What’s in a name? Quite a lot if the name is Cuyahoga Community College’s Workforce, Community and Economic Development Division, according to Shana Marbury. The division’s executive vice president describes it as “quite a mouthful” to include when introducing herself to others.
“When I would give people my title, their eyes would usually glaze over before I actually stopped talking,” she jokes.
But her tone becomes serious as she points out that the name of the division that encompasses the college’s 60-plus workforce training programs didn’t completely reflect its mission. Options range from a four-week pre-apprenticeship in construction to associate degrees in manufacturing- and engineering-related disciplines such as welding, and a degree in integrated digital manufacturing engineering technology, to name a few.
“Innovation is incredibly important in the current environment to all of our stakeholders — not just our business partners who are working to innovate their companies as far as product production, employees, etc., but also our students,” Marbury says. “We need our students to be a part of innovation, and we need our students to develop skills that will help them in the innovation economy.”
In April, Tri-C formally announced the entity’s new name: the Workforce Innovation Division. Subsequent changes will include integrating non-credit and for-credit curricula and developing the Center for the Future of Work, a workforce hub located in the college’s main campus Advanced Technology Training Center. It aims to address social determinants of work on the cornerstones of industry alignment, skills-based training and applied experiences.
For example, the center is looking to increase student job-shadowing opportunities, internships and apprenticeships by onboarding additional employers. And it is extending skills-based training and applied experience offerings to Tri-C faculty via externships. Marbury explains that a sociology instructor might spend a limited time at an employer’s facility learning about a given industry’s standards, tools, etc., then use that knowledge to develop a curriculum that gives students a better understanding of what they’re learning in the classroom and how it applies to a real-world job.
“Some of [our faculty members] are researchers,” Marbury notes. “So they’re looking at this as a research opportunity.”
The center is compiling information about the college’s skills-based training opportunities so they’re easily identifiable and accessible. “Right now, they’re kind of spread across the college,” Marbury says.
“We want the center to be that one-stop shop where a student who thinks they might be interested in, say, automation, can connect with the center and find out what their different options are across the college.”
Center staffers also are continuing Tri-C’s efforts to develop programs that meet area employer needs. The conversations have resulted in a school-wide goal to add five applied four-year bachelor’s degrees to Tri-C’s offerings in the next five years.
“We really do see this as the next frontier for Tri-C as we advance our training and skills delivery to our students,” Marbury says.
