PELLA — Central College announces that PPI, Inc., formerly known as Precision, Pulley and Idler, will invest $50,000 to support the college in exploring the development of a curriculum around artificial intelligence, digital transformation and analytics, known as decision science. This cross-departmental focus area addresses the changing demands of the workplace, growth of business insights, complex customer interface and technology changes.

“Central is so appreciative of its longstanding partnership with PPI,” says Mark Putnam, president of Central. “As we assess and anticipate the workforce needs for the next generation, the PPI planning grant will support faculty and industry experts as we explore what a decision science curriculum could become. Partnerships with industry leaders like PPI forge the path for the future of Central.”

“PPI is proud to support Central as they continue to enhance their offerings to students that we feel will have an impact on businesses now and in the future!” says Leslie Johnston, vice president of human resources.

This support will enable Central to build out a pilot of an academic platform or portfolio around decision science. This concept will create a network across academic disciplines, knitting data analytics, visual analytics, business, math, computer science, marketing and more to better serve the needs of future employers of Central students.