What a remarkable day for our College!
There are almost 1,200 two-year colleges in the US; there are almost 40 community colleges in NY alone. So, since the visit of Vice President and Dr. Biden was announced on Sunday, a single question has come my way over and over: Why MCC?
To answer that question, I’m sharing the remarks I delivered this morning in welcoming the Bidens to MCC. We say MCC is inspiring every day, but today was special. We really are remarkable—and you make that happen. Thank you!
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We are honored to host Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden to highlight the critical role community colleges play in preparing job seekers for high-demand careers.
At Monroe Community College, we know that economic opportunity begins with access to high quality education: it’s a through line that runs from cradle to career. We are dedicated to turning access to success, increasing the likelihood that students complete their degrees, adding to our country’s innovation economy and our international competitiveness. Many of our students follow paths that lead to university programs, where the quality and affordability of their MCC education prepares them for further academic success without the challenge of significant student debt. Increasingly, though, more and more students come to MCC seeking skills and training that will connect them directly and immediately to employment.
For these students, it’s clear that opportunity is out there. Employers across the region have told us: they simply cannot find enough workers to fill jobs in high demand fields like health care, advanced manufacturing, optics, information technology, and skilled trades. These are jobs that require more than a high school education but less than a bachelor’s degree. Yet, they go unfilled. This is the skills gap impacting regional and national economic growth and individual economic well-being. It is real.
And, I stand here today to say that--because of our outstanding industry partnerships and our use of real-time labor market data to guide program development,--Monroe Community College is helping to close the region’s skills gap, increase opportunity for our students, and meet the needs of local employers.
MCC is our community’s college, and we take seriously our responsibility to help our community grow and prosper. Our public-private partnerships with regional employers help Monroe Community College make sure that our workforce programs provide students with the skills they need to find the jobs that are out there. We also use—and make publicly available—data that matches current and future career opportunities with education and training, data that helps students know—in advance—what they will earn for what they learn.
Monroe Community College has launched more than 90 courses and programs within the past year in collaboration with our industry partners, including an accelerated precision tooling certificate program where students earn the full credential in half the time. This program model allows us to nearly double the number of graduates and connect them to high-tech careers.
Many students from our workforce programs are with us today and I want to extend a special welcome to them. Their dedication to achieving their dreams drives all of us to do more and to do better each day.
We couldn’t be more pleased at the attention our strategic approach to workforce education is garnering. In addition to the Bidens’ visit today¯which is beyond exciting for us¯we learned earlier this week that the American Association of Community Colleges has named MCC a finalist for its Outstanding College/Corporate Partnership award. It’s safe to say, we’re having a really good week, but more importantly, we’re getting confirmation that our work is making a real difference in the lives of our students and the future of our community.
Thank you for being with us today. And thank you for your continued partnership and support. You help us turn possibility into opportunity … and it is inspiring every day!
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Share your thoughts on the Bidens' visit -- and on the question "Why MCC?" -- on my blog.
Anne M. Kress
Office of the President
01/30/2014 |