TCAT president says state’s workforce partnership with Ford is off to a good start

The Tennessee Board of Regents is inching closer to revising its training programs to better fit Ford Motor Company’s upcoming hiring needs. The auto manufacturer will be opening an electric vehicle plant that’s projected to generate thousands of new jobs in West Tennessee.

At Thursday’s TBR meeting, Vice Chancellor for Economic and Community Development Carol Puryear told regents she’s been meeting with Ford reps on a consistent basis.

“We hope to have job descriptions that Ford’s actually looking at,” said Puryear, who is also president of the state’s technical college in Murfreesboro. “And a confirmed number of these persons … we need.”

In November, Puryear said, TBR pulled together a team of subject matter experts across its colleges to begin customizing a training curriculum with Ford. State higher education officials are planning to open a new technical college on Ford’s Blue Oval City campus.

Ford met with college presidents earlier this week after previous meetings in January and February. The company tasked education officials with providing data on all of Tennessee’s current academic programs and offerings. Findings detailing necessary improvements will be presented to regents.

“They wanted to see what TBR already had to offer,” Puryear said, “where the gaps were and what we needed to develop.”