CHARLES TOWN — According to officials including Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, Sen. Joe Manchin and college presidents, education and economic development go hand in hand in the Mountain State.
During Monday morning's segment of the West Virginia Economic Development Council's fall conference at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, education was a hot topic.
A portion of the conference also featured a panel consisting of Dr. Peter Checkovich, president of Blue Ridge Community and Technical College; Dr. Gordon Gee, president of West Virginia University; Dr. Mary Hendrix, president of Shepherd University, and Dr. Karen Powell, president of American Public University.
A common theme that was addressed by each of the speakers was how the state and education can prepare for the quickly changing business climate and adjust to the future of economic development.
Gee, who was also the keynote speaker for the conference, said forming partnerships through education is one way to positively impact economic development.
"Higher education has to make its own case, and we have to do it through a much different paradigm. We have to think of the world in the sense of partnerships, and I think that is so important," Gee said. "Universities are, today, to this economy, to this state, what the coal industry was 100 years ago. We are the economic engine, but we need to go about making that happen, and we need to partner with everyone, especially other institutions. We are too small to take limited resources and divide them up. We have to now no longer think of divisions."
Checkovich touched on an accelerating world, explaining that one of his main priorities as a CTC president is keeping up with that growth.
"Higher education is criticized from time to time, and one of the criticisms I hear is sometimes we have the tendency to move too slowly," Checkovich said. "At Blue Ridge, we're always adapting and innovating to changes in business and industry, and the slogan that we kind of go by at our college is if you want to work with business, you have to move at the speed of business. You can't wait three years to bring a certificate or program to the public. You have to act quickly."
Checkovich mentioned two particular programs at the college that have directly contributed to the economic growth in the Eastern Panhandle including training employees for Procter & Gamble and Hollywood Casino.
Sen. Manchin, D-W.Va., also addressed community and technical colleges and how they work with economic development.
"What I want to know is, are the community and technical colleges giving you the workforce and skill sets (businesses) might need?" Manchin said.
Moreover, Manchin commented on a model at the Toyota plant in Charleston that has classrooms inside the plant, so a trained future workforce can be picked from the source rather than leafing through several applications for employees.
Powell said working with local businesses is one way APUS works to contribute to the Eastern Panhandle and West Virginia economy.
"To help employers find good, dependable, well-trained employees, we have about 100 different degree programs all focused on the different areas, and we have for each of those areas created industry advisory councils inviting members of the business and workforce community," Powell said. "They come at least once a year and tell us what are the job skills needed in those areas ... and they give us feedback on our learning objectives, on our course materials, then we work to listen to them and integrate those changes into our curriculum."
Sen. Capito, R-W.Va., said keeping up with growth and technological advances is a key component for providing an educated workforce. She specifically mentioned broadband as a way in which West Virginia can adapt to the changing times.
"I know education is something that is extremely important to all of us, and it's important to our development," Capito said. "Kids are getting iPads, they're going home, and if they go home with an iPad to do an assignment and they don't have connectivity, they're behind. They're going to come back to school the next day and not be able to complete the assignment."
Capito said she is working on a program called the Capito Connect plan, which is an initiative meant to address the state's internet access and speed.
Hendrix also said Shepherd works with potential employers to make sure the educations being provided can contribute to economic development.
"Shepherd University has actually been proactively reaching out to employers in our region, and we ask them specifically about their talent requirements for potential new employees, and then we form these partnerships that we call student internships," Hendrix said. "Our students have the ability to go look at the various future employers to see if this is going to be a job or career they wish to pursue, but I think equally importantly we have these future employers who can look at our students as future employees."