Collaborations key for partnership success

It was a busy week of collaborating with colleagues in higher education, business and industry partners and even a state government leader. The week started off with a Northeast Wisconsin Educational Resource Alliance (NEW ERA) meeting. NEW ERA fosters partnerships among public colleges and universities in the NEW North.

Collaborations continued at the NEW North regional summit. This event allowed private and public sector leaders throughout Northeast Wisconsin to network, supporting the NEW North’s mission of sustaining and growing our regional economy.

Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, center, visited Moraine Park Technical College’s Fond du Lac campus on Wednesday, Dec. 7. Kleefisch met with Moraine Park President Sheila Ruhland and toured the College’s Integrated Manufacturing Center (IMC) to learn about job training options. Here, Process Engineering Instructor Tom Roehl  explains some of the instructional processes used in the IMC.

After the summit, I received a visit from Rebecca Kleefisch, Wisconsin’s Lieutenant Governor. She is a strong believer in job creation and retention so I shared with her information on our programs and business and industry partnerships. To further display our job training efforts, I took Rebecca to the Integrated Manufacturing Center, where process engineering instructor Tom Roehl and mechanical design instructor Jeff Quackenboss gave us a tour and highlighted the hands-on projects students are working on this semester.

Wednesday night ended with Demystifying the Financial Aid process, an event hosted by Fond du Lac area educational institutions: Moraine Park, Marian University, UW-Fond du Lac and Fond du Lac High School. Students and their families were invited to learn about the financial aid process and hear from Presidents of the three colleges. Another wonderful collaboration between Fond du Lac School District and the three institutes of higher education in this area!  

As the week wrapped up, I reflected on the importance of these collaborations – All integral for Moraine Park to continue providing innovative education for our evolving workforce and community.