Best Practices in Education Partnerships with Business and Industry

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• Educational Institution: Lansing Community College (LCC)
• Location: Lansing, MI
• Business/Industry: Intergraph Corporation and ESRI
• Location: Huntsville, AL and Redlands, CA (respectively)
• Partnership Description: LCC and its partners have developed a good relationship in the area of high tech. The college can benefit from national exposure and the income generated by contracts, training, software, and certifications. The college can offer the companies additional exposure for their products and training for their employees, in both credit and non-credit areas.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: Donated software, computer training, and certification
  • For Business/Industry: Marketing and Beta evaluation
• Startup: Partnership helped with computer purchasing. Researched local government and industry training needs.
• Maintenance: Training and education
• Improvements: Better communications and expanded use of related business.
• Lessons Learned: Find a likely candidate for the college's services in the local market, and contact the company's corporate headquarters. Don't deal with the middle person and/or regional office.

• Educational Institution: Hazardous Materials Training and Research Institute (HMTRI) located at Kirkwood Community College (KCC)
• Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
• Business/Industry: Rockwell Collins
• Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
• Partnership Description: Rockwell Collins has been a partner with HMTRI and KCC for several years. They work together to provide safety training and environmental health and safety information to industries throughout the state of Iowa and in Rockwell Collins facilities nationwide.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: Not available
  • For Business/Industry: Not available
• Startup: Not available
• Maintenance: Not available
• Improvements: Not available
• Lessons Learned: Not available

• Educational Institution: Hazardous Materials Training and Research Institute (HMTRI) at Kirkwood Community College (KCC)
• Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
• Business/Industry: McLeodUSA
• Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
• Partnership Description: When McLeodUSA established corporate headquarters adjacent to the KCC campus, a link was established to utilize the college for employee development and training. The college provides support to the business for the development of various programs and for the development and delivery of health and safety training for McLeodUSA employees.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: Not available
  • For Business/Industry: Maintains compliance with regulatory agencies and gives employees access to continuing education through the course offerings of the college.
• Startup: The heads of the partner institutions initially established the groundwork and parameters of the link. Meetings of subordinates for each partner were established to develop the direct one-on-one relationship necessary to maintain the link and sustain the success of the partnership.
• Maintenance: Not available
• Improvements: Not available
• Lessons Learned: Not available

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• Educational Institution: Eastern Idaho Technical College (EITC)
• Location: Idaho Falls, ID
• Business/Industry:
  • Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company (LMITC)
  • U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
• Location: Idaho Falls, ID
• Partnership Description: EITC worked in partnership with government and industry to provide technical training in radiological emergency response to first responders employed by states, localities, and tribal agencies. Training was provided throughout the western U.S. and covered areas such as risks associated with DOE radiological materials shipments and radiological training for emergency responders who encounter DOE-owned radiological materials.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: Received a multi-year contract to provide this training.
  • For Business/Industry: Received high quality, standardized training and curriculum.
• Startup: Prior to receiving the contract for training, the college worked with LMITCO, DOE, DOT, state police, tribal governments, and state emergency response commissions to develop a State of Idaho training standard and programs for Idaho's emergency response agencies.
• Maintenance: Promote ongoing meetings with partner agencies to foster communication, ensure curriculum validity, deliver courses in a timely manner, and evaluate program effectiveness.
• Improvements: None
• Lessons Learned: Learned the value of establishing partnerships or linkages with various agencies to determine needs and to identify ways to help meet those needs.

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• Educational Institution: El Paso Community College (EPCC)
• Location: El Paso, TX
• Business/Industry: Dayco Industries
• Location: El Paso, TX
• Partnership Description: Students in an EPCC course entitled "Sampling, Evaluating, Instrumentation and Monitoring" are writing a sampling plan for Dayco Industries. Dayco samples their wastewater discharge quarterly. The class obtained a copy of Dayco's wastewater permit and developed a sampling plan for the company. The plan was submitted to Dayco in draft form. Dayco reviewed and finalized the plan (important for purposes of liability).
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: Experience for students with real-world business procedures and compliance issues.
  • For Business/Industry: Company was short of personnel in the environmental department, so this arrangement assisted them in satisfying a compliance requirement at no cost.
• Startup: Contacted Dayco's environmental manager and received a copy of their wastewater discharge permit and sampling records.
• Maintenance: Provide the company with draft sampling plans in a timely manner.
• Improvements: Continue to expand the consultation services the students can provide for the company.
• Lessons Learned: Many companies need environmental technology assistance. This is especially true of small businesses that may not be able to afford the staff required for compliance, and particularly for keeping current with the regulations. It is a matter of finding the companies, gaining their confidence, and determining what the program can do for them.

