Next spring, eight instructors in the Career Technologies division at Kishwaukee College will have an opportunity to have brief “externships” with local business and industry and see first hand the jobs that their students are preparing for. The Faculty Externship was developed by Rick Bunton, Coordinator of Programs of Study for the Career Technologies division. “This really lets instructors go to our local employers and see the individual work sites,” he explained. “It is very similar to job shadowing.” Bunton applied for a grant through the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) to provide funding for the program.
The Career Technologies division at Kishwaukee offers certificate and the two-year Associates in Applied Science degrees in programs that make students workplace ready in a variety of fields, including Automated Engineering Technology. Automotive Technology, Aviation Flight, Computer-Aided Design Technology, Computer Information Systems, Criminal Justice, Diesel Power Technology, Electronics, Horticulture, Office Systems, and Welding.
The Faculty Externship Program focuses on current fields that are experiencing a shortage of skilled workers. “The areas related to technology and manufacturing currently have the greatest need to have new employees entering the workplace with specific skills,” explained Bunton. “If our instructors can visit the work-sites and see what our graduates are expected to know before ever setting foot on the floor or in the shop, everybody wins.”
Participating programs for this year are: Automated Engineering Technology, Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Computer Information Systems and Electronics Technology, and Welding Technology. The Externship sites this year include: Cotta Transmissions, Dawn Equipment, Devnet, Etnyre, Kishwaukee Community Hospital, Microsoft, Nestles, Nippon-Sharyo, NIUnet, SK Hand Tools, Smart Motion, Swenson Spreader, and TBC Net.
When visiting workplaces, instructors gain experience through observations and interactions with staff and management to clarify required skills and new technologies and then can use that knowledge to make adjustments to curriculum at the College. Instructors can also make valuable industry contacts that will allow them to establish future internship sites or to develop customized training through the Center for Business Development and Continuing Education at Kishwaukee College.
Zachery Caccia, an instructor in Welding Technology, visited Swenson Spreader this semester as the first Externship. “I was on site for four hours,” he said, “and I met and talked with everyone from the general manager to the supervisors to the welders. It was a way for me to make sure that what we are teaching in our classrooms and welding lab is directly applicable in industry.”
Caccia’s experience is exactly why Rick Bunton developed the Faculty Externship program. “At Kishwaukee, we take pride in making sure we are meeting current needs and are responsive to changing needs of local business and industry,” he explained. “Programs like this are another way to guarantee that we continue to do so. It benefits local industry because they know our graduates will come to them with the skills they really need. This program also benefits our students who know that they are in a program that will give them the best preparation to enter the job market with confidence in their skills and abilities in their chosen field.”
For more information on the Externship Program at Kishwaukee College, contact Rick Bunton at 815-825-2086, ext. 6084 or at richard.bunton@kishwaukeecollege.edu.
Click Here To Submit A News Tip Or Story