News
Grant awarded for GIS-based workforce training
Salem State's Center for Economic Development and Sustainability has recently been awarded a $15,000 grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to perform workforce training through the North Shore Workforce Investment Board. The GIS based Occupational Skills Training will be conducted through the Geography Department's Digital Geography Lab and will provide unemployed and low skilled adults 18 and over with skills that will lead to employment within the local labor market in career paths of many critical and emerging industries in the region, such as Construction, the Creative Economy, Financial Services, Health Care, and Manufacturing.
By providing training that advances computer literacy, data processing and analysis, people will acquire and/or fine tune technology driven skills that will enhance their marketability in the critical and emerging industries of the north shore region. A series of three courses will provide an introduction to GIS, GIS Fundamentals, Applications, and Analysis Techniques. Each course will highlight the uses of GIS within the targeted industries and employ case study approaches to problem solving in these industries using GIS. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be awarded upon completion of each course from the Department of Continuing Education at Salem State College. Completion of all four courses results in the granting of a Certificate in GIS Training. Participants in this program will have the opportunity to continue their education in the GIS realm through either Undergraduate or Graduate programs in GIS, both of which are offered at Salem State.
