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opportunity. “We cannot ask them to pick up
a weapon, stand up in theaters around the
world to keep us safe and free, and then not
give them the support and training they need
when they transition from service to civilian,”
emphasized Allen.
Economic Development
& Partnership
One thing you learn after talking to college
presidents, and particularly technical college
presidents, is there are few, if any, people who
know more about economic development in
their communities or regions. Colleges are
often partnered closely with the businesses
and industry in their area; technical colleges’ size and
mission are uniquely suited to be directly involved
from an economic development perspective.
Central Georgia Technical College works with
industrial leaders across the region, from Irving
Tissue and Kumho Tire, Armstrong, to their newest
partner Jack Links. “All of those industries know
that one phone call will get it,” said Allen. The
college does incumbent worker training, reskilling,
improving not only the workforce for the future but
the current workforce as well.
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“Every one of our programs has an advisory
committee made up of industry subject matter
experts. If we want to teach students welding, we
have people from the welding arena who come and
advise us twice a year on what we need to do better, how we need to tweak our curriculum so that
we can not only offer training but also offer just in
time training that is relevant to what that business
or the businesses in our area need right now.”
“We believe strongly in the vision for our state
for everyone. That means we are in 13 of Georgia’s
correctional facilities, equipping men and women
with the kinds of skills so that when they reenter
society and get back with their family members,
they have the greatest chance of success and to
find economic stability and to improve their lives
and return themselves to being good Georgians
and good parents.”
Not only are there international students, but
there are also international experiences for students. Central Georgia Tech just had a contingent
return from Kenya. They work with the State Department and various contractors to support defense work authorized in Kenya, and all over the
world, including Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Libya and
other countries.
Asked about the biggest challenge, Allen points
to the healthcare crunch. “The biggest challenge is
the number of students who are qualified to be in
this specialized health care programming, and we
simply do not have enough seats or faculty to serve
them. When we look at what’s going on in nursing,
we have students with dynamic GPA, great test
scores who would obviously be qualified to make
great nurses,” he continues. “But we have to find
a way to widen that pipeline to give more of those
students an opportunity.”
Baker Owens is a staff writer for James and James Magazine Online.
