TEXAS A&M-TSC SIGN HISTORIC WORKFORCE TRAINING MOU

Special to El Rrun-Rrun 

The Texas Southmost College Trustees and A &M representatives including A & M regent Mike Hernandez (tall one with white beard) look on as Dr. Juan Hurtado, Vice Chancellor for Engineering and a professor of Aerospace Engineering joins TSC President Dr. Robert Rodriguez to sign the Memorandum of Understanding.

Trustees left to right rear are Alejandra Aldrete, Delia Saenz, J.J. De Leon Jr., TSC President Adela Garza, Hernandez, and trustee Ruben Herrera.

It will probably take some time to sink in, but the event we witnessed today is a precious moment in time. To see the people from these two institutions join forces to place opportunity in the hands of our children is nothing short of great. 

And it's important to note that the impetus and incentive to achieve this came from our local leadership who work together to make our community better and healthier by giving families the ability to place opportunity in the hands of our young and many others to come. Which parent in any part of the world doesn't wish that? Our heart-felt gratitude to these men and women whose unity of purpose made this possible and for the support  they give to the instructional staff at both schools.

  

Below, a supporting cast of legendary lawman George Gavito, TSC trustee Ruben Herrera, TSC President Adela Garza, A&M Regent (and Brownsville's own) Mike Hernandez, and yours truly celebrate the signing.  

4. Consideration and possible action on approval of Memorandum of Understanding and Certificate between Texas Southmost College and Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES)

It has taken months – perhaps going on years – but the efforts of local community colleges, vocational schools, and the University of Texas A & M reached a successful conclusion today when the board of the Texas Southmost College and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) approved and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to join in efforts to train the local workforce during a specially-called meeting.

A&M recently inked MOUs with the Brownsville Independent School District and the Los Fresnos CISD, Texas State Technical College, and Point Isabel CISD at a ceremony at the Port of Brownsville. Today they will make their joint workforce training efforts formal.

The meeting and signing of the A&M-TSC MOU was held at noon today the Gorgas Board Room at Texas Southmost College, 80 Fort Brown, Brownsville, Texas.

The joining of the efforts of both institutions is hailed as a watershed event to raise the proficiency and skills level of the local workforce by TSC board president Adela Garza, who said the beneficiaries would be the students, community and manufacturing base of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. 

"We are committed to work for the students and our community," Garza said of the A&M-TSC MOU. "TSC has been in the forefront acquiring the facilities and training for them and – with the fine leadership of Brownsville's Mike Hernandez as a regent on the A&M board and Chancellor John Sharp – we see this collaboration with A&M as a continuation of this commitment." 

"This initiative includes ISDs (BISD included) and the three community colleges offering technical educational pathways starting in seventh grade all the way up to Ph.D.s in engineering," Hernandez said. " The Rio Grande Valley will have the best trained workforce in the country. After our MOUs, it’s up to the Economic Development Councils and the Port of Brownsville to recruit the manufacturers."

Following the signing, the college hosted a lunch and then a tour of the TSC vocational-technical facilities available to students across the South Texas area.