For the Reporter
Highline College’s Center of Excellence for Global Trade and Supply Chain Management, along with Washington state’s nine other Centers of Excellence, is celebrating 10 years of innovation and development of a skilled workforce.
“The centers’ 10th anniversary is a tremendous milestone for community and technical colleges. It has been a wonderful decade of achievements. We are proud to host the Center of Excellence for Global Trade and Supply Chain Management,” said Dr. Jack Bermingham, Highline College’s president. “It leverages our college’s economic development mission, our strong two-year program, our new bachelor’s degree and our broad industry relationships in supporting its statewide constituencies.”
The Centers of Excellence are flagship institutions that build and sustain Washington’s competitive advantage through statewide leadership. Each center focuses on a targeted industry that drives the state’s economy and is built upon a reputation for fast, flexible and responsive workforce development to support education and training programs.
The nine additional centers serving Washington’s community and technical college system are: Agriculture, hosted at Walla Walla Community College, Allied Health at Yakima Valley Community College, Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing at Everett Community College, Clean Energy at Centralia College, Construction at Renton Technical College, Education at Green River Community College, Homeland Security Emergency Management at Pierce College, Information and Computing Technology at Bellevue College, and Marine Manufacturing and Technology at Skagit Valley College.
“The Center of Excellence provides a road map for students to achieve success in their business and personal lives. The first concern is to help the student find a career they can enjoy and within which they can flourish,” said Mike Oliver, Vice President Emeritus for Lynden International. “It draws students to particular academic disciplines, which benefits the schools. Lastly, industry benefits by gaining a talent pool of highly trained and motivated workers. Every group wins. What can be better than this?”
The Centers of Excellence were established by the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, were codified by the state legislature in 2009. The centers lead and support the development of rigorous skills standards to meet industry training needs, collaborate on grant projects to support workforce training, and are involved with national boards and organizations. They ensure that leading edge thinking, best practices and technologies are introduced into the community and technical college system.
For more information on Highline’s Center of Excellence for Global Trade and Supply Chain Management, visit www.coeglobaltrade.com. For more information on Washington’s Centers of Excellence, visit www.coewa.com.
Talk to us
Please share your story tips by emailing editor@kentreporter.com.
To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.kentreporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) Please keep letters to 300 words or less.
