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Debra Kerrigan is the Dean of the Workforce Training and Continuing Education Department at Dunwoody College of Technology. In this position Debra’s leadership and follow-through is vital when working with business and industry to create cutting edge, job-placing programs. She also manages the quality of training in the common areas such as HVAC, Precision Manufacturing, Electrical, Green Sustainable Practice, and Facilities Service Maintenance.
After following the trends in adult education and observing the recent economic downturn that forced individuals out of work, Debra focused on sharing her technical knowledge, collaborative management skills, and customer service skills to work with the unemployed/underemployed individual. Debra’s main focus is on closing the skills gap for employers by designing new programs, and she has just recently designed a program for industrial sewing. Debra was Dunwoody’s technical liaison in initiating the first draft of the “Right Skills Now” Program in collaboration with the President’s Council for Jobs & Competitiveness, the Manufacturing Institute, and ACT. Debra continues to work jointly with business, industry, state agencies, the Department of Education, the Higher Learning Commission, and other national organizations to create and provide solutions for the future needs of our American workforce. Her approach to launching new delivery methods for training has given her the opportunity to work with international companies in the development of apprenticeship programs.
Debra holds a Master’s Degree in Education along with a Certificate in Adult Education from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Marquette University. She has been at Dunwoody for 15 years and has served in various roles including instructor, Manager of Dunwoody’s Southwest Metro Campus in Chaska, and Director of the Evening College. Before coming to Dunwoody Debra spent several years in the structural and civil engineering industry working for companies in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and California. She has also been an adjunct instructor in the Construction Management Bachelor’s Program at the University of Minnesota.
She continues to bring value add to Dunwoody by working jointly with business, industry, state agencies, the Department Of Education, the Higher Learning Commission and State and National Organizations to create and provide solutions for the future needs of our American workforce.
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