Alsobrooks elected to national council

  POPLARVILLE – Dr. Scott Alsobrooks, vice president  for economic and community development at Pearl River Community College, has been elected to a two-year term on the board of directors for the National Council for Workforce Education (NCWE), starting July 1.
  Board members serve as links between the membership and the panel and assist members in promoting and implementing the concepts of career and technical education, basic skills education and workforce and economic development.
  “Workforce development is the issue of our time in education,” Alsobrooks said. “The baby boomer retirement exodus coupled with the technology revolution has completely changed labor economics. Vocational education carried a low status in our society for several decades but high wage, high demand jobs that do not require a baccalaureate degree are changing viewpoints rapidly. 
  “Young people should be introduced early to skilled trades and technical jobs that provide a career path to a solid middle class income. Too many kids leave high school in pursuit of a university-type degree only to be indecisive in their major and then drop out of college.”
  Alsobrooks holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Mississippi State University, a master’s and a doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi. He has worked in industry and  was the engineering coordinator for the Lean Enterprise Center at USM before coming to PRCC in 2005. He served as director of workforce education before being named vice president in 2011.
  “My goal while serving as an elected board member of the National Council for Workforce Education is to network with professional peers and policy makers throughout the nation and bring best practices and growth opportunities back to PRCC and the local area,” he said.
  He has completed the American Association of Community College’s Future Leadership Program and the Educational Leadership Program at MSU’s Education Policy Fellowship Program. He holds a Six Sigma Black Belt from Georgia Tech and many Lean Manufacturing Certificates and has taught courses in industrial and construction engineering technology at USM.
  As an affiliate council of the American Association of Community Colleges, NCWE provides a national forum for administrators and faculty in workforce education and basic skills, as well as representatives of business, labor, military and government, to affect and direct the future role of two-year and other post-secondary institutions in workforce education and economic development.

Each community college president is asked to bring two (2) wrapped door prizes, minimum value of $50 each. We will have a station set up at the conference for you to drop off the door prizes.

Each community college is asked to provide name tags for their Board members, administration, and staff attending the conference.