Truckee Meadows Community College will be offering bachelor's degree programs for the first time starting next year. Reno Public Radio's Michelle Bliss reports.
One degree will be in emergency management and homeland security. The other will be in logistics operations management, which includes everything from manufacturing to warehousing to sustainability practices.
Marie Murgolo-Poore is dean of TMCC's business division. For years, she's heard concerns from local companies about gaps in the labor pool since there's no four-year logistics program offered anywhere in Nevada.
"Right now, companies have a fairly good-sized pool of that entry-level, on the warehouse floor, person," she explains. "This is really that middle-management person that's going to be running operations."
From alumni, Murgolo-Poore has heard that not having a four-year program nearby is either holding them back or forcing them to leave the area.
"They would have to go out of state to complete their educational pathway," she says. "Now, they have an option staying in Northern Nevada and we're able to keep that talent here."
Murgolo-Poore says this degree will help companies like Tesla make local hires instead of bringing workers into the state.