Higher Education Subcommittee

The Heartland Visioning Strategic Plan strongly emphasizes the need for Shawnee County to accelerate its efforts to overcome a looming retiree replacement problem in our workforce. Statistics show that in the county there will only be 90 potential employees to replace every 100 potential retirees in the coming years. A workforce of particular concern is that of state government here in the capital city. The retirement rate in the next decade for this group which makes up a considerable percentage of the total workforce will be even higher than the private sector. 

A related challenge is the growing number of college graduates who choose to leave the county once they have completed their education even though significant tax dollars have been expended to help educate these students. Thus the subcommittee has been exploring ways to convince college graduates that Shawnee County is a viable place to seek a career path.

We believe that if students are given the opportunity to have a meaningful internship experience in a local business, state government or a service organization they will be much more likely to remain in the community after completing their education. This is why the subcommittee has been working with Washburn University and the Topeka Chamber of Commerce to develop stronger possibilities for student internships in businesses, government and service organizations. 

In 2009 members of the subcommittee met with representatives of the legislative and executive branches of state government to assess what already existed in the way of internships and how the existing programs might be expanded. The legislature has in place a fairly extensive internship program that involves students from Washburn, KU, K-State and Emporia State. The program is coordinated through the Legislative Services office and the office of the Speaker Pro Tem of the Kansas House of Representatives. In most instances, students are receiving college credit for participation in the program. Expansion of the program is possible on the various campuses through increased publicity and a willingness on the part of legislators to accept an intern during the legislative session.

The subcommittee also met during 2009 with representatives of the governor’s office and the Department of Administration to ascertain how interns are currently being used in the executive branch of state government. In most state agencies and departments there is minimal use of interns. The Department of Transportation is an exception where engineering students are frequently engaged. The governor’s office does use college interns and staff expressed a willingness to expand their program if there were additional personnel who could administer and monitor the program.

It is the intent of the subcommittee to meet with the incoming governor as soon as possible after the 2010 general election to explore the possibility of establishing a position in the governor’s office that would be responsible for coordinating an intern program for both the governor’s office and state agencies and departments. 

The Topeka Chamber of Commerce sponsors a program called “Fast Forward” for young professionals which is designed to make these individuals aware of the various cultural and business entities in the Topeka community. This is accomplished mainly through monthly meetings at the locations of these businesses and cultural organizations. A member of our subcommittee, Amanda Hughes, has been instrumental in working to expand the program to include Washburn students at the upper division and graduate school level. 

During 2010 the subcommittee met with Kent McAnally, Director of Career Services at Washburn, and members of the Topeka Chamber of Commerce staff to develop a brochure outlining internship possibilities for both the student and the employer. That brochure has now been published and distributed to members of the Chamber. It describes what is involved in an internship, the advantages of having interns, what the expectations of an intern employer are and the process for placing an intern in a business or service organization.

A follow-up letter concerning internships has been sent to the fifty largest employers in Shawnee County. Since the fall semester has already begun employers and students are being asked to focus on needs for the second semester of this academic year. There should be some meaningful numbers to analyze relating to internships by the spring of 2011.

The Topeka Chamber is also gathering information about a program currently used by the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce which gives college interns the opportunity to learn about the benefits of living in that community. Monthly meetings are held where interns receive valuable information and participate in discussions of why they should begin their careers in the Oklahoma City area. Data indicates that a much larger percentage of student interns express a desire to stay in the area after attending these events. Implementation of a similar program by the Topeka Chamber may be possible pending further study. 

Another of the higher education strategies in the Heartland Visioning Strategic Plan is to “enhance collaboration with KU, KSU and WU that results in more educational and research opportunities and high technology job creation in Shawnee County.” To that end, the chambers of commerce in Topeka, Manhattan and Lawrence have underwritten a study that is exploring potential ways for the three cities to attract and expand such technology businesses. A report on that study is expected to be presented later this fall.