By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A St. Joseph state representative has been appointed chair of the House Higher Education Committee.
Rep. Brenda Shields says it’s an honor to be chosen to head the committee overseeing colleges and universities in the state.
“I’m very excited,” Shields tells St. Joseph Post.
Shields says the state’s colleges and universities have had to handle a lot of adversity this past year, navigating the uncertainty posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
“I know that Missouri Western (State University) has students in school. I know that they also received a lot of CARES Act funding and they all put it to good use,” Shields says. “Many of our universities used it to change and update their ventilation systems, so that I think that we’re prepared to even bring more students back to campus.”
A point of emphasis for Shields will be for the state’s colleges and universities to work more closely together, not only to improve efficiency, but to better meet the needs of the workforce. That workforce was changing even before the pandemic.
“They need to learn how to share their programs and have better articulation agreements so that they can be more cost effective,” Shields says. “But at that same time, I think we’re also seeing that the jobs as we come out of this pandemic are going to be different and we’re really going to have to focus on training our workforce in those jobs.”
Shields also will retain her position as vice chair of the Education Appropriations Committee under the House Budget Committee. Money always plays a role in higher education with Shields saying the state budget which will be fashioned this session will have a huge impact on the planning made by Missouri colleges and universities.