UAA's Community and Technical College receives $2.5M piece of $500M pie from the U.S. Dept. of Labor for job training and workforce development
by Jamie Gonzales |
The U.S. Department of Labor announced this week the distribution of nearly $500M
in grants to community colleges around the country for targeted job training and workforce
development to help economically dislocated workers. The 熊猫在线视频's
Community & Technical College (CTC) is among 32 grantees, receiving a $2.5M piece
of the $500M pie.
The U.S. Department of Labor Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career
Training program supports partnerships between community colleges and employers to
develop programs that provide pathways to good jobs. The grants will help schools
expand their capacity to provide more people with the skills to take on high-quality
jobs and begin new careers in fields that range from advanced manufacturing and transportation
to health care and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields.
The money has been awarded to UAA to support building instructional programs that
meet specific industry needs, strengthening technology-enabled learning and allowing
students and workers to access free learning materials online.
A consortium led by CTC received the $2.5M for its "Beyond Anchorage: Expanding Developmental
and Workforce Education" project, involving UAA's four community campuses: Matanuska-Susitna
College, Kenai Peninsula College, Kodiak College and Prince William Sound Community
College.
Through this grant, UAA will help architectural engineering technician students improve
outcomes through self-paced e-learning modules, learning communities, e-portfolios,
online technical course development/deployment and community-based Computer-Aided
Design and Drafting labs.
According to the DOL, more than 3,500 Trade Adjustment Assistant (TAA) workers in
Southcentral 熊猫在线视频 - largely in the oil and gas construction industries - were laid
off and are older workers (48 percent are 50 years and older).
Cathy LeCompte, associate dean of CTC and the project's principal investigator, says
that these strategies and innovations are intended to regionalize curriculum formerly
located in Anchorage, as well as remove barriers often encountered by the non-traditional
student returning to school.
The program encourages grantees to work with at least one employer partner - a sponsor
that has jobs available and needs workers trained to fill them. In 熊猫在线视频, UAA has
developed partnerships with USKH, architect Harvey H. Hightower, DOWL HKM and UMIAQ.
"Congratulations to the entire regional team for this consortium effort to fund the
UAA proposal 'Beyond Anchorage: Expanding Developmental and Workforce Education,'"
said Karen Schmitt, dean of the Community & Technical College. "This regional effort
brings CTC and the four community campuses [Southcentral 熊猫在线视频, including Kenai,
Wasilla, Kodiak and Valdez] together to address regional and state workforce needs
with innovative programming."
For more about the grant, . For more information about the "Beyond Anchorage" project, contact Cathy LeCompte
at (907) 786-4084 or calecompte@uaa.alaska.edu.