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2017 | Doing Business in Connecticut 23 By Matthew L. Brown W hen Carlee Drummer, president of Quine- baug Valley Community College (QVCC), took her first job as a community college administrator, the experienced higher-education executive wasn't quite aware that it would change her life. Drummer had worked primarily in marketing and communications roles at large universities and small, private liberal-arts colleges, and she thought, "Well, it will round out my resume." It didn't take long for that to change. "I quickly fell in love with the community college and the number of lives we transform," she said. Accessible higher ed Drummer became president of QVCC in 2014 aer the state's Board of Regents for Higher Education took nearly a year to consider more than 90 candidates for the job. She had spent the previous 13 years at Oakton Community College in Illinois, where she was executive director of college advancement, as well as executive director of the school's educational foundation. "Community colleges educate half of the nation's undergrads, and the educa- tion we provide is vital to these students' lives," Drummer said. "Most are the first in their family to go to college, and some are the first in their family to get a high- school diploma." For those students, beginning their higher-education careers at a college that costs little more than $2,000 a semester is practical. But it's also important that com- munity colleges help those students focus. Drummer introduced the Transfer Articulation Program, so that when a stu- dent has made decisions about his or her education and career path aer talking it over with faculty advisors, the college provides the student with a list of all classes he or she will have to take at QVCC and at any subsequent four-year college. Drummer was certainly on track in her own education, graduating magna cum laude from Wittenberg University and earning both a master's degree and a doctorate from the State University of New York Stony Brook. Students who don't know what kind of career they want to pursue, or even what they're supposed to get out of college, are well served by community col- leges, Drummer said. And while community colleges train first responders, nurses, manufacturing professionals, accountants and veterinary technicians, what some students do aer graduating from QVCC leaves even Drummer amazed. "Students come into my office and tell me about their lives, and I marvel at their stories," Drummer said. She told the story of a high-school student who was taking care of an ill parent and wasn't sure how he'd manage to attend or afford college. at student, Drummer said, graduated from QVCC, won a $35,000-a-year engineering scholarship to attend Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and went on to win another scholarship to attend graduate school. "It's that type of story that makes me run to work every day," Drummer said. "And he wouldn't have even gone to college without QVCC." ❑ Carlee Drummer Naugatuck Valley Community College's Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center, the effort comes not a moment too soon. "We have a severe shortage of people with the right skills to fill open positions in manufacturing," DeFeo said. "ere are more open manufacturing positions throughout the state than people to fill them." DeFeo estimates that in the next 10 years, Connecticut-based industrial pow- erhouses Electric Boat in Groton, Pratt and Whitney in East Hartford and Sikorsky Aircra in Stratford will look to hire more than 30,000 new workers. But the demand doesn't end there, DeFeo said. "ey all require very large supply chains — first-tier suppliers — and those first-tier suppliers will need suppliers to meet their manufacturing goals. It'll re- quire workers with the correct set of skills, and it'll be up to the state's technical high schools and community colleges to provide the workforce." e "correct set of skills," DeFeo said, includes higher-level math, metrology, me- chanical drawing interpretation and quality- improvement methodologies. Manufacturers today expect employees to "be able to solve higher-level problems, and be more innovative and quality-con- scious on the manufacturing floor," he said. NVCC uses flexible scheduling, finan- cial-aid packages and other measures to make attending the Advanced Manufacturing Tech- nology Center convenient for students. ose students aren't just recent high- school graduates. Some are college-educated professionals who have lost jobs or decided to make a career change. Some are old-school manufacturing veterans looking to update their skills. Some are men and women who've served in the military and are looking to make their first educational move as civilians. One of the challenges that NVCC is taking steps to meet is a general lack of pre- paredness for the job market among students, said Antony Wormack, NVCC's director of job placement. "One of the areas that students tend to struggle with the most is preparation and awareness of the actual marketplace," Wormack said. "And when students are unaware of what's required to succeed, that can set them back professionally for a long time." ❑ TRANSFORMING LIVES Drummer leads community college in state's Quiet Corner PHOTO/QVCC PROFILE