MARION – Indiana Wesleyan University secured a partnership with the Indiana Manufacturers Association (IMA) to offer training and development programs for Indiana manufacturers and their employees at discounted rates.
The partnership will allow manufacturing companies across the state to develop leaders, train new employees, and grow skills essential to the workforce. Indiana Wesleyan’s initiative, Talent Ladder, is excited about the partnership, launched on June 9th, as it offers an opportunity to provide quality education to working adults.
Indiana manufacturers will benefit from the new partnership and the IMA is excited to move forward. “The Indiana Manufacturers Association is pleased to partner with IWU to offer our members a workforce development solution through upskilling their workforce in both technical and soft skills,” said IMA President/CEO Brian Burton. “This program fills a critical need for Hoosier manufacturers and their employees to continue to advance our industry and remain a top destination for new business investment and talent.”
Indiana Wesleyan University also counts the partnership as a huge win for Indiana. Andy Miller, the Vice President for Strategic Enrollment and Partnerships commented, “Indiana Wesleyan University is excited to partner with the IMA, an exceptional organization representing a critical component of the Indiana economy. This partnership will provide essential talent and workforce development solutions for Indiana’s manufacturing sector. Employees, organizations, and the broader sector will benefit greatly from this effort to provide just-in-time training and education.”
Programs included in the partnership cover a wide range of skills. The entry-level leadership course develops new career supervisors in self-awareness, resilience, and readiness as new leaders increase their capacity to lead themselves and others. The leadership course is available in customizable formats to meet the individual needs of each organization. In addition, over 500 courses in technical manufacturing skills train new employees in 26 specialty areas of manufacturing. These specialized training modules are all self-guided, online classes to be completed at the manufacturer’s discretion. Workplace and soft skills courses operate in a similar fashion, offering over 250 courses to improve organization, professionalism, communications skills, and more. These self-guided, online courses include titles like, “Critical Thinking,” “Communication,” “Team Building,” and “Project Management.”
The partnership also includes courses on cybersecurity through the Cybersecurity Analyst Boot Camp, preparing employees to solve current security problems associated with information systems. This cybersecurity course is an 18-week online certificate program with over 60 labs led by experienced faculty. An additional program in business analytics contains courses to train individuals to collect, organize, interpret, and implement data for actionable improvements. This 10-week online certificate program offers real-world applications to build a set of tools aligned to specific business objectives. Another 10-week online certificate program is the digital marketing course which equips companies with skills in web analytics, search engine optimization, social media, and email marketing, and digital marketing strategies.
Manufacturing companies in Indiana interested in utilizing Indiana Wesleyan’s Talent Ladder can complete an online form at https://thetalentladder.com/ima/ to see how the partnership in training could help grow their employees and company. Indiana Wesleyan University continues to create innovative solutions to the challenges faced by Indiana’s workforce. The partnership with the IMA brings these solutions closer to leaders who need them most. Together, they hope to grow manufacturing companies and the employees of Indiana’s workforce through education and training.
