I.W.I. hosts Customer Appreciation Night

Last week, the Institute for Workforce Innovation (I.W.I.) thanked Kansas City area companies in the annual Customer Appreciation Night at the Business & Technology campus. I.W.I. is proud to continue to be the go-to source for so many business consulting and training needs.

Fifteen representatives from a variety of companies and organizations came out to enjoy an evening of networking, food, prizes and guided tours of the BTC Harley-Davidson lab. The attendees included companies and organizations such as Hallmark, CertainTeed, ATK, Reit Management and Research, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Excelsior Springs Job Corps, and the Water Services Department of Kansas City, Missouri, reflecting the broad client base that MCC serves and will continue to serve.

Institute for Workforce Innovation – new hires

Margaret Boyd, executive director of the Institute for Workforce Innovation (IWI), is pleased to announce that IWI now has filled three key positions. These positions will facilitate increased resource generation, provide more services to students and clients, improve communications, and measure and evaluate outcomes from IWI’s divisional initiatives. Each of the people assuming these new roles are current MCC employees working within IWI so they are ready to jump in and provide leadership to their respective areas.

Carolyn Brown will serve the district as performance director for resource development, responsible for identifying federal, state and local grants. She will also identify viable funding opportunities, facilitate development of proposals, and support implementation for any funds awarded.

Kevin Kelley will serve as performance director for community development, responsible for identifying and developing new opportunities for training with area employers. His team will process all new ideas for IWI, conduct preliminary research, and design curriculum that meets employer requirements. He will also participate in identifying partnerships and grant opportunities to support new ideas.

Elaine Mondschein will serve as performance director for workforce development. Her team is responsible for expanding and continuously improving non-credit workforce development programming and associated support services, building and enhancing partnerships with funders and community agencies engaged in workforce development, and extending linkages with K-12 educational and workforce entities.

A major function of these new roles will be to collaborate within MCC to maximize the use of available resources to better meet the needs of IWI clients. Each of these positions is accountable for the revenue generated by their respective teams.

A final position, the performance director for business development, is being advertised. This position will lead the Business & Learning Solutions unit and be responsible for generating contract training opportunities with area employers. The hiring committee will be reviewing candidates in the coming weeks with hopes of filling the position by mid-November.

MCC Partners with UCM to Serve Cass County

MCC and the University of Central Missouri have formed a unique partnership that will increase higher education and workforce training opportunities in Cass County. The collaboration, dubbed the Cass County Partnership for Advanced Training and Education, was formed in conjunction with the Cass County Commission, which has been working for years to bring higher education to county residents.

The initiative will address the county’s education and training needs by offering streamlined services and providing comprehensive information about all of the opportunities available through both MCC and UCM. Existing recruitment, advising and marketing efforts will become centrally coordinated to achieve a cohesive message.

Three primary groups will be served by the partnership:
· High school students looking for higher education or career training options after graduation
· Adults looking to start or complete a degree, certificate or career training program
· Businesses looking to increase their productivity and effectiveness through employee training

Preliminary needs assessment survey results indicate interest among each of these groups.

“The bottom line is, MCC and UCM want to provide easier access to education and training for Cass County residents,” said Juan Rangel, director of MCC Business & Learning Solutions and coordinator of the initiative. “There are 30,000 people in the county who have taken some college coursework but have not earned a degree or certificate. We’re now going to make it easier for those residents to look at all of the options – from an associate’s degree to a certification to a master’s degree – and decide what’s best for them.”

The partnership will operate out of a shared office in the Heritage office building in Belton. Belton is the only city in Cass County that currently falls within MCC’s district.

Two informational sessions for county residents are planned for early August. A formal announcement of the partnership is planned for mid- to late September.

HSI Recognized as a Model for Performance Improvement

On top of the national recognition it received earlier this year for being an outstanding community college innovation, the MCC-Penn Valley Health Science Institute is now also becoming known as a model for performance improvement.

The HSI – built on a philosophy that interdisciplinary, experiential learning increases student understanding and, therefore, professional effectiveness – will be featured this week at a meeting of the local chapter of the International Society for Performance Improvement. Sandy McIlnay, director of the HSI, will be the guest speaker for the event, which is part of the ISPI’s Emerging Trends in Performance Improvement series. McIlnay will discuss the development and implementation of the HSI’s revolutionary learning environment and its impact on advancing healthcare career training and education.

Emerging Trends in Performance Improvement: Healthcare
MCC-Penn Valley Health Science Institute
Main Lobby
Wednesday, August 4
5:30-7:00 p.m.
$5 registration fee

The event is hosted by the Health Science Institute and the MCC Institute for Workforce Innovation and conducted by the Kansas City chapter of the International Society for Performance Improvement. MCC employees are invited to attend. The cost is just $5 and includes light snacks. Register for the event at www.kcispi.org. If you have questions, contact Day Boswell, MCC Business & Learning Solutions performance consultant and MCC’s representative to the KC ISPI.

3-D design and prototyping seminar at MCC-BTC

About 40 people attended the seminar “3-D Design- Bring Your Ideas to Life” at MCC-Business & Technology on June 10. The half-day seminar was cosponsored by Computer Aided Technology Inc. (CATI). Hassan Zarabi, BTC engineering technology instructor, and John Nichols of CATI demonstrated SolidWorks software capabilities and 3-D prototyping equipment. Rapid prototyping allows companies to create models from 3-D drawings in a matter of minutes on prototype printers. "Concept to product" is the buzzword. BTC has developed a new lab to teach this technology (pictured above).

Debbie Goodall, BTC president, and Steve Dowell, MCC-Business & Learning Solutions performance consultant, introduced the concept of developing a manufacturing consortium with area companies interested in working with MCC in the manufacturing technology and engineering technology labs. Children’s Mercy Hospital was among the organizations that responded. Representatives said their biotechnology researchers would like to use BTC’s prototyping capabilities in cardiac research.