Cochise College is unique among other colleges and universities for providing military students access to higher education through the military occupational specialty (MOS) credentialing program. Many soldiers and their family members have earned their degrees and continue to advance their careers through a Cochise College education.
“The college values our training partnership with Fort Huachuca and supports the defense contractor industry located in the county,” said J.D. Rottweiler, college president. “There are 10,000 students enrolled annually. Of those, roughly half are educated in collaboration with Fort Huachuca.”
With the already existing MOS program and robust workforce development programs, Cochise College is well-positioned to explore workforce accelerator education opportunities to train veterans who have or will be transitioning from their military careers into the civilian workforce.
At a Governing Board work session, Jeff Jennings, Deputy to the Commanding General, U.S. Army Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca spoke about how the U.S. Army and Fort Huachuca are modernizing and pivoting its mission, testing and operations.
“Everything we develop must be tested,” Jennings said. “If it emits energy, we test it at Fort Huachuca.” During the briefing, Jennings highlighted a need for qualified skilled technicians in the testing community at Fort Huachuca.“On average there are a hundred vacancies a year.”
Dr. J.D. Rottweiler and other college staff are working together with the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence to discuss workforce development and designing a curriculum or creating a certificate program to educate, train and assist military members, veterans or the general public.
The new curriculum will educate students to meet EPG, IEWTD and JITC’s technician needs that include information technology, cyber security, and basic electronics skills. Additionally, these programs would help soldiers develop the skills needed to work in various capacities at the fort.