• Educational Institution: Kilgore College (KC)
• Location: Kilgore, TX
• Business/Industry:
  • Merritt Environmental Safety Management Corporation
  • Sunpoint Completions Inc.
• Location: TX
• Partnership Description: KC assists businesses, on a consulting basis, with activities involving environmental and safety problems.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: KC students and faculty experience real-world environmental and safety problems.
  • For Business/Industry: Industry receives KC's expertise in helping to resolve environmental and safety problems.
• Startup: Made business contacts through membership in area Safety Council.
• Maintenance: Need info
• Improvements: Needs more release time for faculty to work with business/industry.
• Lessons Learned: A college must be ready to justify their value for a business' profits.

• Educational Institution: Navarro College (NC)
• Location: Corsicana, TX
• Business/Industry: John Deere Company and Deere & Co.
• Location: Dallas, TX and Moline, IL
• Partnership Description: Students in the John Deere Program at NC receive an A.A.S. degree (available in Parts or Technicians). This includes a 20-week paid internship at a Deere equipment dealer. The college built the building that houses the program and furnishes a training farm. Deere furnishes all of the training components and new and used equipment for training. The program also offers adult vocational training for technicians and salespersons who are currently employed at a Deere dealership.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: Increased enrollment and exposure, corporate input, and state-of-the-art training on a small college budget.
  • For Business/Industry: Trained personnel, decreased cost for program delivery (handled by the college with coordinating board), and decreased cost for instructors (paid by college).
• Startup: Deere management was searching for a community college in Texas with which to place this program. Initial cost was approximately $1 million for the college and $2 million for Deere.
• Maintenance: NC maintains the building and Deere supplies new training aids for classes in order to keep training current.
• Improvements: None necessary. The program has become a state model program.
• Lessons Learned: Development of a corporate relationship must be actively pursued. The educational institution must initiate the partnership and let the company know what the college's capabilities are.

• Educational Institution: Tarrant County Junior College (TCJC)
• Location: Fort Worth, TX
• Business/Industry: Various advisory committee members (e.g., National Semiconductor, Sears, Lear Corp., Fugate Law Offices, Motorola, Alcon, Nokia, Bell, Trinity River Authority, city government)
• Location: TX
• Partnership Description: TCJC has developed articulation agreements with various 4-year universities in Texas for the environmental technology program. Most advisory committee members are from industry. This committee helps initiate and/or adjust programs and courses in response to community and industry needs.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: Funding, jobs. The willingness of industry to accept new ideas translates into support for new programs and curriculum.
  • For Business/Industry: Trained workers, positive community exposure, pride in community involvement, and a proactive approach to safety and health.
• Startup: Networking, questionnaires, genuine desire to serve community/industry needs. Faculty was willing to get involved.
• Maintenance: Need to remain sensitive to changes in the requirements of the business community.
• Improvements: Need to develop a more institutionalized approach to networking, rather than leaving this function to individual instructors and department coordinators.
• Lessons Learned:
  1. Need to be willing to make adjustments
  2. Must consider partner's viewpoint of the project. Attitudes need to change in education, industry, and government to accommodate partners.
  3. Don't reinvent the wheel. Determine and utilize existing resources.
  4. Realization that education shouldn't exist in a vacuum. Business and community needs (e.g., class schedules, offerings) must be a high priority.

