|
 Following
a request for proposals this summer, MPICT’s Regional
Leadership Council (RLC) has selected a new Regional Partner:
Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) in Reno, Nevada (www.tmcc.edu).
TMCC serves the students of Washoe County, Nevada, enrolling
about 13,000 students annually. Enrollment has been growing at
a rate of 2% to 4% for the last 10 years. Tuition is still an
affordable $63 per credit unit for Nevada residents.
The Computer Technologies (CT) department at TMCC offers
approximately 75 class sections each semester to approximately
1,500 students. It offers an Associate of Science degree in
Computer Science and an Associate of Applied Science degree in
Computer Technologies with emphases in Computer Programming,
Networking and Server Technologies, and Web Development.
The department is staffed by seven full time faculty members
and one full time administrative assistant.
MPICT’s main contact at TMCC, Dr. Bill Doherty has a diverse
background in the ICT industry and ICT education. He began his
ICT career with 11 years in private industry, working in
software development, end-user support, IT security and IT
management. Since joining TMCC 20 years ago, he has a
consistent history of working to provide students with current
technical knowledge using best educational practices, and
working to create industry/education partnerships.
 Dr.
Doherty also has significant federal grant experience. He
served as a technical advisor and steering committee member
for the University of Nevada, Reno College of Education on a
pair of three year projects funding by the Department of
Education. He also served as co-PI on a successful NSF
planning grant that lead to the funding of the current NVITE
project, for which he serves as co-PI.
The Nevada Information Technology Education Project (NVITE -
http://sites.google.com/a/nviteproject.org/nvite) mission
is to “create an ongoing, statewide industry-education
partnership to guide Nevada ICT education and facilitate
efforts to meet the current and emerging ICT job demand
through increased career awareness, improved career pathways,
revised curriculum and continued professional development of
faculty.”
NVITE concentrates the forces of Nevada’s four community
colleges and Nevada State College to develop a coordinated and
accessible statewide resource for technology producing and
technology-enabled businesses, higher education, secondary
education, and government.
NVITE’s goals are:
1: Business, Industry and Educational Partnerships:
Develop and promote industry and education partnerships that
raise career awareness and expand employment opportunities for
students, facilitate communication between industry and
educators, improve teaching and learning, and support economic
development plans for the region’s technology industries and
occupations.
2: Articulation/Curriculum Coordination:
Develop and implement standards-based, industry driven ICT
programs and courses in Nevada’s public education system that
provide students with supporting theory as well as technical
and non-technical skills necessary to meet the needs of
Nevada’s technology producing and technology enabled
industries, now and in the future.
3: Professional Development:
Provide faculty professional development to enable educators
to deliver high quality, industry-relevant programs of
instruction and prepare students with the technical skills,
problem solving, communication and teamwork skills demanded by
employers.
NVITE efforts have already produced valuable skill standards
for Nevada:
• ICT Core Skills
• Networking Skills
• Programming Skills
• Telecom/Slots/ET Skills
• Web Development Skills
Goals, progress and momentum at NVITE, TMCC and by Bill
Doherty are outstanding fits for MPICT, and we are very
excited to be working together.
Back to Q3 2009
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