For Sierra College Superintendent/President Willy Duncan, the college's success comes down to how well it serves the people and businesses of Placer County.
During his more than 15 years leading Sierra College, Duncan has worked to build a culture where employers can bring their workforce challenges and find a willing partner. That approach has helped shape new programs in health care and advanced manufacturing, giving students opportunities to pursue good-paying careers close to home.
His philosophy is simple: when someone comes to the college with a need, the first response should be yes.
"We might have to figure out how, but we're going to figure it out," Duncan said.
That same commitment to working with others has kept Duncan involved with Placer Business Alliance since its beginning. This year, he's co-chairing the PBA Summit in Washington, D.C., bringing together leaders who share a stake in the county's future.
We spoke with Duncan about how Sierra College responds to local workforce needs, the investments he's helping move forward, and why he believes PBA is worth his time and support.
PBA: You've described Sierra College's vision as being "the community's college." What does that mean in practice?
Duncan: Our community is at the center of how we design programs and the initiatives we take on.
Sierra College sits between employers and workers, community organizations, and the regional economy. We work directly with employers and community leaders to make sure what we're teaching is relevant and gives students the skills they need.
That helps deliver the workers employers need, but it also means our students are prepared for good-paying jobs. We want them to be able to afford to live in our community, raise a family, buy a house, and do the things they want to do.
PBA: What's an example of how that approach has shaped the college's programs?
Duncan: We've been expanding in several areas.
We recently created a surgical technology program that's graduating its first students, preparing them to work in our hospitals. We've also expanded public safety training for police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics.
Our Mechatronics program is getting a lot of interest, largely because of our partnership with Bosch. That program is training people for probably more than 40 companies that hire our graduates.
The semiconductor industry is one, but there are many industries that need technicians trained in automation and robotics.
We want Sierra College to be the place businesses come to when they need a trained workforce.
PBA: Colleges aren't always known for being able to respond quickly. How have you built an organization that can adapt to what employers need?
Duncan: It's been very intentional.
Even when I first came to Sierra College, we established a goal of fully engaging our community. We wanted people to feel like this was their college.
We opened our doors, and over time that became part of our culture. When people come to work here, the expectation is that they'll be responsive to what they hear from businesses and community members.
We have people dedicated to that work. Amy Schulz, our executive Dean of Workforce and Strategic Initiatives, is amazing at it. Her full-time job is to be out talking with business leaders and understanding their workforce needs.
We say when somebody brings us an idea, we want our initial reaction to be yes. We don't want to start with all the rules or reasons we can't do something.
Sometimes we already have the components of a training program. We just have to put them together in the right way. When that's the case, we can move surprisingly quickly.
PBA: Sierra College is making some substantial investments in Placer County, including plans for new public safety and forensic science facilities. What will those make possible?
Duncan: We're involved in two exciting projects.
The first is Sac State's Placer Campus, which lies at the heart of the larger Placer One development in western Placer. The county is planning a state-of-the-art forensic science laboratory, which is something we don't currently have here. While the County and Sac State are partners in building the lab facility, Sierra College is working closely with Sac State on a new forensic sciences program, which will be a unique program and one of the first at the Placer Campus.
Think about training the next generation of people who will work in those sciences. That's going to happen right here in Placer County.
Nearby, Sierra College is purchasing 50 acres and working with a broad coalition of local partners to plan for a regional public safety training center. The vision is to have the facilities needed for police and fire academies, along with ongoing training for local departments.
Right now, when our fire and law enforcement agencies need certain types of training, they have to leave the community. We don't have a dedicated regional facility.
These projects take time. People sometimes ask whether they're really happening. They are. We're moving through the milestones.
PBA: Why is investing in Placer County personally important to you?
Duncan: I love Sierra College, and I love this community. It's been a wonderful place for me and my family.
I also think about the investment our community made in us when voters passed Measure E in 2018.
We've used those resources to transform our Rocklin campus, prepare it to serve the community into the future, and develop new programs.
We want people to look at that investment and say it was a good decision. That they got tenfold back through the workforce we've developed and the ways Sierra College supports local business and industry.
PBA: You've supported PBA from the beginning. What made you see it as a worthwhile investment of your time and the college's resources?
Duncan: It was really a no-brainer for us.
PBA brings together major employers across different sectors, along with elected officials, government leaders, and staff. That's exactly the kind of environment Sierra College needs to be part of.
It's a place where we can learn, understand the issues our community is dealing with, and build the relationships that help us respond.
PBA: You've attended every PBA Summit and are co-chairing this year's gathering. What keeps bringing you back?
Duncan: It's become one of those key annual events where leaders from business, government, education, and nonprofits come together to really dig into the issues our community faces.
We're together over multiple days in an informal, retreat-like setting. That allows for good conversations and relationship-building that can be harder to accomplish otherwise.
It's helped Sierra College share our work and make connections that support our mission.
I've always been involved in planning the summits, so being asked to co-chair this year is an incredible honor. I see it as Sierra College being trusted to take on that role, and I'm proud of that.
PBA: What does Placer County need to get right over the next decade?
Duncan: We need to figure out how to scale the things we already do well.
We have strong economic opportunity, excellent education, safe communities, and quality services. As we grow, we need to maintain those things and think ahead about the challenges growth brings.
And we need to keep working together.
We have amazing people here with different skills and perspectives. Placer County is special because we break out of our silos and bring industry, government, education, and nonprofits together.
PBA is one of the places where that happens. We need to keep doing it.