Publication date: 2023/10/13 6:57:21 pm
Modified date: 2023/10/13 6:56:13 PM
GREENFIELD — Members of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Higher Education, including Sen. Joe Comerford, stopped at Greenfield Community College Friday afternoon as part of a statewide public higher education tour.
“We are honored that they want to come here and ask questions and better understand our needs,” said GCC President Michel Schutte. “It’s clear that our representatives on both sides of the aisle are committed to community colleges.”
Comerford, D-Northampton, was joined by Rep. Dave Rogers, D-Ky., Kelly Pease, R-Westfield, Carmine Gentile, D-Sudbury, and Patricia Duffy, D-Holyoke. Kristen Erechko, Governor Maura Healey’s Western Massachusetts director, also attended. The committee plans to tour the state with the University of Massachusetts Amherst and GCC as the first two locations.
“We are excited to start in Western Massachusetts,” Comerford said. The tour is an opportunity to hear directly from leaders, faculty, and students about what’s going well, what’s challenging, and what the state can do better.
“One of the best ways I can advocate at the state level is to say, ‘I was in the GCC,'” Comerford said.
The tour began Friday in the east wing of the GCC campus, where lawmakers had the opportunity to experience part of the college’s nursing simulation lab. Melanie Zamojski, dean of the School of Nursing, said the simulation lab provides students with experiences not possible in a clinical setting, such as a simulated birth. She highlighted virtual her training as the future of training in the medical profession.
School officials, including Mr. Zamojski and Mr. Schutt, have announced that they are working on a program called Mass Reconnect, which provides free community college education to Massachusetts residents age 25 and older with a high school diploma or equivalent but no college degree. He emphasized the impact of initiatives such as free community college. nursing program. Schutt said 253 GCC students benefit from these two programs and other state grant programs.
“If it wasn’t for that support, I don’t know if those 253 students would be here,” Schutt said.
Comerford noted that these are the types of funding initiatives that lawmakers like her have to think about “how to sustain and grow.”
GCC President Chet Jordan praised the university’s efforts to “strengthen its academic portfolio” and touted the university’s reversal of declining enrollment.
“Now is the time to be big and bold in higher education,” Comerford said.
Kristin Cole, Vice President for Workforce Development, shared with lawmakers her focus on creating workforce development opportunities in manufacturing. She, too, credits much of the workforce training program’s success to state funding.
Keith Bailey, executive director of grants and government relations, added that the university is focused on relevance in program development and aims to “build capacity in a relevant and cost-effective manner.” .
Lawmakers are testing some of the simulation tools available to GCC students, and Schutt said they are demonstrating a “commitment to success.” She said she joined Comerford on a planning group for free community college.
“She and I joined many people who had the goal of changing their family tree,” Schutt said. “It’s great to be able to work with elected officials who have the same goals as me.”
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.