Philanthropy Today
Philanthropy Today
Manhattan Area Technical College on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 208
Manhattan Area Technical College receives prestigious Carnegie Foundation classifications, positioning it among an elite 8% of institutions nationwide with outstanding student outcomes including 97% job placement rates and 86% of graduates remaining in Kansas.
• Carnegie Foundation classifications include Applied and Career Studies (top 8% of institutions) and Opportunity College and University (top 16%)
• New campus building attracts students and enables partnerships with employers like PTMW
• Flint Hills Business Accelerator Project in child care developing curriculum with almost 30 high school students already enrolled
• $700,000 Patterson Family Foundation grant funding mobile VR training lab to serve surrounding counties
• Economic impact includes $8 million annually from alumni and $5 million from operations
• Launching new programs in plumbing, electrical training, and security technology
• Doubled CNA training capacity and filled nursing programs for first time since pre-COVID
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on NewsRadio KMAN. We are back here on KMAN with the GMCF Community Hour. I'm Dave Lewis and Jim Jeanette is joining us here in the program. Jim is the president, ceo of America of might as well be American Manhattan Area Technical College, and it's always a fun time when you and I get together because we talk about a lot of things, but sometimes we also have to get serious about the work that you're doing at MATC, which is getting so many, you know, not just local and regional accolades, but nationally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, some cool stuff last week from Carnegie Foundation which does the official classifications for higher ed, and usually with Carnegie, kansas State is in the news and like KU because that's where they get their Research 1 designation, which is very important to them as they go after grants and all sorts of projects and work with industry. But Carnegie spent the last few years working on some reclassifications, realizing higher ed is diversified and so we got two classifications. One is related to applied and career studies, which is a fancy name for technical colleges or colleges with workforce programs like ours. Carnegie rates almost 4,000 institutions with their classifications and only about 8% are known as applied in career studies, which with the workforce dilemma of the nation's end, it's a pretty elite company we're in. The more important classification from them is called Opportunity College and University and they only put 16% of the institutions in that.
Speaker 2:But that's because of our student outcomes wages, job placement rates, satisfaction, and that designation is just huge in reinforcing what we've known. We you know Wallingham called us number one best two-year college in the nation for 24. We put people to work. We have a 97% job placement rate. 86% of our graduates stay in Kansas. It's a good time to be a tech college in America and it's a great time to be Manhattan Tech in Kansas.
Speaker 1:Well, let's talk a bit about some of the things that are happening there at MATC. You know you got this big new building which is just A, I suppose, for a tech college. It's beyond what you would expect to see or hope to see. That's got to be an attraction for potential students. It is.
Speaker 2:We've definitely seen an uptick in recruiting visits, groups coming by. I mean, we have different groups almost every day in the building, which is what we want. And you know your comment about it's kind of unusual to have that kind of facility. Yes and no. And you know your comment about it's kind of unusual to have that kind of facility. Yes and no. The design of that facility was based on visits we've made to like Wichita Tech, which is, you know, the best tech college in the state. I'll say that in terms of size, their connection to the aerospace industry. I visited up at Metro College up in Omaha. I've seen a lot of tech colleges.
Speaker 2:What was fun with this project, working with our architect and contractor, was they listened to us on what we wanted for the space to be functional and did it that way. And so already you know, we've been working with our employers, our faculty, looking at the different ways we use that space, because we've got some flexibility for a while depending on what comes up. An example, for instance, is recently ETMW, a company out of Topeka, is going to expand here and they reached out to us both for our welding capability but industrial maintenance, electrician training, and I think it's safe to say that our ability to help them with workforce was one of the key reasons they looked at expanding to Manhattan. That's an investment from that facility that's already paying off. We're working closely with Potts County Economic Development and Manhattan Chamber. Related to what goes into CAT next.
Speaker 2:So what I've enjoyed is our ability to help influence economic development because we can do the workforce side and that's a big value that we bring to the region.
Speaker 1:You know there's a lot of great things that are happening with MATC and you know we talk about all the different things that you know the work that you have there with the new facility, but also with the new facility oh gosh, what is the proper term for the child care initiative that you're involved in as well?
