Higher education leaders form alliance to meet workforce needs

Key players at the table together

As the region prepares for Foxconn and braces itself for workforce shortages in many industries, it has prompted a new sense of urgency among southeastern Wisconsin’s higher education leaders to work in concert with one another.

A steering committee of leaders from several higher education institutions has been quietly working toward that end in recent months. Called Higher Education Regional Alliance, and known as HERA, the committee comprises leaders from the region’s three technical colleges, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, UW-Parkside, Marquette University and Carthage College. It also includes Julia Taylor, president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, Eve Hall, president of the Milwaukee Urban League, and leaders of education-related nonprofits Milwaukee Succeeds and Higher Expectations for Racine County.

Committee members came together after realizing that the many separate conversations they were having related to workforce development could be more effective if all the region’s key players were at the table together.

Read more about HERA and its work at the BizTimes.