Ivy Tech, ‘Lippert University’ a ‘Winning Partnership for All’ – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
When creative thinking to solve a problem meets people willing to be flexible who say, “Let’s make it happen” — a success story like “Lippert University” is the result.
What’s known as “Lippert University” or “Lippert Wednesday” is a partnership between Lippert and Ivy Tech where the college arranged a course schedule at a time more conducive to Lippert employees.
Lippert’s Director of Learning Matthew Jerlecki explained how it all came about. He said in May of 2022, “Lippert was looking for a strategic partner to help train folks and we know it doesn’t exist. And I like to joke our folks all have day jobs and can’t spend 40 hours a week training people.”
They were trying to figure out how they’d find the next set of technicians, electricians, welders and maintenance workers. So, Jerlecki sat down with Ivy Tech to investigate how they could take advantage of the resources Ivy Tech has, when lab space would be available, when professors would be available to see how it would work on their end as well as how to make it work for their team members.
“Night classes are difficult — especially after working all day,” Jerlecki acknowledged.
Ivy Tech’s traditional schedule offered classes in the morning or in the evening.
“We had to come up with a balance of being able to complete operational goals and offer a schedule they’d want to take advantage of — that wouldn’t interfere with after school programs and day care.”
He added that the traditional 16-week course offerings were hard to plan for both operational mangers and students, so Jerlecki asked whether they could condense the 16-week programs that met twice a week and instead meet once a week from 1-4 or 1-5 p.m. for eight weeks. That would allow employees to work until noon, have lunch and then head to Ivy Tech.
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“Ivy Tech said it would work because they had lab space available and professors available because most of their classes are scheduled for mornings or evenings and we told the team members they could work an hour or two extra on Tuesdays or Thursdays to make up for lost time because we’re not paying them,” he said.
While Lippert is not paying for the time students are attending Lippert Wednesday/University, Lippert does pay for all educational costs — tuition, curriculum, exam fees, online materials — anything related to education is 100% covered by Lippert or through grants.
Jerlecki said they also partnered with Workforce Development because they had grant funding available to upskill existing team members and Lippert was able to use the grants to help offset costs.
He said they decided to try one class with 14 students in a basic electricity course, which would also give them a nationally recognized SACA (Smart Automation Certification Alliance) certification, which Ivy Tech is certified to teach and administer exams.
Jerlecki said they started with one class, then two, then five—and now they’re up to 13 classes that are a part of what they call “Lippert Wednesdays”.
“When we hit five classes, other people inside Lippert started asking,” he said.
He explained they were just working with the tech side of the business, not the business side, but the model works just as well and they started offering quality courses, which can give a Yellowbelt SSGI national certification. Then supply chain at Lippert asked about classes, then human resources and principles and management. Then they were asked if they could run CAD classes there and every time, Dr. Tia Robinson-Cooper, chancellor of Ivy Tech Community College South Bend/Elkhart said, “Let’s figure it out.”
Jerlecki said within Lippert the brand for the program is “Lippert Wednesday” but now that they have 13 classes some of them are held on Tuesdays, too, because they can’t have people from the same department gone at the same time, and it also helps balance instructors and workload since the course is condensed.
“It’s been awesome for us,” he said. “It’s grown because leaders asked for more opportunities but mainly because team members signed up—we haven’t mandated that they go.”
He said some of the grants have promotions built in, but the majority do not.
“They see the value in getting the education,” he said about the team members, and with the nationally recognized certifications they can earn, “They can go anywhere—they know it’s good for them and it’s a win for us.”
And while there are no guarantees, when they do look at who to promote, they know that the Lippert Wednesday employees have the skills required to be eligible for promotion.
He acknowledged that while Lippert is making it possible for them to take the classes, “They still have to do the work, study and pass the exams,” he laughed.
Chancellor Dr. Tia Robinson Cooper was asked what she thought when Jerlecki first approached her.
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“When these conversations started, I was early in my tenure with Ivy Tech, but one thing we both agreed upon was we have to get to yes and figure out a way to make the partnership work,” she said.
“Also recognizing Ivy Tech’s responsibility and commitment to upskill the workforce, a partnership like this becomes invaluable to our ability to advance the community,” she added.
She said that meant not only being flexible with their facilities, but also with their faculty and team. She explained that at the start of a semester it’s, “All hands-on deck — everyone comes together. We make sure that our Lippert University students — that’s what we call it — understand that they are Ivy Tech students. They may be coming from Lippert, but they have the same access to advising and tutoring — all the resources and services available to any other Ivy Tech student. We are equally committed to serving them and are committed to their success,” Dr. Robinson Cooper said.
“The rate in which the partnership grew took us both by surprise,” she laughed. “And we continue to add.”
She said the Lippert University classes fit into the iFLEX program — the Larry and Judy Garatoni Center for Advancing Manufacturing and Automation, which opened in the fall of 2021.
