The University of Tennessee College of Communications and Information recently announced that it will be holing a job and internship fair on Wednesday, October 22nd from 10 Am – 3 PM in the University Center Ballroom.
The fair is for “all communication and information students seeking internships and entry-level positions,” according to a letter from the College. Participation in the event is FREE to businesses, and all participants will be provided a space to talk to students including a table and chairs.
The College will also make opportunities available to talk to classes of students on the following days – Thursday and Friday, October 23rd and 24th.
For more information about the Job & Internship Fair please click here.
The Tennessee Business Roundtable will hold an education summit on October 16 at the Nashville Downtown Public Library.
Mike Edwards, Knoxville Chamber president and CEO, is this year's chairman of the event. He said that the summit will "provoke some hard questions and answers for all of us."
Marc Tucker, founder and CEO of the National Center on Education and the Economy, and William E. Brock, former U.S. Senator from Tennessee, will present the much-talked-about report, "Tough Choices or Tough Times" at the summit.
For more information, read the release from the Tennessee Business Roundtable.
You Are Invited to Attend!
5th Annual Education Forum
Hosted by Knox County Council PTA
"The Tennessee Diploma Project: How Does This Affect My Child?"
Tuesday, August 19
9:00 - 11:30 a.m.
Andrew Johnson Building, 1st Floor Board Room
Featuring
Bill Williams, WBIR Anchor Emeritus & Honorary PTA Membership Chairman
Dr. James McIntyre, Superintendent Knox County School System
Jon Rysewyk, Principal, Fulton High School
Buzz Thomas, Executive Director, Niswonger Education Foundation
Dr. Gary Nixon, Executive Director, Tennessee Board of Education and
Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale
For more information contact Sandra Rowcliffe 603-5851 or sandrarowcliffe@kccpta.org
SKILL UP! in Innovation Valley is a partnership among Innovation Valley, Inc. and the Knoxville Chamber, Workforce Connections and the local Workforce Investment Board, and the United Way of Greater Knoxville.
The SKILL UP! initiative strives to prepare and train low skilled, low income workers to enter the health care, manufacturing, and energy/building-trades sectors.
Learn more about this program through the fact sheet.
The Tennessee Career Center is holding a webcast on Monday, July 14 at 10:00 a.m. to describe how to get the most benefit from the Career Readiness Certificate program.
This Career Readiness Certificate program is aimed at helping the upcoming workforce learn valuable, employable skills and also for businesses to identify those employees who have the most promise for their organization.
Nashville, TN – A partnership between Tennessee departments of Education, and Labor and Workforce Development garnered top-ranking graduation and success rates for a third consecutive year. Jobs for Tennessee Graduates works with high school seniors to ensure they graduate and are prepared for a career or higher education. The JTG program again has been awarded the highest national accolade – the Five of Five Award – signifying JTG students exceeded the goals of the program.
“This partnership is changing the lives of hundreds of Tennessee students,” Acting Education Commissioner Tim Webb said. “The achievements of JTG students open the door to a promising future and show their peers what can be accomplished. Each JTG teacher should be commended for their role in this success story.”
“I am proud of the continued success of the JTG program and being a leading example for the nation,” said Commissioner James Neeley. “The partnership between the Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the Department of Education has proved invaluable to this program and the Tennessee youth it serves. My congratulations go out to both JTG and the students who will soon be entering the workforce with the skills they need for success.”
The chart illustrates the achievements of JTG students in each of the areas measured by parent organization Jobs for America’s Graduates:
| JTG 2007 Achievement | JAG Goal | |
| Graduation Rate | 96.54% | 90% |
| Full-Time Placement Rate | 92.02% | 80% |
| Positive Outcome Rate | 84.89% | 80% |
| Full-Time Job Placement Rate | 71.51% | 60% |
| Civilian/Military Job Placement Rate | 66.29% | 60% |
“I want to applaud my 35 teachers in the 41 Senior School-to-Career Programs across the state,” JTG Executive Director Betsy Houston said. “This is a very prestigious award and extremely difficult to achieve.”
JTG specialists work with at-risk students during their senior year and remain in contact with participants for the full year after graduation from high school. The awards will be presented during the National Training Seminar in New Orleans July 7-11. For more information, contact Rachel Woods at (615) 253-1960 or Rachel.Woods@state.tn.us.
