Episode 6: Higher Education With Dr. Jeff Perez

In this episode, DEW Executive Director William Floyd sits down with Dr. Jeff Perez, Executive Director of the SC Commission on Higher Education (CHE) and Executive Committee member of the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development (CCWD), to discuss how collaboration between education, workforce partners, employers, and state agencies helps strengthen career pathways across South Carolina.

Dr. Perez also shares how agencies, higher education institutions, nonprofits, and businesses are working together through the CCWD to build a stronger and more connected workforce pipeline for South Carolina’s future.

Watch now on YouTube at https://bit.ly/4tQARsH, listen on your favorite streaming service.

For additional information about career pathways, workforce programs, and employment resources across South Carolina, please visit findyourfuture.sc.gov.

Learn more:
• Explore past episodes of The Works Podcast
https://findyourfuture.sc.gov/theworks

• Learn more about the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education
https://che.sc.gov

• Discover the work of the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development
https://dew.sc.gov/CCWD

For additional information about career pathways, workforce programs, and employment resources across South Carolina, please visit https://findyourfuture.sc.gov

Connect with Find Your Future SC on social media for updates, resources, and workforce initiatives:

Instagram: @fyf_sc
Twitter: @FYFSC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FindYourFutureSC/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/find-your-future-sc/
YouTube: @findyourfuturesc

Follow along to stay informed about opportunities supporting South Carolina’s current and future workforce.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:12

We have more people working today in South Carolina than ever before, and that is great news. We need even more, though. The Coordinating Council for Workforce Development is designed to help create the strategy to increase the workforce and connect more people with the marvelous jobs in South Carolina. My name is William Floyd. I'm the Executive Director of the Department of Employment and Workforce, and it's my privilege to also chair the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development. In today's episode, we're fortunate to meet with one of its executive committee members, Dr. Jeff Perez, the President and Executive Director of the Commission for Higher Education. Jeff, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you, William. It's a pleasure to be here. Well, let's talk about you first. Tell me about your background.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Well, that's one of my favorite subjects. I've been in South Carolina for about 18 years. You might be able to tell from my accent that I grew up in New York. But I've been here since 2008. I uh worked uh in leadership positions at the Citadel in Winthrop. And I was president of the South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, which represents the private colleges in South Carolina. And now I am leading the State Commission on Higher Education.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

CHE? Correct. Okay. So tell me about CHE and what it does for our state. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

It does so much. I think the best place to start is with our mission. Our mission is to provide uh strategic and collaborative leadership to improve South Carolina's system of higher education. It's to expand opportunities for all citizens, and it's to advance the cultural, civic, and economic development of the state. So that's a whole lot. Wow. And then, of course, vital function is we collaborate with other agencies like the Department of Employment and Workforce.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

In addition to all the duties you just described, you also serve on the executive committee of the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development, right?

SPEAKER_02 2:25

That's been a real joy. It's been uh so exciting.

SPEAKER_03 2:29

Right.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

You know, you start pre-K and you end up with a doctoral program or any point along there with a job. Different entities were responsible for different parts of that pipeline, but how could we make sure that pipeline was seamless? Well, that's what the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development does. And uh it has been such a uh collaborative uh experience, the partnerships with all the other agencies with uh not profit, not for profits, with businesses in particular, to bring them into the fold. So uh, you know, it's so funny we we realize how much, for example, folks in higher education speak a different language than in business. So to bring us all together so we can learn our different languages and figure out how we can get jobs filled here in South Carolina.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Now, I like to talk about the CCWD as being everything represented from pre-K to post-PHD, of which your agency really has a meaningful impact on all the time. Right. Now, in addition to serving on the executive committee of the CCWD, you also are co-chairing one of these subcommittees. Is that right?

SPEAKER_02 3:44

I've been so honored to be a part of that. Uh we actually, it's the Pathways Committee, but we actually have three subcommittees under that. We've got the work-based learning, which is, you know, internships, apprenticeships. We've learned how important that is to a student's education, to get that kind of world, real-world experience, real-world expectations for them. Not just the particular knowledge they're picking up in school, but those kind of essential skills to be able to be an effective employee. Uh so we're uh working on a uh a web page that'll help on on findyourfuture sc.com that'll help students know about uh apprenticeships and businesses know how to participate to make sure we can overcome any kind of obstacles them they might face. And then we've got the educational alignment subcommittee, right? And that's working on a toolkit. The educational alignment is all about that pipeline we were talking about, making sure that that's seamless in terms of the curriculum from one to the other, but that's one kind of alignment. The other kind of alignment is making sure that's all leading to a job. So we're working on a toolkit that will help bring everybody together facing in the same direction. Excellent. And then, of course, the third is the pathways committee. Right. And uh the pathways committee. Imagine if you're trying to get somewhere and you don't have a map. Well, you're gonna get there eventually. You're probably gonna make some wrong turns, you're probably gonna have to stop a few times and talk to somebody or ask for directions. Some of those directions will be good, some of them might actually get you going in the wrong direction, right? But you'll eventually get where you're going. Now imagine that you've got a map. You're gonna get there a lot quicker and a lot cheaper if you know exactly where you're going. Well, that's what a pathway is. It's a map for your career, it's a map for your future. And we're now at the point where we're developing what those pathways look like. But just like with a map, are you more detailed or less detailed? How far do you pull out? Uh, if you pull out too far, it's not going to be useful. If you're too detailed, then you're not going to be able to navigate your way to where you're trying to get. So that is a big part of what we're doing with the pathways committee right now, is we're finding that sweet spot for what a pathway should look like. And we've done some modeling with some careers, and we're getting to the point now where we're going to be able to expand that. So we're very excited.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Great projects and great leadership. So your co-chair. Who's your fellow coach?

