FORT KNOX, Ky. — The Army Management Staff College has announced that not only is the Civilian Education System’s Intermediate Course returning to Fort Knox for in-person learning to those in grades GS-10 to 12, the Advanced Course for GS-13 to 15 personnel will also be taught.
Fort Knox officials stressed that these local classroom opportunities will cease if personnel don’t take advantage of them.
“This is a great opportunity that is really valuable, especially to people who are wanting to move up in their career,” said Laurie Majcher, workforce development specialist at the Directorate of Human Resources. “I was a supervisor before, working for the Navy and prior to that, for the Air Force. They don’t do CES.
“Having taken that course, I found that it was really an eye-opener for me, and I wish I had had that class when I was a supervisor.”
Majcher said the first time the mobile education team came to Fort Knox, their efforts yielded tremendous success. Only equipped to teach the Intermediate Course at that time, the team ended up offering two iterations of it with 16 students in each.
“This was during COVID, so we did have a couple of people who dropped out,” said Majcher. “We ended up with about 30 graduating.”
The Intermediate Course lasts three weeks, whereas the Advanced Course takes four weeks to complete.
Majcher said part of the success of courses at Fort Knox resides in where they teach it. Known as Palma Hall, the facility is equipped to accommodate a variety of learning requirements.
“It’s a really good place to do CES because everything we need is right there,” said Majcher.
Palma offers internet access, several classrooms for breakout sessions, an auditorium with stadium-style seating for when educators need to bring an entire class together, a break room and rooms for instructors to relax when they’re not teaching. All of the learning rooms are also equipped with audio/visual capabilities.
The Intermediate Course has been filling up fast, with 47 of the 48 available slots already taken. Majcher said interest in the course has prompted educators to open up an additional six slots, and she suggested that anyone still wanting to get in need to request the last slots now.
“We will fill that class and possibly have up to 54 people attend the Intermediate Course,” she said. The date to attend is March 6-24.
The Advanced Course, set for Feb. 13 to March 10, was originally planned for 64 students, with four groups of 16 in each cohort. However, the small number of participants is causing them to adjust those plans.
“Right now, we have 21 or 22 people signed up for that class,” said Majcher. “We talked to [AMSC] yesterday and they said they’re going to do a class regardless, unless we have people drop out and go below 10 — but it’s really hard to pull out of that class once you sign up for it.”
Majcher said one of the biggest contributors to lower numbers for the Advanced Course is finding the time to be out of the office for the entire four-week course. Because most of those who qualify for the course are supervisors, the time poses some challenges.
“That is a long time for a supervisor at that level to be out of the office,” said Majcher.
She emphasized, however, that they should still take advantage of the opportunity while it’s here. There are no guarantees it will return next year: “The Advanced Course will go away if we don’t support it at Fort Knox.”
One unique effort to increase participation that is circulating through the chain of command at Army Management Staff College is a push to grant GS12’s a waiver to attend the Advanced Course. Majcher said about a handful of people have applied for the waiver and are currently on a waiting list.
“We’ll see if that happens,” said Majcher. “It makes sense. If you are a GS12 and wanting to advance, it looks really good on your resume having that CES Advanced Course completed.”
In the meantime, Majcher is urging anyone who has completed the Foundation Course and the Phase 1 virtual session of either course to apply for Phase 2 classroom course. And for those who are not done with Phase 1, there is still time to get an application sent in for next year’s Intermediate and Advanced Course schedule.
“As long as people can get their Phase 1 done, and they are able to sign up through CHRTAS, they can sign up for the class up to the day before the class,” said Majcher. “There is no deadline.”
The next Intermediate Course is tentatively planned for the spring of 2024; Advanced Course scheduling is still being ironed out.
| Date Taken: | 01.13.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 01.13.2023 10:26 |
| Story ID: | 436735 |
| Location: | KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 186 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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