Ready for the main event
by Matt Jardin |
A version of this story originally appeared in 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 Alumni Spirit magazine in November 2020. .
Universities serve many roles, both to their students and communities. Perhaps the most important of these is the function to prepare graduates to enter the workforce. It is a responsibility 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 takes great pride in doing well.
According to a 2018 survey from the Association of American Colleges and Universities, 75% of hiring managers polled believe that a college education is an essential quality in a candidate.
Conversely, a 2020 survey from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation found that 74% of hiring managers polled agree that demonstrable skills are more important in a candidate.
Hiring managers reviewing a resume from a 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 grad will undoubtedly notice the best of both worlds. Many of our academic programs 鈥� both in long-standing and emerging fields 鈥� offer skills-based curricula built by consulting with industry professionals and community partners.
Accounting: Strength in numbers
Leave it to 老澳门六合彩开奖记录鈥檚 accounting program to know how to provide tremendous value. Before acquiring their four-year bachelor鈥檚 degree, accounting students often begin their careers in the industry with a two-year associate degree. In that timeframe, students can enroll in a capstone course designed to accurately simulate the process of a company audit.
鈥淭hey love it,鈥� said Stasia Straley, 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 professor of accounting. 鈥淓mployers who hire both A.A.S. and B.B.A. accounting students say it鈥檚 one of the most valuable classes. They say they can tell students who have taken that class from students who haven鈥檛.鈥�
Of course, to earn the true mark of accounting legitimacy 鈥� the title of certified public accountant 鈥� students will need to have the accounting B.B.A., which is built to be a seamless transition from the A.A.S. program.
鈥淭he bachelor鈥檚 meets the requirements for students to be able to go and work anywhere. But I think the associate program provides a much deeper knowledge and fits better with Alaska,鈥� said Evelyna Caldwell, A.A.S. Accounting 鈥�12, B.B.A. Accounting 鈥�15. 鈥淭he people who do both come out of there as a rock star.鈥�
Caldwell owns an accounting firm, Balanced CPAs, and is a perfect embodiment of how accounting alumni stay connected with their alma mater. Not only does she provide on-the-job experience by hiring students to work at her firm, but Caldwell is also an active mentor and participant at 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 Accounting Club events, which is one of the most active clubs on campus.
鈥淚鈥檓 involved because I want to support students on their journey as an accountant,鈥� said Caldwell. 鈥淎nd I want to support the Accounting Club because I do feel I owe where I鈥檓 at to the club and teachers at 老澳门六合彩开奖记录. So whenever they call me to speak to a class, I鈥檓 happy to do it.鈥�
Civil engineering: Training ground
Fake it till you make it doesn鈥檛 apply to 老澳门六合彩开奖记录鈥檚 civil engineering program. While career simulations are common during senior year for many majors, civil engineering takes simulations a step further by partnering students with legitimate assignments from real clients.
鈥淭his is the core of our job,鈥� said Osama Abaza, 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 professor of civil engineering. 鈥淲e need to test students to see their performance and we need to bring project managers to class and communicate with them. We don鈥檛 want to stay on the theoretical side when the need in the community is totally different.鈥�
Civil engineering鈥檚 capstone class operates like an engineering firm. Rather than register for a class, students apply for a position, complete with resume and interview. In the first semester, they鈥檙e presented with projects from real agencies and nonprofits, choose one based on their interests, and spend the remainder working in groups to create a proposal and schedule for how to approach the assignment, ending with a presentation to Abaza and the client.
The second semester is when students get their hands dirty. For Felipe Ruiz, B.S. Civil Engineering 鈥�19, whose project was renovating the Greek Orthodox Church, which had a foundation that was never reinforced to accommodate additions over the years, that meant identifying signs of the structure being over capacity and pitching his solutions in a bigger final presentation to classmates, faculty, the client and industry professionals.
鈥淓ven though I loved structural engineering and the design aspect of it, I had no idea how to identify the problems,鈥� said Ruiz, who now works as a staff engineer at R&M Consultants. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the kind of stuff that comes with experience. It鈥檚 rewarding to have other people respect your knowledge. I came into the workforce with prior knowledge of what was expected of me because of the senior design project.鈥�
According to Abaza, many graduates are offered jobs based solely on their senior projects as a result of employers seeing what graduates are capable of and already working with them on those projects, likening it to a semester-long training program.