• Educational Institution: Texas State Technical College (TSTC)
• Location: Breckenridge, TX
• Business/Industry:
  • City of Breckenridge
  • Veale Ranch
  • Texas Agricultural Extension Service/Texas A&M University
  • College Station
  • Stephens County Agriculture Extension Agency
• Location: TX
• Partnership Description: The above entities have partnered to work on a land (soil) reclamation project, entitled "Soil Reclamation by Landfarming With Water-Treatment Plant Sludge." The project is located on a 43-acre test site at Veale Ranch. The basic premise is to reduce the salt content by leaching and diluting through the addition of water treatment plant sludge (for moisture) and wood chips (for nutrients) from the city brush collection. The city hired an environmental consulting firm (whose employees include adjunct faculty at TSTC) to develop a plan to recycle resources and help recover soil damaged by salt contamination. Veale Ranch owners provided the land. This test site is a salt scald, which resulted from oil production and overflow of saltwater holding tanks operating some 50 years ago. The site is devoid of vegetation due to the high salinity.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution:
    1. Provides environmental science technology students with an opportunity to participate in real-world activities, such as recycling and soil reclamation (a type of Phase III remediation).
    2. Students learn about soil and water sampling, land surveying, mapping, permit application processes, etc.
    3. Students not only learn about environmental issues in general, but also about the regulatory, technical, engineering, and scientific aspects of the field.
    4. TSTC also benefits from the good will generated by a project that helps the citizens of the city and county.
  • For Business/Industry:
    1. City able to reduce distant disposal transport costs for water treatment plant sludge and to utilize brush/tree wood chips.
    2. Land (soil) reclaimed in the near future may be used for growing crops, livestock grazing, or maintained with grasses that prevent erosion.
    3. There are possible improvements in real estate values.
• Startup: Need information
• Maintenance: The recycling of water sludge and wood chips is a year-round activity. The soil reclamation may take several years to show significant recovery.
• Improvements: Seek additional funding through private foundations for help in maintaining a continuous program of field soil and water testing as well as laboratory analysis. Extend the project to other sites. (There are over 1,700 acres of salt scalds in Stephens County.)
• Lessons Learned:
  1. Teamwork is crucial on such projects. All participants can benefit from the partnership.
  2. Great opportunity for government, business/industry, and academia to get to know one another while working towards a common goal.
  3. Students enjoy real-world project that has visibility in terms of environmental remediation and that is a hands-on experience.
  4. The project provides opportunities for multi-disciplinary faculty participation.

• Educational Institution: Texas State Technical College (TSTC)
• Location: Harlingen, TX
• Business/Industry: Texas General Land Office (TGLO)
• Location: TX
• Partnership Description: TSTC provides faculty and students from the Environmental Technology program and TGLO provides oil spill equipment and training. Examples of projects include the "Oiled Bird Rescue," "Deployment of 18" and 24" Oil Spill Containment Booms," "Oil Spill Response," and "Surface Water Sampling" along several hundred miles of Texas coastline. TSTC personnel help the agency with sampling, collection, and analysis.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution:
    1. Accesses an area of expertise which the institution's faculty do not have.
    2. TGLO provides training equipment, including outboard boats, air boats, and all-terrain vehicles.
    3. Faculty and students obtain real-world experience with sample analytical data that the TGLO may not have the staff to deal with (e.g., metals, TSS, pH conductivity, bilge oil characterization).
  • For Business/Industry: Obtains TSTC's expertise for sample analytical data.
• Startup: Initial contact was made by TSTC with the TGLO regional inspector. The region received approval to utilize state property for the partnership.
• Maintenance: The TGLO provides the program with classroom presentations and safety briefings.
• Improvements: Development of a certified laboratory at TSTC to better serve the TGLO.
• Lessons Learned:
  1. Time spent developing a partnership is well spent and will greatly benefit the students.
  2. Real-world experience teach students much more than video, lecture, or simulated lab experience.

• Educational Institution:
  • University of Texas (UT) at Tyler
  • Kilgore Junior College
  • Texas State Technical Institute
• Location: Tyler, Kilgore, and Marshall, TX (respectively)
• Business/Industry:
  • Carrier Corp. of United Technologies
  • Trane Company
  • UT Medical Health Center
  • Trinity Mother Francis Hospital
• Location: Tyler, TX
• Partnership Description: Businesses provide sponsorships for undergraduate and graduate degree internships in industrial safety and environmental health.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: Better reputation for the program in assisting students in becoming more knowledgeable and marketable.
  • For Business/Industry: Observe work habits and personalities during internship, prior to hiring. Complete some of the projects which have lower priorities, by utilizing intern labor.
• Startup: Students contacted companies about internship possibilities. Companies contacted the university about students in the area of industrial safety or environmental health.
• Maintenance: Must continue to meet the student's scheduling needs at the beginning of a semester enrollment period, rather than when the company wants to schedule the student to work.
• Improvements:
  1. Establish a more active advisory committee to the degree programs at UT.
  2. Schedule more time for academic advisors to make visitations to the sponsoring agencies.
  3. Schedule a recognition dinner for representatives of sponsoring agencies.
• Lessons Learned:
  1. Ensure that internship work is directly related to the student's academic degree.
  2. Ensure that interns are paid an hourly wage for their work.

