Techniques Nov-Dec 2012 - 28

Business and Industry Partnerships

The system, called Kuder® Navigator, helps middle school and high school students explore job and training options. “It gives EMCC insights that help us plan our CTE programs. It also lets us keep a close eye on the numbers of students whose assessment results point to energy-related careers,” explains Goodman.

kuder

EMCC Career and Transfer Center Program Advisor Izelle Silva and EMCC student Kasey Goodbody view the Kuder system.

Fields admits he was “surprised when the system returned results that were spoton for my interests. It pointed me toward the energy, engineering and mathematics fields. My dad works at a power plant, so I had a general idea of what I wanted to do, but this was confirming.” According to Kuder President Phil Harrington, career planning doesn’t need to be difficult, but it does need to be done the right way. “Fields is one of the smart ones who focused on career planning,” he explains. “Too often, students and parents focus only on college planning. That’s the wrong approach. College selection and education planning are part of the process after the right career path has been identified.”

Fueling the Future Workforce
Filling growing gaps in the energy workforce with a new crop of qualified workers is the industry’s biggest challenge. It’s one that the Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD), a nonprofit consor-

tium of electric natural gas and nuclear utilities and their associations, is tackling head-on. Founded in 2006, the CEWD works closely with stakeholders in education, government agencies and the energy industry to leverage resources and practices that address current and future energy workforce needs. According to the CEWD’s projections, by 2020, almost half the nation’s skilled workforce may need to be replaced due to retirement or attrition. In Arizona’s Sun Corridor, where the population is expected to grow to over nine million by 2040, energy providers are facing a workforce crisis. A projected 55 percent of energy workers will need to be replaced over the next decade. “The program at Estrella Mountain is a best-in-class example of our Get Into Energy Career Pathways,” says CEWD Executive Director Ann Randazzo. “Students are able to build basic skills, receive industry-recognized credentials like our ANSI-accredited Energy Industry Fun-

damentals certificate and start education pathways that lead to great jobs in the industry.” Harrington agrees: “The Get Into Energy program and partnership between CEWD and EMCC is a perfect model of how building a talent pipeline for all industry clusters should work.” Harrington pointed out that CEWD uses Kuder® Journey, the postsecondary and adult version of Kuder’s online education and career planning system, for its “Get Into Energy Career Pathways for Low Income Young Adults” initiative. “The students benefit from the ePortfolio and career navigation services [in Journey], and our career coaches get a great case management system,” says Randazzo. “It’s the only system we’ve seen that meets the needs of all the stakeholders.”

The Power of Partnership
Situated about 50 miles west of Phoenix in Tonopah, Arizona, the Palo Verde
www.acteonline.org

techniques

November/December 2012

Techniques Nov-Dec 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Techniques Nov-Dec 2012