Higher Education opportunities

Marana currently does not have any higher education institutions located within its borders, but it definitely has strong relationships with two of the biggest schools in the area; the University of Arizona and now hopefully Pima Community College.

Josh and I met with Imelda Cuyugan from Pima Community College. As Assistant Vice Chancellor for government relations, we had a lot to talk about as far as creating a relationship with the institution goes. Marana has a great industry for engineering, and specialties unique to the college (like machining and welding) can benefit from knowing about the available businesses and hopefully creating relationships with them that can lead to employment.

Ideally, it would be wonderful to get another campus up in the downtown Marana area, or even around the Twin Peaks interchange so students would be located close to the larger employers in the area. The Silverbell/Cortaro area would be fantastic as well, as the Crossroads Park is there and it is a great community area.

Establishing a strong relationship with higher education is important for ensuring future economic development. If you provide the means to gain an education, then more people who are able to enter the work force at higher levels will follow. Currently, Marana has played a prominent role in linking some of their prominent employers (Sargent Controls, for example) to the University of Arizona. Next we hope to get Alicat Scientific to take advantage of the great business administration school there for marketing projects. Businesses benefit because they get projects done at a cheaper cost than if they had hired a firm. Students benefit because they gain real-life work experience that they can carry on into their future careers. And who knows, maybe those future careers will be at one of those organizations that they worked with during their education.