October 22, 2022
Wagner College has partnered with Amazon, the largest private employer on Staten Island, to provide management training for the company’s local employees, and the college hopes to develop similar training partnerships with other local employers.
Aarti Ivanic, dean of the Nicolais School of Business, Mark Harmon-Vaught, the college’s director of external affairs, and Michael Sanicola, senior director of operations at Amazon’s JFK8 distribution center, jointly identified the need for Lean Six Sigma training, a well-established approach to improving work processes.
As a result, Wagner’s Nicolais School of Business partnered with the Lean Six Sigma Institute to offer a certification course for Amazon employees. Twenty-four students attended two-hour classes twice a week, for eight weeks, either in person at the Amazon site in Bloomfield or via Zoom, while instructors participated virtually. Upon completion, participants received certifications from the Nicolais School of Business and the Lean Six Sigma Institute.
“The Nicolais School of Business is excited to welcome Amazon as one of our corporate partners on Staten Island. We are excited to grow this partnership and to provide educational opportunities to help develop the workforce on Staten Island,” said Dean Ivanic.
“We’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the course,” Harmon-Vaught said. “In fact, the course has been so successful that a second cohort has been launched at one of Amazon’s New Jersey sites.”
He said that Wagner College is ready to prepare other certification courses in partnership with Staten Island businesses through its Lifelong Learning program in collaboration with the Nicolais School of Business.
New programs such as these help employees gain in-demand skill sets and propel them into new careers. This new partnership represents Amazon’s commitment to providing its employees with access to education and skills training programs, and is part of Amazon’s mission to be the world’s best employer.
“We are thrilled to work with Wagner College on this important certification program,” said Sanicola. “At Amazon, we’re committed to empowering our employees by providing them access to the education and training they need to grow their careers, and this partnership is the first step on how we can continue to achieve that on Staten Island.”
Those interested in more information should email partnerships@wagner.edu.