Q&A with Brian Amkraut, new VP of Workforce Credentialing and Community Impact at Mercy College

Early this month, Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry announced the creation of a new Workforce Credentialing and Community Impact division, to be overseen by a vice president and general manager.

Brian Amkraut will fill that role, heading efforts to prepare students to fill skills gaps in the current and future labor market through specific skills training and certificate programs.

The Business Journals spoke to Amkraut to learn more about the first-time role and the experience and initiatives he will bring to it.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How does your previous experience connect to this position at Mercy? 

I have been working in higher education administration, specifically in the field of continuing education, for 15 years. Between 2012 and 2021, I served as executive director of the Siegal Lifelong Learning Program at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

We created that division as a start-up unit inside the university with the vision of finding multiple pathways to reach out and serve the needs of Northeast Ohio residents with learning opportunities for personal enrichment and professional development. My most recent activity focused specifically on the area of workforce credentialing through both new program development from inside the university as well as strategic partnerships with external entities based in the United States and abroad.

Most importantly, my previous experience has heightened my confidence that continuous skills-based education throughout people”™s lifetimes is the next great challenge and opportunity confronting colleges and universities. 

Why did Mercy choose now to create this position? 

Currently, jobs remain unfilled because employees lack the skills to fill them. Mercy is prepared to fill that gap by connecting with the workforce needs of Westchester County and the tri-state area. Research over the past year has shown that a majority of workers who have been displaced by the pandemic are looking for shorter-term skills preparation rather than degrees ”” and Mercy is prepared to help them. 

How have workforce problems in New York, the country and the world been evolving? 

The rapid pace of emerging technologies and increasing automation has both put pressure on lower-skilled workers to retain their jobs and obtain new ones, and created more unfilled positions in higher-skilled positions. While conventional wisdom for many years had linked these gaps to degree completion, our digitally based economy and jobs that did not exist 10 years ago create opportunities for workers at all levels to obtain skill-based training and accompanying competency-based credentials to advance their careers and fill these jobs.

Following that pathway of continuous learning positions those individuals for ongoing advancement, which supports the important societal objective of closing both income and wealth gaps in our communities.

How do colleges and universities in general identify and respond to workforce needs? Can you think of any specific unique programs that have created meaningful solutions? 

Traditionally, four-year colleges created their educational curricula based on the notion of academic engagement in a wide range of subject matter as well as a major area of focus to give students the tools to think independently and contribute to society in its broadest sense. In its most traditional orientation, these curricula are driven by faculty and their own sensibilities regarding the educational needs of the well-rounded individual, along with the subject matter content faculty believed best represented the educational outlook of their particular institution.

Of course, many institutions have long offered professionally oriented degrees, especially at the graduate level, in areas such as education, business, law and various health care professions.

A growing trend in recent years has been the number of schools creating or expanding continuing education programs that are more directly geared toward the educational needs of the adult population. One great example of this approach is Washington University”™s Continuum College ”“ whose founder, Vice Provost Rovy Brannon, helped bring the phrase “the 60-year curriculum” into vogue among continuing education leaders.

The realities of today”™s labor market demand truly dynamic, flexible and nimble educational operations to respond rapidly to the workforce needs. Mercy”™s division of Workforce Credentialing and Community Impact will offer programming constructed with an “outside-in” approach to program and curriculum development, as we will use the feedback from our employer stakeholders to then work with subject matter experts and develop courses and certificates to meet workforce demands.

From your perspective, how has remote learning influenced higher education, especially when considering specific areas of training like those that your department deals with? 

Even before the pandemic, colleges and universities were showing signs of increasing experimentation with online and remote learning. Covid-19 accelerated the process, forcing faculty and students to rise to the challenge of engaging in meaningful educational experiences over distance.

While not always perfectly executed, this rapid switch to remote proved to many skeptics on both sides that both student engagement and effective learning outcomes can be delivered over distance and time. What continuing education and workforce development leaders have long known is that the increase in convenience and accessibility offered by technologically supported educational solutions is a critical component of supporting the career-life-study balance needs of working adults.

Will the programs your department works to put in place be aimed toward full-time students only?

The primary constituency for programs offered through the Division of Workforce Credentialing and Community Impact is specifically that group that has been called nontraditional in higher education ”” even as it is the fastest-growing segment of the student population nationally. However, we do envision significant synergies between the curricula offered through our division and those more commonly serving our full-time degree-seeking students. If you think about the workplace value of critical skills, whether that be digital literacy or so-called “soft skills” such as critical thinking and teamwork, they represent core competencies that we will bring to both working adults and more conventionally aged students.

What specific workforce needs will you be addressing most immediately? What are the holes that you think need to be filled in the state and in the tristate area?

We anticipate our first forays to focus on critical areas of health care, sustainability and broader digital expertise, with a focus on cybersecurity. One of the key points of emphasis for our division is to create pathways for ongoing, true lifelong learning. So we hope that learners who take advantage of the workforce credentials we are offering will also consider continuing their studies with Mercy, whether in degree programs or ongoing noncredit opportunities.