2-5-26 Sloan with Gregory Crawford

You want to join me. Dowbound seven hundred WLA. Welcome to it. You know, I am sick to the trade.

Only first on the radio station that actually is a blue collar kind of guy. Everyone else sits on and they, you know, they really suese people. It's a stupid job. I sit in here and talk to myself for three hours. I have no idea if you're listening, and then why I'm not here. I'm doing the constructor light itself, you know, remodeling,

Thanks for having me.

Yeah, I don't think I've ever had a president and studio of anything before. Maybe you're gonna be the first. This is hollowed ground. Hey, good to have you here on the show this morning. And by the way, you know, i'd be remiss by to take congratulations to your basketball team.

I know our men's team is undefeated and women is undefeated in the MAC and hockey teams really doing super well too. Yeah, so we're all excited about Red Hawk athletics.

I know I'm sick for hockey and Coffe's college basketball too. So Miami it's always a fun place to go and watch games as well, And so congratulations for that. By the way, you are the hope that of all Cincinnati right now, because all the rest of our teams here are terrible. So we are like totally leaning into Miami University Athletics right now.

You hope we love the attention. I know you do.

Let's get into you'll hear the term am AT today AM hub. We have AM and it means advanced manufacturing. People here that go what exactly is advanced manufacturing?

So advanced manufacturing utilizes the state of the art equipment and technology, and furthermore, it's leverages data science and artificial intelligence and cybersecurity and the digital side of it as well. And so our Advanced Manufacturing Hub is bringing that all together for training for students that can do certificates, they can do associate degrees or bachelor's degrees.

Yeah. And there's another one too. It's called additive manufacturing, which is three D.

Right, it's three D manufacturing, yeah, and so it can be One example would be a polymer that you program it in it keeps layering the polymer down until it gives you a great object that you're trying to design.

Right right, this is the future of you know, machine shops used to be these greasy places and now it's like a computer lab. Where you have to it's clean rooms and white white lab coats, and even more so with three D printing. And so if you think this is these are the manufacturing jobs of old where you're in a factory and it's awful, and you know, giant presses are smashing your body parts, It's like, that's not the way it is anymore.

Because D it's very it's super high tech. It's really impressive. And what of these do you know the top of your head, with these jobs typically pay, I'm not sure. The graduates of engineering technology can start off in the sixty to seventy thousand dollars range, just depending whether your mechanical technology or computer technology or electoral technology. And so there tend to be well paying jobs. They are in demand and the employers are looking for that talent.

Yeah, and and and then that's the thing too, is we have this in Ohio, this unique strategic advantage that most other states don't have. Right, we have that geographic position in Cincinnati is the heart of the country, right, we're in the middle in the valley of that. We also have infrastructure that's already in place, be it rail roads, an automotive corridor. We have aerospace here in southwest Ohio, and so all those things come together and it's really

Yeah, work for development is super important for Ohio and any time they're trying to recruit a company to Ohio, it comes down to talent, talent and talent. And so we believe Butler Tech and Miami University and all our partners Ohio means jobs. The Butler County Commissioners and the City of Hamilton believe we can pull this off and deliver the talent that this state needs to attract those companies.

Okay, so take me through it. Let's say somebody wants to get into this program. What is their day like, what is their life like?

Well, it's interesting, So there's all kinds of entry level points. So we collaborate with the phenomenal Career Tech High School and there we coexist together, but it's much more integrated

Yeah, and it's you, it's Butler Tech, it's Butler County, and a high means jobs and so it's not just you know, engineering students for example at Miami University, it's also people to Butler Tech that are going to be the technicians in the field and even high schools. It sounds like as well, and you're you're encompassing all this. It's a multi generational kind of thing and multi multi practice kind of thing as well.

Yeah. Absolutely, and we're so excited to work with Butler Tech. You know, it's a phenomenal career tech high school. It's well known in Ohio but across the country, and we bring that together with the Miami brand, and then we have all the support of our partners through the Butler County Commissioner and Ohio Means Jobs in the city of Hamilton, and so it all kind of blended together in a great way. And we had to launch on Monday, and so we're off and going. I love this.

Everything's up and running at this point. How many students that any one time can go through this.

It's a very large building, and so there'll certainly be several hundred students in our Engineering technology program and there'll be several hundred students that'll be from Butler Tech, and we'll kind of have that end to end, you know, the high school of the kids that'll be working a little bit with the students at Miami and vice versa.