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• Educational Institution:
  • Aiken Technical College
  • University of South Carolina
  • Medical University of Charleston
  • Clemson University
• Location: SC
• Business/Industry:
  • Department of Commerce, Small Business Section
  • Department of Health and Environmental Control, Small Business Section
  • South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partners
• Location: SC
• Partnership Description: The partnership was formed between SC government, educational, and non-profit organizations to combine resources instead of generating new organizations or purchasing services that already exist in the state. All the organizations in the partnership work with medium to small businesses to provide them with services for their environmental needs. Previously, no single organization provided all services that were requested. With consolidated information and services, the partners can now quickly and efficiently resolve customer problems.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: Better working relationship with partner sectors and improved recognition of the institution and its services.
  • For Business/Industry: Improved services.
• Startup:
  1. Determine entities to be involved in project and logistics for meeting.
  2. Find a startup funding source.
  3. Agree on which entity will perform which services, and how.
  4. Determine communication methods for partnership entities and customers.
  5. Set up a listserve/Web page.
  6. Resolve concerns of customer confidentiality.
• Maintenance: Work to maintain partner and customer trust, share information, deliver quality services.
• Improvements: Improve communications and encourage additional teamwork for problem-solving.
• Lessons Learned: Take as much time as necessary to set up the ground rules and expectations of the partners. Get the ground rules/expectations in writing with a consensus of agreement.

• Educational Institution: Faulkner State Community College (FSCC)
• Location: Fairhope, AL
• Business/Industry: Packard Hughes
• Location: Foley, AL
• Partnership Description: HAZWOPER training with refresher courses.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: Recommendations to other businesses for this training.
  • For Business/Industry: High-quality, expert training at a minimum cost.
• Startup: FSCC contacted company's safety director.
• Maintenance: Scheduled 40-hour and refresher HAZWOPER training each year.
• Improvements: None
• Lessons Learned: Need to contact all area businesses and industries to communicate the college's capabilities and how it can save money for a company.

• Educational Institution: Faulkner State Community College
• Location: Fairhope, AL
• Business/Industry: Quality Filters Manufacturing
• Location: Robertsdale, AL
• Partnership Description: Worked with the company to complete an environmental safety audit, set up safety programs (including required written state and federal safety programs with training schedule), and train personnel.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: Since the college established a good relationship for safety training with the business, they have begun to offer supervisory skill training as well.
  • For Business/Industry: Received a high quality safety program for a minimum cash outlay.
• Startup: Contacted and visited the company. Presented the college's qualifications. Offered the college's services.
• Maintenance: Keep current with training updates.
• Improvements: The college would like to supply the business with an in-house safety trainer.
• Lessons Learned: Contact businesses and offer the college's services for quality training. Business and industry recognize the need for personnel training and often do have funds (however limited) allocated for this purpose.

• Educational Institution: University of Louisville at KY (ULKY)
• Location: Louisville, KY
• Business/Industry: Group of 40+ businesses
• Location: Central Kentucky
• Partnership Description: Businesses work with the ULKY Speed Scientific (Engineering) School to provide advice, enter into collaborative partnerships, and provide intern positions for students. Collaborative partnerships include the purchase of Rapid Prototype equipment from the school. This $1+ million piece of equipment is capable of creating machine parts of wax, plastic, or metal directly from Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software. In many cases, using these prototypes can eliminate some industrial waste. ULKY operates and maintains the equipment. Engineering students either assist in parts design using CAD equipment or use partners' CAD programs with the Rapid Prototype equipment to create desired prototypes.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: Provides the opportunity for students to intern outside the school (a degree requirement) to gain real-world work experience. The school also receives expanded research opportunities.
  • For Business/Industry: Cost savings to participating companies in the form of both dollars and time. Industry receives research capabilities, access to equipment, and student interns.
• Startup: The goals of the partnership had to be specified and supported at the highest administrative levels of the school and participating companies.
• Maintenance: The Dean of the engineering school meets with the industrial partners on a quarterly basis to inform them of the school's activity and to obtain input from industry on its engineering educational and research needs. The University must demonstrate the abilities to meet time deadlines and to provide quality service.
• Improvements: Increase the level of participation by faculty.
• Lessons Learned: Ensure that faculty is committed to working with the partnership.

• Educational Institution: University of Louisville at KY (ULKY)
• Location: Louisville, KY
• Business/Industry: Zeon Corp, Rohm and Haas
• Location: KY
• Partnership Description: Industry, local governmental agencies, and non-profit corporations are working with ULKY on the Louisville Urban Environmental Leadership Institute. A federal EPA grant for Environmental Education supports the project. The purpose of the Institute is to provide community leaders with the scientific, economic, political, and social background on environmental issues facing the city. Current community leaders in local government, business, neighborhood associations, and nonprofit organizations are selected through a competitive application process. The Institute conducts an eight-week course that includes over 40 speakers on a broad array of subjects. Class participants are required to implement an environmental project individually or in small groups prior to graduation.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: Conducting the Institute provides faculty personnel with contact with environmental leaders from all sectors.
  • For Business/Industry: Education of community leaders can help differentiate between environmental perceptions and reality, and help facilitate objective solutions to community environmental issues and concerns.
• Startup: The partnership was established after a major environmental health study was rejected by the Louisville general public, due in large part to a lack of understanding of the issue and its scientific basis.
• Maintenance: The Institute must remain neutral in its examination of environmental issues. Class instructors provide a wide range of perspectives on each issue. Graduates of the program must become involved in community issues in order for the program to demonstrate success.
• Improvements: None
• Lessons Learned: Schedule a three- to four-month period to recruit Institute participants.

