Building Better Partnerships

Guest contributors: Mary Kaye Bredeson, executive director, and Jennifer Ferrero, APR, marketing communications Center of Excellence for Aerospace & Advanced Manufacturing

For many industries, the development and sale of products, and their workforce has been an inside job. This has been especially prevalent in the manufacturing industry. Twenty years ago, or more, hiring would occur through sandwich boards posted curbside at a business, or by way of temp agencies. Community and technical colleges were operating autonomously to train for industry – but were never really asking, “What does the manufacturing industry need from us?”

With the downfall of hands-on technical training in our high schools, hiring machinists, for example, became challenging, and our manufacturing industry suffered.

In 2009, Washington’s Centers of Excellence entered the picture as a breath of fresh air for development of partnerships between industry, academia, and legislative groups. According to the website for State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC), “Washington state’s Centers of Excellence link business, industry, labor and the state’s educational systems to create a highly skilled and readily available workforce critical to the success of the state’s economy.”

Each Center of Excellence is hosted at a Community and Technical College (CTC), and Everett hosts the Center of Excellence for Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing. This partnership has yielded many benefits for the college and surrounding community including:

  • Professional development for faculty around machining, composites, measurement science, NIMS certification, and others
  • Pre-paid NIMS certification exams for Everett’s machining students
  • Pre-paid WorkKeys exams that has led to National Career Readiness Certificates for student pre-employment certificates
  • Paid internships for many of Everett’s mechatronics students
  • Curriculum development and equipment for Everett’s welding program

Through this partnership, the COE has resided on Everett Community College property at Paine Field. The relationships garnered through both groups have led to boards and committees, industry tours, hiring and internships for students, and overall enhanced opportunity for students in aerospace and advanced manufacturing programs at Everett Community College. Additionally, regional industry has benefitted through the development of relationships with college administrators and instructors – a synergy now exists between formerly divided groups. It is because of the COE in the role of liaison that an open exchange of ideas took place, which lead to partnerships and engagement.

To learn more about getting involved with Centers of Excellence, visit www.coewa.com; for specific information about the COE Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing, visit https://www.coeaerospace.com/.