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| navigate: home: magazine: fall 2002: article | |
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Penn State Wilkes-Barre and Procter & Gamble partnership benefits employees By Mary B. Waltman | ||||||
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A consistently willing attitude to work together and an interest in increasing education and training opportunities for employees have resulted in a mutually satisfying relationship for Penn State Wilkes-Barre Continuing Education and Procter & Gamble Paper Products. The Mehoopany Procter & Gamble plant, the largest employer in Wyoming County, manufactures paper products, including Charmin, Bounty Towels, Bounty Napkins and Pampers and Luvs diapers. Over the years, the Penn State Wilkes-Barre Continuing Education Office has collaborated with Procter & Gamble to offer a broad spectrum of programs and workshops, including computer training, management development and leadership skills, metric conversion, electrical engineering technology and management information systems. According to Ina Lubin, director of Continuing Education at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, the relationship evolved because of Penn State Wilkes-Barre’s responsiveness to meet company needs by educating and updating its workforce to deal competently with emerging technologies. One of the longest-running programs, initiated in 1990, offers noncredit basic computer training. During peak years, more than 2,000 employees were enrolled in the highly successful program, which is still in operation, although on a reduced scale, because the greatest need has been met. For the successful completion of another cooperative endeavor, both faculty and students displayed outstanding commitment under challenging situations to achieve their goals. The result was the recent graduation of four Procter & Gamble employees, who received associate degrees in electrical engineering technology. Faculty members conducted the courses at the plant on a part-time basis, one course at a time, over a five-year period from 1996 to 2001. Faculty members accommodated employees who worked full-time swing shifts. Because the employees worked 12-hour days, instructors conducted the courses at Procter & Gamble during the employees’ days off. “We have very dedicated faculty who were willing to travel the 60-mile round-trip to deliver their courses at the company location in all kinds of weather,” said Janet Rosenbaum, assistant director of Continuing Education at Penn State Wilkes-Barre. Dr. Lynda Goldstein, assistant professor of English at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, taught the Art of Cinema course to the electrical engineering technology students. “I was frankly impressed with the adult students’ level of engagement and scholarship in the film course I taught for general education credit and hope they all continue their educations to earn bachelor’s degrees,” she said. “Students this bright and hardworking over such a long period are fabulously inspirational.” Responding once again to changing interests and needs, Penn State Wilkes-Barre initiated a 24-credit Management Information Systems (MIS) certificate program. Ten students earned MIS certificates in 2001, while 10 students are currently enrolled. Graduates of the program gain the business knowledge and technical skills necessary to compete effectively with challenging situations in business management. According to Rosenbaum, one grateful graduate of the program noted during her commencement ceremony that today society places “strong emphasis on school-to-work issues for high school students, but little emphasis on how adult students can continue a higher education.” Lubin commented that continuing education of this kind is possible only because of the tuition reimbursement program available through the company, as well as a company climate that “values education.” “Without Procter & Gamble’s value of education and training and a willingness to work with us, the programs wouldn’t be possible,” she said. “There must be a three-way relationship, involving the company, the University and the students.” Addressing the collaborative relationship, Dave Morrison, family care plant manager at Procter & Gamble, noted, “The development of our employees’ skills is critical to the continued success of our business. The type of partnership that exists with Penn State allows our employees to expand their knowledge base, while still meeting the needs of our business.” Another area of collaboration between Penn State Wilkes-Barre and Procter & Gamble involves a customized job-training grant running from 2001 to 2003. The Penn State Wilkes-Barre Continuing Education Office is responsible for monitoring any work activity related to the training of production workers. The company uses internal employees to conduct the training sessions for new employees, which is necessary to facilitate company expansion and the addition of two new production lines. Penn State provides fiscal oversight for the operation, Rosenbaum said, noting that the state requires a local education institution to oversee the financial aspects of the grant. “Overall, I believe Penn State has had a strong educational impact over an extended period of time utilizing a number of University resources at Procter & Gamble Mehoopany,” Rosenbaum said. An outreach program of Penn State Wilkes-Barre Continuing Education | |||||
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© 2002 Outreach Communications, Outreach & Cooperative Extension, The Pennsylvania State University phone: (814) 865-8108, fax: (814) 863-2765, e-mail: outreachnews@outreach.psu.edu |
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