Workforce development authority

opinion Dierk L. Hall Published 10:36 PM EDT Aug 1, 2019 The modern workplace is becoming more complex and demanding. Young people embarking on careers must arrive mentally prepared for many challenges, including fast-paced work environments, on-the-job bullying and hard-to-please customers.  Success takes attention, teamwork and coachability, as well as the self-confidence and self-esteem needed to forward one’s own ideas and suggestions. Behavioral issues can sap concentration and overall productivity — perhaps both on and off the job. Such concerns not only dramatically impact our individual employability, but also impact the fortunes of co-workers and employers. Emotional and mental wellness is an increasingly important factor in workforce development. Young people beginning their employment careers must be alert to these issues and have the insights and skills needed to surmount them.  Employment and mental health systems are … [Read more...] about Opinion: Behavioral health impacts workforce

opinion Sarah Estelle Published 10:35 PM EDT Jul 13, 2019 Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has emphasized the need for “better skills, better jobs.” Recently, she joined Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan to publicize a state-led effort to encourage more students to seek skilled trade occupations. Her first proposed budget includes over $400 million for programs related to workforce development. That’s a worthy cause for sure, but when you look under the hood, the state’s effort to improve workforce development is actually quite underwhelming. Michiganians need to think carefully about the state’s role in workforce development. When they hear "workforce development," most people think of training in high-demand fields, like health care, technology, computer-based services, advanced manufacturing and construction. But the majority of these state and federal programs provide no such training. Instead, most focus on counseling, job placement services and soft … [Read more...] about Opinion: Taxpayer subsidized workforce development is a lemon

opinion Thomas A. Hemphill Published 10:08 PM EDT Jun 5, 2019 “Fully automated cars and trucks that drive us, instead of us driving them, will become a reality,” announced the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an operating agency of the Department of Transportation. In 2016, the NHTSA estimates there were 7,277,000 police-reported automotive crashes in the United States, in which 37,461 were fatalities and an estimated 3,144,000 people were injured. Not surprisingly, improved safety is a primary motivation for automating vehicle technology, as researchers estimate that 40 percent of fatal crashes involve some combination of alcohol, drugs, distraction and/or fatigue. However, with the advent of driverless vehicles, the driver impairment factor will no longer be a cause of future crashes. Yet safety improvement is only one consequence, albeit a first-order one, among many other important societal impacts resulting from widespread adoption of automating … [Read more...] about Opinion: Advisory needed for autonomous vehicle development

Dr. Lucy Kalanithi will bring her personal and professional perspective on loss and grief to San Diego’s fourth annual Palliative Care Conference, to be held June 7 at Cal State University San Marcos.The event, “Changing Tides: Innovation in Palliative Care,” will be from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. in CSUSM’s Student Union. Registration is $175 and includes food and parking.Kalanithi, a Stanford School of Medicine clinical assistant professor of medicine, will be the keynote speaker. She is the widow of Dr. Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgeon who wrote “When Breath Becomes Air,” a memoir about his fight against stage IV lung cancer that was published posthumously in 2016, less than a year after his death at age 37. The book spent 68 weeks on the New York Times nonfiction best-seller list and was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for biography or autobiography. Lucy Kalanithi wrote the book’s epilogue. She has been featured on PBS NewsHour, NPR’s … [Read more...] about Doctor/author to speak at palliative care conference