washington business
In Their Words
Paul Francis took over as executive director of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges ( SBCTC ) in August 2022 , replacing retiring executive director Jan Yoshiwara . He recently spoke with AWB ’ s Jacqueline Allison about the crucial role that the state ’ s community and technical colleges play in building a workforce , how to strengthen partnerships with employers , and better get the word out about the diverse programs around the state . The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity .
You previously served as executive director of the Council of Presidents , an association of Washington ’ s six public four-year universities . What made you want to transition to working with the state ’ s community and technical colleges ?
I think number one would be the mission , the fact that community and technical colleges serve everybody in Washington , regardless of who you are , where you come from , what type of academic preparation you have . I think there ’ s something really appealing to me about that . Anyone from the high-school student who ’ s looking to get a head start on college to the veteran returning from war to the single parent who ’ s looking to upskill , or the individual maybe looking for a career change , community and technical colleges are here for everybody in our state .
Washington ’ s community technical college system has been seen as a national leader . We ’ re highly innovative , we tend to do things before other states do them . For example , offering bachelor ’ s degrees — we were one of the first community college systems in the country to do that .
What were some of your priorities when you took over as head of the SBCTC ?
I think number one would be enrollment , because enrollment has declined in the community and technical college system . COVID has exacerbated that challenge . And so how do we help the public to understand the value of what community and technical colleges do , and especially the breadth and depth of our offerings . A lot of people know that we offer academic transfer programs to a four-year college or university , but they don ’ t know maybe that we offer our own . We have 140 baccalaureate programs — bachelor ’ s degrees — in our system . They don ’ t know about all our amazing workforce or apprenticeship programs . They don ’ t know about our basic education for adults programs , to help anybody , if you ’ re a refugee or an immigrant , or just need that foundational academic support and what we offer there .
I think many of my priorities are related to basic needs support . The last 10 years , there ’ s been a lot of realization that housing insecurity , food insecurity , child care , mental health services — those can be real barriers for students .
paul francis
A priority for me is how we can serve those individuals who have some college and no degree , or no college and no degree . In higher ed , we often spend a lot of time thinking about high-school students . And that ’ s a really important pipeline . But we have more than 1.1 million Washingtonians who have some college and no degree .
What do you most commonly hear from employers about their needs ?
What I hear from business leaders around the state is that they don ’ t have the talent development pipeline that they need .
How can businesses get involved to support a skilled workforce ?
Our goal in the community and technical college system is always to offer programs that are relevant in the workplace . Because we know that the vast majority of individuals access
18 association of washington business