Governor Cuomo pledges $12 million for training in “high-need” career fields

 

Hudson Valley Community College is one of 36 SUNY campuses to share funding to support training in engineering, health care, environmental and IT fields. The college is earmarked for $244,166.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that 63 programs from 36 SUNY campuses will receive more than $12 million in funding over the next three years to support workforce development in high-need career fields throughout New York State.

The SUNY High Needs Program was established to meet state demand for nurses and engineers. SUNY recently worked with the NYS Department of Labor (DOL) and Empire State Development (ESD) to determine which career fields should be added to the program to answer today’s state-wide workforce demands as well as current needs by region.

“The impact that SUNY’s High Need Program has already had on New York State has been substantial, with more than 1,000 students per year added or retrained in nursing and engineering, alone, since 2006,” said Chancellor Zimpher. “By expanding our target fields to include emerging 21^st-century demands, we are ensuring that SUNY students are graduating with the skills and expertise that New York employers are looking for.”

Occupations are considered high need if they are projected to have a large number of total openings, a high growth rate, or a combination of both in the coming years, based on DOL data.

The six statewide high needs areas the program is currently focused on are: Engineering-Engineering Technologies, Healthcare, Renewable-Clean Energy, Biomedical-Biotechnical, Agriculture-Agriculture Business, and Information Technology.

DOL data predicts that New York will need approximately 2,340 engineers and engineering technologists, 15,660 new healthcare practitioners and health technicians, and 800 new farming, fishing, and forestry personnel per year to meet the needs of the State over the next decade.

Within the area of renewable-clean energy, the top five occupations that DOL has identified as a high need for New York are civil engineers, environmental engineers, electrical and electronics engineering technicians, heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers, and mechanical engineers.

Occupations within the area of biomedical-biotechnical including biological technicians, chemical technicians, and medical/clinical laboratory technicians are considered high need; and the state needs to keep pace with a national trend seeking experts in information technology such as Cloud computing, smartphones, tablets, and easily accessible software applications.

“Without the SUNY High Needs Program, these campuses could not provide the instructional and support staff and specialized equipment needed to enroll more students in these fields,” said SUNY Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost David K. Lavallee.

Every SUNY campus was eligible for funding as part of the High Needs Program. The number and amount of awards given is based on the quantity, quality, and scope of applications received, and varies from $21,000 to over $500,000 per project over three years.

Program funding is competitive and limited to one to three years of support for new program development or program expansion, so that the program can continue to be flexible and adjust to changing state needs. To receive funding, campuses must demonstrate how their program will become self-sustaining after the three-year period.

 

Below are the 36 SUNY campuses that will receive the funding.

 

 

 

 

 

Published: Tue, 04 Jun 2013 12:09:23 +0000 by d.gardner