UMass Lowell Partners With Minuteman on Skills Capital Grant

In photo the day the Skills Capital Grant was awarded, left to right, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Mike Kennealy, Minuteman Director of Special Projects Maryanne Ham, Minuteman Advanced Manufacturing teacher Alex Peters, former UMass Lowell / Minuteman Technical Institute teacher John Mulligan, Governor Charlie Baker. Photo by Allison Cammarata.

By Judy Bass

LEXINGTON - UMass Lowell has been awarded a $116,000 competitive Skills Capital Grant in partnership with the Minuteman Regional Vocational School District in Lexington. The presentation was made by Governor Charlie Baker during a recent ceremony at Shawsheen Valley Technical High School in Billerica.

The grant to UMass Lowell was among 31 Skills Capital Grants totaling nearly $3.3 million that were presented that day.

According to the web site Mass.gov, “The goal of the Skills Capital Grants is to help high schools, colleges and other educational institutions invest in the most up-to-date training equipment to give their students an advantage when they continue in their chosen field or particular area of study. The Skills Capital Grants cover a broad array of fields, from construction and engineering to healthcare and hospitality. In the past three years, the Baker-Polito Administration has awarded nearly $50 million to high schools, colleges and other educational institutions across the Commonwealth.”

The partnership between UMass and Minuteman specifically involves UMass Lowell’s Francis College of Engineering and Minuteman Technical Institute (MTI), a component of Minuteman Regional Vocational School District which offers six Chapter 74 post-secondary certificate programs including a 10-month Advanced Manufacturing program.

MTI’s Advanced Manufacturing program is the newest program at Minuteman with advanced computerized machinery, equipment and technology. It will be offered starting on September 9, 2019.

Students will be trained on cutting edge technology and advanced computerized machinery to improve product manufacturing. They will learn the layout process, the setup and procedures necessary to operate equipment such as CNC lathes, CNC milling and turning machines.

Students will also gain experience taking a product from conception to manufacturing using innovative CAD/CAM software. They will receive training and certifications from NIMS (National Institute for Metalworking Skills, Inc.) as well as an OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) 10-hour certification and CPR, AED, and First Aid certifications.

Two former instructors from UMass Lowell’s Francis College of Engineering, John Mulligan and Robyn Goodner, teach MTI’s Advanced Manufacturing program in the evening along with Minuteman’s Advanced Manufacturing teacher, Alex Peters. Mr. Mulligan and Ms. Goodner wrote the grant proposal with Minuteman’s Director of Special Projects, Maryanne Ham.

The grant states that "UMass Lowell Francis College will partner with Minuteman Technical to purchase 4th and 5th axis control CNC milling machines to offer new technical training programs, in order to support local manufacturing workforce needs. The partnership will allow the equipment to be used by both organizations to teach advanced technical skills to day students and adults in evening training programs. Students will have the opportunity to earn college credits, an associates’ degree in mechanical engineering technology, or a certificate in Advanced Manufacturing.”

Ms. Ham observed that “this partnership between UMass Lowell and Minuteman received strong support from Minuteman’s Advanced Manufacturing Advisory Committee. One committee member, SME’s President, Mark L. Michalski, wrote a letter endorsing this initiative.” (SME, whose web site is www.sme.org, is a national association of professionals, educators, and students committed to promoting and supporting the manufacturing industry.)

Mr. Michalski’s letter emphasized the importance of “build[ing] career pathways for students from basic skills to advanced skills in the Advanced Manufacturing fields. The aging workforce will create tremendous job opportunities in Advanced Manufacturing. The programs this partnership is proposing to roll out with this grant will provide the opportunities for students to receive training in the operation and programming of fourth and fifth axis milling machine control.”

Ms. Ham also pointed out that “this partnership also received support from three MassHire Workforce Boards in Minuteman’s district - Metro North, Central North and Metro South/West.” These are local workforce development agencies that connect people seeking jobs with employers. “Their letters,” noted Ms. Ham, “all endorsed [the hope] that this partnership would create an alignment in curriculum between both schools [Minuteman and UMass Lowell] as well as provide an opportunity to update equipment and provide training in the operation and programming of fourth and fifth axis milling machine control.”

Greg Bunn, executive director of the MassHire South/West Workforce Board, stated, “The majority of manufacturing firms and metal fabrication and welding businesses in Metro South/West that produce custom products face two related challenges—keeping up with the rapidly changing production technology and continuing learning for workers to ensure that they can use the new technologies. The aging workforce and job openings due to retirements will provide opportunities for those seeking employment in all the identified occupations, however, there will be a shortage of skilled workers in each of these areas. The programs at Minuteman and UMass Lowell could help them meet these challenges.”

