NKyTribune staff
Leaders from Northern Kentucky University (NKU) and Ion/Apex came together Tuesday at the NKY Chamber’s GROW NKY offices in Fort Mitchell to sign a mutually beneficial Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
NKU President, Dr. Ashish Vaidya (right) and Jeff Kennedy, President/CEO of Ion/Apex, sign an MOU that will allow paid apprentices in the electrical construction trade to earn college credit toward a degree at NKU. Kentucky Secretary of Education and Workforce, Derrick Ramsey, standing at center, and other community stakeholders celebrate the signing (Photo by Ben Gastright, NKY Chamber of Commerce).
The MOU will enable paid apprentices in the electrical construction trade to earn college credit toward a degree at NKU.
Ion/Apex is one of Cincinnati’s and Northern Kentucky’s largest electrical contractors. The company completes a large number of diverse commercial-, industrial-, and maintenance related projects nationwide.
The MOU was signed by NKU President, Dr. Ashish Vaidya and Jeff Kennedy, President/CEO of Ion/Apex before a crowd of workforce and education representatives, including Kentucky Secretary of Education and Workforce, Derrick Ramsey.
The pathway program between NKU and Ion/Apex is a collaborative answer to meet workforce demand.
NKU recently unveiled Success by Design, a strategic framework that identified the university’s singular focus on advancing student success that aligns with the needs of the region. This partnership addresses that focus and the framework’s three pillars of student success—access, completion and career and community engagement.
NKU President Ashish Vaidya said NKU leadership learned through the Success by Design process that those pillars are essential in its role in the regional eco-system, and an essential step is increasing access to higher education for all learners.
“That’s what we are accomplishing with Ion/Apex—a direct path, built in as part of their apprentice program, to a degree,” said Vaidya. “We are also fortunate to have so many strong collaborators, like the NKY Chamber, to create this pipeline to meet workforce demands.”
In Kentucky, experienced trade professionals are nearing retirement with 75 percent of all licensed and grandfathered electricians being 55 years of age or older.
For Jeff Kennedy, President/CEO of Ion/Apex, the partnership with NKU plays a critical role in not only addressing the workforce need, but also the rise of the electrical construction trade across the region.
Kennedy said the initiative will have a direct impact on the company’s growth as it expand its presence in the markets where it does business.
“As an employer committed to education and professional development we are very excited about this new partnership with Northern Kentucky University,” said Kennedy. “For too long the choices presented to young people have been ‘college or the trades’ but through innovation in education and quality partnerships, now we have both. We see this as a critical step as we grow our organization as well as recruit, retain and develop our workforce. ”
GROW NKY is the comprehensive, holistic workforce development/talent strategy initiative led by the NKY Chamber in conjunction with key workforce partners.
“The partnership between NKU and Ion/Apex is a wonderful example of what can happen when business and education come together to identify the skills that are relevant for today’s workforce and build education journeys that prepare students for the future,” said Leisa Mulcahy, Managing Director of GROW NKY and Vice President of Workforce for the NKY Chamber. “At the NKY Chamber, we want our businesses to have a deep well of talent and we want members of our communities to have a variety of employment opportunities.”
Since its inception just eight months ago, GROW NKY, has been convening meetings between leaders from the education and business community, with the goal of facilitating partnerships such as the one between NKU and Ion/Apex.
“What if every employer in Northern Kentucky had an apprentice, co-op or intern and the students involved were getting college credit towards a degree?” said Brent Cooper, president and CEO of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. “This is a great example of how business and education can come together to build a system to provide opportunities of growth for students and employers alike.”
