Talent & Workforce

Molly Dodge: A major issue is that the pace of technological change is moving faster than talent production—especially in Indiana’s advanced manufacturing sector, where we have the highest concentration of jobs in the nation. Many of these jobs remain unfilled because we do not have an available workforce with the skills most urgently needed by Indiana firms. When their growth is inhibited, so is our economy’s. Ivy Tech is proud to be the first higher education institution in the nation to offer a smart manufacturing and digital integration program, and we’re constantly developing new education and training offerings—including reskilling and upskilling pathways—to help manufacturers grow a pipeline of future-ready talent. This work includes the creation of a skills training marketplace, which we envision as a one-stop talent platform where students and employers alike can easily access skills training programs when and how they need them.

Dr. Katie Minihan: Automation, robotics, AI, coding, cloud computing—technology continues to change how we work and will continue to work. Right now, the fastest-growing jobs didn’t even exist 20 years ago. How we work will continue to evolve, and we need to prepare students and adults to be ready for that evolution. A focus must be on continuous learning. Those heading into the workforce need to embrace flexibility, nimbleness, and the willingness to learn new skills while also being able to apply those skills in various industries. We need to ensure students across Indiana can develop skills—such as collaboration, critical thinking, and problem-solving—that will serve them regardless of their field or career.

Dr. Kevin Wachtel: The challenges continue to be in employee recruitment, retention, and development. A critical area we hear about consistently is a lack of professional development for mid-level management and new supervisors. IWU recently launched the Center for Leadership by Design to focus on leadership development for these critical roles, which enormously impact retention and workplace culture. These leaders must develop competencies surrounding broader views of organizational functioning, change leadership, and relationship development. In addition to in-person sessions, each participant receives a professional coach, access to the facilitator for further learning, and a determined number of consulting hours. The more comfortable and competent a leader is, the less stress they feel when dealing with challenging situations. This has a positive impact on employee satisfaction and engagement.

Dr. Katie Minihan: At PLTW we value and utilize advisory boards for our courses and programs. This allows us to continue to provide relevant real-world learning opportunities to students throughout Indiana.  We know how important the relationship between industry and school is. PLTW is that connecting piece. We assist in building relationships between our partners and schools in their communities. These connections can range from planning school visits from industry professionals to having guest speakers in the classrooms and eventually internships. Students can’t be what they can’t see, so having the opportunity to see first-hand and learn from professionals in their community is a powerful way for students to see the types of careers that are available to them.

Dr. Kevin Wachtel: These partnerships are critical since they provide direct feedback on what employers must address when recruiting, retaining, and developing employees. A key focus at IWU is problem-solving and working as a consultant with our partners. Feedback has driven the opening of a School of Engineering on our Marion campus, an aggressive transition-to-teaching program with a partner in Texas, educating classroom paraprofessionals to become licensed teachers, a one-year RN to BSN degree program, and a national leadership certificate for The Salvation Army Kroc Center and Adult Rehabilitation Center management teams.

Molly Dodge: At Ivy Tech, we are co-producers of talent in partnership with employers. Not only do employers provide invaluable insights into the skills and knowledge that are in high demand in their industries, but they also provide opportunities for hands-on experiences for students, such as apprenticeships, internships, co-ops or project-based learning. These insights and opportunities inform our academic and skills training offerings, so our programs are deeply relevant and aligned to Indiana’s current labor market demands. Regular engagement with employers also helps us understand emerging skills and competencies that our students need to develop for future success in the workforce. They help us skate to where the puck is going. 

Dr. Kevin Wachtel: In our non-profit model, IWU partners with the Shepherd Community Center to provide discounted degree pathways for Center employees. IWU also partners with The Bowen Center across many of its sites in Indiana by providing a collaborative approach to degree programs in mental health counseling and nursing. The organizations support events together, share expertise, and support the community. Lutheran Health is another successful collaboration that focuses on developing and increasing the pipeline of qualified nurses in their healthcare systems. We aim to come alongside these organizations and help them solve their staffing challenges with first-rate programming and flexibility, which serves their team members.

Molly Dodge: There are so many, but one of our most exciting collaborations is with Eli Lilly and Co. Lilly has partnered with Ivy Tech to create a diverse talent pipeline of at least 1,000 graduates with certificates or degrees in biotechnology, smart manufacturing and digital integration and industrial technology. These students—who receive scholarships covering all tuition and fees—have the opportunity to access work-based learning experiences with Lilly, including internships, apprenticeships and work-study programs, and they are invited to apply for full-time employment with Lilly after graduation. Many of our Lilly Scholars are the first in their families to attend college or have previously faced significant barriers to education and work, so the potential to land a high-demand job like those currently being created by Lilly is truly life-changing.

