The electrical line worker program in Baudette has compiled statistics since its inception three years ago: Nearly 100 percent of the admitted students have graduated from the one-year diploma program, and more than 95 percent of graduates have found jobs in the utility industry.

Monty Johnson, senior dean of academic affairs for the Wadena campus of Minnesota State Community and Technical College, recounted the program’s successes during a presentation at the August meeting of the Minnesota Governor’s Workforce Development Council in Duluth.

The council, appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton, is comprised of leaders from business, education, labor, community organizations and local governments who work together to find solutions to the state’s workforce challenges.

During a session focused on best practices, Johnson said he presented the Baudette program as an example of industry, economic development officials and higher education working in partnership to create a program that benefits all three areas.

“It’s unique to have three parties working for one goal,” Johnson said.

M State, which has offered an electrical line worker technology program on the Wadena campus since the early 1970s, was approached by representatives of North Star Electric in Baudette and the Minnesota Rural Electric Association in 2009. Faced with a shortage of skilled employees both statewide and nationwide, utility industry representatives asked M State to develop a training program in the northern Minnesota community.

Economic development officials in Baudette received a grant to pay for the classroom building, and North Star Electric donated the building site and use of 20 acres of its land as a training site. The first class of 28 students graduated in the spring of 2010, and the subsequent two classes have had the maximum 30 students. Johnson said about one-third of this year’s graduates were hired in Texas and Kansas, with the majority of the others employed in Minnesota, North Dakota and Canada.

“The focus of my comments to the council was that there was a problem that needed to be solved, and we worked together to solve it,” said Johnson.

Johnson and North Star Electric General Manager Dan Hoskins are scheduled to speak about the collaborative project at Minnesota’s Career and Technical Education Conference on Nov. 15 in Plymouth.

As a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, M State serves more than 9,200 students in credit courses each year in more than 120 career and liberal arts programs at its four campuses in Detroit Lakes, Fergus Falls, Moorhead and Wadena, and through eCampus. By partnering with communities, the college also provides custom training services and other responsive training programs.