Lyndy Wilkinson was named Dean of Technical Education at Amarillo College in September 2012 and immediately developed a purpose statement that emphasizes her foremost priority: “Putting People to Work through Industry Partnerships.” Wilkinson, who joined AC after five years with the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation, has been charged with improving the success of AC’s technical students by improving their value to local employers. One way she plans to meet this challenge is by aligning the curricula more closely with the needs of business and industry as quantified by valued members of AC Advisory Boards. “We need honest feedback from industry,” Wilkinson said. “I look forward to candid conversations about our programs because we certainly want to fix what’s broken and optimize what is working.
We are committed to responding to the needs of our business community. After all, our most important job is to prepare students for the workplace, so we’ve got to make sure they have the skills that the workforce requires and desires.”
A recent CEO Forum demonstrates just how serious the College is about responding to industry needs. The CEOs were emphatic that new hires were lacking in soft skills. The College responded by introducing a “Professionalism” track in its Technical Education and Nursing divisions that require students to master customer service, business communication and problem-solving skills. This is not the only recent indication that AC has adopted a renewed responsiveness to business and industry. Improved communication also is evident in the College’s increasing reliance on its Advisory Boards, like that for the Auto Collision Department. Based on the advice of its advisors, the department recently hired an instructor with the sort of industry experience needed to facilitate curricular change. In doing so, the College agreed to allow this individual to continue working toward the teaching credential that formerly would have been required as a condition of employment. “We’re listening carefully to the business community,” Wilkinson said. “We’re telling them what we’ve heard and we’re showing them what has been done in response to their original feedback. It’s all about building trust, about truly listening, and about acting on the recommendations we receive. “In this way there is so much we can get done,” she said. “It’s very exciting.”