On The Beat -10/26/20 EMCC Communiversity

On The Beat host Troy Thompson speaks with Dr. Courtney Taylor of EMCC on a wide range of topics including Communiversity and Work Force Development.

Welcome to on the beat, everyone, i'm troy thompson.

Joining me today is dr. courtney taylor, the executive director of communiversity and workforce development.

Welcome to the show, my friend.

Nice to see you.

Courtney taylor: thank you, it's nice to see you too.

Troy thompson: what is communiversity?

Courtney taylor: the communiversity is an advanced training facility located on highway 82 between columbus and starkville, where we focus on training for the various employer needs in the region.

The golden triangle has a very diverse set of industries, and so we work to meet those needs there.

Troy thompson: well, what kind of training programs do you actually have there on campus?

Courtney taylor: yeah, so on campus, we have everything from composites technician, which is a short course, a non-degree course that allows students to go through quickly and go to work.

Troy thompson: how long is that course for?

Courtney taylor: that course is six weeks.

Troy thompson: and is that nighttime or daytime?

Courtney taylor: that one's nighttime only.

Troy thompson: perfect, so this could be a second career for someone.

Courtney taylor: it could- troy thompson: i love that.

Courtney taylor: ...and the fun thing about that program is students are guaranteed an interview with a local company- troy thompson: wonderful.

Courtney taylor: and so they can go straight to work.

Troy thompson: what else have we got?

Courtney taylor: we also have programs like machining and systems-based automation, industrial maintenance, we have mechatronics, and all of those kind of work in concert to support our manufacturing companies in the region.

Troy thompson: one of the great things that you do here is that you're in touch with the local manufacturers- courtney taylor: yes, sir.

Troy thompson: ... and finding out what is needed within this community, and you base your courses around that?

Courtney taylor: we do, and our industry partners work with us, our employers work with us to design the curriculum.

We have constant feedback loops.

Troy thompson: wow.

Courtney taylor: we meet with them monthly and quarterly to say, "hey, how's it going?

What do you need?

What kind of skillsets are you seeing that you need?"

Things of that nature.

It's a wonderful give and take, and it allows us to really produce what they're wanting so that our people can get hired.

Troy thompson: all right.

So i want to ask you, where are you located, and are the courses all on campus or are they online as well?

Courtney taylor: the emcc, east mississippi community college, is located all over the region.

We have sites at mayhew and the communiversity right there in columbus.

We also have programs down in scooba, mississippi, and we have a small facility in west point, mississippi.

And so we do have hybrid programs, we do have academic programs that are fully online.

Our programs at the communiversity in our technical trades area, they are primarily hands-on because they are heavily hands-on programming.

Troy thompson: really.

Courtney taylor: you've got to hold a motor to be able to fix a motor, and so we... working with- troy thompson: i wouldn't even know where to start with that.

Courtney taylor: look, i'm not the technical person either.

I love what we're able to do for industry and i love the flexibility that we're able to have.

But the communiversity, like i said, is right out there on 82 between here and starkville.

Troy thompson: wonderful.

Now, you've done the course.

Okay, i've gone in and done one of your courses.

What is your involvement after i finish that course?

Do you help with job placement or you advise, do you get me ready for those interviews?

How does that all work?

Courtney taylor: all of that actually starts the moment you come to us.

Troy thompson: really?

Courtney taylor: yeah, we have a program called wioa, which is the workforce investment opportunity act, and we have several navigators and people of that nature who work with our students to help them navigate whatever their life challenges are.

They help them isolate job opportunities that they may be interested in and help them find those things, resumes, and just all of those kinds of things that they may... hurdles that they may have to getting into the workforce.

Troy thompson: and what you need to put your best foot forward, i would assume as well.

Courtney taylor: exactly, yes.

Troy thompson: now, are these courses part-time, full-time or it depends on what you decide to take?

Courtney taylor: it depends on what the student wants, and that's one of the beautiful things about community colleges in general is we have the opportunity to meet students wherever they are.

So if they want a short course, we can give them a short course, six, eight weeks.

If they have time to do something longer, they can come full time.

We have a program starting in january, for instance, that will be 32 hours a week, so students will come from 7:30 to 4:00 for 12 weeks.

But that program is heavy civil construction, and they will learn how to operate heavy machinery and go to work in horizontal construction.

Troy thompson: wonderful.

How do people become enrolled?

Courtney taylor: they can give us a call.

For our programs, they can call 243-1803, or they can just go to eastms.edu, there's an application, there's emails, there's all the information they would need there.

Troy thompson: well, doctor, thank you so much.

We really appreciate you.

Courtney taylor: yes, thank you.

Troy thompson: if you want to find out more information, there it all is up on the screen for you.

Get ready to start your new career now, it's as simple as one click away.

Back after this short break.

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