When I walked into the office of John Dunn at American River College, I wasn’t quite sure what next week’s episode was going to be like. You see John is one of those animated passionate people that could really blow your socks off depending on his mood. I still remember the time I first met him through the Sacramento Valley SME, I walked away from a meeting feeling “wow this guy is going to get stuff done!”. It’s a good thing too since he is spearheading an important economic and workforce development effort out of his office here in Northern California. American River College is part of CAMAC and John is working to expand college education using private/Edu partnerships in the form of apprenticeships. The approach is creative, innovative, and even a bit entrepreneurial. Among other things John and his team are working on the following initiatives:
- Bolstering existing welding apprenticeships, building on success.
- Establishing an Innovation Center
- Establishing creative and meaningful new programs (using the proven apprenticeship model)
John would probably share his passion for this program with anyone he encounters, but we sat down and reviewed everything he was doing to share with our listeners here. I think you will enjoy hearing more about apprenticeships from John next week in Episode 7 of the Manufacturing Advocates Podcast.
This episode is now live!