Ivy Tech eyeing students for new career training program

Jul 18, 2010 — The Times

Bowdeya Tweh

Jul. 18, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Ivy Tech Community College Northwest is fielding applicants for the second year of its transportation, distribution and logistics program at its Gary campus.

And once again, students accepted into the program will not have to pay tuition because of a grant funding the program through 2011.

The U.S. Small Business Administration awarded Ivy Tech with a $441,000 grant for the Transportation, Distribution and Logistics Center, which is part of the school's Department of Workforce and Economic Development.

The center's new educational program will accept 40 to 50 students each quarter during the next year to train new workers and retrain displaced ones in Northwest Indiana to work in places such as warehouses, factories or intermodal facilities.

Registration is under way at the school and classes will begin Aug. 3. Students will be able take four courses that run over 18 weeks.

The TDL Center took a few years to get off the ground, but Beatrice Owen of Ivy Tech said the college wanted to operate the program because Northwest Indiana has a central location in the country and is a transportation industry hub. Shakir Jones, also of Ivy Tech, said the center's operation helps support a larger statewide effort to reduce worker shortages in crucial fields and increase worker opportunities and wages for Hoosiers.

With the economy recovering, there is increasing sentiment among employers that there may be a skilled worker shortage, Jones said. The program is taking aim at shoring the gap with qualified people to enter the industry.

Jones and Owen are the project managers of the TDL Center at the Gary campus.

Three career development educational tracks will be offered: transportation, inventory management and supply chain logistics. Upon completion of the program, Owen said graduates receive career development certificates, which can be used to show employers they have a base set of knowledge that makes them more marketable.

One thing people don't realize, Owen said, is that the image of warehousing employees physically picking up boxes or being labor intensive is outdated.

"The employees, they need to be able to be efficient on the computer," Owen said. "They need to be able to read blueprints. They need to be able to work in a highly specialized, technologically advanced area."

Jones said the TDL program also has guest speakers from the local business community who speak to students about work opportunities in the region.

This year's focus is a little different from last year's set of courses because of the differences in grants the college received. A $381,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education's funded the first year of the program, which trained students to help them receive a commercial driving license or graduate with a certificate as a certified logistics associate, certified logistics technician or certified production technician.

More than 150 students passed the program launched in August 2009 out of about 200 students who enrolled.

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