Effort focuses on producing quality, trained workers for Butte

What kind of trained worker does the Butte business community lack?

That question was answered, in part, at a breakfast forum at the Montana Tech College of Technology this week in a report on needed curriculum.

By Gerard O’Brien of The Montana Standard

The report is part of an effort by the college to develop so-called "career clusters" that tie training to local business needs. The idea is to quickly produce trained workers to meet ever-changing business requirements.

Expanding health care training, in-depth computer classes, manufacturing programs, science and engineering, "soft skills" such as management and customer service and even historic preservation are fields that will be explored. (See related story.)

Jane Baker, dean of the college, and the Blueprint for Change economic development effort sponsored by The Montana Standard and other local corporations, joined forces in April to focus on tying college programs to business needs. About 70 business people attended the first session and narrowed the scope to six key areas.

Since then, the groups proposed future curricula for the college. The next step is to see if those programs meet the needs of the business community and find money to launch them.

Success stories are already apparent.

Pat Duffy of St. James Healthcare said that the hospital at times imports nurses and surgical technicians. The cost is about $1.5 million annually. Since the college has been training technicians and licensed practical nurses (with funding from St. James), the hospital has saved about $500,000, Duffy said.

Medical jobs needed across the state include certified medication aides, radiology technicians, respiratory therapy technicians, ultrasound technicians, nuclear medicine technicians and diabetic counselors. Baker said plans are to form a statewide consortium of schools to offer such programs.

Also, thanks to a University of Montana grant, the college has hired a health sciences coordinator to help develop programs for the school.

Much discussion focused on the need to train for customer service.

"One of the things we’ve heard from the business community is that, in order to keep tourist dollars here, Butte has to be exceptional at customer service," said Heidi Wright, publisher of The Montana Standard. "A recent shopping survey we did in the newspaper indicated that a major reason people leave town to shop is due to poor customer service."

The need was identified to not only train hotel personnel about how to guide tourists to historic sites and activities in town, but the general public.

The Standard plans a tourism fair on May 15 at the Butte Civic Center that will bring tourism efforts together under one roof. The fair will include workshops on customer service.

http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2003/12/05/newsbutte/hjjgihjejajgfc.txt