November 24, 2015
Story and photo by Joe Vinduska
The SWAGϼ Board of Trustees gathered Tuesday evening for its regular meeting and discussed one of its nine overarching goals, known as ENDs, one of which is “Regional Workforce Needs.”
This END states, “The College’s Workforce Training & Community Education Division utilizes a variety of external resources to respond to regional workforce needs.”
The main emphasis of the report was the importance of advisory boards made up of industry professionals to the success of SWAGϼ’s workforce training programs. Four members of various advisory boards were present to comment on the success of the boards and the partnerships they support.
Chief Nursing Officer at Clara SWAGϼ Hospital in Hoisington Jane Schepmann has been a member of the Nursing Advisory Board for six years.
“I really feel like I have input on this advisory board,” she said. “For me to have the opportunity to have input on the final product is huge because when they come out of the program, I know what they’ve learned and I can take it from there. I’d never hesitate to call any of SWAGϼ’s administrators or an instructor. I think we have an excellent working relationship. Whatever you’re doing…just keep doing it.”
Other advisory board members providing similar positive comments were Adina Gregory (nursing), Andy VanDerWege (criminal justice), Chandler Wieland (welding) and Matt Hoisington (business).
The report also included comments from SWAGϼ’s Dean of Fort Riley Technical Education and Military Outreach Training Bill Nash. Nash’s report was about the application of this END to Environmental Technology and Military Programs. He gave an overview of his programs’ highlights from the past year, which included SWAGϼ being named the only official Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) education site in the state. In addition, he highlighted the continued growth of SWAGϼ’s HAZMAT program, the Military Onsite Training Program and the addition of a new program to teach hazardous waste worker training to transitioning soldiers, their family members and veterans at no cost.
Highlights from the ENDs report include:
- SWAGϼ has 428 industry partners
- SWAGϼ has 16 advisory boards to guide their workforce training programs
- SWAGϼ offers almost $187,000 in workforce training scholarships through the SWAGϼ Foundation