From full classrooms and in-demand programs to new learning spaces and transfer pathways, Fox Valley Technical College is entering the new academic year with plenty of momentum.
Dr. Jennifer Lanter, Vice President of Learning and Chief Academic Officer, recently joined WHBY radio to kick off Focus on Careers with WHBY. In the interview, host Hayley Tenpas asked Jennifer what’s new this fall, which career fields are seeing the strongest demand and how the college is helping students prepare for successful futures.
Tap the video to listen to the interview or scroll down to read the transcript.
Hayley: We are back just about 1040 on your Wednesday morning. And for so many back to school season is here. Fox Valley Technical College has been feeling that vibe for about two weeks now. And that means it’s time to Focus on Careers with Fox Valley Technical College, an opportunity to highlight careers of promise throughout the Fox Cities region, and how our college students are learning and really diving into hands-on learning as well with Fox Valley Technical College and to launch another season of this series, we are glad to welcome back the Vice President for learning and the Chief Academic officer with Fox Valley Tech doctor Jennifer Lanter joining us once again. Good morning, Jennifer.
Jennifer: Good to be here.
Hayley: Yes. How has the start of the school year been. Describe campus right now for anyone who hasn’t been to Fox Valley Tech in a moment.
Jennifer: It is busy. Yesterday we had our fall fest for returning student. All students really. We had food trucks and a band and it was a very hot day to be outside celebrating, but busy. Uh, absolutely busy with lots of refreshed spaces and renovations and new programs and really just set the stage for an awesome, awesome year.
Hayley: Love to hear that. Remind us of your role with Fox Valley Tech and how long you’ve been part of the college?
Jennifer: I’ve been at the college for about eight years and currently serve as the vice president for learning and oversee all the instructional aspects at the college.
Hayley: Perfect. Okay, so what’s new at Fox Valley Tech? You mentioned a couple of transformations that have taken place. Maybe let’s start with the renovations.
Jennifer: Yeah, it is gorgeous. The work that’s been done. So probably most notable are common spaces, specifically kind of the cafeteria space where you’d go and relax between classes, maybe grab a bite to eat. Contemporary furniture is just gorgeous, gorgeous remodels that have taken place there. And then our culinary spaces for instruction also have been remodeled. So we have now completed all our renovations on the culinary and baking labs. It’s been a four-year project, so a long year coming, but everything is done. Expanded new teaching stations, three production lines, really impressive. And then we had fun opening for our students in the interior design program. So you can imagine their interest and what their remodeled space would look like given what they’re studying. And so all their classrooms have been remodeled and are about as modern as it gets from the furniture to the furnishings and everything in between.
Hayley: I love to hear that. And it’s obviously, I would imagine, important for student energy and excitement from their perspective is that why we commit to these renovations? Or why is it important to continue to evolve here with the building?
Jennifer: Absolutely. For the common spaces, you’re spot on. I think in the educational labs, it’s just to stay up with what we see industry, you know, doing and want to make sure that we mirror and provide the experience that we need to so that when students are out in the workforce, that they’re well prepared.
Hayley: Excellent. All right. Let’s talk more about program growth. You’ve seen enrollment go up in several areas. What trends are you seeing in careers and industries that students are, I guess, lining up for?
Jennifer: Yeah, I’ll talk specifically about health care. We continue to see so much interest in health care that we have full programs in nursing, both our associate degree program and our licensed practical nursing, dental and dental assistant, which is exciting because we have relatively new labs in that space and simulation centers and substance use disorder counseling as well. So our health care spaces see that always popular is our vet tech program. So not surprising to see that full again. Our salon programs, nail tech, esthetician and cosmetology are all full. Construction management’s full. I mean, there’s just so much interest in, I think, in the great work that we do.
Hayley: Yes. And also great work. Great news for our community as well, because we’re funneling those students into jobs that are readily available in those areas, too.
Jennifer: Yeah, absolutely. And when the programs reach capacity, we’re like, oh, okay. Demand is strong. Students see the opportunity. They’re interested. Employers need, you need a revised workforce. And so how do we make that happen?
Hayley: And we’re at or near capacity for most of those programs, right?
Jennifer: We are at capacity for all of those programs. Others that are really moving up legal studies has been very popular. Um, our supply chain management program, early childhood education, it’s just across the board. It’s not in any one specific area, which is exciting as well.