The Knoxville Chamber has released a report detailing the Workforce + Education Summit Follow Up Meeting events.
Various task forces and groups were created from this event, and will continue to meet to discuss the challenges and issues facing education and workforce.
Over 200 Knoxville businesspeople, area educators, parents, students, and others attended the Workforce Development and Education Summit follow-up meeting sponsored by EdAmerica and South College. Knoxville Chamber Workforce Development and Education Manager Ahnna Estes helped organize the event, hosted by Innovation Valley, Inc. at Cokesbury United Methodist Center, designed to create action plans that will solve issues identified during March’s summit.
“Participants will come away with an understanding of what is required from them as we move forward,” she said.
Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale led a panel discussion and spoke about the value of an educated workforce.
“Businesses are relocating and expanded to areas where a qualified workforce is available,” he said. “Our challenge here in Knoxville, Knox County, and East Tennessee is to make sure we have the country’s best workforce. Regardless of our outstanding quality of life here or our collective marketing efforts to attract businesses to the area, companies will find other places to call home if we don’t have qualified workers available.”
Attendees took part in five breakout sessions designed to develop action plans. Participants separated into Communications Campaign, Effective Teaching/Relevance Taskforce, Attracting and Retaining a Quality Workforce Taskforce, Bridging the Gap Between Higher Ed and Business Taskforce, and Under-Utilized Workforce Taskforce breakout sessions.
Chamber President and CEO Mike Edwards challenged those in attendance to focus on implementing action plans.
“Discipline yourselves not to talk about what the problems are,” he said. “We’ve already done that. Spend your time on action items and how we’re going to go about addressing the issues we face.”
For more information about the summit’s follow-up meeting or information about Workforce Development and Education, please contact Ahnna Estes, 865-246-2658.
Three upcoming high school freshmen students visited the Knoxville Chamber as part of Knox County Schools “Schooled for Success” program.
This program’s purpose is to introduce entering HS freshman to career opportunities. The program is conducted each year after school gets out at various local businesses.
The student’s that participated in the Chamber's events were Abby Burroughs, Carter Middle School; Preston Johnson, Holston Middle School; and Marc Cooper, Powell Middle School.
The student’s spent two work days at the Chamber offices, during which time they had a tour of the building, interviewed staff members in various departments, conducted an internet scavenger hunt of the Chamber website and completed a project. The project was to create a brochure that can be used by the school counselors to help students understand what the chamber does and why it is important to the region.
Knoxville Chamber President and CEO Mike Edwards received the Knox County Council PTA Partner In Advocacy Award May 1st at the Crowne Plaza in Knoxville.
“PTA members honored Edwards for his persistent and persuasive efforts on behalf of the children of Tennessee,” says Karen Davis, Knox County Council PTA president. “He has been unrelenting in his quest to remind all stakeholders that it is the right of every child to receive a quality education and it is our duty to provide them with an education that will give them the tools to be successful no matter the path they take in life.”
“The Chamber has been diligent and focused on providing the children of Knoxville the education they need and deserve,” says Edwards. “We feel very strongly that their future and the future economic prosperity of our region depend on their classroom achievement today.”
The Chamber hosted the Workforce and Education Summit in March at the Knoxville Convention Center. The event gave Knoxville businesspeople and educators a chance to share ideas and goals that will improve the region’s educational systems, which ultimately determine the quality of the workforce. The Chamber will host a follow-up to the summit on June 10th to discuss ideas and responses. The meeting will be from 8:30 - 10:30 a.m. at the Cokesbury United Methodist Center located at 9919 Kingston Pike in Knoxville. Chamber sponsorship of events such as these is part of the reason Edwards was recognized by the PTA.
The PTA’s Evening of Elegance honored individuals and local PTA/PTSA members’ schools for their hard work and dedication to the children of Knox County. PTA/PTSA members, parents, teachers, principals, community partners, and elected officials attended the event. In addition to the Partner in Advocacy Award, the PTA announced its Awards of Excellence for Outstanding Local Unit, Outstanding Teacher, Outstanding Principal, Outstanding Elected Official, Outstanding Volunteer awards, and others were presented.
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