By admin 
(TNS) — Midland College offers a range of career and technical programs that prepare students for the workforce and meet professional development needs.
The programs range from energy technology to oil and gas, automotive and diesel, business administration, paralegal studies, criminal justice, fire and emergency medical services (EMS).
“There are a lot of career and technical options,” says Jennifer Myers, associate vice president of Workforce Education. “We also offer health care programs that are considered vocational education because they prepare students for the job market.”
Myers said workforce education prepares individuals for the job market by providing them with all the training they need.
“We can customize and provide training for any business in the city or in our service area,” Myers said.
Myers added that another aspect of employee training is continuing education.
“Continuing education is ideally suitable for everyone,” Myers said. “We serve students who want to gain basic computer skills, such as learning to open a Word document, through to our professionals who are undergoing ongoing professional development.”
Continuing education is intended to meet the needs of students and offers tailor-made solutions.
Chelsy Gann, director of continuing workforce education and the Petroleum Professional Development Center, said Midland College can design programs that specifically address a company’s needs.
“I’m now working with a company to tailor some Excel training just for them, using their data to teach their employees how to analyze it,” said Gann.
Myers added that Midland College can train in almost anything related to continuing education.
“If a company has a group of employees who need to learn a skill, like basic welding, we can teach them here,” Myers said. “We can train them on high-end equipment that they will see in the field.”
She added that the college is working to find the instructors and get the curriculum ready to teach the students.
When they need an instructor, Midland College looks to their faculty to see if there is someone who can be brought in to teach that subject.
“We like to start in-house,” Gann said. “If we don’t have anyone at Midland College who can teach a subject, we’ll look to other professionals we’ve worked with on different projects.”
Myers added that the college also offers part-time positions for anyone interested in teaching.
“We have a program that caters to our students 55 and older and one of the classes is quilting,” Myers said. “Our instructor for that is amazing and just loves quilting and wants to share that passion.”
She added that sometimes no professional training is needed to become a teacher and that if someone is interested in teaching a subject, he or she can contact the university.
“That’s how a few of our classes started,” Myers said. “Our compliance courses started because the instructor contacted us and said, ‘I’m teaching this on my own, but I’m interested in partnering with the university,’ and it’s been very successful.”
Myers said continuing education varies not only in topics, but also in the type of class.
Some companies choose to have lunch and learn, another company may have an eight-hour class that completes the training, while others may last a few months.
Myers added that it depends on the type of training needed and how many hours are required to effectively complete that training.
“I don’t know that enough companies or organizations think their local community college has the resources to provide a customized training program or to offer their employees a particular industry-oriented credential,” Myers said.
At Midland College, students can earn continuing education credits.
“It can be a great introduction to a college environment for people who have never been to college,” Myers said. “It’s a safe place to learn.”
She added that grant money is also available for small businesses that may need additional training for their employees.
“The state of Texas is providing funding for companies and colleges to work together and provide the essential skills needed to have a highly skilled workforce,” Myers said. “Costs do not always have to weigh on the organization or company.”
Gann said staff training can include both hard skills, such as basic welding, and soft skills such as leadership training.
“A lot of times we can also go to their facilities and teach, if necessary,” Myers said. “We can have lunch and learn in the company. Continuing education gives us a lot of flexibility to offer tailor-made training to our local companies and industry partners.”
©2024 the Midland Reporter-Telegram (Midland, Texas). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.