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Innovation Partnership Institutes
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The Innovation Partnership Institutes
are a cornerstone of Governor Corzine’s Economic Growth
Initiative to make New Jersey a better place to live and do business. The
grants for Innovation Partnership Institutes in seven high growth
areas
have been awarded. The first round of grants funded the following
three
(3) sectors:
The second round funded four additional sectors:
Each grant is $150,000. These
grants fund consortia, which will create new curricula that
respond to the emerging needs of businesses in the various industry
sectors.
Once developed, these new curricula will be available statewide
for use by all New Jersey institutions. Copies of the curricula
for the first round grants can be found at www.njnextstop.org under
the course materials icon. This program is a joint effort
among the NJ Depts. of Education, Labor and Workforce
Development, and the NJ Commission on Higher Education.
Financial Services
Lead: New Jersey Institute of Technology
In 2005, the Northeast Regional Economic Innovation Alliance (NREIA),
comprised of educational partners, workforce investment boards
and industry partners from eight northern New Jersey counties
(Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Union and Warren),
was formed in response to a U.S. Department of Labor federal
funding opportunity - Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic
Development (WIRED) to address regional workforce development.
NREIA received a $100,000 planning grant from the federal government
to further develop its initiative, which focuses on encouraging
regional collaboration among public and private entities to develop
a more highly skilled workforce in order to attract economic
development and jobs in the region. Partners within NREIA from
Bergen, Essex and Hudson counties leveraged these efforts to
become the recipient of the Governor’s award to establish
the Financial Services Innovation Partnership Institute. Industry
partners including Prudential Financial, Sovereign Bank and Mellon
Financial will play a central role in defining the required basis
of knowledge; industry based work-related standards and providing
a cohesive set of recommendations to educators.
Contact Information: Dr. Gale Spak, Gale.Spak@njit.edu
Information Technology
Lead: Camden County College
Information Technology (IT) workers must be able to build the underlying
networks, develop technologies to get devices to communicate,
and create the hardware that can handle the digital data. To
address these issues, Camden County College in partnership with
NJIT will create an Information Technology Innovation Partnership
Institute to unite the efforts of key industry, state workforce
development agencies and academic partners. This IPI will serve
to streamline the transition from NJ public IT education programs
to real-world IT employment in the state. The design of the IPI
educational ladder will be based on the industry needs as expressed
by experts from local IT businesses, including Verizon and Comcast.
By allowing industry representatives to determine the competencies
needed by current and future workers, and using these competencies
as learning outcomes in the curriculum development process, the
IT IPI will build the nucleus of an industry-led workforce development
system.
Contact Information: Dr. Melvin Roberts,
mroberts@camdencc.edu
Biotechnology/Pharmaceutical
Lead: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
To be competitive in the international economy, the NJ Biotechnology
/ Pharmaceutical industry needs a pipeline leading towards
careers
in its companies.
Under the Bio/pharma IPI Rutgers will lead representatives of
more than 200 biopharma firms and 34 education and training organizations
to align the education and training resources with the workforce
development needs of the bio/pharma industries of the state.
In addition, the Institute served as the basis for the successful
application for a new Bio-1 regional partnership through the
federal Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development
(WIRED) program. The US Department of Labor awarded $5.1 million
to the Bio-1 partnership.
Contact Information: Dr. David Finegold,
dfinegold@smlr.rutgers.edu
Clean Energy Technology
Lead: Stevens Institute of Technology
Stevens’ Institute of Technology has created a partnership
with Bergen Community College, PSE&G, PJM Interconnection,
and Erin Engineering Company to focus on nuclear power workforce
development. The partnership is proposing a program that consists
of four components: a “Nuclear Power Engineering Concentration” in
the Mechanical Engineering program at Stevens; a “Technician
Certificate” in nuclear power technology to be offered at
Bergen CC; a Clean Energy Technology Education program for New
Jersey high schools; and a continuing education program for working
professionals in the industry. The intent of this program is “to
provide participating students with the necessary fundamental knowledge,
design experience, and “hands-on” practical skills
needed to meet the next generation nuclear power workforce education
and training needs.”
Contact Information: Dr. Hamid Hadim, ahadim@stevens.edu
Energy Efficient and Renewable Energy
Lead: Essex County College
Essex County College (ECC) is taking on the challenge of upgrading
New Jersey’s workforce by providing the tools for the current
and future workforce to progress up the career ladder in the
energy efficiency and renewable energy sector. It is therefore
proposing the creating of a new certificate program, Energy Efficiency
/ Renewable Energy Technology (EE/RET). The certificate program
will focus
on incorporating “green technology” into the building
construction and facilities management industries, and on “developing
renewable energy resources.” The John J. Heldrich Center
for Workforce Development and the Center for Energy, Economic & Environmental
Policy will jointly facilitate the development of the curriculum.
Contact Information: Mr. John
Vadnais, director@ipigreencurriculum.org
Advanced Manufacturing
Lead: New Jersey Institute of Technology
Led by NJIT, the partnership includes Camden, Newark, and Union
counties’ Workforce Investment Boards. The objective of
the partnership is to develop courses that will prepare students
for careers in advanced manufacturing and to assist educational
institutions in keeping their curricula relevant and current
to the needs of the manufacturing workforce. The plan is to analyze
and evaluate the manufacturing education needs of NJ companies,
modify existing curricula, improve the manufacturing industry’s
public image, and address recruitment strategies. Course materials,
software, and laboratory and computer components developed by
this partnership will be made available to the program participants.
Contact Information: Dr. Ernest Geskin, geskin@njit.edu
Transportation and Logistics
Lead: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Rutgers’ proposal creates a TLD Talent Network to “identify
sector workforce needs, develop curricula to meet identified needs,
and implement various workforce services.” A team of nine
educational institutions, four Workforce Investment Boards, and
North Jersey WIRED would create the network, with the guidance
of two additional WIRED regions. A number of employers from the
TLD sector would be part of the network, including UPS, Wakefern
Food Corp., and U.S. Foodservice, Inc., as well as a number of
industry associations. The proposal contains four phases: identification
of industry needs; identification of industry solutions; development
of new curricula; and dissemination and implementation of curricula.
Contact Information: Dr. Aaron
Fichtner, fichtner@rci.rutgers.edu |
STATE
OF NEW JERSEY
