Adult Education, Tom Edison-Style
Corrections or additions?
This article was prepared for the August 15, 2001 edition of U.S.
1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
When Certificates Are Gold
A new study by Education Testing Service and the
American
Association of Community Colleges finds demand for professional
certifications
of all kinds at an all-time high. Called "Help Wanted, Credentials
Required: Community Colleges in the Knowledge Economy," the study
finds that the number of organizations offering certifications grew
from 120 in 1965 to more than 1,600 in 1996, and that post-secondary
institutions confer more than 630,000 certificates a year.
Certifications
are defined as credentials that require a standards-based exam, while
certificates are credentials that signify short-term intensive
learning,
but do not require an exam.
The study found certificate and certification programs increasingly
important in preparing workers for the new high-skill economy.
Employers,
professional organizations, trade groups, and schools offer
certificates
and certifications, but the study finds community colleges at the
center of the skills validation industry.
The list of certification programs at Mercer County Community College
is long, and growing, and Yvonne Chang, director of community
education, reports an interesting development. "More and more
we are requiring a bachelor’s degree for what we are offering,"
she says. "This is a big change. We are just seeing the demand
is greatest among professionals." And, indeed, in a clear
indication
of the importance employers attach to certification, Chang says it
is not uncommon for individuals with master’s degrees and Ph.Ds to
sign up. Chang, following a not-uncommon course, completed her own
education, and become involved in administering continuing education
programs, as she followed her husband’s job. A native of Taiwan, where
she received her undergraduate degree, Chang received a master’s
degree
in communications from the University of Hawaii’s East West Center,
which she attended on a full scholarship from the U.S. Congress.
Looking
for opportunities to further her education, Chang moved to Pittsburgh,
where she completed a Ph.D. in education, and met her husband, Joe
Chou.
Chang’s two children were born in Pittsburgh, and the family followed
as Chou, a chemical engineer, accepted jobs around the country. When
he worked for Hoffman LaRoche, the family traveled to New Jersey,
where Chang became director of Fairleigh Dickinson’s continuing
education
program. Then Hoffman LaRoche built a new plant in South Carolina,
and the family went south, with Chang accepting a job at Orangeburg
Technical College. "It was the first time I was not in a
university
or research setting," says Chang. She enjoyed the change, and
the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of members of the
community who had to juggle work, family, and study.
After several years, the family decided that their next move would
be not merely to find good jobs, but to find a good place to raise
and educate their children. They returned to New Jersey. "It was
the first time we made a choice," Chang says. Her husband works
for American Home Products, and has just moved from the company’s
animal health division on Quakerbridge Road to its pharmaceutical
division in Philadelphia. Their daughters, Elaine Chou, 16, and Alison
Chou, 14, are students at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School. Before
the family moved north this time, Chang, hooked on continuing
education
at the community college level, sent an E-mail to MCCC asking if they
had an opening. She has been with the school since 1997.
"My passion for continuing education is an equality of education
issue," she says. "It’s another opportunity for people who
did not get in the door the first time." If adults had to go
through
the formal channel to get education, she says, many would not make
it, and would be stuck in minimum wage jobs. "With our short-term
certificates we are able to get them into a good job," she says.
"Then, very often, employers have tuition reimbursement."
MCCC offers a broad range of certificate and
certification
programs. New for the fall are courses running the gamut from
marketing
communications to project management to aerobic instruction. Other
skills validation courses include Professional Writers Certificate,
Montessori Certification, Travel Agent Certificate, Certified Assisted
Living Administrator, Desktop-Digital Publishing, Web Administrator
Certificate, Non-profit Management, Drug Development and Clinical
Research, and Small Business Management.
It is the job of a continuing education program to quickly find out
what skills the business community needs, and to tailor its offering
to those needs. In the past couple of years, MCCC saw a surge in
opportunities
for computer professionals. "They thought they were going to
retire
at 30," Chang says of some students who enrolled in those courses.
Now, in computer certification is down somewhat, precipitated, Chang
guesses, by "the dot-com crumble." At the same time she is
seeing an upsurge of interest in the Small Business Management
program.
