FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 2012
Contact: Anika Mitchell Perkins
(662) 329-7124
aperkins@pa.muw.edu

MUW works with City of Columbus to provide computer training to city employees

COLUMBUS, Miss. – Recent Microsoft Excel training provided by Mississippi University for Women to City of Columbus employees resulted in a great partnership with both entities looking forward to additional classes being offered in the future.

Four Excel training sessions, two beginning and two intermediate, were provided on campus for free to about 40 city employees ranging from clerks to firemen.

Mike Bernsen, CFO and secretary-treasurer for the City of Columbus, participated in the training.

“The training was excellent,” he said, noting that it opened the doors for many of their employees not familiar with Excel. “It was a win-win on both sides of the coin.”

Patricia Mitchell, human resources director for the City of Columbus, agreed with Bernsen.

“We had a lot of folks who did not know what a spreadsheet was. We had some good feedback, especially from the ones who did not have any exposure to Excel.”

As human resources director, Mitchell uses Excel daily and expressed an interest in advanced classes being offered.

Excel is a spreadsheet program which allows one to enter numerical values or data into the rows or columns of a spreadsheet, and to use these numerical entries for such things as calculations, graphs and statistical analysis.

MUW instructors Dr. Marty Brock, assistant professor of management information systems, and Dr. Scott Tollison, business chair and associate professor of management information systems, taught the four-hour classes.

Brock said, “It was a great opportunity to serve the city that has served us so well.”

Tollison added, “We provided a foundation of spreadsheet skills that are essential in today’s workplace.

The classes were made possible through the Roger F. Wicker Center for Creative Learning at MUW.

April Barlow, coordinator of professional learning, said, “The Center for Creative Learning is very excited about the partnership with the City of Columbus to provide non-credit learning opportunities and we look forward to the future of this relationship.”