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Laura Hastings is the new dean of Workforce Development at Northern Essex Community College.
Hastings brings more than 20 years of government experience and more than a decade spent creating opportunities to meet workforce needs at the local, state and federal levels. She will be working to expand existing partnerships and explore new avenues to increase access to career and technical education in the Merrimack Valley.
“Laura comes to NECC at a pivotal time for Corporate and Community Education and workforce development,” says Northern Essex Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Workforce & Academic Innovation Allison Dolan-Wilson. “This is a growing and important area for the college as we continue to respond to the most immediate workforce needs of the Merrimack Valley. Laura not only brings deep experience in developing programs but also important connections and strategic insights at the state and federal levels.”
Hastings began her focus on workforce development at Real Jobs Rhode Island. More recently, she was the workforce development lead for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office and then led workforce efforts at the Northeast Microelectronics Coalition.
Hastings oversees the Center for Corporate and Community Education, which offers business and professional development courses and trainings aligned with the area’s most high-demand industries. The most recent development is the creation of a new state-of-the-art 1,500 square-foot, HVAC mini-split heat pump training facility on the Haverhill Campus. It will expand and complement an existing HVAC lab at Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School.
“We have this opportunity to bring students to our campuses in different capacities and with different motivators. The way we approach education is more than just a degree or sometimes not even a degree at all,” Hastings points out. “Community college is a community resource, and we have the opportunity to add value to all our communities.”
The new facility is supported by a $1 million grant from the Mass Clean Energy Center’s Heat Pump and HVAC Training Center and will open in 2027.