Dr. Katie Minihan: PLTW partners with employers to support schools in a variety of ways, such as expanding access to PLTW programming, informing coursework through advisory council participation, and making connections with schools. One of our partners, Ardagh Group, has made a significant, long-term commitment to schools in Indiana. They have provided funding to expand access to PLTW programming in communities across the state and provided subject matter expertise on the Advisory Committee for Principles of Engineering, which helped ensure the updates to that course were relevant for the real world. They are also engaging their employees with PLTW schools, visiting classrooms, hosting workplace tours, mentoring PLTW students, and recently have begun hiring PLTW students into a summer internship program in their local facilities.

Molly Dodge: More employers now provide education benefits for employees, but many are based on a reimbursement model—meaning that employees must pay for their education and training out of their pocket and wait for their employer to pay them back. We know that many working adults, especially frontline employees without education or training beyond high school, don’t have the financial means to pay upfront, so they don’t take advantage of this benefit. Ivy Tech aims to remove this barrier through Achieve Your Degree, our partnership with more than 340 employers to help workers get an associate degree or certificate from Ivy Tech in an employer-approved field of study with minimal or zero upfront costs. Achieve Your Degree provides a path for companies to skill up their workforce while eliminating the need for employees to pay out of pocket for courses that help them achieve greater career mobility and opportunity.

Dr. Katie Minihan: Educators need high-quality professional development that allows them to refine their practice, and learn new strategies and content to engage students. With access to professional development that goes deeper than just building knowledge around curriculum, we are providing educators with a foundation that includes industry knowledge and meaningful connections that help keep students engaged in the classroom. Being a STEM focused organization, it’s important we equip educators to use new technology to better support students in their classroom.  A component of this is to continually provide up to date relevant curriculum so that students find what they are learning to be applicable to their future. 

Dr. Kevin Wachtel: Many people in the US have earned college credit but have not completed a degree. Indiana Wesleyan University offers cost-effective accelerated programs designed to address the needs of working adults so that earned hours can become degrees. Students can choose from many degrees and complete one course at a time, allowing flexibility and personalized learning. We also have a generous transfer policy, and our programs are stackable, meaning that one degree can seamlessly transition into another, saving time and money. We also collaborate with employers, businesses, and K-12 organizations to provide discounts, assess prior learning credits, honor transfer credits, and create unique pathways for employees to pursue licensure and degrees at reduced time and cost. Through The Talent Ladder, IWU offers many certifications in specific business skills such as cyber security, IT and programming, digital marketing, data analytics, and many healthcare-related certificates. Many of these can be funded by grants through Indiana Next Level Jobs.

Dr. Katie Minihan: There is a continuum of ways that industry partners can engage with schools that make a real difference for students. Our Community Connections Framework not only lays out a plan for schools to connect with partners in their community, but it demonstrates ways where they can serve as guest speakers and mentors, provide site tours to students, create internships opportunities and more. Students who have internship experience even in high school, they  are immediately able to apply their classroom learning to their work-based experience.

Dr. Kevin Wachtel: Integrating the work world and education is critical for student success. Early engagement and hands-on experience with new job skills reinforces learning. For example, the 1150 Academy, part of the IWU Accelerator, has begun a new AI Training & Internship program for high school juniors and seniors. The program includes 24 hours of AI training and 76 hours of paid internships with local companies for these students. Our first group has future leaders from Fishers Franklin Central, Franklin, Pike, Westfield, Lawrence North, and Purdue Polytechnic high schools. This program is funded by student Career Scholarship Accounts.

Molly Dodge: Work-and-learn experiences are so important for students to understand the world of work and the future career opportunities that are available to them. Ivy Tech’s innovative Ivy+ Career Link team includes local Talent Connection Managers, who work directly with employers in their communities to design meaningful, relevant work-and-learn experiences and then market these opportunities to Ivy Tech students, whether through their traditional academic advisor or their dedicated Career Coach. We find that employers who partner with us to design and market work-and-learn experiences are thrilled with the quality of Ivy Tech students and the diverse perspectives and experiences they bring to the workplace.

Molly Dodge: Approximately 40 percent of Ivy Tech students are the first in their families to pursue education and training beyond high school. Once a student has identified their career goals, our coaches help them polish the essential skills that lead to success in the workforce—including effective time management, giving and implementing feedback, thinking critically and constructively and cultivating a positive mindset—that students may not have seen modeled before. When students feel confident in their ability to navigate the nuances of the modern workplace, the sky is the limit. We strive to ensure they not only have the education and training they need to be successful, but also the support they need to believe in themselves and achieve their highest and best possible self.