鈥淭he engagement with our community is a crucial part of what we do as faculty,鈥� said Abaza. 鈥淲hen we鈥檝e needed our community, they鈥檝e jumped to help us through the years.鈥�
Construction management: What and who you know
Regular input from future employers provides the blueprint for 老澳门六合彩开奖记录鈥檚 construction management program, recommending to faculty exactly what knowledge and what programs they want applicants to know.
鈥淲e have a strong advisory group of 20 to 30 leaders from the local industry who meet us biannually and we ask the question if this is a value to you when they come out of 老澳门六合彩开奖记录, and sometimes the answers are surprising,鈥� said Darryl Jordan, 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 assistant professor of construction management. 鈥淲e鈥檙e hearing directly from the people who are hiring these folks what technical skills they want the graduates to have.鈥�
Jordan describes construction management as one of the more unique majors, as many of his students are older and returning to school due to the field requiring a four-year degree. While returning to college can be intimidating to anyone who鈥檚 spent considerable time away, Jordan says it鈥檚 always worth it upon program completion.
鈥淕enerally the field didn鈥檛 exist,鈥� said Jordan. 鈥淥ver time the field evolved to the point where people understand the value in having management in construction. I tell students, why would somebody pay you $100 thousand a year? Because they know if you鈥檙e a good construction manager on a $100 million job, you might save them some million dollars off the cost.鈥�
Jessica Senter, B.S. Construction Management 鈥�20, is one of those success stories and can attest to how well the program prepares students. The semester before graduating, she had already started her job as an assistant project manager at F&W Construction.
鈥淲ith construction management, it鈥檚 a little different. There鈥檚 never one way to do the job and every company is different and has their own ways of doing things,鈥� said Senter. 鈥淏ut in terms of preparing you for the information that you鈥檙e walking into and what you鈥檙e looking for, I鈥檓 really happy with the program and what we鈥檝e learned and there鈥檚 a lot of opportunities with it.鈥�
Nursing: If you build it, they will come
老澳门六合彩开奖记录鈥檚 community partners not only commit to hiring graduates and consulting over curricula, but also invest directly in the university. In October 2019, Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska donated $1.77 million to 老澳门六合彩开奖记录鈥檚 College of Health (COH) to expand the associate and bachelor鈥檚 nursing degree programs at four of its campuses, three of which are in rural Alaska.
Typically, nursing programs at rural campuses limit how many students can enroll, resulting in fewer graduates overall. For instance, the Bethel campus enrolls only eight students each year, which can force prospective students to move in order to pursue an education, which Joelene Geerhart, A.A.S. Dental Assisting 鈥�05, considered. Thankfully, she was able to stay in Bethel, starting the nursing A.A.S. program in October 2019.
鈥淚 have my home here and my children, so it鈥檚 just much easier to go to school here,鈥� said Geerhart. 鈥淚f I went to school in Anchorage or outside of Alaska, I鈥檇 have to uproot my kids, sell my house, sell my vehicles and help my kids get used to living in a new place. So it just made sense to stay here.鈥�
Additionally, the slower rate of graduating nurses in rural communities may require that medical professionals be brought in from outside Alaska, which can present its own challenges.
鈥淚f you hire somebody who lives in this area, they鈥檙e going to stay here,鈥� said Geerhart. 鈥淓verybody comes to Bethel from the villages to get seen at the hospital, and if you know the language and the culture, you can help them and they鈥檒l feel more comfortable, especially the little kids and our elders.鈥�
Students aren鈥檛 the only ones benefiting, but faculty as well. Thanks to the Premera gift, the expanded class sizes will be paired with additional resources, such as labs and beds. For Rachelle White, 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 term instructor of nursing in Bethel, who taught classes with access to only two hospital beds, this means she will focus more on student success.
