A Conversation With ... Sherry Coker

What is the mission of Ozarks Technical Community College’s Center for Workforce Development?
Our mission aligns with the mission of the college. Our goal is to promote lifelong learning, specifically work-force development training that meets the needs of business and industry. We are able to respond in ways that do not necessarily mean college credit (and) we can do training in a matter of weeks as opposed to going through a 16-week semester.

It’s when (the company) wants it, where they want it and how they want it. We customize [courses]. We have resources across the state with other community colleges, and we can bring in experts in any field (and) make it happen quickly. We work with mostly companies, but we do work with individuals who contact us. There are more than 300 companies, organizations and manufacturers that we work with in some way, shape or form.

What are some of the center’s most popular study topics right now?
We’re finding that a lot of people are interested in succession planning. As our work force continues to age and people are nearing retirement, we can see that our management teams are really looking closely at building the next generation of leaders. It’s hard to say that there’s a course in our catalog that specifically leads to that, because (what happens) is a company will tell us, “I want you to cover team building. I want you to cover how to be a good supervisor and a leader.” You can be a subject matter expert, but that doesn’t make you a good manager, so we have first-time manager-type courses that will (help) these people become better in their new leadership roles.

As manufacturing picks back up, we’re seeing an increase in the courses for welding and grinding training.

Which programs at the center are seeing the most growth?
The allied health industry is an area that’s really huge. On the noncredit side, (programs are for) certified nurse assistants, certified medication technicians, pharmacy technicians and coding specialists. Transportation training is another area that’s huge. At the truck driving school, we have a lot of individuals who are interested in getting their (commercial driver’s licenses) so they can be over-the-road truck drivers.

How do you decide which courses to offer or add?
We really rely on our external advisory council to guide us and to stay in constant communication with us on what the needs are in the community. We have [representatives] from transportation, allied health care, manufacturing and utilities. It’s about 30 members.

Ultimately, our goal is to get people into the work force in meaningful jobs. If there are no jobs on the other end, we’ve done a complete disservice to the people in our constituency. If they can’t find a job, and they have to leave the area, that’s not what we want.

We try to use our advisory council to help us not just build something and hope that they come, but build something that we know they will come to, and that will give them the job they want on the back end. We benefit from some state funding, but we’re charged with being self-supporting. So the challenge for us is always going to be to make sure we’re creating the classes that people want so we can be supported.

Can you tell us about any courses or programs in development at the center?
We’re always looking to expand our current offerings. We’re looking at developing our own entrepreneurship courses. There are so many opportunities for students here at OTC to become budding entrepreneurs. People starting their own small businesses make up a majority of the companies that are here, and that will continue to be what happens in Springfield and how we’re going to recover from this economy. Right now, we have a few courses in entrepreneurship, but I would really like to expand that and have it be more broad. As technology changes, we’re constantly looking to expand our (information technology) certifications to meet the needs of the technology community.[[In-content Ad]]