Partnerships between community colleges and employers to create apprenticeships have been around for decades. These traditionally have covered fields like the building trades--electrical, construction and others--as well as heavy manufacturing like the automobile industry. Inspired partly by a new federal apprenticeship consortium--and $175…

In 1954, Chrysler introduced its "newest, smoothest" ride, the Dodge Royal sedan, which rolled off the assembly line with a glossy two-tone paint job and state-of-the-art V-8 engine. That same year, just northeast of Detroit, Macomb Community College opened its doors, with a mission to prepare the vehicle designers, auto-parts makers,…