NC State University Partners With Blue Cross NC to Support Data-Enabled Workforce

NC State University has announced a two-year partnership with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) to deliver a series of seminars in data science, data analytics consulting, analytics-based product development and knowledge discovery.

“Balancing data and intuition is critical to achieving our strategic business objectives,” said Fara Palumbo, Senior Vice President, Chief People Officer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. “We are excited to embark on this partnership with NC State to further develop the analytics capability of our workforce that will allow us to improve the health and well-being of our customers and communities.”

Blue Cross NC employees will delve into what it means to “Think Data,” one of the company’s values. Employees will learn from NC State professors and subject matter experts from the university’s Poole College of Management, Department of Computer Science and Department of Statistics through a combination of in-person and online programs similar to those already being delivered to Cisco, Infosys, LexisNexis and other university partner companies. 

The development series will be managed by NC State Executive Education, a program that provides custom-designed solutions for companies to develop new skills across disciplines and business segments. 

“Blue Cross NC is raising the bar for standards in the healthcare industry with its Think Data initiative,” said Dan McGurrin, Director of NC State Executive Education. “We are honored to be able to contribute to this forward-thinking process and acquire a new partner in this space.”

The series is designed to assess and enhance the current skill sets of employees and provide opportunities to apply new skills to organizational projects and initiatives. Seminars will use state-of-the art andragogical approaches, including integrated hands-on learning and coaching support from NC State faculty. 

Pamela Webber, former Enterprise Data Science Office manager of Education Services at Cisco Systems, will serve as program director for the new relationship on behalf of NC State Executive Education. 

“Getting to the correct problem and bringing clarity to the priorities through the key performance indicators confirms that analytic resources are leveraged most effectively. NC State’s consistent and ongoing training support […] on how to leverage data through detailed analytics is a game changer,” Webber said of the Cisco Data Science series, a similar program series delivered by NC State Executive Education from 2014 to 2016.

“The partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield is another example of the ‘Think and Do’ mentality at NC State. Data analytics continues to be an area of opportunity for many organizations and at Poole College we are excited to be able to partner in educating in this space.”- Frank Buckless, Stephen P. Zelnak Jr. Dean, Poole College of Management