Shared Services

ARROWHEAD UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM

Trent Janezich, Director

Arrowhead University is a dynamic educational partnership between the two-year colleges of the Northeast Higher Education District and four-year universities (including the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Bemidji State University and the College of St. Scholastica) throughout Northeast Minnesota and the State. The purpose of our collaboration is to provide four-year (bachelor's) and advanced degree (master's) opportunities for residents of Northeast Minnesota. The programs offered by Arrowhead University are provided in flexible deliver formats (cohort programs, evenings, weekends, online and interactive television). This means you can earn your bachelor's or master's degree without traveling far from home.

Arrowhead University Consortium also offers professional development seminars, courses and workshops for professionals interested in enhancing their job skills or educational credentials. This programming is also delivered in partnership with other educational institutions using distance education and face-to-face methods. The sole purpose of the University Consortium is to assist those who wish to continue their education, improve their employability or enhance their expertise in a particular field without leaving the region. It is our hope that you will contact us if we can help you attain your goal of advancing your education and your career.

HUMAN RESOURCES

Patti Delich, Director

The human resources and payroll staff serve the employees of the Northeast Minnesota Higher Education District member colleges. The staff is committed to providing superior personnel/payroll services to the employees, including coordinating searches and the hiring process. The ultimate goal is obtaining and retaining faculty and support personnel who will best serve students.

Responsibilities include classification, labor relations, benefits, applicant services, personnel and payroll transactions, and training.

The links to HR website are (for each college):

Hibbing Community College

Itasca Community College

Mesabi Range Community and Technical College

Rainy River Community College

Vermilion Community College

THE NORTHEAST SERVICE UNIT

Sally Thompson, Mesabi Range Virginia Campus

The Northeast Service Unit is a core group that provides administrative and financial services to the colleges of the Northeast Higher Education District in the specific areas of institutional research, library on-line cataloging, fiscal management of federal grants and other region-side collaborative initiatives.

Current federal programs at NHED colleges include:

Hibbing Community College	Student Support Services
	Upward Bound

Itasca Community College	Student Support Services
	Upward Bound
	Talent Search
	National Science Foundation Engineering,
	Science and Math

Mesabi Range Community and Technical College	Student Support Services
	True North Upward Bound
	True North Upward Bound Math & Science

Rainy River Community College	Student Support Services

Vermilion Community College	Student Support Services

Region-wide collaborative initiatives to date include the following programs:

Applied Learning Institute

Arrowhead University Consortium

Itasca Nursing Education Consortium

Northeast Alliance for Technology

Regional Custom Training Coordination

NHED and Iron Range Resources

Roy Smith, Regional Workforce Development Coordinator

In May 2006, Iron Range Resources partnered with the Northeast Minnesota Higher Education District in hiring a coordinator for regional workforce development. The purpose of the collaboration is to more closely link economic development and educational efforts to develop a regional workforce with the talents and skills required by area businesses to successfully compete in the 21st century.

Both organizations recognized that the region is at a "tipping point" in terms of worker quality and availability. The workforce in northeastern Minnesota is older than both state and national averages leading to massive retirement projections over the next several years. Statistics indicate a need to replace 75,000 jobs over the next decade due to retirements alone. Given the decreasing size of the workforce and a decline in school enrollment, finding skilled workers to fill these positions will be a daunting task. At the same time the region is looking at the potential of $5 billion in proposed major economic development projects in ferrous, base, precious metals mining and processing, forestry and forest products, and advanced energy technology. One factor in determining whether this potential is realized will be the readiness and availability of the workforce necessary to capitalize on the opportunities.