Continuous Learning for Individuals, Management & Business

At any given moment, employees are juggling multiple tasks and projects at once. Knowing how to manage these various expectations and deadlines is where effective project management comes in. Project management involves using methods and processes, as well as your own understanding and insight, to accomplish tasks according to predetermined criteria and deadlines. It involves managing communication between team members, keeping people on task, and ensuring they understand their jobs well.

The success of any business or organization is cultivated from the top, down. Competent and skillful leadership is critical to boosting productivity, maximizing efficiency, and achieving business goals – whether an organization consists of two or 200 people. Successful and effective leadership directly impacts employee engagement and performance, which is essential for businesses to grow and thrive.

PCC offers noncredit courses each term for talented professionals seeking new skills or trainings from a variety of topics to improve performance around the office. Below we've assembled a list of one-day workshops occurring in April, May and June - and selected from both our Professional Development and Training and Institute for Health Professionals programs. 

Michelle Brubaker’s experience at PCC offers a common story. It starts out something like this: she’s passionate about what she does, she’s been with PCC for over two decades, and she’s constantly keeping up to date with industry trends to bring timely relevance to the topics she instructs. She's also an author of several books about marketing and a consultant and public speaker. We connected with Michelle to learn a little more about her experience, vision and what she brings to the classroom.

by Jennifer Anderson

Over the course of a 40-year career, you are likely to spend 100,000 hours of your life working.

The hours of your life that you spend working will largely dictate whether or not you find it easy to be a happy person. They’ll have an impact on your health, your relationships and your finances. Those 100,000 hours will also have an impact on the world.

Regardless of what field you are in, whether you hold a professional license, or continuing education is required for your profession, everyone benefits from professional development on a regular basis. Proactively completing formal learning and development demonstrates initiative to your manager, and if you are the manager, it sets a great example for your staff.

Before Mark Van Heuvel began teaching at PCC he had a career as a manager working with iconic regional and national food and beverage industry brands, including Kraft. He’s been an instructor with PCC for more than twenty years and currently leads several Project Management courses with PCC’s Professional Development and Training program. We recently connected with Mark to learn about trends in project management. 

Mediation Instructor Tsipora Dimant is a former program manager with PCC’s Community Education program – but her connection to Portland Community College runs even deeper. She arrived in the United States from Israel in 1974 and earned a GED, then an Associate’s Degree from PCC. Tsipora began studying mediation in 1992 and became an instructor for the subject in 2005. Inspired by the conflict in her native Israel, Tsipora strives to find resolutions to complex communication challenges. Her experience in mediation training spans decades and encapsulates diverse fields including small claims court, business, nonprofits and higher education.

Jerry Lasselle is an instructor for PCC’s real estate broker test prep course and has taught the course for more than ten years. He’s worked as an accountant for a large national CPA firm and also as a staff attorney for large Northwest law firm. He’s lived in Portland all his life and says he’s amazed at the many changes the city has experienced. We recently checked in with him to learn more about his experience with real estate and what continues to inspire his interest. 

Dave Amato has been active in the real estate industry for 45+ years and an active Real Estate Broker since 2003. During his 23-year career as a builder/developer his projects added over 200 units of housing to Portland metro market. He has served on the board of directors for the Portland Metropolitan Home builders and currently serves on the Board of the Oregon Association of Realtors. We recently sat down with him to learn more about his course.