This college makes corporate training its business
In an ever-evolving workplace, Middlesex Community College has become a thriving center for business training, a role that continues to expand.
“Years ago, people got jobs that they stayed with. But that, of course, is no longer true. So, we try to empower people to go through changes in the workplace,” said Carole Cowan, who has been with the college for 30 of its 36 years and president since 1991.
Middlesex Community College, which has campuses in Bedford and Lowell, is the largest of the state’s 15 two-year institutions, with 11,500 students taking credit courses and 20,000 enrolled in noncredit courses.
Today, some 1,300 students are enrolled in business majors such as accounting and finance, management, and marketing, and 500 others are pursuing courses in the health sciences, including nursing, dental hygiene, and medical assistant training.
Middlesex also trains about 3,500 corporate workers a year, in partnership with 45 employers, including Raytheon Co., KeySpan Corp., and Verizon Communications Inc., said Judith Burke, assistant dean for corporate education and training.
The college, which has an annual budget of between $50 million and $52 million, receives revenues of $900,000 from these programs yearly, she said.
Another of the college’s key business components is The Career Place of Woburn, one of 33 employment centers in Massachusetts. It is the only center of its type in the United States that is run by a community college, said George Moriarty, the center’s executive director.
Since its founding in 1997, the center has counseled about 60,000 individuals, he said.
While it trains workers and those seeking jobs, the college is always seeking to add associate degree programs in specialized business areas, Cowan said. For example, last year, the college, under a $850,000 grant, introduced a program in radio frequency identification, or the use of microwave technology to track such things as products. Ten students are currently enrolled.
Next fall, Middlesex, in collaboration with National Grid, a large electric utility, will offer an associate degree program geared to training entry-level line workers.
The college is sharing a $1.9 million US Department of Labor grant with North Shore Community College of Danvers and Quinsigamond Community College of Worcester.
Middlesex and Massachusetts Bay Community College of Wellesley are also working with another large utility, Keyspan, to train some of its gas-unit workers in the use of software aimed at enhancing customer service, said Burke, 43. Five-hundred technicians and 75 supervisors are taking part in the 18-month program, funded by a $200,000 state grant, she said.
“This program is a good example of how a community college can meet the training needs of our industry,” said Nick Stavropoulos, president of Keyspan Energy Delivery, the largest distributor of gas in the Northeast.
While the energy field is a relatively new training focus, the college is adding new touches to its oldest curriculum, health sciences, Cowan said.
The college was founded in 1970 as a health sciences center and was first located at the nearby Veterans Affairs Hospital.
Last year, in partnership with the Lahey Clinic of Burlington, a three-year registered nurse degree was established. Fifteen students are enrolled part time.
“A majority of all our students have jobs and are taking courses part time,” Cowan said, adding that the average age of students is 24, and 70 percent of all students go on to four-year colleges.
Dr. David Barrett, chief executive of Lahey, said the nursing program, while still small, fills an important need at a time when “there is a critical shortage everywhere of facilities and laboratory space for this training. Thus, this is a unique venture with Middlesex.”
Teaching new skills is a hallmark of each of the college’s programs, a prescription for getting employed and staying employed, said Moriarty, 59, The Career Place’s executive director.
Jeffrey Wilson, a former high-tech manager who lives in Groton, said he enrolled in the microwave technology program to learn about an industry that might offer him opportunities down the road. He said he has been without a job for six years.
“I’m very impressed with Middlesex because it is very apparent that whatever the program, the college is doing its best to make students useful for industry,” said Wilson, 53.
Cowan said: “We’re relying on industry to direct us in the best ways possible.”
