BTC President and MW Lead Counselor Invited to National Discussion about Community College

Debbie Goodall, president of MCC-BTC and Barbara Cooke, lead counselor MCC-Maple Woods, will be part of a national discussion today in Indianapolis on how community colleges work with business and industry to educate students and provide a highly skilled workforce.

Goodall and Cooke are part of a group of leaders in education, philanthropy, business, and labor that was gathered by Martha Kanter, U.S. Department of Education Under Secretary for Postsecondary Education Initiatives. The summit on March 23 at Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis is one of four regional summits aimed at significantly increasing the number of college graduates prepared for the twenty-first century workforce, with the ultimate goal of meeting President Obama’s challenge to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.

The group will develop recommendations on ways industry-education partnerships can help students get high-quality credentials from community colleges. The recommendations will be presented at a national virtual symposium in April.

Joining Goodall and Cooke at the summit will be other Missouri community college leaders; representatives from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, the National Science Foundation; and experts in workforce and economic development.

Goodall and Cooke were nomitated to participate in the summit by the Missouri Community College Association (MCCA).