Don Laird instructing some faculty on flying the Mavic Pro drone.

Donald Laird, Department Chair of Computer Studies at Santa Rosa Jr. College, hosted a Drone Symposium for college faculty interested in drones on July 30, 2018. Pam Gutman, the DSN—Advanced Transportation and Logistics, assisted Laird in recruiting faculty, sharing curriculum, and demonstrating specific drones.

College faculty and Deans from the Bay Area attended the day-long symposium to learn about Laird’s drone program and what other colleges in the region were offering in their drone programs. Read More →

Communities throughout California are suffering from poor air quality and a lack of resources to do something about it. A new partnership between high schools, community colleges, and the California Energy Commission aims to change that.

The Cerritos Community College District’s Advanced Transportation Technology and Energy Center was awarded $1 million to increase career awareness in the clean fuels transportation field for high school students in underserved communities — regions impacted by poor air quality and those serving minority populations. Read More →

Another Year, Same Great Event

United Airlines Family day, October 7, 2018, was filled with a lot of things to see, more than can be viewed within the time an individual would have on that day. That is why College of Alameda did their best to deliver the name of the CoA Aviation Maintenance Technology (AMT) to as many individuals as possible while promoting this event to anyone who would be interested in the program.

Under the effective leadership of Esther Cheng, one of the department’s leaders, approximately 25 students and I dedicated our time to ready the booth and set up and deliver pamphlets, information books, and COA AMT swap to 4,193 individuals that stopped by our both. Read More →

Rio Hondo College’s Alternative Fuels Program was selected to receive the 2018-19 Exemplary Program Award that recognizes outstanding community college programs.

This is a Board of Governors award, sponsored by the Foundation for California Community Colleges. Awardees are recognized by the Board at the Board of Governors meeting in January 2019.

This year’s theme for the 2018-2019 Exemplary Program Award is “Environmental Responsibility.” The Alternative Fuels program continues to make landmark progress in training students on the latest technology as in Electric vehicles and Autonomous vehicle technology.

The TESLA Technician program now has a Chancellor’s approved Certificate of Achievement that is a first in the United States.

“We are grateful for the support from or industry partners, California Fuel Cell Partnership, California Energy Commission, South Coast Air Quality Management District, SCRTTC, SunLine Transit and TESLA,” said Professor John Frala.

High School and college counselors are often so busy with their day-to-day work that there isn’t time to think about what the future of the workforce will look like.

As providers of educational pathways for students, community colleges play an important role in informing high school counselors and 9th – 14^th grade students about high demand careers of the future. The annual CTE counselor conference in Sacramento serves as a model for what a relationship can look like when high schools, community colleges and business leaders work together.
More than 300 high school and college counselors attended the “Hands on the Future: Preparing Today’s Students for Tomorrow’s Workforce” conference December 4th at the Citrus Heights Community Center. Teri Munger, K-14 CTE Pathways Technical Assistance Provider in the Greater Sacramento Region, coordinated the event in partnership with high school and community college leadership. Read More →

The automotive faculty of the Inland Empire/Desert region has been working together to increase their knowledge and skills with electric (EV) and hybrid-electric vehicles.

On November 30^th and December 1^st, 15 faculty members representing most of the automotive programs in the region met at Victor Valley College to receive professional development training from West Virginia University’s National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium. They also got to meet Jannet Malig, the new Sector Navigator for Advanced Transportation & Logistics, and hear her vision for the coming year. Read More →

Thanks to support from its advisory board, ASE, and the leadership of an automotive instructor, El Camino College recently received National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF) accreditation — a process that normally takes five years — in just two years.

The student outcomes that the accreditation will bring make all the hard work well worth the effort. Students can now become certified by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE), which signals to employers that their skills are on par with industry standards. Read More →

Historically, car dealers have only contacted community colleges when the need for technicians is greatest.

However, as dealer demand increases and the number of high school automotive programs decreases, the Greater Los Angeles New Car Dealers Association (GLANCDA) realized the need to strengthen the pathways from community college programs into full-time dealer employment.
GLANCDA is partnering with community colleges throughout the Los Angeles/Orange County Region to host networking events that bring students and dealerships together to fill technician roles across the organization. Read More →

Rio Hondo College’s Alternative Fuels Program was selected to receive the 2018-19 Exemplary Program Award that recognizes outstanding community college programs.

This is a Board of Governors award, sponsored by the Foundation for California Community Colleges. Awardees are recognized by the Board at the Board of Governors meeting in January 2019.

This year’s theme for the 2018-2019 Exemplary Program Award is “Environmental Responsibility.” The Alternative Fuels program continues to make landmark progress in training students on the latest technology as in Electric vehicles and Autonomous vehicle technology.

The TESLA Technician program now has a Chancellor’s approved Certificate of Achievement that is a first in the United States.

“We are grateful for the support from or industry partners, California Fuel Cell Partnership, California Energy Commission, South Coast Air Quality Management District, SCRTTC, SunLine Transit and TESLA,” said Professor John Frala.

Photo courtesy of Cypress College

Cypress College has received its largest individual gift in the campus’ history, a $1 million donation to its aviation program.

The commitment, made in the Fall 2018 semester by an anonymous donor, is being used to transform the program’s state-of-the-art flight-simulator lab into the region’s best public facility.

The simulator lab, which has already relocated to a larger space to accommodate upgraded equipment, will ultimately feature eight simulators, including a full-motion multi-engine turbo-prop simulator and one mirroring the recently released Boeing 737 Max. The donation is also intended to help the college acquire an airplane that can be flown from any one of four partner local airports. In addition, the donation will support the college’s flying team. Read More →