February 2, 2022
ESPAÑOLA — Northern New Mexico College announces a new partnership with Austin, Texas startup GoEducate that will fundamentally reshape the future of postsecondary education and its impact on the local and regional workforce by connecting the dots between students, college programs and employers. Together, Northern and the education technology company have launched an Opportunity Portal powered by “smart pathways” that unite students and adult learners with skills-centric programs linked to in-demand jobs.
GoEducate empowers K12 students, recent graduates, adult learners, displaced workers, and military veterans to clearly navigate high-value education and career choices through its Opportunity Portal platform. The alliance with Northern will provide a frontline social technology to Española, NM, collapsing many of the disjunctions from school to college to career.
With the early February release of the Opportunity Portal, learners and advisors now have access to well-developed career pathway programs at Northern and participating regional employers in an all-in-one solution. For students wanting to explore, navigate and own their journey to employment, the platform is accessible at any time and on any device.
“We at Northern are excited to offer this opportunity to our campus as well as our broader community, said Northern President, Dr. Bárbara Medina. “Our role is to broker the best opportunities for our students. We believe GoEducate will be an impactful partner as we continue to prepare Northern New Mexico’s workforce for the future.”
Northern has developed deep collaborations with the region's prominent employers, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, while positioning itself at the forefront of pioneering new student-focused technologies that promote and facilitate student enrollment, matriculation and job placement success.
The initial release of the Opportunity Portal provides students with access to eight program pathways within the Business Administration Department including bachelor’s and associate degrees along with marketable certificates.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the largest science and technology institutions in the world, has connected twelve opportunities ranging from Accounting and Financial Analyst roles to High School, Undergrad and Post-Bachelor internships to Northern’s Business and Accounting pathway programs.
Northern’s Business Department chair, Dr. Lori Baca, is eager to deliver a new digital tool to prospective, current and transfer students that will guide them along their learning journey with job opportunities waiting for them upon program completion.
“With the rapid pace of economic change set in place by Covid and the dire need to train and upskill students and job seekers, we’ve worked closely with GoEducate over the past year to build out a set of pathway programs tied to live opportunities,'' said Dr. Lori Baca. “Our goal with GoEducate is to become a leader in direct alignment of postsecondary education to fit the specific demand of modern job roles and industry requirements.”
GoEducate’s CEO, Eric Kmiec, believes that the biggest structural barrier to increasing college completion rates and career success in the United States is the persistent disconnect between our education and workforce systems. Kmiec adds that “Our Opportunity Portal platform can be scaled statewide and nationally, and host countless education providers and employers to serve the millions of students and jobseekers eager to discover their potential and purpose.”
Dr. Ivan Lopez, Northern’s Provost, says that “At the first introduction of GoEducate and its groundbreaking Opportunity Portal, I could easily see the power of the platform and exactly how it will work to benefit all learners in the region. Starting from junior high and high school students, GoEducate’s platform will introduce different careers, job roles, salary information, trends and so much more that will pique interest and encourage continuing education. Española and surrounding areas throughout New Mexico are teaming with top talent in STEM and other key industry areas. With an influential boost from end-to-end guided pathways, we should begin to see postsecondary completion rates increase and more jobs filled following degree and certification awards.”
GoEducate is part of a collaboration nationally with key education and employment technology leaders including the National Laboratory of Education Transformation (NLET) to bring its Opportunity Portal to market. In Addition to Northern New Mexico College, GoEducate and its partners will be establishing an Opportunity Lab with Odessa College, in Odessa, Texas, this year.
For more information about Northern New Mexico College or GoEducate, please contact:
Dr. Ivan López
Provost & VP for Academic Affairs
Associate Professor, College of Engineering and Technology
Northern New Mexico College
Phone: (505) 747-2225
Timothy Johnson
GoEducate
Chief Marketing Officer
tim.johnson@goeducate.com
Mobile: 310 486.5274
https://www.goeducate.io/
About Northern New Mexico College
Northern New Mexico College has served the rural communities of Northern New Mexico for over a century. Since opening its doors in 1909 as the Spanish American Normal School in El Rito, NM, the College has provided affordable access to quality academic programs that meet the changing educational, economic and cultural needs of the region.
Northern is an open-admissions institution offering the most affordable bachelor’s programs in the Southwest, as well as other competitively priced programs. Now one of the state’s four regional comprehensive institutions, with its main campus in Española, NM, Northern offers more than 50 bachelor’s, associate, and certificate programs in arts & human sciences, film & digital media, biology & environmental science, business, education, engineering, liberal arts, and nursing. The College has also reintroduced technical trades programs in electrical technology and plumbing, in partnership with two local unions and five public school districts through its new co-located Branch Community College, the first of its kind in the state’s history.
Northern is fully accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and has earned prestigious national accreditations for its engineering, nursing, education, and business programs.
About GoEducate
GoEducate is on a mission to fundamentally transform the way students, adult learners and professionals make education, training and career-focused decisions. For employers, institutions and agencies, GoEducate is addressing the division between job candidates, and specified training and education needed for employment success. The company’s unique, patent-pending technology and Opportunity Portal marketplace structure education, training and career advancement in a seamless continuum across K-12, postsecondary, workforce and employer systems. GoEducate has committed the last seven years to building and operationalizing a technology that connects the dots between all learners and job seekers, and the 10.9 million open jobs that are waiting for the right people to fill them.