"We have three times the requests," she says (see sidebar,
page 43). In this economy, starting a business may be looking like
a better bet than taking a chance on a big employer. The program
teaches
students, "how to jump start yourself in a difficult economy,"
Chang says.
As an accompaniment to the Small Business Management program, MCCC
this fall is introducing a series of Business Over Breakfast seminars.
Called "Show Me the Money!," the three seminars are on
obtaining
funding, keeping sales flowing, and driving traffic to websites.
More information on the Small Business Management program, and on
all of MCCC’s continuing education offerings — many of them
certificate
or certification programs — will be on tap at the school’s Open
House on Thursday, September 6, at 6 p.m. Call 609-586-9446 to reserve
a place. Information also is available by phone at 609-586-9446 and
on the Internet at www.mccc.edu.
Road, Box B, Trenton 08690; two-year college with community education
division, also at North Broad and Academy streets, Trenton. Founded
1966. Robert R. Rose, president.
609-586-4800 609-587-4666
Top Of Page
Drug and Salary
Enhancement
When that white lab-coated scientist waves the test
tube aloft and yells "Eureka!," the process is only beginning.
Although her formula for removing wrinkles, depression, and malignant
tumors may actually work, it remains merely an unmarketable dream.
What transforms that mustard seed of invention into a massively
effective
and profitable drug is an army of technicians burrowing in and
creating
a mountain of research. Ironically, today drug businesses seldom find
themselves strapped for those lone, lab-coated inventors; instead
it is the specifically skilled technician who remain ever in short
(and highly paid) supply.
To answer this need, Mercer County Community College is currently
offering a graduate level program for the professional certificate
of Clinical Research and Drug Development. The program consists of
four separate courses each of approximately 10 weeks duration. The
first, and pre-requisite to the others, is Foundations in Drug
Development
and Clinical Research, which begins on Thursday, September 6. The
following three courses cover legal and ethical issues; the protocol,
design, and process of setting up a clinical research study; and data
management/biostatistics.
"We began offering these courses at the request of the
pharmaceutical
and contract research industries," says course registrar Lynn
Coopersmith.
"We are particularly excited because not only is it a graduate
level program, but it is the only such certificate course available
in the state." This is a selective course. Those interested must
apply and be accepted. A minimum of a bachelor’s degree is required
— preferably (though not necessarily) in a science such as
chemistry
or biology. Many applicants also hold a master’s or Ph.D. or M.D.
The students’ backgrounds are as broad as the field.
MCCC prefers that applicants attend its upcoming open house on
Tuesday,
October 9, at 5:30 p.m. Those seeking to get on board for the initial
foundations course, starting Thursday, September 6, may still be able
to do so by calling 609-586-4800, ext. 3241.
Typically, it takes 12 years of testing, $1 billion, and literally
truckloads of research documentation shipped down to the Food and
Drug Administration reviewers in Rockville, Maryland, for a drug to
reach commercial fruition. During that time, thousands of researchers
will develop the drug-to-be chemically, test it on animals, and
finally
on 3,000 to 5,000 human guinea pigs.
"The steps (in commercializing a drug) are many and varied,
requiring
the full range of professional talents," says Michael
Toscani,
who co-teaches the Foundations of Drug Development and Clinical
Research
course with his wife, Lauren Murphy. "We try to give
students
the 50,000-foot overview of the research world, so they can choose
a niche. The following courses swoop down for a more specific
look."
After growing up in Bergen County, Toscani earned his doctorate in
pharmacology at St. John’s and did post-doctoral work in clinical
research and infections at Hartford Hospital. "I was ever
fascinated,"
he says, "in the delicate interplay of a drug versus an infection,
versus body bacteria. How do you apply a drug to cure, manage, or
prevent further spread of the disease?" He lives with his wife
in New Hope, and works for Health Answers, a Pennington company that
develop strategies on group disease management.
