FL 2030 Benchmarks

FL 2030 Trailblazer Spotlight – Jim Murdaugh, Tallahassee Community College

Tell us a little about Tallahassee Community College.

TCC is one of the best community colleges in the nation, and the workforce engine of our community. As a Florida College System institution, our service district includes Gadsden, Leon and Wakulla counties. Approximately half of our students come to us from within the service district, while the other half come to us from around the state, the country and the world. Many choose TCC because of our great transfer programs – we are the no. 1 transfer institution to both Florida State University and Florida A&M University – but we also have tremendous workforce programs in a high-demand fields such as nursing, law enforcement, transportation, etc. Of the top ten hottest jobs in our region, we offer training in all ten.

What made you join the Florida Chamber Foundation’s Board of Trustees, and what would you say to other Florida business leaders about the benefit and value of this partnership?

The Florida Chamber Foundation is focused on putting the long-term interests of the state ahead of the short-term, and recognizes the strategic importance of the college system in Florida in producing the talent needed for a thriving economy. We welcome inputs from all sectors and truly value our partnerships with businesses and community organizations as they provide us with critical feedback on workforce needs. This allows us to build curriculum and skills training that make our students more marketable for today’s jobs and tomorrow’s careers. They can then go on to contribute to the organizations that employ them and give back to the communities that they came from. This is the core of our value proposition as a community college.

What are Tallahassee Community College’s particular areas of interest as they apply to reaching the Florida 2030 Blueprint goals designed to make Florida a top 10 global economy by 2030?

TCC enjoys an outstanding reputation in the community because we don’t just produce graduates; we are educating the next generation of business and community leaders, of makers and innovators. We produce talent. Whether you plan to go on to earn a Ph.D., or you are looking to re-tool in 90 days or less for an in-demand occupation, we offer programs that develop both soft and hard skills. That’s never been more important than now as we’ve seen the workforce shift dramatically over just the past couple of years. Agility and entrepreneurial thinking are critical.

I value the Florida 2030 Blueprint’s collective prioritization of improving our talent pipeline across the state. Four-year degrees are valuable, but so are postsecondary certificates and other industry credentials. We are proud to have already seen success in this as Florida continues to rise in the rankings for workforce development. I would like to see more institutions and organizations get on board with hiring talented individuals with these credentials.


Click here to learn about the Florida Chamber Foundation’s Board of Trustees who are uniting Florida businesses for good around the Florida 2030 Blueprint.

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