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Adult education powers a changing workforce

BUTLER COUNTY — Adult education, whether continuing or catch-up, is important in providing a skilled workforce for the county, experts say.

Luckily, many options are available. Educational institutions like Butler Tech and the community branches of Miami University offer literally dozens of classes for adults.

Butler Tech

Whether county residents are looking for a career change or just to sharpen their skills, there is something available to them at Butler Technology and Career Development Schools, said Mary Jane Perry, vice president of adult workforce education at Butler Tech.

"We've tried to tailor programs to meet that demand for growing skills," she said. "We've brought all kinds of programs to Butler Tech where they can come two nights a week, two days a week or Saturday.

"We served over 10,500 adults last year."

Donna Belts, 35, of Middletown is studying in the medical/legal office technician program where she is learning medical and legal terminology as well as keyboarding, accounting and more.

"I'm already a licensed practical nurse. I'm just looking to expand," she said. "I'll always have my nursing license, but doing this I can also go into the medical field as far as the office side."

Programs are expanding in many areas of the school, including the maintenance program.

"We've always taught machinery and welding, but now we are teaching hydraulics, pneumatics and robotics," Perry said.

Justin Hatfield, 22, of Fairfield, is involved in the industrial maintenance program.

"I was actually looking for something new after trying a few (jobs)," he said. "I didn't know what to expect. It's challenging, things change and you're learning so much all at once.

"You have to be skilled with your hands, but there's also the technical side of it," he said. "I would eventually like to get into the engineering side of things."

Butler Tech also added the Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) institute, which gives employees additional training.

"Butler County has a number of high tech companies, and companies looking for ways to increase their efficiencies, so they are changing the way their operations are run," Perry said.

Perry said that in the past, companies had to send employees away to school, but now the training is local.

Adult education classes are offered daily and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Butler Tech also offers career counseling.

Anyone interested in taking adult education classes should call 645-8200 or visit www.butlertech.org for more information.

Miami Hamilton

Taking a temporary break from the working world was a big step for Carlisle resident Paula Doliboa. After working for 30 years, she accepted a termination from LexisNexis and enrolled in Miami Hamilton to earn a bachelor's degree in engineering.

"I had to remind myself everyday, 'you planned this,'" she said. "You have to look in the mirror sometimes and be strong and intelligent to make drastic changes in the steps of your life."

Doliboa is among those adults who are looking to reinvent themselves. She has an associate degree in electrical engineering technology and now is working to earn a bachelor degree in engineering.

"In my case, they bought a new company that did what my department did and decided to cut my department out," Doliboa said. "I took the opportunity to go back to school to get my bachelors degree."

Doliboa, 47, said she also has an ulterior motive to going back to school. Once she has her bachelor's degree, she can go back part time and get a teaching certificate.

"I may never use it," she said. "But I am marketable until I am 70 years old or however long I want to work. I have always been able to find a job, but in today's life people need to have multiple talents."

Students changing careers is a primary source of majors for the engineering technology department at Miami Hamilton, said Robert Speckert, department chairman.

"We regularly get students who already have BA degrees entering our associate and BS degree programs," Speckert said.

Enrollments in associate degree programs have been steady while enrollment in bachelor completion programs have been growing, he said.

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Miami Middletown

Miami University-Middletown has offered a number of technical degrees for years, providing working adults the educational training to keep up with quickly changing technology.

January kicked off the university's new venture — the power degree schedule.

On this schedule, a Miami student can finish an associate's degree in seven semesters, or just over two years, by attending class on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. and from 7:15 to 9:55 p.m.

Created with the working adult in mind, MUM officials have aligned the class offerings so students enrolled can rest assured their classes will be available when they need them, Associate Dean Jeff Sommers said.

Currently two degrees are offered through the power schedule. One is a business management degree — one of the university's more popular technological degrees, said Ted Light, chair of the Business Technology department at MUM.

It's not just technology that is changing quickly, but the jobs that use the technology, Light said.

"It's important to keep their skills fresh," Light said. "This schedule gives working adults some consistency."