"The computer has greatly accelerated the initial drug development
stage," says Toscani. After its discovery, the inventor’s magic
elixir must first be chemically profiled. Tests for toxicity and
bonding
ability with other chemicals must be performed. What buffers and
delivery
agents can be used with it? Should or can it be a short or long acting
drug? How can it be synthesized? Not too many years ago, all these
questions were excruciatingly tested with eye dropper and petri dish.
Now the computer can actually model the new formula and profile it
swiftly against the known data of thousands of other substances.
Once the chemical compound is formed, animal testing begins. Despite
Hollywood myths, scientific technicians do not just grab a lab rat
and fiendishly inject away. Animal testing, in addition to falling
under strict FDA guidelines, is itself a very precise science. For
example, the human eye is amazingly similar in structure to that of
rabbits, thus making them the animal of choice for such research.
Like their fellows in clinical research, scientific technicians, who
supervise the animal tests, are in short supply and those working
for major drug company can pull down $40,000 to $80,000 annually with
only slightly lower compensations going to workers in contract
research
organizations.
Once the full year of drug development reaches completion and another
two to three years of animal testing has proved positive, the drug
moves on to clinical research — testing on humans. This is a
four-stage,
literally never-ending process that entails both tight protocol and
clever design and sampling. It is here, in setting up and managing
creative clinical strategies, that Murphy’s expertise shines. After
obtaining a bachelor’s from Rider, Murphy joined Novo Nordisk in l985,
where she monitored the human trial of insulin delivery systems. Today
she is an independent research contractor to major drug companies,
setting up and managing clinical strategies.
"For obvious reasons," says Murphy, "introducing a drug
into people’s bodies remains a delicate and strictly structured
process."
The steps are slow, the documentation and monitoring rigorous. In
Phase I the drug-to-be is administered to a small group of healthy
people, who are studied and report all symptoms. If results are
positive
and the drug appears safe, clinical researchers take to Phase II,
where a small number of sick individuals — perhaps a dozen —
are treated with the drug, which is studied for its efficacy and
safety.
How long is it staying in the blood stream? Do the side effects
balance
out against the benefits? Researchers may decide, for instance, that
a persistent breakout of acne is annoying, but well worth a 63 percent
remission rate in colon cancer.
Phase III is the large scale and difficult hurdle. Here the drug is
administered to a broad sampling of thousands. Individuals with the
target disease are studied along with healthy people. People of
different
ages, ethnic backgrounds, and blood types are considered. Placebos
are also administered for study control. Once the drug passes Phase
III successfully, it can gain FDA approval and go to market. But the
testing does not end.
Next comes Phase IV — after market testing, an ongoing evaluation
of a drug’s safety and efficacy. There are grumbles that there is
too much testing here compared with Europe where, says Murphy, certain
safety aspects may be glossed over. Yet by the same token, few screams
match the pubic outcry over a drug that reaches the market and is
proved unsafe. So rigorous testing continues, providing among other
things well-paid jobs for clinical researchers.
Graduates of MCCC’s Drug Development and Clinical Research certificate
program can job hunt at major pharmaceutical companies and contract
research organizations in three career categories.
oversee
the trial process. It is their responsibility to maintain, as the
FDA so broadly terms it, "good clinical practice." In return,
they are typically compensated $60,000 to $80,000 annually.
who handle the mountains of paper. They examine the data as it comes
in, assemble it in a logical form, ship it down to the FDA reviewers,
and act as liaisons. Their salaries are slightly higher than those
of auditors.
responsibility
for documentation and for establishing specific, special clinical
trials. For example, if a physician seeks to set up trial for his
patients using this tested drug, he will coordinate his efforts with
a regulatory agent. "Depending on experience, it is not unusual
for these experts to claim six-figure salaries," says Murphy.
will be hoisted gleefully by the inventor of some new, curative
potion.
Fewer than one percent of these will prove able to be chemically
synthesized
and buffered, and also safe and effective enough to make it onto the
drugstore shelf. But in the meantime, each one will continue to pass
through the gates of research, guided by highly- skilled, highly-paid
drug development professionals who make sure that snake oil is a thing
of the past, and that the medical revolution keeps on rolling.
