Alma Joins Consortium To Attract, Retain Talent
Alma College is among 23 public and private Michigan colleges and
universities that have banded together to launch the Michigan Higher
Education Recruitment Consortium to share information and resources to
attract and retain talented faculty and staff.
The three University Research Corridor presidents, University of
Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman, Michigan State University
President Lou Anna Simon and Wayne State University President Irvin D.
Reid, jointly invited the state’s other public and private colleges and
universities to form the Michigan HERC.
“Working together makes it easier for us to keep the best workers in
the state and to attract new talent to the state,’’ said Michigan HERC
Executive Director Linda Berauer. “Regions known for their large pools
of knowledge workers already have similar organizations, and this will
make Michigan’s colleges and universities more competitive.’’
After an organizational meeting at MSU last spring, the group quickly
set up a dues structure and grew to 23 public and private colleges and
universities of all sizes. HERC recently hired an administrator with
plans to launch a Web site connecting their job opportunities together
in the fourth quarter of 2007.
With a growing number of two income couples, human resource staffers
often struggle when they pursue a talented worker whose spouse is in a
field where they might not have an opening. Often they need to look to
other potential employers within the region.
The consortium is designed to make it easier to recruit or retain
talented faculty and staff by helping spouses find openings at nearby
universities within the same region, to create networking opportunities
and share best practices among member institutions through regular
meetings, and to reduce costs through joint purchasing arrangements.
The Michigan HERC institutions are: Alma College, Central Michigan
University, College for Creative Studies, Concordia University,
Cornerstone University, Davenport University, Delta College, Eastern
Michigan University, Ferris State University, Grand Rapids Community
College, Grand Valley State University, Henry Ford Community College,
MSU, Mott Community College, Oakland Community College, Oakland
University, U-M– Ann Arbor, U-M-Dearborn, U-M-Flint, Washtenaw
Community College, Wayne County Community College District, Wayne State
and Western Michigan University.
The first HERC began in northern California, the home of Silicon
Valley, in 2000 and now includes 46 member institutions. There are now
HERCs in other competitive areas where the hunt for talent is at a
premium, including southern California, metro New York/southern
Connecticut, New Jersey, upstate New York and New England. HERCs area
also planned for the Chicago region and metro St. Louis. Plans are
under way to create a national HERC that will establish itself as an
independent non-profit organization and provide services to all the
regional HERCs.
The Michigan HERC has hired Berauer, who will serve as the group’s executive director, at a site hosted by U-M Ann Arbor.
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Posted: Thu, September 27th, 2007 at 8:41AM
