Multimillion-Dollar Endowments Aid Printing Degree Program at Ferris State University

A peer-to-peer roundtable discussion among commercial printers attending the inaugural PRINTING United Alliance Leadership Summit recently enabled participants to discuss how they are attracting and retaining skilled workers, followed by a conversation on ways they’re embracing automation to help solve the industry-wide labor shortage. 

During the one-hour session, the roundtable participants ran out of time before they could even discuss automation adoption. That, in a nutshell, illustrates how dire the people problem is within the printing industry when it comes to recruitment, skills training, and worker retention.

To compound the labor shortage problem further, there is a lack of young people entering the graphic arts industry to fill the shoes of an aging industry workforce — partly resulting from the demise of high school vocational-technical programs, and from dwindling college-level, print-related programs due to low enrollment numbers.

Endowments for Ferris State Printing Program

However, the future remains very bright for the Graphic Media Management program at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, thanks in large part to a new, nearly $1.75 million endowment from the Ann Arbor Graphic Arts Memorial Foundation to fund a $2 million scholarship endowment and a $750,000 program expense endowment (such as hosting students attending technical high school programs in Detroit and Chicago). With the endowments earmarked solely for the university’s printing-related curriculum, Ferris State is providing matching scholarship funding. (The Graphic Media Management program is unrelated to Ferris Printing Services, so no funding from the endowments will go to the in-plant.)

The Ferris State Graphic Media Management program combines hands-on color reproduction and G7-based theoretical color management training.

The Ann ArborGraphics Arts Memorial Foundation was created in the 1970s by the hub of primarily book manufacturers in the Ann Arbor, Michigan, area. Many of the companies were spinoffs of Edwards Brothers, which was founded in 1893, and closed its doors as Edwards Brothers Malloy in 2018. Over the course of many years, Edwards Brothers spawned several area book printing enterprises led by former Edwards Brothers employees who left to establish their own companies.

Although competitors during the day, executives of these companies were often friends outside of the work environment who recognized — as a group, even back in the 1970s— the need for more young people to enter the industry to help build skilled workforces. They kicked in money to initially fund the foundation, and several people also left contributions as part of their estate planning.

According to Graphic Media Management professor, and interim Associate Dean - College of Business, Patrick Klarecki — a 1983 Ferris State University printing management alumni who has led the four-year program for 32 years — the endowments will go a long way toward recruitment and assisting new and current students. Before joining the Ferris State faculty, he served a 10-year stint as director of operations at Valassis Communications.

Training about JDF-based workflows are among the skills that students learn.

In tandem with fellow 34-year professor John Conati, Klarecki instructs students to gain operational and technical expertise in disciplines such as project management, job scheduling and cost analysis, G7-based color theory, prepress workflows, hands-on equipment operation, Lean process improvement, customer service, core business principles, and much more.

With tuition totaling about $24,000 per year, a large number of the students in the printing program rely on financial aid, as well as on annual scholarship donations from nonprofit organizations such as the Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF) and PRINTING United Alliance.

Klarecki is also currently searching for a full-time assistant professor (click here for job requirements), who will eventually become his successor after he retires fully at the end of the next academic year. Klarecki is staying on the extra school year to mentor his replacement and to help enable a smooth transition.

Attracting our next-generation workforce requires grassroots-level industry awareness efforts, as well as the needed funding — such as the printing program at Ferris State University received — to advance recruitment and educational training programs. The price for not doing so will be immeasurable.