I love how it also com mingles different different experiences and backgrounds, which is important at university like Miami President Crawford, but also younger people like it started. I'm guessing what ninth tenth grade this starts, and then you get on this track and then you're you know, working alongside or learning alongside I should say, students from my university. And so it's like this whole pipeline and when they graduate, they're ready to go.

With the workforce exactly. So we're super excited and we couldn't be more happy with our partners that came in to make this all happen, this vision of reality. And then I was super excited because it took about two years and you could see it progress. We were able with the Butler County Commissioner support and finance, we were able to get that building is already adjacent to our campus and touches it and so it broadened our campus out.

I have to see it in person at some point too, because I'm fast and I love that stuff and I love advocating for it. He's a president of Miami University doctor Gregor Crawford and study this morning and talking about this new thirty one million dollar advanced manufacturing hub in Hamilton, which is going to be a pipeline, a conduit for jobs here in Ohio. We have all these wonderful things.

And I don't often talk about you, as you know, the.

Struggles universities are are well known, and I don't want to say, you know, you've hit a bubble, but you know your transition.

Let's put it this is this the future of the way schools are going to go.

Now where we're we're taking not just the you know, the halls of academia, but we're also going, hey, you know, if you want hands on learning, experience and workforce ready, we're pairing that into one seamless operation.

Yeah. It's it's actually works really well with our Hamilton campus and the degrees there that were really popular was Engineering, Technology and Commerce, which is the business degree there, and nursing and healthcare and so forth. So it really came into the vision with this manufacturing technology in a big way, and then we hit with Butler Tech and then off we go. And so I do think this experiential learning

And or or maybe it's the fact that like, hey, I'm reluctant to do college because it's so expensive college. I don't know if I'm college material, but I'll start here with this hands on and maybe it grows to the point where, like, you know what, I really want to be an engineer, and then you go into the Beckelord program at Miami and you know, you know you're ready by that point.

Yeah, absolutely, And that's the pathway that they can follow as well. They can start at the manufacturing hob and if they want to go into, you know, an engineering degree, they can transfer over to Miami and Oxford seamlessly and and you know, move their career ahead that way. Yeah.

We're also going to see and I'm sure there is how many companies, how many manufacturing companies are behind this, because that's the motivator for them is, hey, we invest in this, We've got a workforce already. We have a say basically in how these students are coming out of school. They're ready to learn as opposed to you know, you're the stories like, well, now we've got to retrain them the right way because of what they learned. Is there's

Yeah, we got thirty companies so far, and it's an exciting cohort. And you're right. They work with us to think through the curricula and like what their talent needs if they hire them in their company. And so we get that first hand knowledge from our constituents and our stakehold holders, and so we brought them into the fold to help us think through what the next what the future curriculum looks like.

Yeah, so Miami University is part of Miami Thrive.

I keep seeing that pop up to what is that. Miami Thrive is the name of our brand new strategic plan. And so we've been at it and we just are now in the execution phase. We talked to more than two thousand people and stakeholders. We had more than two hundred that were involved in committee work and we thought future back, so we ask ourselves, what do students want twenty thirty five, and how do we prepare for that?

Yeah, how quickly from graduation or you get a certificate? Orders are you? Are you in the workforce the next day if you wanted to be. There's gonna be no problem to imagine matching people who graduate with a.

Job, absolutely no problem. Yeah whatsoever? Yeah, it's you know, the next day. We may be embellishing a little bit there, but once they graduate and also working at the manufacturing hub, they're already knowing the companies who are going to want to hire that, and so they'll have that in place, and so they may even have job offers long before they ground. They're fighting over the bodies. That's spine. It's going to be fought.

It makes you feel you know, it validates your what you've done, what you've invested in. You're like, Wow, all these companies want to hire me. That's pretty cool. And the better yar at what you do, have more money you're gonna make. So that's that's how it should work.

Anyway.

I love that Ohio meets Jobs is right there with you as well, and this whole step of the way where they're going to you know, place people in these and we're going to see more fan manufacturing wind up relocating to Ohio because of the set imagine.

Yes, for sure, with the on storing and restoring taking place in the country and how important manufacturing has been in this country as a cornerstone and now going to the future with advanced manufacturing, smart manufacturing and all the AI that's taking place in manufacturing, we're ready to go. And so we want to recruit the talent to graduate and be a part of this industry and also recruit those companies to Ohio and make a stronger economy here. I'm sure the state is part of this going.

