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When Amazon asked Vincennes University in 2019 to launch a four-year registered apprenticeship in a little over four months, the university, President Chuck Johnson says, had no apprentices, no equipment and no curriculum. It launched that September. Johnson says VU has leaned into apprenticeships and workforce-aligned credentials, counting industry certifications as a win even when they do not show up in degree counts. Those programs, he says, have kept growing while traditional numbers have suffered.
In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Chuck Johnson, President of Vincennes University. The conversation covers workforce development in higher education: the Amazon and Walmart partnerships, Workforce U, industry advisory councils, annual program metrics, a two-pronged faculty model and a teacher apprenticeship pilot.
Johnson came to VU as provost in 2012 after roles at Bowling Green State University, in banking and at Purdue University's Krannert School of Management, and has been president since 2015. He walks through how Indiana's oldest college, a junior college since 1889 that now offers baccalaureate pathways, became a turnkey residential partner for national employers.
This conversation is especially relevant for presidents, provosts, boards, leaders in workforce and continuing education and anyone weighing how to respond to the enrollment cliff.
Topics Covered- Why Indiana's declining college-going rate and shrinking high school cohort are a "double whammy"
- Stackable, workforce-aligned credentials and why VU counts them as wins
- How a junior college with residence halls became a turnkey partner for national employers
- Industry advisory councils and a board drawn from the sectors the university serves
- Annual program metrics and cost per graduate alongside five-year program reviews
- A faculty model that caps tenure and adds full-time industry instructors
- Right-sizing campus facilities for more episodic, adult learning
- Amazon's apprenticeship, launched in September 2019 with 44 associates, 43 of whom completed it
- A nationwide residential training model of about 12 weeks on VU's campus, which Johnson says has graduated some 1,200 apprentices since 2020
- Workforce U, VU's trademarked name for its business and industry arm
- John Deere's equipment donations, close to $1 million a year by Johnson's account
- A teacher apprenticeship pilot in which associate degree holders work as paraprofessionals while finishing a bachelor's degree online
- Stay close to the industries you want to serve, and bring their voice into your planning.
- Lean into your strengths instead of trying to become something you are not.
- Don't be afraid to try things outside the traditional academic box; not every workforce solution needs a degree program.
Read the transcript: https://changinghighered.com/workforce-development-in-higher-education/
#WorkforceDevelopment #Apprenticeships #HigherEducation #ChangingHigherEdPodcast
