Building better relationships between industry and education
Center of Excellence offers connections between industries and education
Washington State's Center of Excellence (COE) for Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing is one of 10 COEs hosted at community and technical colleges across the state. Each COE focuses on building partnerships among business, industry and education to promote economic vitality of a targeted industry.
The COEs stay at the forefront of emerging trends by connecting with industry leaders through advisory boards, at international conferences, and by serving on committees and work groups. Then they help facilitate the development of new and advanced training programs to meet expressed industry demands and the hiring of trained graduates from those programs. One examples of effective COE collaborations leading to measurable results is the launch of mechatronics certificate and degree programs in the state.
At the heart of the COE for Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing is its executive director, Mary Kaye Bredeson. Bredeson has served as the executive director for over 15 years, building strong partnerships across the state.
"A major priority for us is to provide a skilled pipeline into the aerospace industry," said Bredeson. "What does that mean? We provide collaborative working opportunities for colleges and their students by bringing leadership, best practices, research, and support that qualify our students to be ready and able with the right skill set to apply for high demand jobs."
Bredeson was recently honored for her commitment to this work at the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance's annual conference with the PNAA 2017 Inspire Award. PNAA CEO Melanie Jordan said that Bredeson "is a tireless advocate for the industry and excels in outreach and subsequent teamwork in developing programs, garnering grants, writing curriculum and providing inspiration to all."
WTIA’s Tech Crawl on May 3 brings together students and job seekers, as well as members of the community, to hit the pavement and explore participating hiring companies. It's a great chance to show off the skills you may have picked up from CCEC computer and technology programs to potential employers
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WTIA's
FullConTech will be on
May 8 at Microsoft. The focus of this conference is "building a workplace where people want to join, stay, grow" and will feature breakout sessions specific to educational pathways in technology as well as community-building. Right up our ally!
Let CCEC host your organization's next meeting, training, or event!
I hope you find these periodic newsletter updates useful in keeping you informed about funding and other workforce development opportunities available through Everett Community College. Please contact me if I can be of service in any way.
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