CCBC President Touts Partnership Development

CCBC President Touts Partnership Development

Published:Tuesday, September 23, 2014 4:00 am

(Reprinted With Permission of The Beaver County Times)

By Amy McKissic CCBC Publications Coordinator|0comments

CENTER TWP. -- The new president of the Community College of Beaver County wants it to be known as the “partnership college.”

Christopher Reber seeks to promotecommunity development with new relationships, expand the region's economic potential and provide opportunities for lifelong learning.

“My colleagues and I are fully engaged in collaborating with our community, elected public servants and business leaders to identify how CCBC can grow in its partnerships with the region,” Reber said. “Our goals are to offer new credentials in areas of high-priority workforce needs; develop specialized training to advance business, industrial, health care, human services and other sector needs; and contribute to causes and activities that serve our region and its people.”

CCBC is developing these partnerships with local schools, other institutions of higher education, businesses and industries, and community organizations. Here are a few examples:

K-12 SCHOOLS

Through College in High School partnerships, students ready to undertake college-level work are able to earn college credits in their own high school during the regular school day.

“I decided to take college classes while still in high school in order to get a jump-start on my degree,” said Katie Fisher, a Freedom Area graduate and now a CCBC student. “I was able to obtain 15 credits before even entering college.”

The program also saved her money.

“The classes offered to the (high) schools are cheaper than the same classes offered at the college,” she said. “Taking these classes in high school lets students spend less time and money on their college degree.”

The college currently has College in High School partnerships with Ambridge, Big Beaver Falls, Central Valley, Freedom, Hopewell, New Brighton, Rochester, Riverside and Western Beaver, and is working with all Beaver County districts to offer the program.

An innovative approach that promises to jump-start STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education is an Aviation Academy.As early as January, students in grades nine through 12 at participating districts will be able to spend half of their high school experience in CCBC’s programs at the Aviation Sciences Center, learning about careers in STEM.

Students who devote four years to this program could graduate from high school with over half of a CCBC associate degree completed.CCBC is currently working with superintendents and other staff at Aliquippa, Ambridge, Beaver Falls, Blackhawk, Hopewell, Quigley and Western Beaver schools. Additional Beaver County schools will also be invited to participate.

The latest development promising multiple business and industry partnerships is the Process Technology program. The result of a National Science Foundation grant, the program is being developed with local K-12 educators and the Beaver County Career and Technology Center, also to spark an early interest in STEM education in students.

Process technology is the production of consumer goods from raw materials.

Additionally, curriculum creation for the program is being led by industry partners such as Nova Chemicals, BASF and Ardex Americas, to meet the needs of their companies.

HIGHER EDUCATION PARTNERS

CCBC is working with other higher education institutions to create pathways for students who wish to pursue bachelor degrees.The college has established more than 25 such agreements, and more are under development.

The agreements set a clear path for transfer, which eases the process and saves students time and money while encouraging them to continue their education. Longstanding partnerships exist with many of the area’s four-year institutions, including Geneva College for aviation; the University of Pittsburgh for nursing and criminal justice; and Robert Morris University for nursing, biological sciences, pre-engineering, networking and more.

Through PA Transfer and Articulation Center (PA TRAC), graduates of one of 11 selected majors can transfer all earned degree credits and enter into the junior level at one of the 14 participating universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

Chuck Wiley is one of many students who took advantage of this partnership. He graduated from CCBC’s criminal justice program in December 2012 and transferred to Slippery Rock University to complete a bachelor’s in parks and resource management.

Wiley was able to transfer all of his 63 credits from CCBC to Slippery Rock University for his major. He was also able to transfer military credits from the Air Force.

One of the college’s most notable agreements with a four-year university is with Franklin University in Columbus, Ohio. After first having an agreement to offer Franklin’s online degree options to CCBC students, Franklin opened an onsite location at CCBC in October 2013.

CCBC students can complete three years of the selected four-year Franklin degrees through CCBC courses at CCBC tuition rates, and continue for a year of Franklin University courses at CCBC. The total cost is significantly less than attending Franklin’s main campus.

A similar model is in the final stages of development with Southern Illinois University, which offers an aviation-related bachelor’s degree. SIU plans to offer its upper-division courses at CCBC’s Aviation Sciences Center on weekends as early as next spring or fall, accepting all of the credits from CCBC’s associate degrees in aviation and providing the opportunity to complete the bachelor’s in Beaver County.

The college is also completing agreements with Penn State-Beaver that will provide transition from CCBC’s two-year programs to Penn State-Beaver’s four-year programs.

CCBC is also pursuing other online degree completion programs, such as Clarion University’s bachelor's degrees in technology leadership, nursing and allied health leadership.

BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY PARTNERS

The college collaborates with business and industry to provide customized workforce training, such as in management, leadership, human resources, manufacturing, safety, information technology and health care, for businesses such as PGT Trucking, Ardex Americas, and The Meadows Racetrack and Casino.

“By providing continuing training opportunities to our employees with the help of CCBC, PGT has been able to remain competitive in our industry, meet our growth goals and achieve our profitability plans,”Scott Monit, executive director of PGT Trucking, said in a previous statement.