Announced last week, Linn State Technical College is the recipient of the 2008 Optimas Award For Vision from the Workforce Management organization, specifically in recognition of the school's nuclear technology program, which is taught at Advanced Technology Center in Mexico.

According to Workforce Management: "The Optimas Awards are given annually ... to ten outstanding organizations that have demonstrated how their management strategies, policies and programs affect the bottom-line success of their organizations."

In recognition of the achievement, an awards luncheon and ceremony honoring the various enterprises will be conducted Oct. 28 in New York City. Attendees representing Linn State will include Bruce Meffert, department chair, and nuclear technology instructor; and Donald Claycomb, president of the college. Similarly, each of the winning organizations will be profiled in the October issue of Workforce Management magazine.

"We're excited about having the award because it is recognition for how we have worked with industry to meet industry needs," stated Meffert, adding that the recognition likewise reflects the forward-looking vision of ATC and Linn State. "And honestly, it is the great nuclear industry that has made this program great. The secret of our success is having a great nuclear industry that has helped us, and that is one of the reasons we have won this award, is by working with the nuclear industry."

Nine other organizations were similarly recognized by Workforce Management, with each enterprise exemplifying "the skill and ingenuity it takes for organizations to succeed in the 21st century." Other honorees include Crouse Hospital of Syracuse, New York, for general excellence; American Express, for competitive advantage; Kaiser Permanente, for ethical practice; IBM, for financial impact; ArcelorMittal, for global outlook; HCL Technologies, for innovation; the U.S. Department of Agriculture food safety and inspection service, for managing change; Metropolitan Development Association of Syracuse and Central New York, for partnership; and Sodexo, for service.

Workforce Management – an enterprise dedicated to addressing and assessing multiple on-going and evolving workplace concerns – stated that "themes emerge in each year's judging, and one thing that the 2008 winners have in common is an ability to roll with the punches, whether they're thrown by a difficult economy, rapidly changing workforce demographics, or even something as fundamental as the need to reinvent how work is done."

Meffert noted that the nuclear technology program at ATC was implemented earlier this decade, serving as a pioneer in establishing an industry-related educational pipeline. "There's other programs now, but we were one of the first ones to get off the ground," he said. According to Meffert, graduates of the program are offered high-paying, professional jobs, "becoming nuclear operators, radiation protection technicians, maintenance technicians, and quality control technicians."

At its Web site, Linn State states that the two-year nuclear technology program "offers students a unique opportunity to obtain state-of-the-art training that will put them in demand by any organization or business that handles radioactive substances including advanced manufacturing, medical facilities, research reactors, the nuclear power industry, hazardous waste removal companies, and government agencies."

Likewise, demand for skilled nuclear technology graduates is evidently strong, a combined result of retiring technicians and engineers, and indications of potential nuclear industry growth, especially as myriad energy alternatives are considered. As just one example, AmerenUE – which owns an existing nuclear reactor in Callaway County, and which began operating in 1984 – has indicated it is considering options to construct a second adjacent $6 billion, 1,600-megawatt reactor.

The Optimas Awards themselves date to 1990, and past winners have included global public companies, city governments, federal and state agencies, not-for-profits, and small family-owned enterprises. But according to Workforce Management, a common thread exists among the winners: The victors have "faced a variety of business challenges and answered them with creative solutions that have one thing in common: a belief that the organization with the best workforce wins."

For more information about the award, visit www.workforce.com. For more information about the nuclear technology program visit www.linnstate.edu/academic/mnt/default.asp.