Sue Merrell Daley, dean of business and public services, said her group started evaluating new programs last year.
“We have an internship program that’s very, very robust, over 20,000 internship hours,” Merrell Daley said. “Our internship coordinator was meeting with local employers who tell us what kind of employees they want.”
In one case, employers identified a need for students trained specifically digital marketing.
Merrell Daley said Sinclair used local employer research, advisory committee input, market planning data and internship needs assessments to build the draft programs and then present them to a focus group.
The school formed a focus group with community practitioners and WSU Raj Soin College of Business Assistant Dean Jim Munch who runs a corollary program at WSU. Employer representatives include Reynolds & Reynolds, the Dayton Advertising Federation and The Berry Company, said Chrissann Ruehle, assistant professor of marketing and management at Sinclair.
“They provided valuable insight,” Ruehle said. “They helped us to understand the needs of hiring companies. What are the skills and talents they are looking for?
“That has given us valuable information we can share with students.”
As a result of the focus group’s work, the school developed the new associate degree program in business management/digital marketing and two one-year certificates in digital marketing. The first is more technical and the other more focused on marketing communications.
Merrell Daley said Sinclair focused the programs on development of technical skills and with the associate degrees on transferability.
“From program inception, we built in a transfer path for students who seek a four-year degree,” Merrell Daley said.
Sinclair student Sam Blain said he’s glad Sinclair has created the new program.
“I think it’s great. Anything to create more variety and more opportunity for students is helpful,” he said. “I’m glad to hear Sinclair is jumping ahead of the curve.”
Other new one-year technical certificates are: business transfer; corrections; law enforcement; supervisory skills; and water utility technician.
New short-term technical certificates are in: arts management, community and urban horticulture, computer aided manufacturing basic machining skills, computer aided manufacturing precision machining, greenhouse management, industrial robot technician, IT fundamentals, Ohio peace officer training, professional writing, and UAS precision agriculture.
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