WNC President Speaks at Rotary

by Rachel Dahl -- Dr. Vince Solis, the new President of Western Nevada College spoke recently at the Fallon Rotary meeting, giving an overview and update of the WNC programs and the Fallon Campus. Solis spoke about changes in technology over the years, from the use of trains and their impact on the economy of the country beginning in 1804, to cars in 1885, planes in 1903, the computer in 1914, computer chip in 1959, and the spread of the internet in 1983. There is a great generational change happening in our day, which Solis illustrated with the advent of the Amazon Alexa and the capability our Internet of Things (IOT) has to listen in on our lives and monitor what we talk about, sending suggestions and advertising to our phones based on our conversations. Solis recommended to the audience to read the book “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman. In terms of the college, these technological advances have had an impact on everything from enrollment to how and what classes are being taught. Enrollment at WNC has been declining since 2010 and is a great concern to the college. Solis said the college has had some enrollment specialist come in to help them examine the issue and they are working to turn things around and increase their numbers. “Who remembers a day when you ordered pizza on the phone, or walk across campus to turn in a paper in to your professor, or use a dry-erase board or a chalk board?” said Solis. “Our students don’t live in that environment.” He said a person born today, “all the way to our seventh graders, is a person whose entire life is documented on the internet.” This is a new concept in our lives, that of a digital identity, and the invent of blockchains and what its going to do to our lives. “A person today has no right to delete anything that is on the internet about them,” he said. “What would it be like if all your high school or college experience were documented on the internet.” Some countries, India and China, are working on developing a social media score, trying to figure out how to deal with large populations of people who are living their lives on the internet. Solis said while students are in class today, they are spending about 20% of their time on their phones, “and it’s not on school work.” There has to be a way to use the technology students already have in their hands to further education. He spoke about the disappearing male college student, saying that men in rural Nevada in communities like Fallon, Fernley, and Yerington are not attending college. WNC has a graduation rate of about 30% and has 3,100 students. Most of them are part time, which drops the graduation rate to 12%. There is an ever-growing skills gap in the difference between the jobs available today and the workers available to fill those jobs who possess the proper skills to perform them. Solis said that there is a 33% shortage in the availability of a trained workforce for the jobs that are open today, driving intense competition between industry in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. Between the generational changes in the workforce and the technological innovations, Nevada is short 40,000 short of skilled laborers for available jobs. According to Solis, industry leaders are telling educators that workers today have no soft skills such as teamwork, being on time, or being able to work collaboratively in groups. There is also a great need for education that helps provide workers who can communicate well, think critically about the vast amount of information that is available, and who can distinguish the truth in all of that information. WNC is in a unique position to provide the education that will make it possible for students to fill these available jobs and become successful in the new technology driven industries. Read more local news on The Fallon Post home page. Never miss the local news -- sign up for our email notices.