PHARR, Texas - Working through the Rio Grande Valley’s economic development organizations, the region’s universities and community colleges need to send their professors and lecturers on visits to local manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics firms.
This is the view of Juanita “Janie” Cavazos, property and business development manager for Pharr Economic Development Corporation.
Such visits used to happen, back in the day, Cavazos said, during a Q&A session at the recent 3rd Industrial Warehouse Summit hosted jointly by Pharr EDC and Pharr Bridge Board.
“Years ago, we used to host professors and different people from the universities. And we would actually schedule tours with the manufacturing sector so they (the professors) would understand what was going on in our region,” Cavazos said.
"That’s not happening (now). It is an initiative that really needs to happen, because a lot of students don't know, professors don't know, that there's so much manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics here (in the Valley.”
Before joining Pharr EDC, Cavazos worked for McAllen Economic Development Corporation for more than 20 years.
The panel Cavazos made her pitch to comprised leaders in the Valley’s higher education arena. The panelists were Ron Garza, associate vice president for workforce and economic development at UT-Rio Grande Valley, Dr. Ricardo Solis president of South Texas College, and Manny Vela, associate vice president and chief operating officer of the Texas A&M University Higher Education Center in McAllen.
In her comments, Cavazos also referenced the Valley’s “brain drain.”
Here is a video recording of Cavazos’s remarks:
https://youtu.be/ErUOec79xuU
The questions posed to Garza, Solis and Vela came from moderator Jorge Torres, a U.S. licensed broker and president of Interlink Trade Services. Here is a video recording of the entire panel discussion:
https://youtu.be/uZrn4-jevuY
