WSMR holds Defense Acquisition Leadership Certificate Course developing WSMR workforce
White Sands Missile Range leadership held its quarterly Defense Acquisition Leadership Certificate Course created by Chieftain Elite Consulting and sponsored by New Mexico State University’s Physical Science Lab to support a robust DoD workforce development pipeline on the installation.
The Course Director, Ross Davidson, CEO of Chieftain Elite Consulting, developed the curriculum by collaborating with WSMR leadership, NMSU PSL, and NMSU Global Campus to simultaneously facilitate professional development in high-performing WSMR employees and to provide project and internship opportunities for university students. The course provides mentorship to both WSMR employees and students, strengthening the partnership between the installation and local campus.
“We bring a joint service perspective to professional development within the DoD. This in combination with local university partnerships enables us to tailor and scale leadership development courses for the professionals at any given organization and it is scalable to other organizations across the DoD. We were able to customize the course to the specific professional development needs of the installation and the commander. We understand that one size does not fit all,” said Davidson.
“I am glad to be here today as we strengthen our leadership development program and make it more robust so that we can make the WSMR workforce more agile and more able to perform their duties and responsibilities,” said WSMR Commander Col. George C. Turner.
“I am really excited about this opportunity to share with our workforce what mentorship is and how to become an effective mentor. It has had a great impact on my personal life, and I am looking forward to seeing what it can do to transform the lives of our workforce,” said WSMR Test Center Technical Director Tristan Gilbert.
PSL is the applied research arm at NMSU and serves as a defense contractor with federal agencies and STEM companies. PSL has supported the DALC certificate program at WSMR as part of a larger effort to build out a robust workforce pipeline.
“Our long-standing partnership with White Sands Missile Range is really meant to support their workforce development and hiring initiatives. We know that as we build out our student programs to facilitate opportunities for them to move onto the installation, mentorship within the workforce is important to greet those students to ensure that the workforce is not only strengthened but that the students that are coming in are retained to have long careers within the DoD,” said Marcella Shelby NMSU PSL Strategic Initiatives Officer. “We are excited to partner with White Sands Missile Range to bring this type of training knowing that the leaders that are participating are investing their time to build a bigger and stronger workforce.
WSMR has remained a natural option for supporting NMSU’s experimental design and piloting efforts in support of the newly created Defense Civilian Training Corps program. The DCTC’s efforts in developing civilian professional training are projected to expand to over 20 sponsoring academic institutions over the next several years in partnership with DoD agencies.