VUJC partners with businesses for new degree program
agreement are, from left, Jasper company representatives John Becher, OFS;
Jason Nord, Jasper Engines and Transmissions; Brad Schnarr, Wabash Valley
Produce; Reva Baker, Jasper Rubber; Nancy Wilson, Indiana Furniture; Robert
Jacobs, MasterBrand Cabinets; and Terry Tucker, Kimball International.
Jasper — VUJC announced a new partnership with seven local companies to train and retain skilled workers in Dubois County.
“The benefits are clear,” VUJC Dean Alan Johnson said during the announcement. “I salute the companies that are involved and we really look forward to working with them.”
The new program, titled the Career Advancement Partnership, is similar to a technical manufacturing program Vincennes University has with Toyota at the university’s Fort Branch location.
In Jasper VUJC has partnered with Jasper Engines and Transmissions, Indiana Furniture Industries, OFS, Wabash Valley Produce, Masterbrand Cabinets, Kimball International, and Jasper Rubber to create a program allowing applicants the opportunity to work at one of the seven companies while attending school. Although the exact method of how the students’ schedules would work has not been reported, the program with Toyota allows students to work on Mondays and Fridays, and then attend classes Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
The benefits are clear as local manufacturers struggle to find and retain qualified and skilled employees to work with the newest technologies and latest manufacturing techniques.
According to The Manufacturing Institute employers are facing a shortage of trained workers to fill skilled positions. The most recent (2011) report by the institute determined 83 percent of companies said they are facing moderate to serious shortages of skilled production workers.
Indiana Furniture Industries has just completed a 30,000 square foot addition to the south Jasper campus located on 100S that included purchasing new advanced manufacturing machinery.
“The program compliments what we are doing in our advanced manufacturing area tremendously,” Nancy Wilson, Vice President, Human Resources and Safety at Indiana Furniture. “There is definitely a gap in the local employment because of these manufacturing advancements. It is the robotics and computer technology skills that are not there.”
The participating companies have formed a steering committee to provide input into what is being taught in class at the Center for Technology, Innovation and Manufacturing at VUJC. Through the partnership, manufacturers are responsible for establishing wages and benefits for the students as well as assigning them to an experienced technician as a mentor.
According to VU President Richard Helton, the program is a win, win, win. “It is the right direction to take. If we are going to cure the skills gap in our state I think we are have to have more partnerships,” Helton said. “Everybody wins. The manufacturers win, students wins, Vincennes University wins. When you have that many winners it has to be a good program.”
Students in the program will graduate in two years’ time with an Associates of Science in Career Tech Manufacturing. Students will also have two years of paid work experience, on-the-job training in advanced technologies and possible financial support from the participating companies.
“Ultimately, these students come out of this program and don’t have this huge debt that so many students are coming out of college with and then not being able to find employment,” Wilson said. “And they are going to have skill that is in high demand locally.”
Ray Niehaus, the director of the Center for Technology, Innovation, and Manufacturing, will be teaching several of the courses at first, but as the program expands, new instructors will have to be added to the VUJC staff.
Potential students will be able to apply for the program on November 1. The first class has 25 available slots and is expected to begin in the summer.
According to Dean Johnson, the sky’s the limit on the partnership. “We aren’t going to limit the participation in the program,” he said, “If we hit the 25 and go over we will deal with it.”