Hayley: That is great. And if you’re put on a wait list, are you able to give a timeline to how long students can wait to get onto those programs?
Jennifer: In many cases, general education classes are a great place to start if you cannot immediately get into the core classes for your program. So we do our best to have options for you to get started.
Hayley: I remember those gen eds. Yeah, everybody loves everyone loves the gen eds. All right. Well, you also though launched some new programs this fall. And how does the college first determine if a new program should be launched? Is it based on students saying, I want to study this, I want to study this. And after a while you get a bunch of students wanting to study something, you go, huh, okay, or is it more industry driven? What do you see?
Jennifer: Yeah, it’s probably a mixture of both, right? If the students really want it, but there’s no jobs, then that becomes difficult. Right? And if the employers really want it, but there’s no students interested, that gets difficult too. So the best-case scenario is when those move together and we see clear workforce demand, strong employer support, because in many cases, we’re building out new labs, right, where we’re needing to outfit spaces to, to run these programs. So if they’re a sustainable career opportunity for students, we’re going to work with our industry partners and look at the labor market data in the future, look at student interest and ensure we’ve got the faculty facilities, the equipment, all the opportunities that students will need to have a successful program available to them.
Hayley: Very cool. And which programs launched this fall that might be new?
Jennifer: Yeah. So we have our AI data specialist AI, obviously. Yes. Very, very popular students are using data and artificial intelligence to solve different business challenges. So that has been something we have launched.
Also new and really exciting because of our healthcare industry. Usually think health care nursing, but this is actually a biomedical electronics degree. So if you want to maintain, troubleshoot and repair medical equipment, um, thinking about electronics and biomedical systems and so on, this is a great opportunity for you. And then we also have a short-term credential that is a phlebotomist specimen processor. So if you have an interest in getting started in the health care field, this is one way that you can enter into a career within medical laboratories and health care settings.
Hayley: All right doctor Jennifer Lanter joining us here today. And as we talk about the growth of these programs, we also want to note and we’ll talk about this after the break, how Fox Valley tech can be kind of a launch pad to even further education opportunities. And we’ll talk more about the different transfer portals that Fox Valley Tech can help with.
Also, there’s an open house coming up, and if you want to see for yourself all the changes and different renovations that have taken place at the college, you have a chance to step in and see it for yourself. We’ll tell you when that is coming up. And if you’ve got a question for us or just want to chime in, text in at 920281 1150.
Hayley: And we’re back. It’s Focus on Careers with Fox Valley Technical College, as we highlight every other week until the end of the school year. Believe it or not, a different program that is catching eye or we just want to learn more about. And we’ll continue those in the next two weeks. But right now, sort of a launch of the series again with Doctor Jennifer Lanter, Vice President for Learning and Chief Academic Officer as well.
And we’ve highlighted this throughout our seasons of focus on careers, but it really feels like Doctor Lanter, in the past year, this has kicked up a notch. We’ve heard of amazing partnerships with different universities throughout the state of Wisconsin, those transfer opportunities. So you can start at Fox Valley Tech, maybe get some of those gen eds out of the way, right? And then perhaps also attain an associate degree, right? And then you can go somewhere else. Let’s talk about that and the popularity of this program, too.
Jennifer: Yeah, that’s absolutely what we want to see is that associate degree earned because it opens up job opportunities as you’re looking to complete your bachelor’s. But maybe I’ll highlight two that have been particularly unique in this last kind of six months.
One is with Saint Norbert College in De Pere. That is a, a newer partnership for us. The excitement that they have come to us with in terms of, you know, interest in partnering with us and providing those final two years of a four year degree has been really exciting. So our associate of arts and associate of science degrees, as well as any of our associates in our business space, all transfer to the Schneider School of Business and Economics, which is pretty exciting for us. And it’s structured in such a way that complete two years with us and then you can complete two years at Saint Norbert College. That’s what’s important, right? That it’s not an extra year or added credits. So that’s been very exciting.
And then also in business. we have agreements with UW, Geen Bay and brand new agreements with UW Specific in that space of business. So business management, marketing, supply chain, human resources, right. These types of degrees that are very business focused entering their schools of business, which is great for students. Come get with us for a couple of years, have the opportunity to learn a bit about business and Gen Eds and then finish off your four year degree at one of our local four year partners.