The rigorous, practical training provided by both Minuteman High School and Minuteman Technical Institute is aimed at positioning graduates for further education to earn additional credentials or certifications, or employment in competitive, high-wage careers with solid upward mobility and a robust outlook for the future.

To facilitate that goal, Minuteman has what MTI Executive Director Dr. Nancy Houle called “strong partnerships” with industry and in addition, she said, “We are working toward articulation agreements for our MTI graduates.”

Articulation agreements exist between educational institutions to ensure that students who take and successfully complete certain courses in high school, for example, do not have to repeat the same or similar courses at a higher level such as at a community college.

Dr. Houle said, “We strive to develop strong programs that prepare completers for any of the following pathways: immediate employment, advancement at their current place of employment, advanced training, admission to a two-year public or private institution that is either academic or trade-focused, or admission to a four-year public or private institution.”

Another significant benefit to students is that Minuteman’s new Advanced Manufacturing training facility is being made available (at no additional cost) to adult students in an innovative after-school access model. State school construction regulations currently prohibit the construction of dedicated adult training facilities in state-approved vocational high schools. This has required the Minuteman Technical Institute to offer all its programs after school, in the evening and on some weekends. This model allows greater access to high-quality training facilities and equipment and will result in Minuteman being able to shrink the skills gap in its geographical region."

That skills gap is very real. In the 2018 Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute Skills Gap and Future of Work Study, one manufacturing-related prediction stands out starkly – “The skills gap may leave an estimated 2.4 million positions unfilled between 2018 and 2028.”

Also, this study states that “more than half of the open jobs in 2028 (2.4 million) could remain unfilled because of the following top reasons identified by executives: shifting skill sets due to the introduction of advanced technologies, misperceptions of manufacturing jobs, [and] retirement of baby boomers.”

The study goes on to say that, “As one manufacturing executive noted, ‘We want to right-size our workforce, with the right skills, and give them the tools and training they need to be successful.’”

The tools and training which job applicants need to be successful are available at Minuteman Technical Institute now!

MTI is currently enrolling for the 2019-20 school year. Places are filling up quickly because of the high level of interest in the new state-of-the-art Minuteman High School that is currently under construction, so please don’t wait! Some prospective students may qualify for assistance and tuition support.

Those interested in applying to Minuteman High School are also urged to act promptly. Please visit www.minuteman.org and go to the Admissions tab on the home page.

Minuteman is conveniently located on Route 2A (758 Marrett Road) in Lexington and is on an MBTA bus line.

Visit www.MTI@minuteman.org or call 781-861-7151 for more information on Minuteman’s post-secondary program offerings.

The following members of the Advanced Manufacturing Advisory Committee at Minuteman High School are gratefully acknowledged and thanked: Philip Cassady, Rockwell Automation; Robin Dion, Northeast Advanced Manufacturing Consortium; Pete Eisenheim; Leo Gibbons, H.C. Starck; Robyn Goodner, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Peter Haxton, BAE Systems; Don Hersey, Raytheon; Mark Lyons, 3HTI, LLC; Tony Mardiros, Razor-Tool; Ken Martin, Vaccon Company, Inc.; Mark Michalski, SME; Scott N. Miller, Dragon Innovation; John Mulligan, Minuteman Technical Institute; Brian Norris, Northeast Advanced Manufacturing Consortium; Dan Olsen, MachMachine, Inc.; Alex Peters, Minuteman High School; Daniel Quinn, Haas Factory Outlet – Trident Machine Tools; L. Sandro Russo, Prattville Machine and Tool; Charles Shaw; Glenn Sundberg, UMass Lowell; Liem Van Tran, Wentworth Institute of Technology; William weir, Ironclad Machinery, LLC; and Geoffrey Zeamer, Abbess Instruments and Systems Inc.

Minuteman is six months away from moving into a new $145M facility that has been designed to support a robust college and career academy model. The academy model was adopted by staff and administration to create smaller “schools within a school” thereby promoting more personalized learning founded upon close relationships between students and teachers. The Minuteman college and career academy model integrates rigorous academics with relevant technical programming in occupational areas providing individual economic opportunity. The new facility will accommodate project-based learning across disciplines, requiring students to learn how to work on a diverse team, solve problems and think critically. These are essential 21st-century skills that students practice and apply in a variety of school-based and work-based environments.

As an accredited member of the New England Association of Schools & Colleges (NEASC), Minuteman inspires all students to attain their full potential, accelerate their learning, and become purposeful citizens in the global community.