(Left to right:) Nick Pinchuk, CEO, Snap-on; Shannon McGuire, Director of Advanced Professional Development, UW-Parkside; Bryan Albrecht, President & CEO, Gateway Technical College; Deborah Ford, Chancellor, UW-Parkside; Mark Mone, Interim Chancellor, UW-Milwaukee; Reggie Newson, Secretary of Workforce Development, State of Wisconsin; Emmanuel Otu, Dean-College of Natural and Health Sciences, UW-Parkside; Brett Peters, Dean-College of Engineering and Applied Science, UW-Milwaukee.
On May 27, University of Wisconsin-Parkside (UW-P), University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), and Gateway Technical College announced the Technical Pathway Partners initiative at the Snap-on Corporation in Kenosha. Responding to the needs of statewide manufacturers for a workforce with better technology and engineering skills, the partners developed two new programs, a Career and Technology Education (CTE) teacher training and licensure program in southeast Wisconsin and a consortial engineering program for local students to complete degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering at both UW-P and UWM. The new engineering program is a guaranteed transfer agreement for qualified students between UWM and UW-P and will create a seamless pathway for electrical and mechanical engineering students to complete their first two years of studies at UW-P and their final two years at the UWM College of Engineering and Applied Science.
The UW-P Institute of Professional Educator Development and Gateway Technical College have developed Wisconsin’s first-ever post-Baccalaureate licensure program for CTE educators specializing in technology and pre-engineering teaching. This new partnership was triggered as a result of discussions launched by Alliance stakeholders in spring 2013 regarding manufacturing education and how this impacts on the skills mismatch in industry. It became apparent in these discussions that the lack of CTE certified teachers in the region which would greatly impede efforts in promoting technology and engineering classes in our high schools.
In June 2013, the Alliance and stakeholders including Snap-on Incorporated, UW-P, and Gateway Technical College convened a one-day Tri-State Manufacturing Leadership Institute, hosted at Gateway, to explore ways to build a solid manufacturing education pipeline based around increasing the number of CTE teachers being trained in the region. It is hoped that the new partnership’s innovative dual focus in teacher and worker training will alleviate the skills mismatch in southeast Wisconsin, with benefits accruing to the entire Tri-State region.
Read the official press release (PDF)
Browse the Alliance’s July 2013 newsletter