New Dean’s Agenda Focuses on Working Age Adults
On the very day Dr. Jenni Murphy launched a major workforce initiative, Sacramento State President Robert S. Nelsen couldn’t hold off any longer. With the inaugural Summit on Educational Attainment for Working Age Adults coming to a close, he asked participants to pick up their program and erase the word, “interim,” by Dr. Murphy’s name. She was being appointed the new dean at the College of Continuing Education.
Dr. Murphy would now have an even bigger platform to make educational attainment for working age adults a priority with the launch of the ProjectAttain! initiative.
A recent issue of Access Magazine focused on the Summit and the work moving forward to expand access to education. Learn more about Project Attain!
The community networking organization Align Capital Region worked with Dr. Murphy in hosting the 2018 summit. Nearly 100 people participated, including elected officials, community leaders, educators, employers and workforce development experts.
They broke up into working groups and concentrated on the often overlooked population – working age adults (25-64) – who currently have some college and training, but often not enough education to move ahead in their jobs and careers.
California’s economy relies on a highly trained workforce and faces a projected shortage of 1-million college-educated workers by 2025, according to projections.
Collaboration and “regional solutions are needed to expand support and access to educational opportunities,” says Dr. Murphy, so that working age adults can complete their associate or bachelor’s degree or earn a high quality industry certificate or credential.
ProjectAttain! offers one of the solutions to ultimately strengthen California’s economy. And Sac State is a partner in ProjectAttain! to find new ways to reach working age adults and expand access to education, said Nelsen.
The Summit on Educational Attainment for Working Age Adults took place on May 23 at Sac State Downtown locate at 304 S Street, the first public event at the University’s new hub closer to the Capitol.