Katie Minihan: Employers know most high school students will not have the technical skills needed for certain jobs. Instead, they’re looking to hire those who have durable skills—the ability to communicate, problem-solve, learn, ask questions and work with a team. Those are the things we need to focus on with students, those are the things that are important to employers. Providing students with opportunities for work-based learning in high school makes the transition easier. When students have this kind of experience, the learning curve is reduced when they join the workforce.

Dr. Kevin Wachtel: A critical obstacle is not having a clear goal for what the degree or training is meant to achieve. Indiana Wesleyan University’s Mobile Career Lab is eliminating barriers to education and helping to clarify objectives by taking opportunities and resources straight to the people who need them most. Our three-pronged approach consists of Strength & Experience Assessments, Goal & Aspiration Maps, and Determining Next Steps.

By extending academic advising and career services to people in underserved, often-overlooked communities, IWU’s mobile career lab will create a proactive entry point into assessments, coaching, and advising that meets job seekers where they are to help them refine their direction, create a map of training and upskilling opportunities, and ultimately achieve their career goals

Dr. Katie Minihan: PLTW gets students excited and engaged in not only STEM but overall learning. We often hear from educators that due to our activity-project-problem-based model students who are not usually reached by traditional teaching methods are engaged in a PLTW classroom. In our high school curriculum, we leverage career connections, where we showcase what current and future careers look like. As students make their way through courses, they have the opportunity to learn more about industry credentials and how they can best apply their coursework to obtaining certifications.

Dr. Kevin Wachtel: The Center for Leadership by Design was established to bring a different approach to leadership development in the marketplace. The offerings are designed and tailored to meet a partner’s outcomes. We work in real-time during workshops to address the unique challenges that surface. We enable a space for ideas and solutions to emerge. We are participant-centered, not lecture-based. We offer development for all organizational levels, from C-suite to team leaders, early in their careers. We promote face-to-face, in-the-room development supplemented by other technology mediums. We integrate professional coaching into every offering to safely discuss, practice, and get feedback on applied skills in a safe place.

Molly Dodge: Many colleges and universities across the nation look to Ivy Tech’s Career Link program for inspiration as they redesign their services to better meet students’ and employers’ needs. The name says exactly what the program does: We link our students to careers with Indiana employers through high-quality, high-impact and concierge-level developmental career coaching that is deeply aligned with the current and future needs of those same employers. Students receive career coaching as soon as they register for classes, including strengths inventories and career interest assessments. Students also receive real-time local workforce demand and wage data, so they know what the job market will look like and what they can expect to make after graduation before they even choose a program of study. All Ivy Tech students have the opportunity to create a career development portfolio, which includes a resume, an elevator pitch, interview and networking preparation and more.

Dr. Kevin Wachtel: The most significant obstacle facing the Indiana workforce is the educational attainment rate of its citizens, which lags significantly behind other states. Including private higher education institutions, such as IWU, in the discussions with public institutions is critical to improving attainment rates. Only 48% of Hoosiers have an associate degree or a high-quality credential, and the national average is north of 51%. Almost 40 million people in the US have some college credit but no degree. These investments are not making an impact; finding a way to help adults complete degrees is important. While a bachelor’s degree is not the prerequisite for a better-prepared worker, continuing education and skills development are critical components of an educated citizenry. At Indiana Wesleyan University, we emphasize that skills and credentials earn jobs, and degrees provide promotions.

Molly Dodge: Indiana is fortunate to have policy leaders who are working diligently to remove barriers and grant more flexibility to providers of high-quality education and workforce training such as Ivy Tech. For example, in 2022, the Indiana General Assembly passed legislation that enabled Ivy Tech to rapidly expand our nursing program—the state’s and nation’s leading producer of associate-level nurses—in response to workforce shortages that were crippling Indiana hospitals at the peak of the pandemic. Ivy Tech has created more than 800 new seats in our nursing program since 2023 thanks to this legislation. More funding and flexibility is always needed to scale promising approaches across the state. Our partnership to create a statewide youth apprenticeship program modeled on the renowned Swiss system is one such model that will need long-term commitments from employers, policymakers and education and training providers to fully realize its massive promise and potential.

Dr. Katie Minihan: PLTW believes early access to STEM experiences is crucial for preparing students for the evolving demands of the workforce. Project Lead The Way advocates for policies that facilitate this access and strives to provide meaningful opportunities starting as early as Pre-K. Indiana’s innovative approach to reimagining diploma types reflects a shift toward recognizing diverse post-secondary paths and creates diplomas with greater significance and currency for students. PLTW believes these shifts acknowledge that high school should not only equip students with essential skills but also pave the way for diverse opportunities beyond graduation. By aligning policies and reexamining requirements and measures of success, we can create a more meaningful high school experience that empowers students with a range of options for their future endeavors.