PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The county's institutions of higher education are ready to do their part to help their students navigate their way through a post-COVID-19 economy.
On Friday, the presidents of Berkshire Community College, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Williams College and the provost of Bard College at Simon's Rock participated in a virtual town hall hosted by 1Berkshire.
Johnathan Butler led the hourlong conversation, which focused largely on how colleges are adapting to the current closure of their physical campuses and making plans for the fall 2020 semester.
But at one point Butler asked how the schools are situated to help address workforce development needs at a time when Berkshire County has nearly 30 percent unemployment.
BCC President Ellen Kennedy said the community college recently realigned its workforce programming.
"We now have a director of allied health, a director of advanced manufacturing, a workforce director of allied health, a workforce director of advanced manufacturing and a workforce director of hospitality," Kennedy said. "And we're totally focused on working with those different business sectors in how do we develop curriculum, what other skill sets do you need, what is the focus of developing non-credit and for-credit and certificate-based programs that will meet the needs that have been identified."
BCC received a state grant to develop a curriculum in the hospitality field along with partners in the private sector. The school just received permission to transition that curriculum to an online program, Kennedy said, and there will be funds available to provide for tuition and fees that BCC will be announcing shortly.
"We're doing things virtually, we're doing things that are at no costs, we're applying for many grants to provide funding to cover the costs of individuals or whole industry sectors to participate in way ways to upscale themselves," she said. "A lot of the curriculum we put in play this summer was devoted to upscaling — providing people who might have a little bit of time right now, and it' an opportunity to get a certificate, to pursue some classes that would make you more marketable as you think about what your next steps are."
As the school most closely aligned to the notion of workforce development, BCC's health-care programs are particularly timely in a global pandemic.
"We are about to launch a January cohort for our [associate degree in nursing] program," Kennedy said. "I will be piloting that without about 25 students. So we'll be taking in a full class this fall in our nursing program, our registered nursing program, and then launching a second cohort in January.
"We're launching our respiratory therapy program, which is something that people in our community might be interested in pursuing. There's been so much attention on the respiratory therapy assistant and the role of respiratory therapy in addressing the pandemic. We know that there are people who may have some new interests who may be in a different position than they were just a few months ago."
MCLA President James Birge noted that community colleges are positioned to adapt quickly in a crisis and thanked Kennedy for BCC's efforts. But four-year residential colleges like the North Adams school also have a role to play, he pointed out.
"I think programs are really important to the recovery of Berkshire County," Birge said. "We have a number of health suite programs, health sciences and community health education. We're looking at developing others that we think are going to be in demand, certainly in the Berkshires."
No matter what degree you pursue, though, there is a benefit to pursuing a degree beyond secondary education, Birge said.
"When you look back at the 2009 recession and you look at unemployment levels, at the height of that recession, the unemployment level was at 15 percent," he said. "For people with a bachelor's degree, the height of their unemployment was 5 percent. So people who have a college degree are much more agile in a changing labor force, where they can find the work that they need. They have a broad set of skills that they can change … the focus of their career path more easily.
"I think that's one of the important things that all of us offer: degrees and credentials that create a skill set for our students and graduates that allow them to be more agile in a changing environment."
Williams College President Maud Mandel agreed.
"The kinds of educations we all provide — and we provide very different kinds of educations, different ways in which we prepare students for the life that comes after — but it is so important, particularly now, as we try to create problem solvers and thought leaders and people who are going to move society forward, that we continue this work.
"Whatever lessons we take out of this [pandemic], I think we have to double down on our core missions and protect our institutions so that we can prepare these students to go out and solve some of the problems that are emerging and take the lead on the research and institutional efforts that are going to have to happen in the years to come."
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.
Your Comments
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
No Comments
Mount Greylock School Committee Votes Slight Increase to Proposed Assessments
By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to slightly increase the assessment to the district's member towns from the figures in the draft budget presented by the administration.
The School Committee opted to lower the use of Mount Greylock's reserve account by $70,000 and, instead, increase by that amount the share of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget shared proportionally by Lanesborough and Williamstown taxpayers.
The budget prepared by the administration and presented to the School Committee at its annual public hearing on Thursday included $665,000 from the district's Excess and Deficiency account, the equivalent of a municipal free cash balance, an accrual of lower-than-anticipated expenses and higher-than-anticipated revenue in any given year.
That represented a 90 percent jump from the $350,000 allocated from E&D for fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30. And, coupled with more robust use of the district's tuition revenue account (7 percent more in FY25) and School Choice revenue (3 percent more), the draw down on E&D is seen as a stopgap measure to mitigate a spike in FY25 expenses and an unsustainable budgeting strategy long term, administrators say.
The budget passed by the School Committee on Thursday continues to rely more heavily on reserves than in years past, but to a lesser extent than originally proposed.
Specifically, the budget the panel approved includes a total assessment to Williamstown of $13,775,336 (including capital and operating costs) and a total assessment to Lanesborough of $6,425,373.
As a percentage increase from the FY24 assessments, that translates to a 3.90 percent increase to Williamstown and a 3.38 percent increase to Lanesborough.
Zimmermann comes to the Milne Public Library from Wisconsin with over eight years of management experience in library services, most recently as the Executive Director of the Racine Public Library.
click for more
Manary talked to the Fin Comm about the Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program, which, he said, funds anywhere from 50 to 75 percent of construction costs.
click for more
Taylor Garabedian scored a team-high 22 points and grabbed five rebounds, and Abby Scialabba scored 16 points for the ‘Canes, who got 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists from Ashlyn Lesure. click for more
On Saturday afternoon at Lowell’s Tsongas Center, the Hurricanes will take aim at Division 5 State Championships in girls and boys basketball. click for more
There are only two known copies of the flag in existence: one at the State House and one in the meeting room on the first floor at Town Hall.
click for more
Rather than talking about a return to what the festival was before the pandemic shutdown, the goal is to build back a better, more sustainable and, by necessity, different WTF as it celebrates 70 years in the Berkshires.
click for more