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Inside Higher Ed

Sara Weissman
September 2, 2022
A new automotive technology program at Coconino Community College, launched last fall, is on pause as campus leaders struggle to hire a full-time faculty member to keep it afloat.
Administrators say the lure of better-paying industry jobs coupled with the high cost of living in Flagstaff, Ariz., an increasingly popular tourist destination near the Grand Canyon, has repeatedly scared off faculty candidates for this position and others.
Nate Southerland, provost of Coconino Community College, said the college started the automotive technology program in response to local workforce needs. The college offered four automotive technology classes last fall and five courses in the spring, serving 46 students. A local Honda dealership let the program use its facilities at night.
“There’s been a demand for automotive techs in our area for a long time,” he said. “The dealerships and local service shops have a hard time hiring and retaining people because it’s expensive to live in our area, so their techs often leave for other parts of the state where it’s cheaper to live … If we can train people who already live here, they will stay here because they’re already in their housing and so on. This is a program really targeted at growing up a local workforce.”
The faculty member hired to lead the program decided to leave for another job in February, and administrators have struggled to fill the position ever since. An initial search yielded four candidates, who all declined the job, Southerland said. Someone accepted the position after a second search this summer but reversed course after he said he couldn’t find affordable housing in the area. Campus leaders then reached out to local dealerships in hopes of finding part-time instructors, with no luck. As the beginning of the new academic year approached, they canceled the five auto technology courses slated for this fall.
For some of the 26 students enrolled, “it was pretty traumatic,” Southerland said. “Several of them had made housing commitments here in Flagstaff and were in contracts that they were not going to be let out of. They were receiving financial aid, and with their reduced course load, it would impact their financial aid.”
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