“It’s indicative of the challenge we have here,” chamber President Tom Baldridge said to the educator-heavy audience in opening.

Education has become a higher priority for the chamber in the past several years, he said, but there is still a lot of work to do to before achieving the kind of robust partnerships needed for effectual change.

Rob Wonderling, who chaired the governor’s advisory commission on postsecondary education, gave a brief overview of the key recommendations the commission submitted in November. He emphasized the vision for business-education collaboration, including creating innovation centers on campuses.

Educators expressed support for the proposals but emphasized that they believe business collaboration with education will be a key ingredient for success.

“I think there’s a lot of complaining but not involvement,” Gerald Eckert said of businesses. Vice president for advancement at Millersville University, Eckert served on the commission with Wonderling.