Sen. McCaskill visits MCC, wants to ratchet up appeal of manufacturing careers

"We need to convince students that tech is cool, and that manufacturing is tech," said U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill at a press conference Friday morning following a roundtable discussion with educators, community leaders and manufacturing employers.

The roundtable conversation, held at the MCC-Penn Valley Health Science Institute, was part of a statewide tour where Sen. McCaskill is visiting manufacturing facilities and talking to business and industry leaders about what they need to become more economically viable. McCaskill said she asked MCC to host Friday's event because she understands the important relationship between a prepared, skilled workforce and the high-quality technical education and training at MCC.

Roundtable participants included:
Claire McCaskill, U.S. Senator
Corey Dillon, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill’s Office
Clyde McQueen, Full Employment Council
Yolanda Reddix, Glennon Place, and graduate of MCC short-term training and LINCWorks
Troy Teague, Cerner
Tom Goodpasture, Pride Manufacturing, and representative of the Regional Nat'l. Tooling & Machining Assoc.
Bruce Eagleburger, Vector Tool and Engineering
Jake Chambers, Vector Tool and Engineering
Terry Akins, IBEW 124
Ron Green, Hallmark Cards
Tony Reinhart, Regional Director of Government Relations, Ford Motor Company

Participants from MCC included: Chancellor Mark James, IWI Executive Director Margaret Boyd, MCC-Business & Techonology President Debbie Goodall, MCC-Business & Technology Tech. Division Chair Penny Tepesch, Associate Vice Chancellor Tom Vansaghi, Vice Chancellor Paul Long and MCC-Maple Woods President Merna Saliman.

KC Business Journal: BTC's Tom Wheeler Talks about Manufacuring Trends and Worker Skills

Tom Wheeler is dean of instruction at Metropolitan Community College's Business & Technology Campus. MCC is beginning to examine revising its curriculum to coordinate with a national certification system.

Check out the article here.

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Addressing the Manufacturing Workforce Dilemma

Debbie Goodall, president of MCC-Business & Technology campus, moderated a panel discussion at the Chamber's recent Manufacturing Summit. Panelists were:

• Andy Brewer, project manager of new machinery development at Vector Tool & Engineering–who is also a BTC alum and adjunct instructor;
• Darrell Dryer, human resources director for manufacturing at Hallmark Cards;
• LaRoux Gillespie, vice president of the Society for Manufacturing Engineerings and a retired quality assurance manager at K.C.'s Honeywell plant;
• Troy Teague talent development program manager for Cerner, where he coordinated the launch of the KCIC partnership with MCC and other colleges.

They discussed strategies their companies are developing to address the shortage of skilled workers for many open positions in manufacturing.