— Bart Jackson
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Rutgers’ Education Card:
Computer Courses in Bulk
Demand for computer courses fell right along with the
glamorous dot-coms that had fanned interest in all things
Internet-related.
"We’re seeing lower enrollments," says Louise Forman,
assistant director of information management at Rutgers. Forman
hastens
to add that this is not necessarily a bad thing. "We were
overflowing,"
she says. "Now we don’t have to turn people away, to keep saying
`Sorry, that class is full’."
Demand is still strong for a number of continuing education computer
courses Rutgers offers. The dot-com crash stripped some fun out of
computer careers, and at the same time made formal training more
important.
Where not too long ago start-ups — competing with one another
for talent — grabbed every prospective employee in sight, most
companies now look for proof of competence, often in the form of
formal
certification.
"Job opportunities are still out there," Forman says, "but
employers are pickier about who they are hiring. They need more than
HTML." Job candidates need to add skills, she says. Computer
languages,
including Java and Visual Basic, are in demand. For those working
in computer graphics, Flash is becoming a necessity.
Rutgers offers an extensive menu of computer classes geared to the
schedules of working adults. Forman says most classes are held in
the evenings or on Saturday or Sunday. Offerings include Photoshop,
Dreamweaver, Unix, HTML, and preparation for vendor certification
from Cisco, Oracle, and Microsoft. Especially popular now, says
Forman,
is an integrated 30-hour beginners course called Web Developer
Fundamentals.
It combines instruction in HTML, web graphics, and web navigation
design. An advantages of combining this instruction, Forman says,
is that students are together long enough to network with one another.
For those with a big appetite for computer instruction, Rutgers has
just started offering an Education Card. Students who buy the $7,995
Education Card can take all the courses they want over a one-year
period. A $4,995 version entitles students to 150 hours of
instruction.
Forman says the lowest hourly rate for computer instruction is $44
an hour. At that rate, 150 hours of instruction would come to $6,600.
Punching numbers into her calculator, Forman says of the $4,995
Education
Card, "Instead of 113 hours, you can get 150 hours."
For those with lots of time, and mental energy to match, the unlimited
Education Card offers an opportunity to pack a lot of computer
instruction
into a year. "Oracle certification alone is $7,700," says
Forman. The E-Commerce Developer course is $9,041. The $7,995
Education
Card would allow students to take either of these programs, and a
lot more, limited only by their need for sleep.
Rutgers draws its continuing education computer students from a number
of areas. There are unemployed workers, some sponsored by state
grants.
Forman says one student, a former dot-com employee, could not land
a job. She went to her unemployment counselor waving ads she had cut
from newspaper Help Wanted sections. The ads called for computer
skills
she did not have. Convinced she needed further training, her counselor
helped her to get a study grant.
Other students are career switchers, often paying for their own
instruction,
and employees sponsored by their employers. While the Education Card
can be a good deal, Forman says a possible drawback is that it has
to be purchased upfront. Some students would rather pay as they go,
and some employers, she says, only reimburse students after they have
completed their courses.
No matter how students choose or pay for their courses, Forman says
continuing education is a necessity for anyone in a computer job.
"If you want to do anything with computers, there’s no such thing
as finished," she says. "There are constantly new versions.
You must stay somewhere near the cutting edge, or you’re going to
find yourself out of a job real fast."
Forman not only works in continuing education, but she has taken
advantage
of it throughout her life. A 1973 graduate of Boston University,
Forman
worked in PR for a while, and then went back to school, earning a
master’s degree in library science from Pratt Institute. Working in
libraries in advertising companies "back when you put the phone
in a cradle" to connect with the Internet, Forman says she
"got
hooked on computer searching." She started taking computer courses
at Rutgers, and was hired for her current position. She is now working
on an MBA in her spare time. What little of it she has.
The mother of three boys, Forman knows how difficult it can be to
squeeze studying into a life already busy with work and family. Her
oldest son, Drew, who is studying to be an engineer, just finished
his freshman year at Rutgers. Robert, 17, will be a senior at
Princeton
High School this fall, and Jonathan, 14, will be a freshman.
