Duke, Durham Tech have a shared vision for workers

Editorial, Guest Columnist

BY PHAIL WYNN

More than 25 years ago, I had a vision for Durham's community college that I thought could change our students' lives and move our community forward. I thought we should partner with businesses, listen to employers' needs, and then create customized programs to educate and train workers in the skills needed. As a result, I hoped more businesses would locate here and more residents would be prepared for jobs and be positioned for success. This vision has become a reality.

Partnerships and cooperation are critical to success, to being an active participant in a community, and to being a good citizen of a community. The connections among Durham and its institutions have always been important, but their strength has perhaps never been so apparent as during the April 20 centennial celebration of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce at which I was honored to speak.

The presidents of Durham's three institutions of higher education, Durham Tech, North Carolina Central and Duke, were asked how our institutions support Durham's economic growth and how the business community can support us. For me, that support isn't through one-way ventures, but partnerships.

One of the partnerships I highlighted during the centennial celebration is between the nursing program at Durham Tech and Duke. The Duke Medical Center has long served as the primary clinical training site for students in our nursing, respiratory therapy, surgical technology, pharmacy technology, and occupational therapy programs. Duke now helps support an evening program at Durham Tech that enables licensed practical nurses to prepare to become registered nurses.

Through a partnership presently in its third year, Duke committed $100,000 to support our evening LPN to RN program, an important option because it allows the nursing students to continue working full-time. While our graduates aren't guaranteed employment at Duke, many are hired -- evidence of the high quality of education and training they receive at Durham Tech.

Our relationship with Duke does not exist in isolation. It is enriched by Duke's relationships with Lincoln Community Health Center and many other organizations, and our students -- as well as our community -- benefit. Our students and graduates have opportunities to gain clinical experience not only in the hospital setting but also at the community sites that Duke runs in the Lyon Park and Walltown neighborhoods and in four schools near the Duke campus.

This partnership is just one example of how Durham Tech fills workforce training needs in the community, where even here in the City of Medicine, skilled nurses are in short supply. This partnership is also just one example of the impact Duke has as an institution of higher learning -- by helping train our students -- and as Durham's largest employer -- by hiring many of our graduates. And it's just one of the partnerships that exist between Durham Tech and Duke.

Both institutions are integral parts of the Durham community and are dedicated to providing excellent education and training to prepare a well-qualified workforce capable of lifelong learning. We each benefit from the other's presence; moreover, we each thrive and our community thrives because of our presence.

Even in difficult times, these relationships strengthen us all.

I realized early in my career that partnerships between businesses and Durham Tech would enable our college to help people and our community by increasing economic development and creating good jobs. I am proud that together with Duke and our many partners throughout the Triangle, we have succeeded.

But we are not finished. Many citizens still experience the hardships of unemployment, insufficient education, and lack of health care. By continuing our partnerships, by identifying our residents' and employers' needs, and by responding readily to these needs, we can change even more lives. I look forward to our future work together.

Phail Wynn is president of Durham Technical Community College.

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