Texas Border Business
By Joey Gomez
McALLEN, Texas – Coming from academia, South Texas College’s new Interim Director for Institutional Advancement and Economic Development (IAED) Kimberly Moore recalls that day in 2016 when he stepped out into the unknown.
The idea at the time, he said, was to take a chance at learning something that was not just new, but completely unlike anything he had experienced before, transitioning from career educator to working with manufacturers and their training needs.
“It was foreign to what I had done before. There I was, an academic guy accustomed to working with instructors, students and curriculum development. Manufacturing was something I had never worked with before,” Moore said.
Little did he know at the time, but Moore said he would arrive at STC just in time for a technological renaissance that saw the addition of new certifications for students and especially training opportunities in the form of cutting-edge apprenticeships found nowhere else in Texas.
Over the next seven years, his initial role as a project training specialist for the college would enable him to become immersed in STC’s efforts to revive the college’s apprenticeship program for the first time in years.
STC has not only expanded in its role as a consultant for apprenticeship programs to colleges across the country, but Moore said he has also helped steer more than $2 million in grants related to apprenticeships at the college.
“I remember being suddenly thrown into this environment, working with companies focused on warehousing for example, but who were looking for different kinds of training for their employees. That’s only part of the programs that we have now,” Moore said. “We have gone high tech. Some of our apprenticeship programs, like for those working in Information Technology (IT) for example, encompass over 380 hours of training and once they are finished, they get a certificate from Cisco. These are people who are highly trained and employed in very technical occupations.”
While the experience in manufacturing was new, Moore himself said he gained most of the skills needed to succeed interacting with students as a high school principal.
Moore’s experience included 13 years as Director of International Operations for Laureate International Universities, a conglomerate of institutions that enabled him to work for universities throughout Mexico in various roles including stints as a regional language chair and principalships in schools across the region.
The common thread, according to Moore, was understanding the role that culture and family play in a student’s overall success. “I had a lot of experience in my backpack so to speak but it was challenging for me because it was foreign to what I had done before. I was from academia, and I was suddenly thrown into this environment, working with companies and their training needs,” Moore said. “What benefitted me was that even though I didn’t know a lot about the manufacturing aspect, I knew how to work with people and the necessary organizing and recruiting aspect. It has been a very interesting experience and I have enjoyed every step of it.”
While at the college, Moore said he personally witnessed STC emerge as a national leader in workforce training and apprenticeships.
His role at STC has enabled him to travel to universities and colleges across the nation who are looking to the college as a leader for apprenticeship programs.
STC now counts at least 13 registered apprenticeship programs available through the college including everything from professional beer brewing to construction and industrial machine mechanics. At least eight more apprenticeship programs are currently under development or pending approval from the U.S. Department of Labor (USDL).
“I stepped in confidently into something I had never worked with before, but I knew how important it was,” Moore said. “Now, 10 grants and millions of dollars later, we are seeing all of these people in the pipeline, experienced employees and recent graduates alike who are eager to get trained. They are the real success stories for the college and most agree that their lives have been changed with respect to their career due to the quality of our apprenticeships.”
For more information on STC apprenticeship programs and industry trainings, visit www.southtexascollege.edu/cpit/courses/industry/apprenticeships/.
