04-16-2023 Education - Flipbook - Page 6
6 The Baltimore Sun | Sunday, April 16, 2023
Carroll Community College is part of the MEA to help boost opportunities for students to earn associate degrees or certificates in health care disciplines across the state.
College programs address workforce needs
Flexible schedules help working professionals succeed
By Alex Keown, Contributing Writer
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cross Maryland’s educational ecosystem, colleges and universities
have cultivated various workforce
development programs that provide
employment pathways for students,
as well as working professionals.
A master’s degree program in industrialorganizational (I-O) psychology at University
Maryland, Baltimore County enables human
resources professionals to advance their careers.
I-O psychology is the study of human behavior in organizations and the work place. The
UMBC master’s degree program trains students
to address recruitment, training and development programs, workplace motivation and
reward systems, quality of work life, structure of
work and human factors, organizational devel-
opment as well as consumer behavior.
Elliot D. Lassan, director of the I-O graduate program, says the Covid-19 pandemic
changed the way people look at work. He says
the boundaries have changed due to remote
work opportunities, in some cases eroding to
the point where people struggle with work-life
balance.
“We’ve been forced to think about work
differently. There are pluses and minuses.
Technology was thrust upon people, which
means meetings are more timely because people can hop on the call and get started without
having to wait around,” Lassan says.
All the courses in the I-O graduate program
are offered in the evenings, from 6 to 9 p.m.,
Elissa Abod, assistant graduate program director, says. The classes are offered at night because
the majority of program students are working
professionals, she says. This allows people to
work and pursue an advanced degree.
The coursework includes foundational, core
classes, as well as electives that allow students to
customize their curriculum, Lassan says.
“Because we have a relatively large number
of students, we can offer a greater number
of electives,” he says. “We work very hard to
maximize the investment of students so that is
realized when they go out in the workforce and
get a job with a master’s degree.”
The master’s degree program culminates in
a capstone project for each student. In the last
semester, the I-O students will partner with an
area organization and execute a consulting project. Abod says the students act as senior consultants to the organizations. Types of projects
undertaken include employee engagement surveys, strategic plan for human capital, onboard-
ing programs and more. Abod has a student
who worked in the health care field. Her final
project was a compensation analysis for professionals in the hospital where she worked. That
analysis was submitted to the student’s employer with recommendations to improve salaries at
the hospital, Abod says.
“We hope that’s something they can leverage
in their career aspirations … to show they’ve
done a data informed consulting project with
an organization,” Abod says.
Six Maryland community colleges, including Carroll Community College, forged the
Maryland Education Alliance (MEA) to boost
opportunities for students to earn associate
degrees or certificates in health care disciplines
across the state.
The MEA is designed to allow students to
shift between the different community colleges
to take advantage of the different coursework
options. Students complete their initial course
work at their home community colleges. From
there, they can transfer to one of the other
schools and continue their educational pursuits
in health care, including the completion of
required clinical work.
The advantage of the MEA is it allows
community colleges to share resources and
their expertise in these various fields. The
colleges are relieved of operating costly and
highly specialized programs on multiple campuses, explains Rose Mince, provost at Carroll
Community College. She says the MEA began
with health care in order to meet the workforce
demand in this field. Mince notes the health
programs taught in the colleges require specialized equipment, personnel, as well as clinical
placements, all of which increase the costs of
the courses. Through the collaborations, the
costs are shared, which saves money, Mince
says.
The seven community colleges that created
the MEA are Carroll Community College, Anne
Arundel Community College, Cecil College,
Chesapeake College, College of Southern
Maryland, Harford Community College, and
Prince George’s Community College.
Some of the health care courses are offered
online, but MEA students will have to travel for
courses that require hands-on labs and learning
experiences. Mince says most of the in-person
programs have condensed the coursework for
into two days to decrease the travel for transfer
students.
Carroll Community College offers comprehensive courses in nursing, as well as massage therapy, nuclear medicine technology and
respiratory therapy programs. Students from
the six other colleges participating in the MEA
who are interested in those career paths, could
complete their basic coursework at their home
school, then transfer into Carroll to pursue
Workforce needs,
continued on page 9
Ensuring career advancement
Area programs create pathways to success
By Linda L. Esterson, Contributing Writer
new pilot program at the Community
College of Baltimore County (CCBC)
aims to provide entry into the health
care field for people in underserved
communities who qualify for assistance
programs.
“We’re trying to help people and give them the
opportunity to change their lives,” says Matthew
Bernardy, assistant dean of workforce solutions
for CCBC.
The public health pathways program is a partnership between CCBC, University of Maryland
St. Joseph Medical Center (UM St. Joseph) and
Baltimore County government. It will enable
county residents who are underserved and eligible for benefits including the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), housing
assistance, or endure other challenges including
underemployment, to gain access to education to
ultimately qualify for high-demand nursing positions. Eligible individuals will take preapplication
tests and participate in workshops that include
finalizing the formal application prior to partner
interviews. Thirty students will be accepted into
the pilot.
The program’s first cohort begins in June
with certified nursing assistant (CNA) training.
Following completion by August or September,
they will begin fulltime employment at UM St.
Joseph in Towson. Students receive $1,000 per
month from the county to assist with barriers like
child care and transportation that typically hold
people back, says Laura Finazzo, director for connections to employment for CCBC.
