Kirkwood plays key role in work force development

Two years ago, responding to requests for hands-on work force training in health care, Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids opened a $3.3 million, 10,000-square-foot Healthcare Simulation Center.

The facility, designed for the college's allied health degree programs and continuing education training, was equipped with, among other innovative devices, six patient simulators.

The simulators - computerized mannequins - could speak and cry. They could even bleed.

Today, as the nation's health care providers move from paper to digital medical records under a federal mandate, Kirkwood is preparing health information technology professionals to make the transition. Michael McLaughlin, Kirkwood dean of health occupations, said the federally funded training initiative could handle 75 students by the end of its first year.

“The people initially taking the courses are employees of doctors' offices, clinics, hospitals and laboratories,” McLaughlin said. “We're one of 17 community colleges in 10 Midwestern states offering the training.”

These are just two examples of how community colleges - already playing an important role in training today's and tomorrow's work force - are taking on new urgency, as the baby-boomer generation retires and employers seek replacements with specific skills.

At Kirkwood, young men and women fresh out of high school are learning the skills necessary to land and keep a job in today's competitive environment.

You also will find older adults returning to the classroom to learn new skills required for their current job as well as those needing to launch a new career.

Since 1983, Eastern Iowa employers as diverse as biotech company Genencor and International Paper have contracted with Kirkwood to train existing and new workers. The Iowa New Jobs Training and the Accelerated Career Education programs are funded through reallocation of individual state income withholding taxes to Kirkwood by businesses that have training agreements with the college.

The school registers more than 40,000 students each year for non-credit courses, which includes continuing education and contract training, and about 19,000 full-time equivalent students pursuing degrees, said Jeff Mitchell, Kirkwood dean of industrial technologies.

“Contract training is very customized curriculum that involves accelerated training,” Mitchell said. “Employees learn what they need to know to perform their job. It's very focused, comprehensive and effective.”

Training in factory automation, used by companies such as General Mills, Quaker Oats and Rockwell Collins, involves the four technologies that exist in advanced manufacturing, he noted.

“It's electronics, electricity, mechanical drive systems and the software that governs every aspect of the system,” he said. “When a piece of factory automation equipment goes down, there has to be someone trained to troubleshoot what system is responsible for the failure. There are some product lines in Cedar Rapids that are producing $35,000 of product per hour around the clock.”

In addition to the Healthcare Simulation Center, Kirkwood has invested heavily in new facilities and equipment to expand workplace training. The college spent $8.4 million to reconfigure Jones Hall and add 30,000 square feet of new classroom and lab space for industrial technology training.

The college has been able to offer training requested by Eastern Iowa employers in specialized areas such as vibration analysis through the purchase of equipment with money from the state's Grow Iowa Values Fund, Mitchell said. Mitchell said Eastern Iowa employers are looking for workers with the knowledge required for the particular job.

“They're also looking for people with good problem-solving skills. That's absolutely essential in today's competitive environment,” Mitchell said. “The nature of manufacturing has changed drastically over the last 30 years.

“In the past, traditional manufacturing was driven primarily by labor. Technology is the primary driver for advanced manufacturing in the form of highly automated equipment.

“We face the challenge of teaching all the technology that is necessary in today's workplace within the two years required for a degree. We are increasingly looking at accelerated training methods so we can fit more technology in our programs.”

On Oct. 6, President Barack Obama endorsed the role that community colleges play in work force training. Obama called the nation's community colleges “unsung heroes of America's education system.”

“They may not get the credit they deserve, they may not get the same resources of other schools,” Obama said, “but they provide a gateway to millions of Americans to good jobs and a better life.”