Brent McLemore, SFA's director of public and continuing education, spoke at the Lufkin/Angelina County Chamber of Commerce First Friday Luncheon at Crown Colony Country Club Friday afternoon.
Stephen F. Austin State University's new Professional and Continuing Education Initiative, called PACE, was launched to support adults in East Texas with workforce learning opportunities.
The program was explained at the Lufkin/Angelina County Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Luncheon where Brent McLemore, director of PACE, discussed the initiative's mission to provide working adults with skills for professional growth, job readiness and career advancement.
"Our main purpose is to upscale, rescale professional development and continue education," McLemore said. "We're trying to make the transformative power of education more accessible."
The PACE program targets adult learners, including working professionals, career changers and those who are interested in learning a new set of skills. Already with more than 900 online courses in its catalog, PACE offers a wide range of fields, from healthcare and fitness to business, finance and marketing.
McLemore noted that he is focused on serving rural communities, where demand is high and degrees aren't always required. The university aims to build pathways for post-secondary training and technical certifications, with options to continue into degree programs.
The catalog is divided into two sections: advanced career training and skills-building enrichment. The advanced career training offers a deeper dive into specialized skills, while the skills-building enrichment courses provide fundamental skills. The presentation emphasized that the initial course catalog is designed to cover a variety of different fields.
"This initial catalog is 100% online and, in many cases, self-paced and self-guided," McLemore said. "The program accommodates various lifestyles, abilities, timeframes and interests.
Future expansions to the PACE program include in-person training, hybrid options at SFA and courses that earn creditable hours, McLemore said, as the program continues to adapt to community needs.
For more information about PACE, visit sfasu.edu/pace.