RURAL SPOTLIGHT
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Economic Engines
Rural colleges adapt to the needs of a changing workforce
BY COREY MURRAY
With Arizona’s mining industry in decline and its construction and housing market racked by economic upheaval, workers in rural regions across the state are enrolling in community colleges at a record clip. At Central Arizona College (CAC), administrators have reported 16 percent to 20 percent growth each semester for three years running. Georgia White,
CAC’s dean of technical and professional education, says the college has secured
millions in federal funds to meet the demands of a local workforce in transition.
Students monitor an energy grid in a lab at North Dakota’s Bismarck State College.
Looking to pair students with sustainable careers, CAC has invested heavily
in renewable energy and green-building
education, both areas of need for local
employers. Arizona is not alone. Across
the country, rural colleges are upgrading job-training programs to meet the
needs of an increasingly green- and
energy-conscious workforce.
North Dakota’s Bismarck State College
(BSC) National Energy Center of Excel-
lence, which has specialized in energy
education and job training for more than
30 years, recently launched an online and
on-campus renewable energy generation
program with technician training for
wind, solar, biomass, hydroelectric and
other renewable energy sources.
it’s critical for these institutions to be
in tune with the specific needs of their
communities, and those needs often
differ from campus to campus.
Though Arizona’s housing and construction markets struggled during the
recession, CAC’s White says the college
is looking ahead, creating relevant
training programs that will position
students for employment as the economy rebounds. In one instance, CAC is
working with a local developer to offer
training in flyash block construction, a
sustainable form of concrete produced
from the waste of coal-fired power
plants. White says the developer is planning a local housing project around the
use of the material and that specialized
training will give CAC students a leg up
on new construction jobs.
Thanks, in part, to its long days and
abundant sunshine, Arizona has also
become a hotbed for the solar-power
industry, another emerging career
sector in which CAC has invested. The
college has large (solar plants) and small
(building-installed solar panels) solar
training programs.
“Arizona is being recognized as a
place where things are really going to
take off,” says CAC’s White. “We try to
look at where these jobs are located and
match our programs with the demand.”
Know What’s Needed
Because rural colleges often serve
student populations across a wide
geographic area—CAC’s service area is
larger than the state of Connecticut—
Establish Partnerships
Not unlike their counterparts at CAC,
administrators at North Dakota’s BSC
have established close ties to regional
and national employers in hopes of
marrying their job-training programs
with economic need.
“We work closely with a lot of companies across the country to gauge their
needs in the energy sector,” says BSC’s
Kleven. The college, for instance, is
