May 25—Innovation and transformation are leading Odessa College's strategy to redefine college-going and college-completing culture in the region — placing workforce readiness and career pathway development center stage. In its move to enhance collaborative efforts with its regional employers, the college is announcing the adoption of GoEducate's Opportunity Portal and Marketplace to personalize current and future students' access to employment.
There will be a panel discussion at 2:15 p.m. Sunday at the JW. Marriott in Austin in Salon 7 of the ballroom/conference area.
Speakers include Jonathan Fuentes, Odessa College, Vice President for Academic Partnerships; Timothy Johnson, chief marketing officer of GoEducate; and John Haddad, GoEducate, director, Business Development and Partnerships.
The conference is being run through an app called Whova — where attendees can interact.
Through GoEducate's integrated cloud-based Opportunity Portal, Odessa College programs, pathways and certifications directly link through the web platform to regional employers, actively connecting academic programs to live jobs, internships and apprenticeships, a news release said.
"We are in the beginning of a full transformation to a seamless and sustainable talent pipeline that starts in school and with jobseekers in the Permian Basin and leads them directly into in-demand jobs and careers," said Odessa College Vice President of Academic Partnerships Jonathan Fuentes.
Austin-based GoEducate is a fully operational education and employment ecosystem, linking exploratory, enrollment, recruiting and talent pipeline management in a singular-process platform. Uniquely, GoEducate has successfully deployed a true data and skills "end-to-end" solution that facilitates advancing from school, to training, to college and to work and, in the other direction, from employers into colleges, CTE programs, and into schools, the release said.
In New Mexico, Northern New Mexico College operates its own Opportunity Portal. This particular Opportunity Portal links skills certifications and degree programs directly into the hiring programs at the nearby Los Alamos National Laboratory, the region's largest employer and one of the leading science and technology institutions in the world. The Los Alamos Laboratory has connected employment opportunities — ranging from Accounting and Financial Analyst roles to high school, undergrad and post-bachelor internships — to Northern's Business and Accounting pathway programs, and Los Alamos is actively connecting job roles into more academic and technical programs with the organization's breadth of STEM and business opportunities.