Barton Community College announced plans to offer a new associate degree during a Board of Trustees study session on Tuesday. Board members also learned that Barton has joined SkillsUSA, a student organization for students pursuing trade certificates.
Vice President Elaine Simmons talked about the degree in Human Resources, in partnership with Golden Key Group Partnership.
“We have an event planned on Nov. 4,” Simmons said.
Golden Key Group CEO Gretchen McCracken and COO Phil Moravec attended the meeting via Zoom.
“I started the Golden Key Group back in 2002,” McCracken said. “Our speciality is federal Human Resources and human capital management. ... We have a major commitment to our Armed Services members, particularly in the Army.”
“By providing standardized training through Barton,” McCracken said, “they can fill a need for HR-As (Human Resource Assistants), with the speciality of federal employees. This training doesn’t currently exist anywhere in the country,” she added.
“Golden Key is not a federal agency, but contracts with the government,” she said. “And right now, the federal government is down 60% of its HR staff, so we look at this as an opportunity, not only for today, but for the long term.”
Moravec said, “This is a career field with a lot of opportunity for remote work, and we can clearly define a pathway for this career profession that gets you well of $100,000 annual salary. There’s always going to be federal human resource needs in the government.”
Barton Administrator Dr. Kathy Kottas said, “The associate of arts degree will require 39 credit hours. It would be the nation’s first associate of arts degree in federal human relations.”
Simmons added, “It will be offered entirely online.”
Skills USA
Administrator Mary Foley told the trustees that Barton has joined a national student organization, SkillsUSA. Just as HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) is for students looking at careers in health-care professions, SkillsUSA is for students looking at careers in trades.
There are currently high school SkillsUSA organizations at Larned and Ellinwood.
Barton will start with the following areas and advisors:
• Construction Technology - Matt Mazouch
• Plumbing - Jeff Meyer
• Welding - Jake Streit and Shawn Galloway
• Early Childhood - KellyAnn Bonnell
Potential additions include EMS, criminal justice, crime scene investigation, cyber security, electrical construction wiring, leadership/presentation and web design and development. It may also be possible in the future to extend membership to the incarcerated population receiving skills training from Barton.