Hey, listen, we're going to try and now get these companies to come back to Ohio and put up manufacturing hubs around there, because you know in that area. It's beautiful in Oxford, but there's all sorts of rumor if you want to do it up there. I guess near Hamilton, there's some areas that you can do that. But that's

Absolutely, and it's exciting because that just means there's a lot more opportunity for our graduates right right.

Well, you want to you know, you want to be able to pay off the loan at some point. I got service the loan. That's a problem. And these are the jobs that are needed right now. And I'm glad we're finally leaning into this year. You know, I've been a big proponent of the trades, but that's also part of this too. You know that the people are going

Oh, I think it's going to be just thousands and thousands of students. And we do want to have the model where as I mentioned earlier, cycle back, So come go to the workforce, work, you know, come part time, take time off, come full time back to us. Just keep it, you know, keep learning, piling up those credentials, always to keep advancing in your career. But we're there

You know, where was there a spot at the room at the table And I didn't get into this. I should have before. Maybe adults that want to get into this too, because it's like, Okay, we've got high school kids, we've got young people in college, but what about somebody who is working a job now going I got to do something else that's as a future.

Yeah, absolutely, and that's always been a strength of our regional campus there in Hamilton. For adult learners, there is always a pathway back. And working with Ohio Means Jobs is really they work with adults. They're looking to pivot in their career or enhance their career or find a new career path. And so we'll be working with adults as well. So it'll be end to end from high school students all the way have through adults. And I

One of the other big things is transportation. Does that affect you all?

Yeah? They have the bus service comes right up front of the building and drops them off, and so that's particularly super important for Ohio Means Jobs. You thought of everything. I hope we did. What about lunch? You got a place that you had lunch? There to parking, parking spots, we got enough parking, got.

Parking and has a mult situation, Got good mulch around the buildings. Right now, you're going too far. I gotta ask. I was like, make sure I got to poke holes? Does it make sure that you thought this through completely, young man. I No, I think it's awesome and I'm really excited about this too, because I think this is

No, we're super excited. And the building's oppressive. The equipment's more impressive. Probably when you talk with our students, the Butler Tech students that are there and the Miami University students, you will just be blown away, a boy, how excited they are and how enthusiastic they are, and how talented these students are. And they're going to be the next you know, manufacturing engineering technologists in our country.

And if you're a mom, dad, Gramma, grip, don't don't go in on manufacture. I'm telling it's like nanotechnology and three D and robot it's it's not all the way it used to be.

How even twenty years ago or five years ago for that, you're you're right. It is as high tech as it gets, and it's not what you might think of what manufacturing used to look like decades ago. It's just a it's a phenomenal career path and we're there. Yeah, I'll talk.

I'll talk to parents about you know, like I'm the building trades or something like. I don't know, I saw those guys are like sitting there eating their lunch on an ingot on top of New York City and in the black and white picture, Yeah, when they're building the Empire State Building in nineteen thirty.

Yeah, yeah, that one. It's like nobody's doing that anymore.

There's no one jumping and throwing firing hot rivets at the guy up there, and there's no absolutely no net below them whatsoever.

I mean, that's.

Incredible and impressive, but it hasn't been that way in a long time. It's like, you gotta check out some of the high tech stuff right now. It's more like a laboratory than it is a factory.

Oh. Absolutely, you walk through, you see the additive manufacturing, subtractive manufacturing, the CDC machines.

It's unbelievable. Yeah, extremely close tolerances. And we're doing it right here in America. And these are great jobs are going to be around for a long time. That's the most important thing.

Absolutely. And you know, this country always was known for making things, and so I'm so glad to see the manufacturing so strong in Ohio and picking up even more.

I wish more universities would do what you're doing at Miami. Really, it's impressive, it's cool, and it's the future too. And the way you've developed this learning model, and because it directly means jobs, that's what this is we've got a great workforce. Let's stop the brain during keep those jobs here and bring more jobs to the Buckeye State. It's good for all of us.

Absolutely.

All Right, Gregory Crawford, President of the at Miami University. I appreciate you coming in studio this morning. Thanks for taking time out.

Thank you. It's wonderful to be here there.

Congratulations. We're about five minutes away from news here on the show. Well, complete weather update, got some weather moving in the next twenty four hours. Figure out what's going on without your traffic traffic of course when we return on the show. I had a representative on yesterday from Claremont County discussing nil in high school sports, and he had another lawmaker, but you know, both from these CIN scenario want to get rid of name, image, likeness, money