Speaker 2:Right. So the Flint Hills Business Accelerator Project in child care, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's a lot, that's a big title.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So Lisa, the director for that project, is on our staff as well. She's put together the curriculum. She will help teach that. We'll be working with her and the Community Foundation to find an outreach coordinator to work with her. The curriculum is going through the proper channels with the state regents process. She's been doing a super job reaching out to people, working with folks, getting people excited about this project and it's just another example about this project. And it's just another example. With her help she reached out and talked to other two-year colleges in the state with child care programs, picked the best of those to put in our curriculum. She working with my dean of outreach and partnerships, chris Boxberger, his connections with the area schools, especially USD 383. I think we already have close to 30 students signed up to take the child care classes through the high school, to get credit for that through us and to help her staff some of that facility and get more workforce. So yeah, it's just another direct example of us being a part of the community.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Well, you know there's a lot of people that have been. You know you do have a foundation. A lot of people may not be familiar with that, but how does the foundation assist your mission at MATC?
Speaker 2:So it's a 501c3, and it helps us in getting donations going after grants. But we've made that a key part of working within the GMCF, which helps us a lot with management of the funds. So we save some personnel costs on that to make sure that we're investing the money good for growth. But, for instance, we're working on a corporate grant right now that would help provide money for scholarships for high school and adult ed students to go into certain programs, as well as help us design what my grant writer has put together called an exploratorium, which relates to how we get word out about these programs in area schools and it's hands-on stuff that students can do to get them interested in workforce education. That, combined with the current Patterson Family Foundation grant project we have, by probably mid to late fall, we'll have a virtual reality mobile trailer going out in the surrounding counties, both as a recruiting tool with schools, also as a lab to work with business and industry to do introductory courses in basic technology.
Speaker 2:This VR stuff and AI I mean it's got my head spinning, but it's definitely the wave of the future in how we educate and train people and I think we're going to see a whole new level of student performance because of their excitement with technology. The uses for this stuff is crazy and we're so glad to work with Patterson. They provided us with about a $700,000 grant to launch this concept with the mobile VR trailer, and we're working on a second one because I want a second one to work with healthcare, particularly that we can take out this ability to combine AI and VR hands-on stuff, if you will, with anybody gets you more excited about learning, it's safer, it costs us less in materials. It's the way corporate America is trading. You know I'm getting old. I'm 68 years old, but I want to be about 30 years younger because of the way this technology can help you learn to do stuff.
Speaker 1:You know, when you and I were kids, we were pretty thrilled, just to have a, but I want to be about 30 years younger because the way this technology can help you learn to do stuff. You know, when you and I were kids, we were pretty thrilled.
Speaker 2:Just to have a color TV. Yeah, I mean, I had Tinker toys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, this stuff. I got to spend part of the day at dreamscape Academy at Arizona state last year and we did about a one hour simulation and there'd their VR lab and you were totally immersed in it. The scenario for us was similar to an Indiana Jones movie, but then part two of it we were actually working on animals in a fictitious planet, but we were like veterinarian aides working with animals through VR and the ability to grab data about current conditions. You know we worry about overload, but this stuff comes at you in such a way that makes sense, so you can put the puzzle pieces together to diagnose things. The impact on the sciences and on technology with this stuff is incredible.
Speaker 1:Let's talk a bit about another aspect. With MATC, you have been working with a lot of different organizations here in town that do a lot of the tech work that is needed in our community for construction or whatever the case may be. You've got investors, you've got donors that help through your workforce development, and these partnerships are significant, and how does that play into the work that you are doing here with regard to getting students engaged in the work that they're training themselves for?
Speaker 2:So I'm really proud of our faculty and our staff for embracing ideas and learning. I'm going to try to explain this easily. Financial aid and VA benefits are great. It helps people get through the process, but some students can go faster than what their traditional structure of education allows, and so we've been working with some companies, and one is our is VHS, our partner on the construction of the new building. How do we set up more internships for students so that we can lay in front of students from day one in class? If you can get these indicators, be on time, participate, get your assignments in on time, show us you've got some good workforce skills. We've got a lot of employers willing to give you a paid internship and you get into the workforce quicker.
Speaker 2:We can take what they learn on the job for credit into the programs we're able to accelerate people into the workforce. We're especially working on that angle as we work at Fort Riley. We are on base at their request. We have our first welding graduates coming up next week. We're going to keep expanding other programs there, but those soldiers have a lot of military training that counts for credit. We're in a unique position, both with high school students through early college opportunities, fort Riley students through their training.
