Owens Community College is expanding access to higher education in Northwest Ohio by opening a new educational complex at Arrowhead Park in Maumee next month.

The Arrowhead Park Learning Center will provide academic courses for students and non-credit training and certificate programs for businesses and their employees as the new home of the college’s Workforce and Community Services Division.

“Our research and analysis showed needs for this area with individuals interested in basic education and courses for students and business people to meet their career, degree or continuing education goals,” said Renay Scott, vice provost at Owens.

The grand opening and first classes at the Arrowhead Center will be Jan. 11 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. The center is located at 1724 Indianwood Circle in the business park.

Bankey

“We’ll have a better opportunity to work with companies located here by offering custom courses designed for businesses on-site or at the Arrowhead Center,” said Michael Bankey, vice president of Workforce and Community Services at Owens, whose office is located there.

“We invite businesses to contact us here for their meeting and training needs.”

Owens already conducted some internal auditor’s training last year on-site at Metal Forming and Coining Corporation in Maumee. The company makes engine and transmission components for Chrysler, Ford, GM, Dana, Cummins and Navistar with a total of 94 employees.

“The Arrowhead Center would be more convenient for our training needs in the future,” said Kathy Church, director of process engineering at Metal Forming who worked with Owens.

All of the non-credit courses and most of the work force training programs will be offered at the Arrowhead Center. The technical labs will remain at the Center for Development and Training on Tracy Road, according to Bankey.

“We will have non-credit courses available at four locations,” Bankey said, referring to the training center on Tracy Road in Northwood, The Source in Downtown Toledo, Arrowhead Center in Maumee and the college’s campus in Findlay.

The Workforce and Community Services Division is dedicated

to providing customer-driven workforce development, job training

and continuing education for business, industry and residents throughout Northwest Ohio, according to Bankey.

“We’ve already had some people stop and ask when classes will begin at Arrowhead. We have families out here that wouldn’t drive to the main campus or development center in Northwood. I think people will feel comfortable coming here from communities on the west side even from Sylvania,” Bankey said.

Workforce and Community Services was honored for excellence in a brochure design by the Learning Resources Network, an international association in lifelong learning. The winning entry, the “Work — Play” brochure includes a cover design that looks like a magazine and course offerings from professional training to personal enrichment, Bankey said.

The brochure was selected from more than 140 entries and featured in a showcase of exemplary programs at the LERN annual conference Nov. 19 through Nov. 21 in Savannah, Ga.

Credit classes will begin Jan. 21 at Arrowhead but the first non-credit class, “Intro to PC and Windows,” will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on the evening of the grand opening.

The newly renovated 24,665 square-foot site at Arrowhead Park features 12 classrooms, four computer laboratories, 19 offices and one state tested nursing assistant laboratory, all with state-of-the-art technology and academic resources to provide expanded educational choices for meeting the current and future needs of students and businesses throughout the region.

Basic education courses in economics, psychology, sociology, improving spoken or written communications and business administration will be offered at Arrowhead Center, Scott said.

Children’s courses in LEGO Engineering for ages 5 to 12, video games, yoga and homeschooling classes for families are available there.

Owens renewed its partnership with Heidelberg University on Dec. 15 so course credits would transfer toward a bachelor’s degree at the university that has a branch campus in Arrowhead Park. It is essentially a renewal of a similar agreement created 16 years ago when Owens became a community college.

“It’s an excellent partnership to help meet the educational needs of students and business professionals in that area,” Scott said.

It’s a better opportunity for students with Owens opening the learning center in Arrowhead Park to finish their college education at the Heidelberg branch there that was designed specifically for degree completion, said Tamara Williams, associate vice provost at Owens.

The first students have already enrolled to begin taking advantage of the opportunity in January, said Sue Stine, associate director of admissions, who worked on the agreement with Williams and officials from Heidelberg.

Owens offers associate degrees that transfer to baccalaureate degrees in the Arts and Sciences and more than 130 technical program areas in agriculture, business, health sciences, public safety and emergency preparedness, skilled trades, and engineering and transportation technologies.

Designed by The Collaborative Inc. in Toledo, the exterior of Owens’ Arrowhead Center is a gray masonry single-story structure with the Owens logo above the center’s main entrance. Program Solutions Group in Perrysburg served as the project manager of the renovation.

“The City of Maumee has been wonderful throughout the whole process of planning and creating the Arrowhead Center,” Bankey said.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Education, Toledo Business Link.
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