• Educational Institution: University of Louisville at KY (ULKY)
• Location: Louisville, KY
• Business/Industry:
  • American Synthetic Rubber
  • BF Goodrich
  • Carbide/Graphite
  • DuPont-Dow Elastomers
  • DuPont Fluorocarbons
  • Geon Inc.
  • Rohm and Haas
  • Zeon Corp.
• Location: Louisville, KY
• Partnership Description: Industry is working in collaboration with representatives from the community, local government, state/federal environmental agencies, and ULKY to address environmental justice issues in west Louisville. Partnership activities include: testing fish in city lakes for dioxin, establishing Louisville's first air toxicity monitoring network, establishing an environmental information center with access for community residents, and working on environmental education programs.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: The partnership provides ULKY with access to the community and local industry. Research proposals that include this collaboration are more likely to receive outside funding.
  • For Business/Industry: ULKY provides a neutral forum to conduct research and provide educational outreach. (Similar efforts made by industry were rejected by the public as being subjective.)
• Startup: The collaboration began with a $6,500 grant from the National Association of County Health Officials to identify environmental issues in west Louisville. Funding to continue the collaboration was obtained through a U.S. EPA environmental justice grant for $208,000 in 1996. Since then, the group has obtained over $1.4 million in state and federal grants to address specific issues of concern. An important goal is to empower residents through knowledge and support to make them a potent political force within the community.
• Maintenance: Continue to build trust and cooperation between community residents, industry, local government, and academia.
• Improvements: Need increased public participation to ensure community acceptance.
• Lessons Learned: Collaboration requires an initial period for building trust between partners.

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• Educational Institution: Mission College and San Jose State University
• Location: Santa Clara, CA and San Jose, CA (respectively)
• Business/Industry:
  • Environmental & Occupational Risk Management
  • IBM
  • Lockheed-Martin
• Location: CA
• Partnership Description: The Silicon Valley Industry Education Advisory Board was formed to enable industry to advise academia of updated requirements in the environmental health and safety field. The Board is comprised of deans, faculty, and environmental health and safety practitioners. The goal of the partnership is to prepare the schools' graduates for real-world careers in the field and to ensure that industry can obtain appropriately educated employees.
• Advantages
  • For Educational Institution: Increased access to scholarships, equipment, and teachers from industry. Increased relevancy to their markets (students and their families). Increased ability to qualify for grant funds.
  • For Business/Industry: New employees on a local basis (reduced cost of relocation for new employees). Ability to affect the relevancy of the subject taught in programs (by becoming personally involved and by bringing up local perspectives).
• Startup: In 1995, a survey indicated that environmental health and safety (EHS) managers in the Santa Clara Valley were hesitant to hire graduates from California schools' environmental programs. Further research indicated that these programs were not as oriented towards chemistry and business as industry felt was necessary. In 1996, the working advisory board was created and produced two EHS emphases and accompanying curricula: one in the traditional Environmental Studies area and the other in Engineering.
• Maintenance: Initially, it was necessary to make it a requirement for academic members to participate on the Board. Faculty and deans are now beginning to recognize the partnership benefits in terms of increased ability to win grants requiring partners. Need to continue to promote the partnership to faculty and industry.
• Improvements:
  1. A future goal of the Board is to create curricula for engineering which integrates design-for-environment and pollution prevention principles into the classwork, and curricula for business administration which emphasizes the reduction of pollution and waste as an economic alternative and a competitive advantage.
  2. Need to involve more universities and community colleges, and to expand the Board to include these entities.
• Lessons Learned:
  1. It is essential to overcome internal school politics. Obtain support from the college president level in order to break down any internal barriers.
  2. Set reasonable goals that are achievable. (Industry expects results.)
  3. Meet monthly. Distribute action items prior to the meeting and accomplish those actions during the meeting.
  4. Ensure that the group doesn't limit its purpose by getting bogged down in traditional roles and views.
  5. Attempt to introduce new curricula as quickly as possible. For this project, the new curricula involved adding concentrations within majors, rather than changing the major itself (which could have taken five years for approval).

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