“It’s easy to stop things. To get things done, it takes a coalition – people coming together like-minded trying to achieve a goal.” – J.D. Rottweiler, Ph.D., President of Cochise College.
President of Cochise College, J.D. Rottweiler, Ph.D., had a few words to say at the Southwestern Communities Kickoff Luncheon in Benson, Arizona about economic viability and providing opportunities for students in Southeastern Arizona. His main concern, as articulated in the video below, is providing good jobs for his students within Cochise County, not somewhere else.
“If we’re going to prepare our students to be productive in the new economy they have to have jobs to go into,” said Rottweiler. “So we have to find that we’re providing reasonable access and opportunities for various businesses and industries to survive to grow to thrive in rural Arizona so collectively we all find ourselves in a positive situation.”
As Mr. Rottweiler points out, excellent education and great academic programs only go so far to keep students in Cochise County.
We can do an amazing job providing academic and educational programs in a wide variety of areas, but the driving force that always comes out of this is where are these individuals going to be employed,” Rottweiler continued. “They have to have jobs that they can move into and then they can succeed and their families can succeed. Those people have already demonstrated they want to be in Cochise county whether that be in Benson, Sierra Vista, Wilcox, wherever that may be. They just have to have those economic opportunities to succeed how they want to succeed.”
To sum up, Mr. Rottweiler sees a clear path to success.
“In the end, it takes a coalition because these are our people. We live with them; we recreate with them; we worship with them; we’re’ employed with them. We need to find ways for all of our people to be successful.”
