Thiel College chosen by Pittsburgh public television station as ‘Champion of Education’

Posted February 11, 2019 Print

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- Thiel College has been recognized by a Pittsburgh Public Broadcasting Service station as a “Champion of Education” as part of the station’s Future Jobs Workforce Development Initiative.

WQED, which has television and radio stations broadcasting from Pittsburgh, identified Thiel College as a “Champion of Education” due in part to its new environmental safety management program. The new Department of Environmental Science program will provide Thiel graduates with the tools to work in a wide range of industries and settings. Environmental safety management joins health systems, sports management, exercise science and equine studies as new programs at Thiel College. Those new offerings combine with the College’s existing curriculum to create 60-plus majors and minors.

The first set of classes began for environmental safety management in the spring 2019 semester. Thiel’s program is the only one in Pennsylvania with environmental science as part of its core curriculum. Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York have been identified by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as three of the top five states with the greatest projected job growth in the field. Environmental safety management is a specialized discipline that is designed to provide students with techniques to collect and analyze environmental safety data from many different perspectives. Students in the program will have access to internships and future employment in the field.

WQED is examining the changing employment landscape in the region. The changes represent a need and an opportunity for people in the region. Students who acquire the education and training needed for future employment needs will be in high demand on the job market while those without adequate education and training face increasingly limited opportunities.

Meeting tomorrow’s workforce needs is an issue that is being tackled by multiple fronts, including the corporate community, K-12 educators, job training programs, trade schools, and colleges and universities and other nonprofit organizations.

Opportunities exist for students to pursue job training and education to open doors to the career possibilities in the region. The WQED program aims to make people in the region aware of the resources available in the region to improve their career prospects.

WQED was the first community-supported television station in the country in 1954. In 1973, WQED radio became the region’s only 24-hour classical music station. Today, WQED is educational public media with five television programming streams and three radio streams. WQED is also known as the home to “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” which aired until 2001.