"Going
to school is difficult with the two younger boys," Forman says.
"It breaks my heart if I can’t get to a swim meet or a hockey
game."
A Princeton resident, Forman is married to a dentist with a practice
in Jamesburg. Living the life of a continuing ed student, she says
Rutgers is "trying hard to meet the needs of heavily involved,
heavily scheduled working people." For more information on the
Education Card call 732-748-8743, or visit www.internet.rutgers.edu.
83 Somerset Street, New Brunswick 08903.
732-932-1766
Top Of Page
Adult Education, Tom Edison-Style
A college without walls was the concept. And Thomas
Alva Edison, the Garden State’s great inventor, for whom the college
was named, would have loved the idea. Edison himself twisted antsily
all through grammar school until his mother yanked him out and decided
to "teach the boy myself." Some of us geniuses just learn
a lot better on our own, at our own pace.
Today you can get started on a solo educational voyage by phoning
Thomas Edison College at 888-442-8372 or dropping by the website:
www.TESC.edu. You can earn a bachelor’s or a master’s degrees
in a variety of fields, but you can not drive down to the school’s
Trenton campus and find tweedy professors wandering amidst ivy covered
halls.
Since its inception in l972, Edison has reached out to its students
individually at their homes and work places. Back then, Thomas Edison
was an "Assessment College" — an institution which would
determine and award college credit for knowledge and experience gained
through avenues other than formal academics. For example, a
professional
iron worker of 10 years, seeking an engineering degree, need scarcely
waste time with a course on construction tools. Instead he’d take
a brief test, earn the credit and move on.
But for William Seaton, who joined the Edison staff in l981,
mere assessment was too small a vision. Seaton, a shore-side native
of Manasquan, gained his bachelor’s from Bowling Green, and then moved
to Temple University for graduate sociology studies. It was as a
professor
at Penn State that he first saw the need for outreach academics. To
have adult learning hemmed by space and time within a set, often
inconvenient
campus and restricted to "the college years" was a detriment
to all society, says Seaton.
Thus, upon entering Edison, Seaton initiated DIAL, the program for
Distant and Independent Adult Learning, of which he is associate vice
president. "We wanted to make it a comprehensive learning
institution
for learners in all fields," he says.
In l981, while the worldwide web was a mere misty vision in hackers’
dreams, Thomas Edison College began collecting and creating a vast
library of instructional videos. Today, the over 10,500 Edison
students
select courses for which they receive a text, study guide and one
or more of the college’s 50,000 videos. Despite higher tech course
formats, this remains the most popular learning method for Edison
students.
Along with his materials, the student receives six assignments, and
a proctored mid-term and final. He is assigned a professor who
corrects
his work and keeps telephone office hours during which times he offers
advice and answers. Thus the student in Alaska may chat with his
professor
in Nebraska to help prepare for a mid-term which will be proctored
by an Edison-approved delegate from, say, the local library or
community
college.
Four years ago, Edison boosted its resources by providing students
with one of the largest academic libraries in the world. The school
joined with the New Jersey State Library, whose building stands just
down the road. Seaton notes that this link gives an interlibrary loan
capability to every public library in the state. Thus if any of the
65 percent of Edison students living in the Garden state needs a book,
the college will inter-library loan it from any New Jersey pubic
library.
Yet technology marches on, adding new tools on top of the traditional
books and videos. This summer Edison boosted its educational offerings
up into the cyber level with these innovations:
student to log on and get an instant assessment evaluation. A student
seeking a biology degree who has worked several years in healthcare
will log onto the web and basically take a test. His answers are
corrected
instantly and if they are wrong, he is referred to a physical text
for further study. In the end, the student takes a proctored exam,
receiving appropriate credit for the course.
speed and convenience of learning are great selling points for this
program. Web students merely log on, find all their reading on site,
and E-mail their assignments back and forth to professors. Swift and
simple. Seaton says the Web Courses offer two distinct advantages.
First, instructors can recommend a host of outside readings, all
available
on the Internet. Second, each class has its own chat room. "Most
new students really love these threaded discussions," Seaton says.
