By: Dr. Keith Miller, president of Greenville Technical College.

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Greenville is thriving, a city of superlatives – best place to live, best place to visit, and one of the best cities in the South. There are, of course, lots of reasons we’re the best, but our economy underlies all of them. People wouldn’t choose Greenville as a weekend destination or a place to call home if the storefronts were closed + few jobs were available.

What makes our economy strong? The employers – large and small – with roots in this community. How do we ensure these employers thrive? We partner with them to create people with the skills to produce vehicles, develop tires, build gas turbines, care for patients, teach children, and more. Greenville Technical College is the link between the skills employers need + the education that develops it, giving people in our community a path to success.

Our Center for Manufacturing Innovation (CMI) is an example. When the economy started to tick upward about 10 years ago, advanced manufacturers knew their sector could lead the economy out of the downturn if only they could find enough skilled new employees to take advantage of growth opportunities. In order to help close the gap between the skills that existed + the knowledge employers needed, we created a facility to teach mechatronics, CNC machining, metrology, 3D printing, and robotics, and we reimagined the education we offered there. Our students learn applied skills rather than theory, and they partner with the future engineers that Clemson University is training to solve real world manufacturing challenges.

Response to employer needs recently led us to add to the degree roster at CMI with an applied bachelor’s degree in advanced manufacturing technology. Employers told us they need people who can apply advanced technology to improve plant performance and efficiency. So, we got permission from the state legislature to offer an applied bachelor’s degree, putting us on equal footing with 22 other states where policies allow community colleges to offer at least one bachelor’s degree.

Our new project in the Village of West Greenville is also a response to employer needs – this time in the restaurant + hospitality sector. Downtown Greenville is a foodie paradise with more than 120 restaurants in a ten-block stretch. Those restaurants can’t succeed without qualified people to cook and serve. Pair that concentration of jobs with people living nearby who need a path to upward mobility and you have the reasoning behind our new Center for Culinary and Hospitality Innovation, connecting job requirements with the education to benefit from those opportunities.

Need meets education to create opportunity in every program we offer. More specialists to work on diesel engines? We’re upgrading our program to meet the highest quality standards in the industry and seeking national accreditation so that we can offer industry-recognized certifications. People with the skills to help organizations fend off attacks on their information systems? We’ve just added a Cybersecurity Certificate with courses mapped to National Security Agency/Department of Homeland Security standards. A pipeline of skilled candidates for openings at Lockheed Martin and other aerospace manufacturers? We’ve worked with Lockheed Martin to create a pre-apprenticeship program that provides participants with real industry training, making them high-value candidates for full-time jobs that pay well.

When employers ask, we answer. The programs created address specific requirements, allowing companies to thrive, graduates to succeed, and our economy to grow. Working together keeps Greenville working, and allows our city to stay at the top of the best lists.