Speaker 2:Then you add in the adult students. We've graduated about 200 people with their GED and about 40% of those kids have gone through us at the same time to get training to be a CNA or in welding or an auto mechanic. The opportunities they all have for jobs that are starting at anywhere from 18 bucks an hour up to 30 some bucks an hour. It's crazy.
Speaker 2:In our industrial maintenance program I think last I checked, about three-fourths of our students that tested for michelin got jobs immediately at michelin, michelin's paying the rest of their college bill while the student works part-time at michelin. There's no hook that they have to stay with michelin. But michelin's program has kept over 90 of those students because they get them into a good career path. These, these opportunities for the students are amazing. The other key part, I think where we have an edge over a lot of traditional education is being hands-on. So the kids see, here's why I need to know this math and this science and I have to know enough English to make this report. We're able to show the relevance of all those skills.
Speaker 1:Let's talk a bit about MATC and what you're doing to help fortify the workforce here locally.
Speaker 2:So we did an economic impact study through a third party, and so our alumni and again study through a third party, and so our alumni and again 86% of our students stay in the region after they graduate as workers. Their annual economic impact is over $8 million a year into the regional economy. Our operational impact is over $5 million a year. The new building we put up the impact on that was over 180 full-time jobs. So we're not at the level of K-State they're, you know, the land-grant university. We're not that. We are a regional tech college, but our impact is direct, fast and local.
Speaker 2:Our students tend to come out with low or no student loan debt, so their consumer power as an employee is incredible. Nurses they get the job with any of the area healthcare industries. It's a good paying job. They're buying a car, they're buying a house. Welding students they're buying a truck, they're buying a cooler, they're buying a house. That consumer impact of our students stays in this region and it's huge. So our annual budget is around $9 million a year. Our economic impact in this area is twice that.
Speaker 1:You know and that's one of the things I don't think people take necessarily into the frame of their mind is that this type of education is directly related to economic development.
Speaker 2:Yep and the chambers in the Potts County Economic Development. Both those entities in particular have been great using us in that way. We're a good partner with them. Again, the PTMW expansion we worked with the chamber. That incentive package the city commission looked at to help this company come here. We're a key part of that, providing that workforce and ongoing training.
Speaker 2:We're working closely with Landall up at Marysville and as you know, landall's an important employer for the region. Their products go global. Well, we're trying to feed more welders there. We'll be launching a plumbing program this fall new plumbing program. You know those folks make good money. Electrician training will be coming after that, security technology right after that. So we're going to be launching three pretty good programs within the next 12 months that have great earnings power and they're definitely needed in the community. In addition, I'm tickled to death to report that we finally have bounced back from covid related to health care so we have full classes coming in the fall for both our practical nursing and registered nursing programs. First time since before COVID and again working with area schools and other entities, we have doubled the number of CNA seats for us to be able to train people to be CNA starting this fall.
Speaker 1:That's big news.
Speaker 2:Yeah, healthcare, it's huge in this area and we're a good feeder for that. Now you know all the healthcare partners want to thank them. Yeah, healthcare, it's huge in this area and we're a good feeder for that. Now you know all the healthcare partners want to thank them. Via Christie stepped up right away to help us. Community Foundation has as well, so a lot of good stuff coming.
Speaker 1:Well, congratulations on all the work and all the honors you've been receiving here, and we'll encourage our listeners to find out more about Manhattan Area Technical College at the website manhattantechedu. Jim Jeanette, president Manhattan Area Technical College, Keep moving forward.
Speaker 2:Sir, you got time for one quick rock and roll trivia question.
Speaker 1:Okay, go.
Speaker 2:Mamma Mia. The phrase Mamma Mia was number one in the charts for over 11 weeks, from 75 to 76, first with Bohemian Rhapsody, and that song was knocked off by Abba's song Mama Mia. So the two word phrase Mama Mia top of the charts for 11 weeks. There's your worthless rock and roll trivia for the day.
Speaker 1:And that's a spicy meatball. Jim, always pleasure to talk to you. Thanks for joining us again, congrats and good luck with everything else you're working on.
Speaker 2:Thank you much. Thank the foundation for helping us.
Speaker 1:It's the GMCF Community Hour. Vern's back in the studio Closing segment coming up in just a couple of moments here on NewsRadio KMAN.