New Washburn Tech Dean joins 27 News Morning show
TOPEKA (KSNT) - 27 News welcomed Scott Smathers, the new dean of Washburn Tech, onto the morning show to speak about himself and his plans for the future.
Smathers has an extensive background in technical education and previously served as the Vice President of Workforce Development for the Kansas Board of Regents and was leadership of the Kansas Postsecondary Technical Education Authority. He said he was excited to join the Washburn Tech family.
"There is just so much potential," Smathers said. "And there's just tremendous people that we're going to be working with."
He said with all of the new businesses coming to the northeast Kansas region, now is the perfect time for members of the community to pursue a technical education. However, he mentioned some challenges they faced as a technical institute.
"Some challenges are making sure that we have the workforce resources and also making sure that we retain our super faculty and staff that we have at the college," he said.
Smathers said he is excited for the spring semester and mentioned enrollment is still open for the upcoming spring semester.
"We'd love to be able to work with anybody who has an interest please give us a call or come on by," he said.
Regarding how Smathers plans to progress the college during the next year, he said there are three areas he would like to focus on. The first is to spend more time developing a relationship with Washburn University. Second, he wants to work to continue to expand relationships with area high schools. And lastly, he says he wants to continue to develop relationships with area businesses and industries to ensure they are receiving a skilled workforce.
To learn more, the full interview is linked above.
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