With every passing year—and even more so over the past decade—businesses and industry have been asking for help from higher education to provide additional training that will elevate their employees’ skills. We are already rising to the challenge, working closely with businesses and industry partners to meet the needs they have identified.

A prime example is our consultation with the Central Washington agricultural industry about the need to improve their employees’ skills in areas such as accounting, information technology, marketing, and supply chain management. Our response was to develop a series of stackable certificates that can be taken individually or in combination, and we are already hearing feedback that these course offerings are having a direct and positive impact on the local agricultural industry.

Over the next six years, we will develop a clear vision for our programs, including undergraduate and graduate programs and certificates, to meet the needs of other industries seeking to raise their workers’ profiles. For this initiative to be successful, we will be seeking additional support for our graduate programs so we can augment the skills of the workforce and provide a higher level of training. This effort also will include expanding our graduate assistantships and tuition waivers. The funding for these programs and initiatives will come from a combination of reinvestments and reallocations, fundraising, and requests to the Legislature.