Joan W. Smith BIO
Joan W. Smith, MPA, is the executive director of the Rocky Mountain Education Center (RMEC) OSHA Training Institute at Red Rocks Community College (RRCC), in Lakewood Colorado. Joan has been employed by Red Rocks Community College since 1992. During Joan's tenure at RRCC, her responsibilities have included grants development, strategic planning, accreditation officer of the college and instructional dean with the departments of Construction Technology, Industrial Science, Water Quality Management and Environmental Technology, and Renewable Energy reporting to her.
Since becoming the Executive Director of the RMEC in September, 2009, Joan has worked with the RMEC staff to fully automate the course registration and payment process with a searchable online catalog. In 2011, RMEC added a secured online registration process to allow Outreach Trainers the ability to request cards completely online 24/7. RMEC trainers have access to their own password protected online portal to store their course completion records allowing efficient retrieval for card replacements and record audits.
Beginning in 2011, RMEC formed an advisory committee of oil and gas industry leaders to expand and update the RMEC Oil and Gas Specialist Certificate. The Oil and Gas Certificate includes new courses designed specifically for the oil and gas industry developed in partnership with industry leaders to include the OSHA 5810 Hazard Recognition for Upstream Onshore Oil and Gas Workers and the Field Leadership Program for Oil Gas E&P: Practicing Effective Application of Communication Tools to Achieve Production and Safety Goals.
The Oil and Gas industry advisory group continued their curriculum work and launched in 2014 a leadership program for new crew leaders. OSHA has awarded two grants to RMEC to train trainers for the new oil and Gas Leadership Program. 195 participants have been trained as trainers for the Field Leadership Program since September, 2014 with 401 trainees completing the Field Leadership training in five states - Colorado, North Dakota, Wyoming and Texas. Because of industry demand among leaders in the construction industry, RMEC has developed a companion program for Field Leadership among Latino workers in Construction. The new curriculum is in final development and will be piloted in Denver, Colorado this fall.
Joan has developed relationships between RMEC and several international partners, including the countries of Jordan and Saudi Arabia. She worked with students, universities, and employers in Jordan to create the first Solar Energy Technician and Occupational Safety and Health Associates Degree programs through the Al Baqa Applied University, and has worked with Ingress Partners to open the Institute for Workforce Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with headquarters in Dammam
