VINCENNES, Ind. - Purdue Polytechnic Vincennes will host Darrel Zeck, executive director of the Office of Indiana’s Work-Based Learning and Apprenticeship in the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, on April 3. Zeck serves as the executive director of the program which was created in 2018 by an executive order from Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb.

Zeck will tour the Vincennes University Technology Center with Scott Wallace, coordinator of VU’s Precision Machining Technology program, and Ty Freed, dean of VU’s College of Technology. VU’s Precision Machining Technology program is one of the few in the United States to offer specialized training in manual machining, CNC machining, metal stamping die, and plastic injection mold building.

Zeck will also visit with Purdue Polytechnic Vincennes students about their career aspirations and how their associate degrees from VU and their baccalaureate degrees from Purdue will help them achieve their goals.

The Office of Work-Based Learning and Apprenticeship, located within the Department of Workforce Development and part of Gov. Holcomb’s Next Level Agenda, serves to develop and implement a framework of various work-based learning pathways for youth and adult populations. To accomplish this, the office concentrates on three objectives: coordinating efforts and partnering with the U.S. Department of Labor to expand registered apprenticeships; developing flexible and scalable programs that focus on the state’s key economic sectors and regional high-wage, high-demand occupations; and building public-private partnerships to increase business and industry engagement with education systems.

Purdue Polytechnic Vincennes boasts a placement rate of more than 99 percent and a retention rate of more than 97 percent. Graduates of this program have gone on to successful careers in their fields, graduate school, and non-profit organizations, and have enhanced the economic viability of the region, state, and nation.

There were no Purdue Polytechnic campuses in the west-central or southwest regions of the state until the Purdue Polytechnic statewide system was expanded to Vincennes University in 2009, making Vincennes the ninth Purdue campus statewide. This program, like the others, was created to meet the unique workforce demands of the region.

Purdue Polytechnic Vincennes directly addresses the statewide skills gap, the oft-repeated concern of industry leaders who want but are unable to hire qualified employees for manufacturing positions. Since its inception, Purdue Polytechnic Vincennes has provided a world-class Purdue education in the Southern Wabash Valley, allowing students access to Purdue University services, including study abroad opportunities and career services as well as course offerings/professors and Purdue’s Blackboard online course management system.

Students graduating from Purdue Polytechnic Vincennes over the past seven years have contributed to the state’s economy, particularly in the west-central and southwest regions. Students have parlayed their Purdue bachelor’s degrees into graduate studies, positions in their fields, as well as employment in Indiana’s multinational automobile organizations, including Toyota, Honda, and Subaru.

Information about Purdue Polytechnic Vincennes is available by contacting interim location director Jim Tanoos, jtanoos@purdue.edu, or 317-989-7726.

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