Universities, communities reach out to meet each other’s needs in Arizona

The minute Arizona State University West heard that financial services giant USAA was coming to the Valley, the phone calls began, exploring ways the two institutions could work together.

Eileen Brill Wagner The Business Journal

"We have a lot in common," said Provost Elaine Maimon, who noted that five ASU West representatives were flown to USAA headquarters in San Antonio for day-long meetings. "Almost all of our students work, and ongoing training for employees is important to USAA. We knew that a number of people hired in Phoenix would be ASU West students."

To further their missions, there was a lot of give and take as Maimon and Jack Swonson, head of USAA’s Phoenix operations, strengthened their relationship. USAA waived its rule that an employee had to work for six months before receiving tuition reimbursement. And ASU West allowed employees transferring to the Phoenix operation to receive in-state tuition without a waiting period.

"It’s a partnership to the nth degree," said Maimon.

That partnership exemplifies the evolving relationship between the Valley’s business and educational communities. Particularly in an anemic economy, both have become increasingly aware that their future success is inextricably entwined.

"As the economy changed over the past year, so have the types and styles of partnerships," said Mary Vanis, director of the Center for Workforce Development at Maricopa Community Colleges. "Companies that have reduced their training departments are looking more to community colleges to fill the gap."

Vanis said they worked with Honeywell International to identify Prop. 301 money that it could use for training technicians. Chandler-Gilbert Community College, which has a number of faculty members from the aerospace industry, has a strong aviation program that assists businesses with training. Estrella Mountain Community College is partnering with the Palo Verde nuclear power plant to provide training for technicians.

"The business community continues to put appropriate pressure on us," said Vanis. "We need to stay nimble and our internal processes need to be flexible. As large as we are, we can’t get bogged down by internal bureaucracy."

Maricopa Community Colleges has been at the forefront of work-force development for a number of years, said Mark Milliron, president and chief executive of The League for Innovation in the Community College, an international services consortium. The league moved its corporate offices from Southern California to the Valley last year.

"Community colleges have embraced the role of providing adult learning," he said. "They have to listen closely to business and industry to make sure they are flexible enough to meet the needs of employers."

Not only are more companies sending their employees back to school for training and retraining, but the schools are coming to them. Phoenix College recently changed the name of its Customized Training Institute to Custom Training and Education, aka "College on Wheels," to better reflect its expanded role.

"Training is more job-specific," said Casandra Kakar, associate dean. "Education can be more general, to make employees general thinkers."

Kakar said one of the areas that has really taken off recently is language and cultural programs, necessitated by the Valley’s increasingly diverse work force.

The city of Phoenix, for example, had an in-house training program on understanding Muslim culture as it exists in the Phoenix marketplace, she said. The college’s "Command Spanish" is one of the leading providers of customized language and cross-cultural programs and products for non-Spanish speakers who interact with Spanish speakers in the workplace.

Stanley Grossman, director of the Maricopa Skill Center, a division of Gateway Community College, said companies are asking for more soft skills training to complement the wide variety of technical training the center provides.

"For some, we are helping to instill a work ethic, which means showing up every day, as well as teaming and communicating," said Grossman. "It’s not like how mom and dad taught us growing up; a lot are not getting that."

He said that with the large number of people looking for jobs, companies are more demanding in terms of what they are looking for even in entry-level employees.

In 1950, 65 percent of the jobs in the state were for "unskilled" workers, meaning that no additional training or education was required beyond high school, and 15 percent of the jobs were for skilled workers, Grossman said. In 2000, 65 percent of the jobs are filled by skilled workers.

Companies are not just providing more training for their current employees. Former employees are benefiting as well.

Phil Lundberg, vice president and director of the Phoenix campus for the University of Phoenix said about 70 percent of its students receive some sort of tuition reimbursement from work; their employers view it as a form of investment.

However, he said, in the last year the school has been more formally included in companies’ outplacement arrangements, oftentimes paying a portion or all of tuition for employees no longer with the company.

"Many of the businesses are cyclical," he said. "They may lay them off today but want them back in a couple of months. It builds a positive feeling, so when they go back into the market to look for workers, they are viewed as a good employer."

Get connected:

Maricopa Community Colleges: http://www.maricopa.edu

University of Phoenix: http://www.phoenix.edu

Arizona State University West: http://www.west.asu.edu

© 2002 American City Business Journals Inc.

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