Our systemic vision has changed,” Heizer said. “Now we’re asking ourselves things like: ‘How is Walla Walla doing with their program? What can we do to assist them?’”
These sentiments were echoed by Jeff Johnson, director of Bellevue Community College’s Center of Excellence in Information Technology. Bellevue’s Center is uniquely co-located with the National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies, which allows them the ability to join forces and combine resources to provide information at the state, as well as the national level.
This has been good for IT teachers and professionals across the state because they have a direct source for cutting-edge industry information, and a vehicle for professional development in the form of conferences and job shadow programs hosted by the Center, Johnson said.
“The Center has become a broker for IT information,” Johnson added. “Technology is constantly changing and our colleges want to be relevant and keep current. We want to help others by utilizing our resources to benefit everyone.”
When the state of Washington was asked by the Homeland Security Agency to develop and train a network of “first responders” in the case of a national or state emergency, establishing a Center of Excellence in Homeland Security was a natural first step.
Located on the Pierce College Fort Steilacoom campus, the Center of Excellence in Homeland Security is currently developing curricula to integrate the principles of Homeland Security into programs statewide, such as information technology security, agriculture and food safety.
“We’re in the process of creating a model that can be plugged into any relevant subject,” said Mike Campbell, director of the Center. “Many first responders go through the community and technical college system. Why not get to them the first time through and reduce the cost of training them later?”
By using the Center’s comprehensive Web site, first responders across the state can find education and training courses related to homeland security offered either through online instruction or at a college campus. These courses apply to responders in industry disciplines such as public works, fire, police and emergency response, and management services.
With many state agencies receiving federal dollars to implement Homeland Security programs, the Center acts as a facilitator, bringing partners together to discuss how to get the most out of their collective resources.
While Younseon Lee was taking English as a Second Language (ESL) classes at Green River Community College, she met with an advisor and told him she wanted to be a babysitter. When the advisor asked if she had a bigger goal, she confessed that she wanted to become a teacher, but didn’t think it was possible.
Lee had limited English skills and was unable to finish school in her homeland of Korea. When she came to Green River Community College, she had very little support from her family, who believed her ambitions were unrealistic.
Three years later, her family couldn’t be more proud. With the help of Green River’s Project Teach program and the Center of Excellence for Careers in Education, Lee is currently pursuing her second degree – a math transfer degree – well on her way to realizing her goal of becoming a math teacher. In addition, Lee was one of five recipients to earn a National Association of Community College Teacher Education Programs scholarship.
Lee’s experience has not only been completely transformational, but inspirational. She serves as a model for other students who are participating in the Center’s pilot course, which integrates ESL education with the basic fundamentals needed to begin a career in the educational field.
It’s not too difficult to see why all the potential could be overwhelming, but Centers are taking it one step at a time.
As they continue into the future, Centers will provide opportunities for students by establishing step-by-step goals to move them forward in their educational or career ladder.
These steps include integrating basic skills classes to give students the ability to pair language skills with job skills, and the development of specialized training programs to give employees relevant, hands-on experience to enhance their job skills.
In addition, Centers continue to facilitate innovative forums for faculty, professionals, community partners, and industry leaders to discuss trends and share best practices.
For Skagit Valley College’s Northwest Center of Excellence in Marine Manufacturing and Technology, this means getting the industry more involved in the development of the Center and creating a long-term plan to ensure the Center is viable and self-sustaining in the future.
“We want to position ourselves as the catalyst for industry innovation and change,” stated Dolores Blueford, the Center’s program coordinator. “Partnership and collaboration are important. Every partner we bring to the table has a role to play in making the Center a success.”
That success translates into growth and economic prosperity for the industry and to the state, explained Jim Crabbe, State Board director of workforce development. Centers exist to serve the workforce and the economic community. It’s a “win-win” partnership for the state of Washington.