GBC hires executive director for workforce development, proposed mining center
ELKO — Great Basin College is excited to announce that they have hired Dr. Sam Spearing as the Executive Director of Workforce Development and the Proposed Mining Center of Excellence.
Dr. Sam Spearing is an accomplished engineer who has worked in the mining and underground civil construction industries for decades, having lived and worked on 5 continents and travelled to over 75 countries during his career. He has published over 65 peer reviewed journal papers, co-authored 3 books and has had 6 patents successfully commercialized and used on the mines.
“I believe Dr. Spearing is the right person at the right time to lead the new Mining Center, a collaboration between Great Basin College and The University of Nevada Reno. Dr. Spearing’s career has successfully focused on technical education and training, project management, innovation, safety, research and mentoring so he understands the importance of a well-educated and trained workforce and collaboration with industry” states President Joyce Helens
Dr. Spearing has a mining and civil engineering degree from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa and attained his Ph.D. from the Technical University of Silesia in Poland. Dr Spearing has held various director positions at some of the most prestigious mining schools in the world including Director of Kalgoorlie Regional University which is the largest mining school in the world with over 2,000 mining-related students.
In 2022, Dr. Spearing was hired as a teaching professor in the Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Nevada Reno as a collaboration between Great Basin College and the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering. In 2023 Dr. Spearing was transferred within the Nevada System of Higher Education to Great Basin College to become the Executive Director of Workforce Development & the proposed Mining Center of Excellence.
“I am delighted to have been offered this exciting role at Great Basin College. We can now offer students and employees more options for their careers, in the communities where they study, work and live. The CTE programs are well established with excellent instructors and staff and good support from the industry. The Proposed Mining Center of Excellence will add to this by offering geology, mining & metallurgy courses that will transfer to GBC and UNR seamlessly. We hope in this way to attract more people into the mining industry. We also plan for these programs to be offered both nationally and internationally to help upskill the mining workforce in a cost-effective manner using hybrid delivery (mainly on-line classes and contact labs). The first offering will be high school dual credit programs starting in August 2023 on a trial basis.” – Sam Spearing
For more information, please contact Sam Spearing Executive Director of Workforce Development & proposed Mining Center of Excellence at sam.spearing@gbcnv.edu