"West Texas A&M University’s Office of Extended Studies is combining its educational and curriculum development capabilities with the practical knowledge and industry expertise of local business professionals to create a platform for a new training industry in Amarillo.
Local professionals are working with WTAMU in a new program called Essential Business Skills which will offer a multi-class series as well as single-day workshops. Classes begin Jan. 10 in a six-month series covering Leadership and Management practice with a specific focus on how to quickly apply classroom learning to the workplace. Half-day sessions begin at 8 a.m. at the WTAMU Amarillo Center in downtown Amarillo. Breakfast will be provided.
“The program will save Panhandle organizations thousands of dollars per year in travel costs,” Tracy Shea, training coordinator with WTAMU Extended Studies, said. “By sourcing instructors from the community, we can provide a degree of local relevance that classes in Dallas or Houston can’t.”
Instructors for Essential Business Skills include Gary Pool, Candace Norris and Ryan Loyd. Pool is a professional management instructor and owner of iMavens Training & Consulting. He has served as a vice president of a fortune 500 company, plant manager of the Iowa Ammunition Plant and the director of manufacturing of the Nuclear Weapon Assembly and Disassembly Plant. He brings 35 years of career expertise, including 20 years a a senior executive.
Norris is a practicing attorney, an entrepreneur, a John Maxwell certified instructor and coach. She is a former WTAMU instructor with decades of experience in management and leadership.
Loyd is a past faculty member and dean at University of Texas-Permian Basin, an entrepreneur and consultant with a focus on organizational development, a professional speaker and the former executive director of the Amarillo Botanical Gardens.
Registration is now open for the six-month series. For more information, visit wtamu.edu/ebs."
-West Texas A&M University