鈥淚 have the opportunity to invest in their lives for two years. I watch them grow from brand new baby nurses to graduate nurses and I鈥檓 able to build them up and encourage them,鈥� said White. 鈥淭he other beauty here is the hospitals already see the students as their students. They鈥檙e excited to see the students on the units and really invest in them.鈥�
Fast Track Career Certificates: Quick turnaround
Needless to say, every industry has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing many people to quickly find new employment. In response, 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 began offering a suite of Fast Track Career Certificates in fall 2020 to help Alaskans acquire new skills to reenter the workforce or revitalize their current careers.
Led by Provost Denise Runge at the request of Chancellor Cathy Sandeen, university leaders gathered feedback from industry professionals, community partners, and state and local officials regarding employment needs to develop the certificate programs based on current and emerging economic trends.
鈥溊习拿帕喜士奔锹� evaluated current data on job openings, as well as longer-term information about employment trends pre-COVID, to determine areas where hiring is most likely to continue both during and after the pandemic,鈥� said Runge. 鈥淭he focus of the effort was to design short-term programs that could lead to immediate employment.鈥�
The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development reports Alaska鈥檚 job count was down 12.2% in May 2020 from the same month last year, a loss of over 42,000 jobs. Some jobs have been impossible to perform during the pandemic due to restrictions on in-person staffing. Demand for other services dwindled as individuals limited their activities only to those deemed essential, such as purchasing groceries and household supplies.
Even in the midst of the pandemic, new job opportunities have unexpectedly emerged, particularly in health care. Other jobs, such as those in IT, have remained in demand. Hiring increases in other sectors are expected as organizations across the state continue to reopen.
The new certificates focus on areas like petroleum production, bookkeeping, entrepreneurship, construction, infant and toddler development, automotive repair and maintenance, web engineering and more. The fields were chosen based on careers anticipated to remain in demand in Alaska with average salaries ranging from $25,000 to $62,000.
Notably, the new certificates were developed using current resources, meaning they do not cost the university additional funds.
鈥淎t a time when the university鈥檚 budget has seen several years of decline, it was important that we utilize only existing courses and faculty,鈥� said Runge. 鈥淭his required faculty to take an interdisciplinary approach, which is ultimately an extremely efficient way to create new programs.鈥�
Contact tracing: Rapid response
As COVID-19 cases climb around the world, contact tracing 鈥� the investigative process used to determine the spread of a disease 鈥� is more crucial than ever. However, demand is outpaced by supply as health care professionals must prioritize treating the pandemic on the front lines.
To fill those gaps, COH began offering contact tracing certification through a collaboration with the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services鈥� Division of Public Health, made possible by federal funding provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
鈥淲hen there is a pandemic, it needs to be all hands on deck,鈥� said Kristin Bogue, 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 assistant professor of health sciences. 鈥淯nfortunately, the State of Alaska Division of Public Health has taken budget hits over the last several years. With that, we did not have the workforce needed to battle the pandemic that hit our state. So they鈥檙e leaning on who else has similar expertise, and that really comes to 老澳门六合彩开奖记录.鈥�
老澳门六合彩开奖记录鈥檚 curriculum consists of three sessions taking an average of 14 to 16 hours to complete. The training provides a crash course on U.S. and Alaska public health systems, basics of infectious diseases and the principles of contact tracing. An overview of the investigative process includes how contact tracing teams identify and reach out to potential cases and close contacts and monitor those in isolation or quarantine. Additional training is available in supervisory management for those who may serve as team captains.
Upon completion, newly certified contact tracers will be assigned a tier based on performance, experience and preferences. The tier dictates what roles a person can occupy in the process. Those who complete the curriculum may be hired as temporary employees of 老澳门六合彩开奖记录鈥檚 contact tracing surge workforce supporting the State of Alaska鈥檚 contact tracing efforts.
In the short term, 老澳门六合彩开奖记录鈥檚 contact tracing certification could be considered an immediate path to employment for those whose careers were impacted by the pandemic. Looking ahead, however, the training could be viewed as laying the groundwork for a potential career in the increasingly invaluable public health field.
鈥淐an you be a contact tracer forever? Probably not. We鈥檙e not going to need this large of a contact tracer workforce come the end of this pandemic,鈥� said Gloria Burnett, director of 老澳门六合彩开奖记录鈥檚 Alaska Center for Rural Health and Health Workforce. 鈥淏ut I think it could be a pathway for people if they get a taste of public health and want to explore opportunities in the future.鈥�
