ATU-Ozark to lead merged workforce training effort

A recent academic merger is geared to help high school students in the eastern reaches of the Fort Smith region by expanding access to workforce training programs while at the same time gaining college credits.

Arkansas Tech University-Ozark Campus and the Russellville Area Career and Technical Center (ACTC) may begin in July 2011 to provide workforce training programs which lead to skill development and degree attainment, according to a Friday (Oct. 22) statement from ATU-Ozark.

The ATU board of trustees and the Russellville school board have approved the partnership plan that will allow ATU-Ozark to give college credit for technical instruction delivered to ACTC to surrounding school districts. Those districts Russellville, Dardanelle, Atkins, Pottsville, Lamar, Clarksville, Hector, Twin Rivers, Western Yell, Dover and Danville.

A December hearing on the plan is scheduled before the Arkansas Career Education Board. If approved by that board, the plan will be effective July 1, 2011.

ACTC is similar to the Western Arkansas Technical Center (WATC) operated by the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. WATC works with area high schools in Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Scott and Sebastian counties.

“The purpose of this merger is to create relevance for all career and technical programs and tie these programs to industry; to initiate advising and college entrance programs for the ACTC, and to serve ACTC’s student population,” Dr. Jo Alice Blondin, ATU-Ozark chancellor, noted in the statement.

Blondin said the ATU-Ozark administration will be responsible for ACTC personnel, curriculum development, professional development and other fundamental roles. Two programs to emerge are industrial control systems and allied health programs (physical therapist assistant; paramedic; health information technology), Blondin said.

The merger is part of an “economic development vision identified by the Governor’s Task Force for the 21st Century Economy,” according to ATU-Ozark. The vision encourages high schools, universities and other learning centers to establish “a system for workforce training that allows students to enter the system while in high school and proceed, seamlessly, toward a proficiency in workforce training or a baccalaureate degree.”

Blondin said the merger was essentially a no-brainer.

“This is a statewide model that is so innovate in its access to and delivery of technical education to high school students, that we have to ask the question, ‘Why wouldn’t we do it?’” Blondin said.

One area of the state in which the model has proven effective is in eastern Arkansas. The Arkansas Delta Training & Education Consortium (ADTEC), managed primarily by the Mid-South Community College in West Memphis, was created in late 2005 by schools, two-year colleges and four-year universities in a 12-county area.

By April 2009, ADTEC and associated programs had received more than $36.12 million in federal, state and private grants to push a new workforce model. Programs created include the training of more than 8,000 area workers in advanced manufacturing techniques, more than 200 in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) training.

Glen Fenter, a native of Charleston and now president of Mid-South Community College, has said the “system loop” created by the effort ties together needs of business and industry, the demands of higher education and convenience for students and adults eager to continually upgrade their education level.

Also, efforts by ACTC, WATC and ADTEC seek to address a problem identified in a workforce study released June 2010 by Georgetown University. The study suggests that the number of jobs requiring at least a two-year associate’s degree will be greater than the number of qualified people. The report notes: “High school graduates and dropouts will find themselves largely left behind in the coming decade as employer demand for workers with postsecondary degrees continues to surge.”

Blondin said expansion of ACTC into other parts of the Fort Smith region is not now being considered.

“Right now our focus is on making the current school districts true partners and serving the students in those districts,” Blondin said.