PCCUA-Stuttgart campus hosted community project at GPC
Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas (PCCUA)-Stuttgart recently partnered with the non-profit economic development organization, Stuttgart Unlimited, and the Stuttgart Public Schools to bring in nationally known speaker Mark C. Perna for an innovative community project at the Grand Prairie Center on the Stuttgart Campus.
Perna is an acclaimed and inspiring public speaker, who contributes weekly at Forbes.com and delivers more than 70 keynote speeches annually across North America. He is the best-selling author of Answering Why, which has received eight national awards. He is also the founder and CEO of TFS Results, a strategic consulting firm leading the national paradigm shift in education and workforce development.
Perna met with educators from Stuttgart Public Schools and Phillips Community College in one session and then with area employers in a second session to share information on the Education with Purpose & Employment with Passion movement in order to help communities connect their education, business and economic pipelines.
Day two of the project brought together Stuttgart Unlimited business leadership and educational leadership from Stuttgart Public Schools and PCCUA. The working session facilitated by Perna and Kim Kirby, PCCUA Vice Chancellor for Arkansas County, was geared toward developing a community plan for addressing the education to workforce pipeline.
Kirby commented, “This event was an amazing opportunity to see different stakeholders come together to work on meeting the needs of the community. Mark Perna is able to take complex relationships and present them in a very approachable way that allows people to see how to address the community issues from a variety of viewpoints. Our work is just beginning, but now we have a common vision to build upon.”
The groups will continue to work on developing activities to support their vision and have preliminary plans to bring Perna back for additional presentations. For more information on Mark C. Perna visit his website: markcperna.com.
