College President Emphasizes Workforce Training
Published Jan 06, 2009
Red Rocks Community College President Michele Haney sees career opportunities for students in such areas as process technology, renewable energy and health care.
Dr. Michele Haney has been working in the Colorado community college system since 1992. Before becoming president of Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood in January 2008, she was president of Morgan Community College, and she previously worked at Front Range Community College.
Here she responds to questions about RRCC’s mission to help provide a well-trained workforce to employers across Jefferson County.
Q Many technicians in key industries are reaching retirement age. What challenges does that present?
A Our biggest challenge is convincing parents and students that it’s a different world.
When you talk to parents about going into technical fields, they think of blue collar. We’re referring to these jobs as gold collar. Graduates are getting out into the workforce and making much more money than the teachers who are training them.
Q Your process technician program started in fall 2005. What is a process technician?
A Any major plant that starts with raw materials and produces something – whether clean water, oil, biodiesel, clothes – needs process operators, who use computers to review the functioning of equipment on the line. They need to pre-empt possible problems. They communicate with technicians, maintenance and electrical folks.
When those lines go down, it’s money. All our first graduates are employed; some had their education paid for by their employer.
Q Talk about your newest program, renewable energy technology.
A Right now we’re focused on solar. We also expect to work in wind. Depending on our K-12 partners and how fast they ramp up, we may add alternative fuel and biodiesel. All our first courses in spring 2008 were filled, and we wound up offering extra sections.
Q How do you attract students to fields such as process technology?
A We have a 35-foot trailer retrofitted with four multimedia centers. We visit high schools and area employers when they’re having career fair events. We’ve participated in community events, basically exposing the public to the careers in these industries.
Q How do you design curriculum?
A We have advisory committees for each of our career and technical programs. We are constantly meeting with them to talk about the relevance of our curriculum, any changes that need to be made and the emerging issues in the industry. Our staff is very active (on industry-related boards and committees). We measure the pulse of the service areas we are responsible for.
Q What do you see on the horizon?
A We’re looking at our health-career program and see that area expanding. We do have a construction technology program. People talk about building green, but they don’t know the standards. We see green construction as a program in the future.
Story by Pam George
Photo by J. Kyle Keener
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