Turn One Studio: Long Island Business & Leadership Podcast · Eliud Custodio

Dr. Ed Bonahue on SUNY Suffolk, Nursing, Skilled Trades, and the Long Island Workforce Pipeline | Turn One Studio Podcast

·24 min·1 clip

The U.S. Navy invested $2 million in Suffolk scholarships for students entering Long Island defense manufacturing.

1. Turn One Studio: Long Island Business & Leadership Podcast examines Suffolk County Community College’s role in the Long Island education and workforce pipeline. 2. Host Elid Custodio speaks with Dr. Ed Bonahue, president of Suffolk County Community College, about the college’s students, programs, employers, and community relationships. 3. The episode asks how SUNY Suffolk can connect university transfer, career training, and changing employer needs across Long Island. 4. Bonahue says Suffolk serves about 17,000 students during major semesters and more than 30,000 students annually. 5. Suffolk operates campuses in Brentwood, Selden, and Riverhead and serves additional high-school, non-credit, English-language, and workforce-training students. 6. Bonahue says Suffolk transfers more students to Stony Brook than all other Long Island community colleges combined. 7. The college’s workforce programs include nursing, automotive service technology, cybersecurity, culinary and hospitality, building construction, and applied engineering. 8. Bonahue identifies health sciences, business, STEM, engineering, accounting, nursing, and automotive technology as areas of strong student demand. 9. He says about three quarters of incoming Suffolk students report that they intend to transfer to a university. 10. Bonahue explains that automotive technicians now need diagnostic knowledge, manufacturer specifications, and skills relevant to hybrid vehicles. 11. Bonahue describes AI as a permanent challenge for higher education because faculty must assess whether students completed problem sets, lab reports, and term papers themselves. 12. He says health information technology students must understand electronic medical records, medical billing, diagnostic codes, insurance codes, and reimbursement. 13. Bonahue says robotics is changing surgical technology, requiring students to understand both traditional procedures and automated equipment. 14. He describes media studies, graphics, photography, and post-production as fields where AI creates new tools while complicating skills instruction. 15. Bonahue says SUNY Reconnect covers tuition and fees for eligible adults ages 25 to 55 without college degrees who enter designated high-need programs. 16. He says SUNY Reconnect produced about 1,000 new Suffolk students in one year, including career changers, people without prior college access, and veterans. 17. Bonahue says Suffolk can certify welders and CNC machinists in one semester, while the U.S. Navy funded $2 million in manufacturing scholarships. 18. The interview also addresses teacher shortages outside Long Island, housing affordability near the Hamptons, and the commuting pressures affecting hospitals and schools. 19. The conversation uses a detailed, practical interview format about education and regional employment. 20. Long Island students, career changers, and workforce planners.

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