Top southwest Indiana community leaders, businesspeople and higher education representatives will spend Friday morning engaging in a vital dialogue about how to enhance the area’s talent development through educational opportunities.
Hosted by the University of Southern Indiana, the three-hour virtual workshop will begin with a welcome by Ronald S. Rochon, PhD, USI President, followed by a keynote address from Dr. Michelle R. Weise, author of Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs That Don’t Even Exist Yet, published in November 2020. Weise’s commentaries on redesigning higher education and developing more innovative workforce and talent pipeline strategies have been featured in The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review and on PBS Newshour.
Following the keynote, participants will break into discussion groups with the goal of addressing one big question: How can education and business partner together to grow and sustain our economy?
“Working together as a community to discuss our future needs is foundational to preparing our students for meaningful, important work that positively contributes to society,” said Dr. Ann White, Dean of the USI College of Nursing and Health Professions and co-chair of the workshop. “Identified future competencies needed in the business community will be mapped to our curricula.”
Community leaders Greg Wathen, President and CEO of the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana, and Tara Barney, President and CEO of the Southwest Indiana Chamber of Commerce, will close out the workshop.