"Although some prefer the solitude of the video method. It’s
individual."
Seaton adds a gentle warning: "We do have electronic deans, who
monitor all classes and chats." Thus your biology class will not
suddenly evolve into a diatribe on creationism, nor its chat room
degenerate into a recipe-and-wife swapping club.
folks signed up for this course a year and a half ago. Seaton admits
that as a new offering this certification may be a bit late, but
"while
the consumer dot-com businesses may have fallen off the face of the
earth," he says, "business-to-business E-commerce is still
strong.
This four-course certification aims to instill strong, basic business
fundamentals. Each course runs 16 weeks (Seaton finds that a definite
time structure leads to a a higher success rate), affording graduates
12 college credits. Students learn how to construct business plans,
arrange marketing, and plan online management. "It is a not,"
insists Seaton, "a course to teach you how to build a web
page."
is adding to its advanced degree programs. Several years ago, M.I.T.
shifted many of its humanities courses from elective to mandatory.
When asked why, the technological institute’s president responded,
"because we have too many M.I.T. alumni working for graduates
from Harvard and Yale." In response to this sentiment — and
to many urgent requests from businesses — Thomas Edison has
initiated
its Master’s of Arts and Professional Studies degree. "It can
best be described," laughs Seaton, "by determining what
lessons
from Shakespeare can be practically applied in a business
setting."
Another option is the Master’s in Science and Management. No standard
on-line MBA, this program offers training for business folks in the
technical fields.
With all the new programs, Thomas Edison keeps expanding to an
international
student body with an average age of 39. So whether you prefer the
VCR, the old fashion textbook, or the Internet, if you are one of
those individuals whose time and place and learning style is strictly
your own, perhaps you might want to push aside the walls and learn
a little.
— Bart Jackson
Trenton 08608-1176; 11 associate and baccalaureate degrees for adult
students in 119 areas of study. Founded 1972. George A. Pruitt,
president.
609-984-1100 609-777-2956
Top Of Page
Enrichment is Out,
Basics are In
Central New Jersey residents have put basket weaving
is on the back burner, along with art appreciation and introduction
to opera. "Few simply take courses because they want to be
enriched,"
says Karen Crowell, assistant dean of Rider’s College of
Continuing
Education. "I’ve been here for 20 years," she says. "When
I started, there were a noticeable number of people who wanted to
just take a couple of courses. Now they’re more focused, more goal
driven."
The continuing education students Crowell sees now want to complete
a bachelor’s degree or prepare for the next level of study. "A
bachelor’s degree now is what a high school diploma used to be,"
she says. "You’re blocked without one." Careers stall at a
certain point without the degree.
To help women who left college years ago, or who never started
college,
Rider offers a free, six-week program in the fall. The program is
called Horizons, and Crowell says it is a way to begin to feel
comfortable
on a campus, to meet professors and other students, and to find out
what it is like to study for a bachelor’s degree. "People have
trepidations," she says.
Beyond increasing prospective students’ comfort level, Horizons
teaches
study skills, use of computer resources, and stress management. While
Crowell says Rider would be happy to have the students enroll at the
school, there is no obligation to do so. The course is designed as
a no-pressure introduction to the reality of attending any college
and beginning — or continuing on — the path to a bachelor’s
degree.
Those who have earned a bachelor’s degree already are increasingly
finding that it is not enough. Crowell says students signing up for
continuing education most often are doing so to prepare themselves
for further professional training. Students want, for instance, to
obtain a CPA or enroll in an MBA program, but know they need to take
a few courses they didn’t take as undergraduates or brush up on their
academic skills before forging ahead.
A direction in which many Rider continuing education students is
headed
is the classroom — the kind with little desks. "We have a
big, big grouping of people who want to be teachers," says
Crowell.
Career-switchers Crowell is seeing include lawyers, dentists,
physicians,
chemists, and "marketing folks." The school offers a 21-credit
certification program to get them into the classroom quickly. It
consists
of four graduate level courses in teaching methodology and one
semester
of student teaching. Applicants are required to have an undergraduate
GPA of 2.75, a state-mandated minimum for certification as a teacher.