“The ability to have a partner working hand-in-hand on this model is exciting. Not many companies and community colleges partner together,” she said.
She said to go from three courses in the spring of ‘22 to 13 courses in the summer of 2023 and 14 students to the current 150 is impressive. “We’ve come a long way in 14 months,” she remarked.
Additionally, the credentials and certifications the students are earning can ultimately build into an associate degree if they choose.
“If they decide they want more, they have a seamless path to do so,” Dr. Robinson Cooper said.
Jerlecki said, “It’s been amazing — it’s wins for everybody!”
He said they’ve also registered 50 employees for the US Department of Labor apprenticeships — something that usually takes two years but because of the accelerated schedule with Ivy Tech and Workforce Development, “They’re in a position to see the goal line — it’s not insurmountable.”
Twelve employees have completed the apprentice program and 50 are currently enrolled. The apprentices have to commit to working at Lippert for a year.
When asked what the advantage was for Lippert, Jerlecki responded. “Our CEO Jason Lippert, every chance he gets, talks about how business is a force for good. I can’t think of a better way for us to be a force for good for our team members than that. They’re getting skills that will benefit them for the rest of their lives,” he said, adding, “Our retention rate for Lippert Wednesday employees is 95%–no other initiative has ever provided that type of retention rate.”
Expanding to Others
The model has been so successful, it’s been expanding to include others. Dr. Robinson Cooper said they held an accelerated apprentice event with over 50 businesses in attendance.
Jerlecki said one of the companies Lippert works with, Grand Design RV, has sent several team members to the quality courses. Some traditional Ivy Tech students have also asked about taking their principles and management class.
“These are legit Ivy Tech courses, they just created a schedule that would work for our employees,” he said.
Dr. Cooper said, “We were able to make those adjustments and still honor our commitment to our creditors and ensure students are meeting on the right hour, just condensed.”
She said the faculty is “so awesome and flexible.”, explaining that the Lippert courses run into spring break and while the rest of the campus and students will be on spring break, Lippert University will still be running classes during that time and the faculty is willing to adjust. On the flip side, when Lippert shuts down for the 4th of July, they won’t have classes so the instructors will be teaching 8 weeks in nine.
Jerlecki said, “I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how awesome the instructors have been—they appreciate the Lippert folks because they know they want to learn and are only on campus one day, so they’ve been willing to stay late to tutor or re-administer an exam. The instructors provide a unique perspective because they have real world experience and it’s not Lippert experience.”
Dr. Cooper pointed out the instructors are teaching on Lippert Wednesday “in addition to their regular contract and the faculty has embraced it.”
Jerlecki said, “Because this has worked so well,” he approached Elkhart Adult Education about offering ENL and GED classes on campus and Ivy Tech donated the classroom space.
He has also gone to community colleges in other states that have Lippert plants, and they will be replicating the Lippert Wednesday model in Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in Red Oak, Texas, Perry, Florida and outside Schenectady, New York. He said he can tell the community colleges in those locations, “Don’t take my word for it, call Dr. Cooper — this model works.”
In addition, some of the classes run here in Elkhart County are being offered virtually with Lippert employees in South Carolina, Idaho, even Canada attending.
Dr. Cooper said that is in conjunction with Ivy Tech’s “Learn Anywhere” model.
But Jerlecki had a surprise for Dr. Cooper, announcing that he spoke to one of the instructors and in the June session they’ll be running an Introduction to Supply Chain course in Europe. The instructor agreed to teach it in the morning, which would be afternoon in Europe.
“It’ll be Lippert Wednesday in Europe,” he said and Lippert employees in Italy, Germany, Tunisia, the Netherlands and England will be joining the class virtually and that schedule will also allow West Coast employees to attend.
Dr. Cooper said, “Locally, we’ve also expanded the model to our Fort Wayne campus — with Ivy Tech being the largest singular accredited state-wide college system it allows us to scale and share resources and build partnerships at some other locations.”
Jerlecki pointed out for this success to happen, “You have to have willing people to say yes — the directors, instructors, administration, operations leaders and team members. A lot of yeses had to happen. “
They both agreed that when they started, they had no qualifications for the number of students or timeframe; the attitude was “let’s do it and see what happens.”
Jerlecki said, “For us, it started with a problem — we knew if we wanted to continue to automate and innovate, it was going to require new skill acquisition. Ivy Tech had the resources we needed so how can we marry the two and get to a win?”
Dr. Cooper said, “For Ivy Tech at first it was about being a good partner and our commitment to business and industry but also how do we grow our enrollment and messaging about Ivy Tech’s commitment. This was an opportunity to demonstrate that.”
Jerlecki said he’s “thankful for that first set of yeses” and said he’s spoken publicly about this partnership saying, “I cannot stress it enough — if you’re a local employee with 6 people or 6,000 people working for you, Ivy Tech’s given us a schedule that works. This is us being a force for good and we’re not hiding it under a rock.”
