Jermaine Whirl joined Augusta Technical College five years ago intent on making the college an “anchor institution”—a phrase and philosophy most often associated with research universities with the big money, big foundations, and political sway to get things done.
But Whirl believed that a two-year technical college with a vision, strategy, strong partners, and lots of hard work could serve the same role. And south Augusta needed an institution that could be a hub for economic development activity.
The city and larger region had been steadily rebuilding its manufacturing base, and working to diversify its economy, since the collapse of textile manufacturing in the 1980s and 90s.
The resources were abundant. Augusta sits on I-20, a major transportation corridor. It is home to Fort Eisenhower, high-profile medical assets, and the Savannah River National Lab across the Savannah River in South Carolina. A decade ago, it was selected as the home for the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence.
“We felt if we raised the brand visibility of the institution by raising our level of partnership with the right entities, this organization could transform the Augusta region and put it on the national map,” Whirl says. “For the past four years, that’s what we’ve been doing. It’s not been happenstance; it’s been very intentional.”
The Big Idea: That work paid off big when Augusta was chosen as one of the first five Workforce Hubs, which coordinate funds from the Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act and are designed to build better pipelines to good jobs. The work is part of a larger federal push to supercharge the economies of often-overlooked cities and regions that were already working to build localized expertise.
It’s a strategy that elevated an idea at the core of Whirl’s anchor institution push: That you can’t have economic development without commensurate investments in education and economic mobility. It’s not clear how closely the Trump administration will hew to that philosophy, or whether it will reverse certain industrial and workforce investments in fields like green energy. They issued an order to pause almost all federal grants and loans, including those for workforce training, this week, before then rescinding the order after a judge temporarily blocked it.
Wherever the federal government lands on grant spending, the country’s focus on career and technical education isn’t likely to go away. Neither is Augusta Tech’s commitment to being an economic engine.
“We’re going to have a pretty sustained interest in what we do because of the changing dynamics in the country,” Whirl says. “And that’s mostly because the talent needs are so great and outweigh what companies can do. You look at most companies’ growth projections, whether you’re a bank or you’re a manufacturer, your ability to produce more products and provide more services is all directly tied to talent.”
Data Doesn’t Lie
Whirl points out the inevitable challenge—nationally, by 2030, all Baby Boomers will be age 65 or older, either retired or headed that way and the obvious—we have a declining birth rate and more jobs than we have people to fill them. Augusta Tech, he says, has an answer—crafting programs unique to the community’s industrial base that excite students and set them on a legitimate classroom-to-career pathway.
“[Employers] find we’re not only able to provide solutions,” he says, “We’re providing solutions that have tangible impacts in terms of talent staying local.”
Case in point: In the Technical College System of Georgia’s (TCSG) 2024 System Scorecard, Augusta Tech clocked more than 9,300 hours of customized contract training, or programs developed specifically for a local industry. That was up from a little over 3,200 hours in 2023. Whirl attributes the difference to three companies, Aurubis (metal recycling), Syensqo (EV battery), and Manus Bio (bioengineering), which partnered with the college for custom training programs.
The “Vision Thing”
Whirl activates his anchor institution vision using a two-pronged approach: a business strategy and a leadership strategy. In leadership, Whirl adheres to John Maxwell’s Law of the Lid—the idea that the people in the organization can’t go any higher than the level of leadership currently in the role.
“We had to work on the culture to get people to think innovatively but also to think broadly about their work and the best-case scenario for us to accomplish it,” he says. “My job becomes easy then. My job is to matchmake and to say, ‘This is what we want to do; how do we find a partner that has that same mindset?’”
On the business side, he deploys his version of the popular Blue Ocean Strategy from the book of the same name by Renee Mauborgne and W. Chan Kim.
Rather than focusing on Red Oceans, that is, replicating programs other technical colleges were offering but doing them better, Augusta Tech would head toward Blue Oceans, implementing innovative programs that required more work and more risk. Deans at Augusta Tech have three questions to ask and answer when they present to Whirl: Is anyone else doing it? How will our program be different? Who can we partner with to scale it and make it a national model?
“When you go in that direction, you don’t have competition,” Whirl says. “And importantly, when you go to a Blue Ocean, you tend to find people with the same mindset. Thankfully, I have a great commissioner, Greg Dozier, who has allowed me and our board to do Blue Ocean strategy stuff.”
Say “Yes” to Innovation
In 2023, for example, Augusta Tech secured substantial gifts from community partners—$1M from Augusta National Golf Club and $1M from the Jim Hudson Automotive Group—to purchase a former automobile dealership to create an unusual teaching and training environment. The hands-on training facility includes instruction in everything from office management to vehicle maintenance and repair.
Another Blue Ocean initiative? In 2025, Augusta Tech’s golf course management and workforce program will relocate to the historic Augusta Municipal Golf Course, known as “The Patch.” Students will essentially take over maintenance operations of the course in a living classroom. This partnership is with the City of Augusta, Augusta National Golf Course, and The First Tee of Augusta.
“When I went to Commissioner Dozier and said, ‘I want to take over the golf course,’ he could have easily said, ‘No, it can’t be done,’” Whirl says. “Instead, he said, ‘Let’s figure out how to do it.’ In state government, the no is easy. But I’ve gone to him with uncommon things, and he has given me the green light.”
The key, he says, is that the college does a lot of due diligence before going to a would-be partner.
Blowing Up Norms
One of the latest Blue Ocean projects is Augusta Tech’s partnership with the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) to create Accelerate Augusta Powered by SRP, the city’s first true hub for entrepreneurial, venture, and start-up business activity, especially for minority, veteran, and women-owned businesses. Construction is well underway with plans to open by spring 2025. The project is fueled by $2.3M in federal funds, a grant from Bank of America and a major financial gift from SRP Federal Credit Union, a financial institution headquartered in North Augusta, South Carolina.
“But the exciting thing is what happened after the announcement was made,” Whirl says. “All the property on that side of downtown has been bought and renovated. Housing is being built on the top floor of these buildings. Restaurants that didn’t exist two years ago are there. Without us opening the door, that area of Broad Street has already been redeveloped. That’s what I mean by being an anchor institution.”
Whirl is having a blast blowing up norms at Augusta Tech, and you never know what’s next. But one thing is certain, it’s not about getting the win. It’s about getting the win-win, he says.
“We’re trying to benefit the community and draw in folks who want to partner with our core mission while reaching theirs,” says Whirl. “We have a five-year strategic plan and are already in year three. At the board retreat in February, we’ll be updating the plan. It’s exciting work.”