Hayley: Yeah. What is student feedback like for this?
Jennifer: Well, they’re grateful we’re doing the upfront work for them, right? I mean, any student, should they be savvy enough, could work with a two-year school and a four-year school and put together a pathway. That’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of people trying to interact with syllabi have to be vetted by faculty. There’s a lot of work that goes into that. And while I know schools are happy to do that, it just takes the burden off. And also, I think the concern about, oh, will they really take my course? I don’t know. Right. And so it’s a really important component, of the process is that we put it together for you. You can see these articulation agreements on our website. So you can see exactly which courses you would take with us and exactly which courses you would take at the four-year partner.
Hayley: All right. We’ve got our sandhill crane friends back here at the window. I saw Jennifer’s eyes go. Whoa!
Jennifer: Those are big birds.
Hayley: Big birds. Dinosaurs are outside the window, basically. Um, and I love to. It’s very cool to see this reciprocity of sorts, right? And just the, the community factor and the, at the end of the day, we want students finding jobs that they’re passionate about and knowing that we can work together. I mean, I don’t think it’s cheesy at all. I think it’s fantastic that we’re able to work together with these higher education universities and colleges and find some partnership. And at the end of the day, again, get students hired, graduated, hired and back in our communities.
Jennifer: Yeah, it’s been so fun to have these partners on our campus as well, to tour our spaces and see, this is what it looks like here at Fox Valley Tech. You mentioned the open house. Same thing. Like I don’t want it to be the best kept secret, right? Like I want it to be, uh, something that people are aware of and can see the great work that we do because so much of what we do is hands on and it’s visible. So it’s been great that our four-year partners have been excited to see our spaces in addition to partner with us.
Hayley: Yeah. And we know always, though, that we’re always not looking at only the bright side of things. We know that there can be challenges ahead. And I’m curious, you know, maybe what excites you most for Fox Valley Tech and what are you also kind of being real on in facing with students?
Jennifer: Yeah. Well, what excites me most, I think, is the impact our students will have when they’re out in the workforce. Students come to us with a goal, with a dream. They need a career change. Or maybe they’re excited to enter the career, you know, for the first time, they’re going to make a difference in their workplace and in their communities. And we have the chance to be a part of that story. So that’s the exciting part.
The challenges, this will be a biennial budget year for us. So we’ve got to keep thinking, how are we going to keep making college affordable and relevant for our students? The foundation that, that we have, the FVTC Foundation awards about $1 million in scholarships every year, which is incredible. We’ve already got a very affordable tuition. But this opportunity that the foundation provides is incredible. Uh, we serve about 7300 degree seeking students. That is not a small number of students. And 85% of those students are part time. So how do we serve students who are working and raising families and going to school? Those continue to be challenges that we are prepared to meet. We are excited to meet. We are very much about aligning, you know, the resources that we have with the need that’s out there. And so how do we meet students where they are? Collectively, we serve over 40,000 students with things like certificates or professional development opportunities or in business and industry. Like it’s just a huge number of people that we can impact, which is why it’s so exciting when you think about the impact they are going to have in the community.
Hayley: Yeah. There’s no denying, uh, just how much gratitude we have for a space like Fox Valley Tech in our community. And if you’ve been curious about it, maybe you don’t have a student who is around that age of attending college or applying for college or looking for colleges, but you want to see what Fox Valley Tech is up to. Let’s end with details on that open house.
Jennifer: Yeah, I cannot encourage people enough to pop by, even just to walk around the campus and have a chance to see what is going on. But Open House takes place the afternoon of Tuesday, October 6th at all our campuses. They’ll be open from 3 to 6 p.m. they’re always open, right for visitors, but specifically open house 3 to 6 p.m. and this is like an all hands-on deck kind of experience, certainly for our faculty and staff. So you can see the labs. They’re open, meet instructors, visit the high-tech classrooms. And if you choose to apply while you’re there, the $30 application fee is waived and there’s tons of swag and freebies and there’s food trucks on site. So it really is very much a celebration of all the great work that we do.
Hayley: All right. Well, here’s to a successful school year. Doctor Lanter, thank you so much for joining us. And I know we can, of course, send anyone to fvc.edu for further details. And thank you again for being part of the show.
Jennifer: Yeah, thanks for having me, Haley.
