What a difference a year has made for Shannon Coalson and Adam Afifi. Last autumn they and four classmates in the introductory nanotechnology course at Forsyth Community and Technical College (Forsyth Tech) were brainstorming ideas for the Community College Innovation Challenge (CCIC). The team’s decision to build on Coalson’s research about solar thin films to […]

The computer science field is looking to community colleges to help better develop a workforce with baccalaureates that is more diverse, according to two new reports commissioned by Google. Mirroring trends in other industries, researchers noted that companies with computer science-related jobs are already experiencing a shortage of employees with bachelor’s degrees, and too few […]

In 2013, a $24.9 million Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant was awarded to a collaborative of eight Michigan community colleges to launch an advanced manufacturing initiative—the Michigan Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing (M-CAM). The goal of the initiative was to bring together colleges and industry to train workers for current and […]

For some students, college selection comes down to location, location, location. But what happens if the program you want to study isn’t offered at that location? Moraine Valley Community College (MVCC) surveyed 208 students enrolled in GED and English-as-a-Second-Language classes at its Education Center at Blue Island (ECBI). Eighty-two percent had an interest in nursing […]

So many misunderstandings about manufacturing get tossed around that sometimes Cathy Swindell feels like she’s swimming against the tide. As director of industry services for Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) in North Carolina, she works with local industry day in and day out to help them meet the challenges they face — whether it’s staffing […]

As the 50+ demographic grows among college student populations, campus administrators continue to engage these students in retooling and upgrading their skills in order to reenter or remain viable in the work place. The BACK TO WORK 50+ (BTW50+) initiative and its recent spin-off, BTW50+ Women’s Economic Stability Initiative (WESI), have proven effective in engaging […]

NURSE 1-2-1, a new collaborative program developed by the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (UWGB) and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC), is launching this fall with an initial class of 24 students. The program brings together nursing educators and teaching healthcare technologies to create a single, cost-effective nursing program to meet growing healthcare demands — both […]

Nearly 1.5 million retail workers in the United States have limited English proficiency. The National Immigration Forum, through its New American Workforce program, is offering a new project that is helping employees in the retail industry sharpen their English language skills and access better career pathways. The project is called Skills and Opportunity for the […]

Jason Keeton had felt the boom and bust of the natural resources sector during his 10 years as a crane operator at AK Steel. But this bust was permanent. “I just felt it in my gut,” said Keeton, 37, of Staffordsville.  AK Steel, an Ashland, Ky.-based steel manufacturing facility, idled its operations in December 2015 […]

California is the nation’s primary driver of job creation in the field of global trade and logistics (GTL). Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation’s two largest ports, are gateways to the Pacific Rim economies. And with easy access to freight services via the Alameda Corridor, Southern California is a key logistics hub for more […]