Crowell says some prospective teachers are embarrassed to find that
their undergraduate grades were not up to snuff. "Perhaps they
were not as focused then," she says. Some professionals who want
to switch into teaching take a few courses to raise their GPAs before
enrolling in the certification program.
While most of Rider’s students are striding ahead toward specific
professional goals, some take time out to attend the school’s series
of free noontime Lunch Box lectures. Held this year on four
consecutive
Wednesdays in October, beginning on October 10, the lecture topics
include What’s the Score? A Listener’s Guide to the Movies (on October
10), and Does Peace Have a Chance in the Middle East (on October 17).
Information on Rider’s continuing education courses in available at
609-896-5036 or at its website, www.rider.edu.
Lawrenceville 08648.
609-896-5000 609-895-5681
Top Of Page
From NJTC,
One-on-One Aid
Not all continuing education takes place at a school,
or even in a classroom. Often, the most effective lessons are
one-on-one.
Add a real life setting, and the instruction becomes unusually
helpful.
Such personalized education is now available to New Jersey Technology
Council members. The professional organization of high tech companies
has launched its Advise & Consult program. Offered through its sales
and marketing peer group, Advise & Consult works with companies on
their individual marketing efforts.
The new program addresses a common need of member companies. "A
number of companies come to us with a great new product or
service,"
says Leo Mennitt, associate publisher of NJTC’s TechNews, and
Advise & Consult’s facilitator. "They have the nuts and bolts
skills, but they’re like the engineer who could build a bridge, but
couldn’t sell it." Building a better mousetrap is no guarantee
of selling it, says Mennitt. "Marketing is the weakest part of
the plan," he says. "Bringing the service to market is a
challenge."
NJTC members with marketing expertise have volunteered to spend time
— probably somewhere between two and eight hours — helping
young tech companies get their products in front of an audience.
Companies
that want this individual attention should submit an application to
NJTC, including answers to a questionnaire about their operation and
their products. The applications are reviewed and then companies are
matched with a volunteer whose background is a good fit.
Suite 280, Mount Laurel 08054. Maxine Ballen, president.
856-787-9700 856-787-9800
Top Of Page
New Training for Non-Profits
A new training course aimed at helping not-for-profit
organizations increase their self-sufficiency and reduce their
reliance
on grant funding will be offered for the first time this fall by the
Entrepreneurial Training Institute.
The eight-week course, sponsored by the New Jersey Economic
Development
Authority, the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Office of
Faith-Based Initiatives, and the Seton Hall University Institute of
Work, will be held on Thursdays in Trenton beginning September 13,
and on Tuesdays in Newark beginning September 18.
The Newark class will be held in the PSE&G building, and the Trenton
class will be held at the Human Resource Development Institute on
Wolverton Avenue. Classes run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Non-profit organizations will be required to undergo an Institute
of Work assessment of their readiness to enroll in the class at least
three weeks prior to the beginning of the session. The recommendation
from the assessment will be either admission into the program, or
counseling to prepare for it.
The classes will provide help in formulating a business plan. Once
business plans are complete, they will be presented to a panel of
accountants, lawyers, marketing professionals, and lenders for review
and evaluation. Graduates will be eligible to apply for financing
through the NJEDA or through more than 40 lenders throughout the state
that are associated with the Entrepreneurial Training Institute.
Caren Franzini, executive director of the New Jersey Economic
Development Authority, says not-for-profits that want to become
self-sufficient
and rely less on grant funding over the long term should find the
course valuable. In a written statement, she says, "In taking
a businesslike approach to developing a formal plan, they will
complete
a market analysis to identify the needs for their services, probe
the need for planning, marketing, and understanding financials, and
learn how to develop resources and organize boards to keep their
organizations
running efficiently and effectively."
To enroll in the program, not-for-profits must call the Institute
of Work at 973-313-6103 to schedule a readiness assessment. The cost
is $200, and not-for-profits accepted into the programs will also
be charged $500 for the use Institute facilitators. Call 609-292-9279.
Corrections or additions?
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