Partnership To Increase Career Opportunities For People In Marginalized Communities

Martin University and Ivy Tech Community Colleges announced a partnership with a goal to create more higher education career development for students from marginalized communities -- with an eye on jobs in teaching, cybersecurity and technology.

It combines aspects of the university’s Martin WORKS with Ivy Tech’s focus on empowering more students of color to achieve success in high wage, in-demand careers.

Sean Huddleston, President of Martin University, said they are grateful to be able to capitalize on Ivy Tech’s long-standing workforce development program to benefit students.

“The connection to Martin WORKS, which is the name of our urban work college and Ivy Tech’s career development program is a critical way to create, not just a pathway, but I would say, even a pipeline to the workforce," Huddleston said.
                                                                 
Martin University will create a new Cyber Entrepreneurship program designed to expand access to the IT field for marginalized groups and students of color. This will be melded with Ivy Tech’s NSA-certified Cybersecurity associate degree. Ivy Tech students, upon completion of the Cybersecurity degree, are guaranteed to be admitted into the Martin Cyber Entrepreneurship program.

Martin’s new Center for Racial Equity and Inclusion, created to assist organization leaders in their efforts to strengthen diversity equity and inclusion, will provide Ivy Tech with access to expertise and training to better educate faculty, staff and students for success in their focused areas. This will be accomplished through workshops, lectures, seminars, programs, initiatives, and consulting engagements.

The partnership will also focus on increasing the pipeline of teachers of color by offering guaranteed admissions into Martin’s School of Education and scholarship opportunities to Ivy Tech students completing associate degrees in elementary and secondary education.