A federal spending bill was signed into law last week that includes $550,000 for Columbus State University. CSU will use funding received through the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) to improve and develop curricula through current degree tracts within the Turner College of Business, College of Letters and Sciences, and the College of Education to meet the future workforce demands associated with the manufacturing and development of domestic chips production. CSU will work with its partners throughout the community to ensure that not only will these programs be developed to benefit students but that they are also translatable to the demands of the greater Columbus region and state. This includes providing for the improvement of current robotics related curricula within the Muscogee County School District, which were originally developed in partnership with CSU using funding through the Community Directed Spending process. Additionally, these new degree tracts could be used to upskill transitioning employees in the greater Columbus area with partnerships between entities such as Fort Moore, Columbus Technical College, and the United Way of the Chattahoochee Valley. For the CHIPS Act to be successful and the U.S. to regain the lead in chips production, it will take a countrywide effort. This starts with developing the curricula and workforce to meet these demands, something CSU and the Chattahoochee Valley are prepared to meet.
Officials in the Turner College's Butler Center for Research and Economic Development recently put the finishing touches on an extensive report on trends in educational programs and occupations in the Columbus area. The report also includes data on business and technology trends. According to Fady Mansour , Director of the Butler Center, there are several key takeaways from the report regarding 10 occupational gaps that currently exist in the Columbus area. First, software development occupation exhibits the biggest labor shortage, with the report adding that the TSYS School has a bachelor's degree program in information technology along with a new AI track for the bachelor's degree in computer science, both of which can qualify students for this occupation. Other educational programs are in demand, such as computer programming and cloud computing. Second, there is a gap of 30 employees per year in general and operations management. This gap could be addressed by the Turn...
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