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Cowley College: Training,retraining area's workforceIn the past couple of years,Cowley has developed short-termprograms to help displaced workerswithin the county acquire newskills and regain employment in ashort period of time.But the focus of Cowley'sBusiness and Industry Institute,located at Tupper Street andFourth Avenue at Strother FieldIndustrial Park, is to be a reliableresource for current business andindustry, not only in CowleyCounty but the surroundingregion."The continuation of supportfor existing industry is what'scritical to us," said Gene Cole,associate dean of business andindustry at Cowley. "If we do ourjob right, we should see a majorimprovement in our workforce.And as an institution, we're committedto that."Cowley has enjoyed alengthy and prosperous relation-Wayne Short takes GE employees through some training.ship with General Electric's Aircraft Engine Maintenance Center. Recently, the college assisted GE in hiringbetween 250 and 300 people. The college conducted extensive pre-employment interviews, testing,and training totalingplaced in a hiring pool for GE.135 clock hours. Those who successfully completed the battery of tests were thenThe college and GE are hooked up with other ventures, including computer training, manuals training,Inspection Tool 201 training, and environmental health and safety training. Cowley also has providedsome train the trainer classes."Really, it's been ongoing with GE," Cole said.The Learning Lab has remained a vital part of the training. There employees can come in to improvetheir skills in areas such as math or English, work at their own pace, and be assured that all results willremain confidential.Another classroom that seats around 20 is used mostly for manuals inspection and environmentalhealth and safety classes. Cole said."And recently we've secured two new televisions, VCRs and stands through the support of GE," Colesaid. "And GE was a big (financial) supporter of the Learning Lab. But it's open to all industries to use."Cowley also has a strong partnership with Rubbermaid."We have done computer training and are planning some more," Cole said.Approximately 60 Rubbermaid employees are enrolled in the Tech I certificate program at Cowley.The program was customized to meet Rubbermaid's needs. The certificate is convertible to an associate'sdegree from Cowley and to a bachelor's degree in plastics from Pittsburg State University.Cole said one of the biggest selling points for business and industry to work with Cowley isthe college'squick response time."Because of our dedicated staff, and that includes the administration and faculty, we're able to developcourse material for business and industry in a short amount of time."^