Meet Program Coordinator Michal Searls

January 12, 2022

Michal Searls joined Ohio University in 2016 to continue her career in public service with the College of Health Sciences and Professions in Continuing Education. Prior to joining the University, she worked in local government with a focus on financial management, budgeting, training, and government contracts. Michal became a part of the Alliance team in 2019 as the reach of partnerships and programs continued to expand throughout Ohio, and she is also an instructor for a senior-level undergraduate course Women and Leadership.  

Michal’s local government experiences led her to recognize the importance of continuous learning throughout a career.  Often, in the public sector and not-for-profit agencies, there is a need for and interest in advanced training, but the specific type of training may not be available or may be financially out of reach.  With this insight, Michal has advocated for the Alliance to develop and deploy more on-demand training and continuing education offerings for Alliance partners and other local organizations. 

The Alliance has developed a very targeted and customer-driven approach to training.  The client organization identifies its need and general scope (i.e., number of people to be trained, whether continuing education units are desired, etc.) and the Alliance staff develops a proposed approach to meet that need.  This may include in-person and/or online offerings (either synchronous or asynchronous).  Subject matter experts are identified within Alliance organization faculty/staff or maybe contracted externally.  All registrations, CEU processes (if applicable), evaluations, and certificate provision is managed by the Alliance if that is the desire of the customer.   

Because the Alliance strives to add value at the lowest possible cost, training is developed with in-kind resources when possible, and with financial resources identified in partnership with the Alliance when appropriate (e.g., a federal grant may be used to cover or defray the cost of specific training.) 

In the past two years, Michal and the team have offered a variety of formats to audiences large and small – from single, full-day symposiums to online, interactive seminar series. 

Michal is passionate about developing and facilitating continuing education that offers a lasting impact for participants.  Connect with her to learn more at  searls@ohio.edu(opens in a new window) .