Seven-year executive director of the college’s Workforce Development Center, Steven Jossell, has been appointed president of the association of state workforce directors serving Mississippi community colleges.
“I am sincerely humbled, moved, and grateful for my peers investing their confidence in me as the incoming president,” Jossell says.
Jossell tapped into leadership with CCC’s workforce development division under Dr. Vivian M. Presley’s term. Presley assigned him the role of vice president of the division. He has a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Mississippi Valley State University and a Master of Business Administration from Delta State University.
“Each community college has a robust workforce program commissioned to serve as an impetus to businesses, industries, and communities throughout our great state of Mississippi,” Jossell says. “These individuals are the vanguards who make a difference on a daily basis by providing quality workforce training and resources. To that end, I’m extremely excited to uniformly serve with them in this effort.”
Of the significant undertaking, he adds, “I eagerly look forward to championing Mississippi to new levels of distinction by passionately continuing to serve our existing partners/stakeholders and to hopefully land new businesses/industries to Mississippi predicated on the astuteness and zeal of Mississippi’s community college workforce programs and services.”
Workforce training offered by all 15 community colleges in Mississippi provides individuals with short-term training through curriculum and classes to meet workforce and industry needs. The Coahoma Community College Workforce Development Center serves the counties of Bolivar, Tunica, Tallahatchie, Quitman, and Coahoma, aiming to bridge the gap between education, economics, and industrial training.
Also overseeing adult education and the MI-BEST program, Jossell is a 2007 Mid-South Community College Fellowship Program graduate, a 2016 Mississippi Community College Leadership Academy graduate, and was listed among Delta Business Journal’s Top Minority Leaders in the state of Mississippi in 2017.
Outstandingly, he co-established an illustrious six-year STEM program in partnership with the Naval Oceanographic Office of the Stennis Space Center. More than 60 cohorts of area high school and CCC students were enlightened about various career pathways in math and science, completing the mentorship program and matriculating at higher learning institutions. Successful mentees received scholarships sponsored by the Office of Naval Research of Washington, D.C.