Business At Its Best: Strengthening The STEM
McKesson develops ties to Georgia students.
Bobby L. Hickman
August 28, 2008
sponsored by:
H
ow can business, educational and government leaders ensure today's students have the
technical skills needed to power the nation's economy in coming years?
That issue is the topic of a national conference to be held in Atlanta Sept. 11-13, which focuses on skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Georgia's Partnership for Reform in Science and Mathematics (PRISM) is organizing the "Accepting the STEM Challenge Conference" as part of its MATH + SCIENCE = SUCCESS initiative.
"Our nation's education system is failing to prepare our students with adequate skills in STEM," PRISM stated, in announcing the conference. "Add to that a sharp decline in U.S. students' interest in science and math-based subjects and technology's growing role in the world economy, and we have a 'quiet crisis' looming."
The conference will bring together a wide range of experts to share potential solutions from speakers and panelists. One of those is Kevan Torgerson, president of McKesson Technology Solutions' Customer Operations Group in Alpharetta. McKesson is the nation's largest healthcare technology company and has 3,300 employees in Georgia.
"Last fiscal year we added 500 new hires in the metro Atlanta area," Torgerson says. Over the last 18 months, the group hired some 130 college graduates into new positions, about 38 percent of whom came from Georgia institutions.
"We design, create and support a lot of different technologies," Torgerson says. With recent graduates working alongside senior personnel, STEM degrees "are important to us because of the scale of solutions we create and deliver on a daily basis. We're one of the largest technology companies in this area, so it's important to be involved because our next generation of workers is going to come out of these programs."
Kevan Torgerson, president of McKesson Technology Solutions' Customer Operations Group
Technology education also is important for McKesson's customers, which include more than 60 percent of all U.S. hospitals. "There is not a job in healthcare today that does not require the use of technology," Torgerson says. "When we think about the next generation of workers for us, we see almost an exact parallel for the importance of those types of roles and degrees for our customers. They can't deliver safe, efficient care to their patients without using technology."
Torgerson says McKesson hasn't had issues with the quality of students currently produced by U.S. colleges and universities, but a number of reports indicate problems are looming.
"If you look forward maybe five years from now, we may not be getting the same number of people focusing on STEM programs," he says. "That's the purpose of this conference: try to better understand what the future looks like, how the educators are changing their programs to meet that future. We have some key leaders focusing on the STEM program because they're looking out and seeing this could become a problem."
Already, there are signs a shortage in technology-competent employees may be near. "I hear from our customers on a regular basis that they're struggling to find people," he says. McKesson recently introduced a managed services program where the company can provide technology services to customers "that allow them to get that expertise and service from us rather than having to hire it themselves." As the company lands more managed service contracts, "you'll see McKesson increase that 20 percent college hire ratio," he says.
Participating in the conference is a natural extension of McKesson's ongoing involvement with area schools. "It's really about making sure we have the next generation of workers for ourselves and our customers," he says.
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