Simultaneous to their employment, they sit
for a Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS)
to determine need for academic supports and
begin taking prerequisite courses at CCBC for the
licensed practical nursing (LPN) certificate program in the fall. By January, they will enroll in the
actual LPN coursework at CCBC Essex and the
Randallstown Extension Center and clinical training at UM St. Joseph. Coursework is spread over
18 months to include built-in supports, including
tutoring, case management and working with a
project manager to assist with daily oversights.
The program in its entirety, including the CNA
training and coursework, covers 24 months, and
students receive the $1,000 stipend for the full
two-year period.
“The mere fact that they’re gaining employment experience right away is phenomenal,” says
Bernardy. “It really sets them in the right direction long-term as they transition from school to
employment, having that work experience in place
already. It's rare; people can do it on their own, but
to have it built into a program is top notch.”
Following the LPN coursework, students are
guaranteed employment at UM St. Joseph, with
a required two-year commitment on their part.
After one year, they may apply for a job at another
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facility within the UM system, according to Nicole
Beeson, M.S.N., M.B.A., R.N., senior vice president and chief nursing officer UM St. Joseph.
“We’re certainly at a space in health care where
we are trying to expand the pipeline of bringing
team members into the fold of health care delivery,” Beeson says. “Additionally, we understand
that there's a need in our community to help give
our community members upward mobility and
to create an environment where they can have
a stable, enriched career where they can have a
really huge impact on the lives of others.”
The last three years. Beeson says, have compelled the medical community to partner differently with schools and hospitals, integrating
students into the hospital from the beginning of
their school training through their clinical orientations. “In doing that we've really identified these
enriched partnerships are so much better for the
outcomes of the students,” she says.
The pathway program’s wraparound approach,
with connection at the start of the process through
the student’s full journey to CCBC and county
resources plus UM St. Joseph mentors will prove
successful, similar to other collaborative relationships already established, according to Beeson.
“We see higher retention rates, lower turnover,
higher confidence scores, and overall better satisfaction with their integration into the health care
field.”
A Maryland State Department of Education
Empowering Teachers Grant has funded the
launch of the Coppin State University online bach-
elor of science degree program in early childhood
education human development.
The program, which focuses on literacy and
foundational skills for infants to children five
years of age, expands upon an existing exclusively
in-person program, which is being updated simultaneous to the launch of the fully online offering. New components of the in-person program
include first aid and CPR certifications and incenter teaching experiences, according to Wyletta
Gamble-Lomax, Ph.D., assistant professor of elementary education at Coppin State University.
The program focuses specifically on educating
students to teach the youngest children in early
childhood settings. There’s also a track for administrators and center owners. Among the program’s
core courses are Early Language and Literacy
Development; Family, Community Engagement
and Advocacy in Child Development; and a new
course called Practice What You Teach, providing culturally responsive teaching practices in an
urban context, Gamble-Lomax explains.
Early childhood education begins with a foundation focused on phonemic awareness and phonics using symbols. “They need those foundational skills early so by the time they get to the third
grade, they can read independently and comprehend what they’re reading,” Gamble-Lomax
explains. “We need to make sure that teachers are
highly qualified in those spaces … and prepared to
teach two-year-olds and learn about child development and what it looks like for a two-year-old
to play and learn.”
Offering the program fully online and asynchronously enables greater access for students,
particularly those who are already employed in
early childhood education or operate their own
centers.
“They can still run their family daycare, and
now they can receive their bachelor's degree
focused on human development, early childhood,”
Gamble-Lomax notes. Virtual resources like the
Eagle Achievement Center and the Writing Center
offer additional support.
“In the past, they had to leave and come to
campus or go complete an internship somewhere
else. Our program is set up so they can do it
in their own center.” In addition, a Child Care
Professional Development Fund grant is providing tuition and books for students who work in
and want to remain employed at an early learning
center.
UMBC’s first fully online degree program,
the online information systems master’s program,
was designed to generate employment and career
advancement for students and is ranked as 41st
best in the country by U.S. News & World Report.
“Our program is one of the most flexible technology master’s programs out there,” says Michael
Brown, Ph.D., professor of practice and graduate
program director of the online information system
master's program at UMBC. Students enroll in
four core classes and then add six electives from
a group of 20 offerings. The program provides
four tracks – cybersecurity, user experience, data
science and artificial intelligence – that enable
specialization. Just three courses are required
per track, and some students choose to pursue
multiple tracks in the 10 courses they complete
for the degree. With year-round course offerings,
students can complete the program in as little as
19 months, but most are simultaneously employed
and take fewer courses each semester, extending
their study to 30 months, Brown says.
The program proves attractive for students
already working in the industry, who enroll to
advance in their careers, while 40% of the other
enrollees are career changers, who have a biology, education, music or accounting degree, for
instance. Those without a related undergraduate
degree complete a four-credit foundation class in
addition to the required coursework.
Current enrollment sits at 100 students, with
a capacity for more, Brown explains. With many
open, high-paying jobs in the industry, students
complete the program and assume employment
quickly, most often in cybersecurity, project management and database administration roles.
“This degree has a proven track record of
advancing the careers of people who've worked
in technology and has an excellent track record of
getting people their first jobs who wants to change
careers,” Brown notes. Alumni surveys indicate
they acquired their first technology position as a
result of the training they received through the
program.