The Pueblo Community College is making moves to invest more money and resources into its Southwest Colorado campuses.
President Chato Hazelbaker said the community college is working to get more community input into the best way to make those investments. So far, the college has a two-phase plan to improve the educational opportunity it offers with an emphasis on local autonomy.
“PCC Southwest is really committed to the economic development of the people in the Southwest,” he said. “We're going to be looking for partnerships. We are going to be looking to make investments. We’re going to be looking to make sure that we’re responding to community needs by listening through this strategic planning process that we’re in.”
The first phase of the plan starts with investing more money in health care, welding, automotive and law enforcement programs. Doing so will complement existing initiatives like the college’s welding and automotive training programs, and better serve both full-time adult students and high schoolers concurrently enrolled in PCC, Hazelbaker said.
Buying radiology equipment to create hands-on learning opportunities for Durango- and Mancos-based students is part of those investments, he said. Those include purchasing special mannequins and virtual reality headsets as part of the radiologic technology program.
“We started a pilot program to see if we could expand our radiology program out here,” Hazelbaker said. “We are going to move a couple of pieces of equipment so that we can create a lab experience for students on this campus, either in Mancos or Durango.”
The second phase, Hazelbaker said, is to hire more pay-rolled permanent faculty members and to strengthen partnerships with local institutions like Fort Lewis College and local medical providers. He explained that PCC wants to hire permanent leadership for the Southwest Colorado campuses by December. Doing those things will create more opportunities for hands-on and in-person learning, particularly in PCC’s nursing and EMT programs, he said.
“The nursing programs right now are mostly housed out in Mancos, though there are some opportunities here in Durango,” he said. “We want to talk about strategically making sure we’re good partners with Fort Lewis.”
Hazelbaker and FLC President Heather Shotton are relatively new to their roles, he said. That commonality has allowed both educators to work well together, and has created an inspiration to collaborate on ways to enrich the community.
“I'm super excited by working with the new leadership at FLC,” he said. “I think Dr. Shotton has done a great job in her previous role. She was obviously very involved in their strategic planning, and we're excited about continuing to work with them.”
Part of what makes PCC’s Southwest campus so special is its diversity, particularly through its tribal partnerships and its rural setting, and is something that he wants to preserve and respect, Hazelbaker said.
“I really tried to have a specific discussion about PCC Southwest and decouple it a little bit from our other campuses,” he said. “PCC is 100% in on the Southwest.”
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
