MCALLEN, TX (September 13, 2016) - South Texas College has partnered with the City of McAllen and the McAllen Chamber of Commerce to begin offering Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to participants attending eligible training-oriented events at the McAllen Convention Center.
Recent Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) between the three entities now establishes a cooperative relationship that will give various professionals a dynamic and new resource for growth in their respective fields.
“By partnering with local institutions to further promote education and training, the City of McAllen not only shows the importance of our partnerships in the community, but also, how together, we are all strengthening our local workforce and others to better contribute to the area job market,” said City of McAllen Mayor Jim Darling. “We are proud to partner with South Texas College for this all important initiative.”
CEU stands for Continuing Education Unit, which is a credit equal to 10 hours of participation in an accredited program designed for professionals with certificates or licenses. Various professionals including doctors, nurses, lawyers, engineers, and many others are required to participate in continuing education programs for a certain number of hours every year in order to keep their certificates, or licenses to practice current.
STC’s Continuing Professional Workforce Education (CPWE) department had identified this as a strategy for FY 2016, and earlier this year sought to identify pockets in the community in need of CEUs. The department identified organizations like the City of McAllen through its Convention Center as entities that could help organize training-related events.
“The alignment to the mission of CPWE is to empower the community with knowledge, skills and credentials to help fulfill their own personal and professional goals for a better quality of life,” said Juan Carlos Aguirre, Dean of Continuing Education at South Texas College. “There is that leverage in the community that eventually translates into positive impact in community members.”
Knowledge and skills are being provided by event organizers through the City of McAllen, the Chamber of Commerce, and conferences and convention ns the Chamber of Commerce brings to the city, but the credentialing is being provided by STC CPWE.
As part of the agreement, McAllen will be charged with providing a monthly schedule of training-oriented events to STC CPWE. The college will be tasked with evaluating training materials, presentation and resumes of presenters to ensure they meet CEU Program criteria.
At the end of every event, STC will issue certificates of completion awarding CEUs to participants who successfully completed their training.
“When leading institutions share their resources, including buildings and people, to further enhance their outreach in the community and in people’s lives for their continued improvement, we set the bar for good government and great leadership,” said City of McAllen City Manager Roel “Roy” Rodriguez, P.E. “This Memorandum of Understanding between the City of McAllen and South Texas College is an example of that exactly.”
Leaders with the city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau say there are numerous benefits that arise when you increase opportunities for continuing education for convention attendees as well.
“We see this as a real benefit to us as for attracting conventions. It’s one more amenity that we can offer meeting planners to bring their attendees to McAllen,” said McAllen CVB Vice President and Director Nancy Millar. “The fact that they will be getting CEUs for attending their conference will be another reason to bring the event to McAllen. I don’t know of any other city that offers this for meetings and conventions, so this is going to be a real bonus for us to be able to offer to meeting planners.”