CEI’s new Professional Development Center will ‘connect learners with better jobs’
Rett Nelson, EastIdahoNews.com
College of Eastern Idaho’s Professional Development Center at 240 Technology Drive in Idaho Falls will provide training for dozens of occupations. | Rett Nelson, EastIdahoNews.com
IDAHO FALLS – The completion of College of Eastern Idaho’s Professional Development Center is the culmination of an idea first proposed by former Bonneville County Commissioner Cliff Long.
That’s what Trevor Elordi, CEI’s vice president of workforce development and continuing education, told the crowd Thursday afternoon at a ribbon-cutting and open house of the new building.
The 14,000-square-foot structure at 240 Technology Drive in Idaho Falls is kitty-cornered from the Eastern Idaho Workforce Training Center, which opened in 2022. Together, these buildings make up the college’s workforce campus.
CEI President Lori Barber tells EastIdahoNews.com the purpose of the new building is to “connect learners with better jobs.”
“Any training that an employer might need to send their employees to, we can actually handle that for them,” Elordi says. “We can set it up and customize it into a day training or several weeks.”
Photo on display at the Professional Development Center open house showing one type of training that’s available. | Rett Nelson, EastIdahoNews.com
Instruction for a variety of professions will be offered here, including construction-related jobs, machining and welding, digital marketing and web design, CPR and other healthcare-related jobs, and more.
One of the main programs is the new peace officer and standards training for new law enforcement officers. Sgt. Bryan Lovell with the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office says being able to train new officers in Idaho Falls, rather than sending them to Meridian or Idaho State University in Pocatello, will save a lot of time and money.
“It’s a better value for the sheriff’s office because it costs less for housing and travel. People that are hired can go home to their families at night instead of being gone for six to eight weeks,” Lovell says.
The sheriff’s office is already using space at the workforce training center to provide ongoing training for deputies. Current law enforcement officials will receive training at the new building as well.
During the ribbon-cutting, Barber said professional development once occupied a handful of cubicles in the basement of Building 1.
With the “record growth” in student enrollment over the years, Barber is thrilled that CEI now has its own building for professional development.
“It’s taken us seven years to get to this point,” Barber says. “We have always been a workforce campus. Having these two buildings now will allow us to grow exponentially.”
The Professional Development Center was once a call center. Idaho National Laboratory leased the space for a while before CEI took it over.
Going forward, Barber says the new Professional Development Center will allow the college to expand and grow and she’s excited to serve more business and industry in the area.
“I am so excited for all the possibilities CEI offers the community,” Barber says. “Thank you to the whole community for the support given to the college. It’s really helped us grow as quickly as we have.”
Ribbon-cutting for the new Professional Development Center | Rett Nelson, EastIdahoNews.com
A bench at the Eastern Idaho Workforce Training Center dedicated to former Bonneville County Commissioner Cliff Long, who first proposed the idea of a workforce training campus in the 1990s. | Rett Nelson, EastIdahoNews.com