Guest Commentator: Aaron A. Walton, President, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania @CheyneyUniv
Why is it important for research and higher education institutions to form partnerships to support our region’s life science talent pipeline?
Providing educational leadership is critical to preparing students for the future economy and doing so in a learning environment in which students excel in academics, character, and social responsibility while respecting cultural diversity. At Cheyney University, we have developed a model that provides our students with development opportunities and prepares them for future careers while they matriculate. We built this successful model by establishing meaningful partnerships with private industry.
One such partnership is with The Wistar Institute, uniting the nation’s first historically Black college and university (HBCU) and the first independent biomedical research institute. This forward-thinking alliance enables our students to gain hands-on experience, with internships that can progress into Wistar’s credentialed apprenticeship program. This strategic collaboration equips our students to become future leaders in life science fields. Each week, Cheyney students taking the senior-level biomedical methods course are taught new concepts in the classroom and then head to Wistar’s laboratory to apply what they learned on campus.
Our growing list of partnerships directly benefits our students and builds a path forward for our university to become a premier institution of higher education and one that will increase the number of minorities in STEM-related fields. To support this strategy, we engaged Mosaic Development Partners, an African American-owned real estate developer, which has been instrumental in attracting corporate partners to campus. These businesses are located primarily in our modern Science Center and represent such innovative fields as cancer research, analytical sciences, and pharmaceuticals. They include Sure-BioChem Laboratories, Epcot Crenshaw Corporation, Navrogen, and ASI Chemicals. In the coming months, several other businesses will be joining us on campus — a large-scale 3D printing company, a solar panel manufacturer, and a hemp processing business, among them. Our on-campus partners are required to provide paid internships for our students and help to inform our academic offerings.
Additionally, we are launching an exciting initiative called the ThinkUbator, which will enable biologics and cell and gene therapy businesses to pursue their science in an incubator environment on campus while engaging our students.
Our institution was founded by trailblazers and innovators and the new corporate partnership model we have created is providing a new roadmap for higher education sustainability and excellence. There have been a lot of exciting developments at Cheyney over the last three years and we continue to take steps toward further growth and success throughout our institution and, most importantly, among our students.
Through Recharge & Recover PHL, the Chamber is continuing to promote Greater Philadelphia as a hub for cell and gene therapy in order to attract companies, capital, and talent to our region.
Launched last fall, the Chamber’s employer-driven Life Science Talent Pipeline Collaborative is working to proactively address our region’s life science workforce needs. Through data-driven analysis, the group of 19 organizations has identified jobs critical to the future of the industry and are working collaboratively to identify and action solutions.