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Uh Bunny Ward, who works at Transform SC. Bunny actually used to work at CHE. Uh, she is a great partner. Uh, we've got uh actually a lot of people that are involved in all the subcommittees. Uh the chairs, I'd like to thank them for all their work, and a lot of people have been a part of those subcommittees, part of the larger effort, because they all get excited when they see how how uh productive it is to get together and figure it out together.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

Now you mentioned earlier about the importance of collaboration. Does your committee work through collaboration?

SPEAKER_02 7:22

Yes. It is really, you know, you're always concerned when you're forming subcommittees and uh who's gonna be uh who's willing to be the chair? And that's when suddenly everybody's got a message on their cell phone, they look down and they don't want to make eye contact with you. But that wasn't the case. People stepped forward, people wanted to be on the committee. Um it is really a a great dynamic the way they're working together to come up with these solutions.

SPEAKER_03 7:51

That's excellent. And the reason why I asked you that is that you're the first uh person participating in our podcast who is an actual co-chair of a subcommittee.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Uh I really appreciate the work with your team, with Rebecca Battlebryant and her team. They are available, they're very much part of what we're doing on the committee and with the subcommittees. Uh we wouldn't be successful without them.

SPEAKER_03 8:15

Excellent. Well, we've covered a lot of ground already. What else would you like to share with us about CHE and the CCWD?

SPEAKER_02 8:24

Well, uh I'm about CCWD, uh as much as we've done, um, still looking up. Uh so much to accomplish, but I'm confident we will. And CHE is going to be a partner with you that uh right to the end. Uh we we see the importance of this. Uh we see, for example, when we're approving programs, we ask uh, does this program lead to a priority occupation identified in the unified state plan? Uh we're doing some other great things at CHE. We're uh, you know, I mentioned all that data that we collect. Well, we're really focusing on data visualization now. Uh on our website, uh, we've got these dashboards. We're really focused on taking all that information we have, making it come alive, and making it more accessible to folks.

SPEAKER_03 9:19

Yeah, data is so important for us in South Carolina, particularly when it comes to workforce and education.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

That that's really one of the my favorite collaborations uh with CCWD is we all agreed to, all the agencies agreed to share their data, and it's helping us with our accountability. Because as we we just um are we're in the middle of completing a strategic plan. I mentioned our mission, we've got three values um accessibility, account excellence, and accountability. And that third, the accountability. Uh we have internal targets, metrics for what we're trying to accomplish as an agency, but it's important to also take a step back and look at what's being accomplished statewide. So we'll be able to use that data working with CCWD as part of our accountability as a higher education state agency.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

That's great to hear about state agencies working together rather than being in different silos, siloed from each other. Appreciate the leadership of the governor and the General Assembly to help put all the pieces together through the CCWD. And you're a valuable part of that, Jeff. You and CHE have really contributed from day one helping with various projects, including the Workforce Pathways Project. Thank you so much for your service in CCWD and your leadership of your agency. Thank you for participating in this podcast. Well, thank you, William. It's a pleasure to be here.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

I've really had a good time.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

To leave you with some helpful labor market information, here's your LMI Minute.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Hi, I'm Dr. Brian Grady, Assistant Executive Director for Labor Market Information at DU. Welcome to LMI Minute, where I share some parting data from today's discussion to help you better understand our workforce. Today, you heard from the head of our state's Commission on Higher Education. CHE has a massive cache of data on their website all about South Carolina colleges and universities. Here's one interesting fact from their annual statistical abstract. Did you know that 10% of all college students statewide are still in high school? Dual enrollment allows K-12 students to take courses that count for credit both toward their high school diploma and a post-secondary credential. Let's look at how this breaks out. Across the board, 252,131 students enrolled at a South Carolina College in fall of 2024, of which 25,494 were high schoolers. About 5% of students at the state's 10 comprehensive teaching institutions fall into this category, though this varies from zero at the Citadel and SC State to 22% at Francis Marion. Among the two-year regional campuses of USC, Lancaster, Sakahatchie, Sumter, and Union, nearly two-thirds of students are high schoolers, including four in five students at Union, though this represents a small slice of post-secondary education statewide. Across the 16 members of the technical college system, just over one in five students are dual enrolled, ranging from 12% at Tri-County to 36% at Northeastern. Last but not least, among the state's 23 privately run independent institutions, nine of them have high school enrollees, having up to 4% of students, including 28% at Cochrane University. Dual enrollment offers a great opportunity for young people to get a jump on their higher education tuition free and start their careers faster. If you are a parent or student interested in learning more, please connect with your local participating college. Thanks for listening.