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The National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological
Education (ATE) program has awarded $3 million over 4 years to
establish the Mid-Pacific Information and Communications
Technologies (MPICT) Regional Center in San Francisco.
Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) is an
umbrella term, widely used outside the U.S. and in the U.N.,
to encompass all rapidly emerging, evolving and converging
computer, software, networking, telecommunications, Internet,
programming and information systems technologies.
MPICT’s mission is to coordinate, improve and promote ICT
education, with an emphasis on 2-year colleges, in northern
California, northern Nevada, southern Oregon, Hawaii and the
Pacific Territories.
MPICT will leverage the abundant ICT industry and academic
resources of the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley to
enrich educational experiences and outcomes for faculty and
students throughout its region, and via other NSF ATE centers
and projects throughout the country.
 “Directly
and/or indirectly, in the information and knowledge economies
of the 21st century, we all increasingly depend on information
and communications technologies - and the increased
connectivity and productivity they
enable. Improvements to deployed ICT technologies,
infrastructure, systems and solutions - and people’s abilities
to productively use them - are issues of tremendous strategic
importance, to individuals and their families, organizations
of all kinds, and local, state, national and global
economies,” said MPICT Executive Director, James Jones.
Congresswoman Jackie Speier said, “I’m looking forward to
seeing a Center bubbling with enthusiastic young learners who
are going to transform this country yet again, and it’s so
apropos that it happens in this region.”
The MPICT Center, hosted at City College of San Francisco,
will work closely with initial Regional Partners around the
Bay Area: Cabrillo College in Aptos, Foothill College in Los
Altos Hills, Santa Rosa Junior College in Petaluma and Ohlone
College in Fremont. Additional college partners will be added.
All collaborate closely with 4-year colleges and universities
and K-12 systems.
 “I
am very pleased to see the launch of the Mid-Pacific ICT
Center at City College of San Francisco,” said CCSF Trustee
John Rizzo, Chair of the Board’s Technology Committee.
“Business is increasingly relying on information technology
and network security and needs qualified employees to run the
systems.”
“City College of San Francisco is very pleased to host the new
Mid-Pacific Center in partnership with Ohlone College,
Foothill College, Santa Rosa Junior College and Cabrillo
College, as well as other community colleges,” said Dr. Don Q.
Griffin, City College Chancellor. “It is great to see
community colleges collaborating to realize efficiencies and
mutual benefits for our communities.”
 In
support of MPICT, Cabrillo College President Brian King wrote:
“Given our deep commitment to leveraging the scale of
California’s 109 community colleges, we were delighted to be
invited to join in with City College to build the Mid-Pacific
Information and Communications Technology (M-PICT) Center. We
know from experience the value of this type of collaborative
to industry, to colleges, and most importantly to our
students. Information and communications technology is clearly
one of the driving engines of the Bay region economy. Both
technology producers and users require technicians with
up-to-date skills and knowledge. Community colleges are the
natural providers of this education. To fully meet our
potential it is essential that we develop the capacity to
engage with industry and other education partners as a system
of networked colleges.”
 Judy
C. Miner, President of Foothill College wrote: “Many of the
world's leading Information and Communications Technology
companies are based or have important operations within our
college district. Silicon Valley is synonymous with
technological innovation throughout the world. Many of our
students come from families involved in technology, and we
experience great demand for technical education services and
competent ICT technicians to support employers throughout our
area.
“We are very pleased, excited and supportive of the vision and
mission of the [MPICT] Center. Currently, community colleges
throughout the region work hard to develop quality programs
and services for our students. However, there is tremendous
duplication of effort and great variation in quality, use of
terms, composition of degrees and certificates, and industry
relationships in ICT programs within the region.
“It makes good sense to coordinate and leverage the best
practices in the region to improve the quality of ICT
education for all. With our access to technology leaders in
this region, we are collectively capable of creating improved
ICT educational outcomes that could benefit society,
economies, productivity and livelihoods throughout the U.S.”
 Robert
Agrella, President of Santa Rosa Junior College, wrote: “SRJC
is very excited about the vision and prospects for the
Mid-Pacific ICT Center. ICT plays a key role in every
student's life and, directly or indirectly, in every student's
career. ICT supports human endeavor in every field. We need
strategies and solutions for improving technical education
throughout the region to be served by MPICT, and we see very
clear and compelling benefits to participating in the
Mid-Pacific ICT (MPICT) Center goal accomplishment efforts and
events.”
 Jim
Wright, Vice-President of Academic Affairs at Ohlone College
wrote: “As American businesses compete in a global economy,
the need for new and varied highspeed communication systems
continues to increase. Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) systems today must transmit and share
information (of a variety of media formats) instantaneously
and often over long distances. Computers are still the
cornerstones of new communication systems, connecting
multi-media networks which link information through fiber
optic, microwave telephone, or satellite media. Ohlone
College's Computers, Networks, and emerging Technology (CNET)
department has long been involved in preparing students to
build and support ICT infrastructure and systems that support
these communication highways…
“We are very pleased, excited and supportive of the vision and
mission of the proposed Mid-Pacific Information and
Communications Technology (MPICT) Center. We think that Ohlone
College is well positioned to be an active and strong partner
in this process.”
MPICT will work to harmonize, smooth and effectively
communicate ICT education and career pathways throughout its
region. It will leverage quality work product and practices by
sharing and disseminating them through conference and
professional development events. It will champion the
importance of ICT and quality ICT education, and it will
challenge both industry and educators on effective ICT
pedagogy. It will create efficient ways for educators and
industry to interact and collaborate. It will seek out quality
ICT industry and educational practices, which, in spite of
U.S. myopia, are increasingly found abroad, and bring them
back to learn from at home, and it will improve the quality
and quantity of the regional ICT workforce.
 MPICT
Principal Investigator, Dr. Pierre Thiry, stated: “ICT
industry representatives have told us for a long time, and in
a variety of ways, that they care deeply about ICT education
and want to contribute toward its improvement and success.
However, they cannot or will not interact individually with
100+ community colleges in the State of California alone. It
is simply too inefficient. When we describe the ability of
MPICT to serve as an efficient vehicle to provide input into,
interact with, contribute to and collaborate with ICT
educational programs throughout the region, and across the
U.S., we almost always get excited commitments of
participation and support.”
 In
support of MPICT, Dr. Nim K. Cheung, then President of the
IEEE Communications Society worldwide, wrote: “Increasingly,
everyone depends on information and communications
technologies. Developing knowledgeable and competent
technologists to implement, manage and maintain ICT systems is
increasingly essential to organizations of all kinds.”
 Jim
Dolgonas, President and CEO of the Corporation for Educational
Networking Initiatives in California (CENIC), wrote: “We
believe information and communications technologies (ICT) are
an important foundation on which much of modern productivity
and current knowledge and information economies depend. We
need competent information and communications technologies
technicians to make our economies and enterprises efficient.”
 Dr.
John T. Behrens, Director of Networking Academy Learning
Systems at Cisco Systems, wrote in support of MPICT: “Cisco is
very excited about and supportive of the MPICT Regional Center
vision. Silicon Valley, the greater San Francisco Bay Area,
and the larger region served by the Center have a large number
of companies developing, implementing and utilizing advanced
information and communications technologies. Despite this rich
environment, we need to strengthen the Northern California
regional ecosystem for developing, coordinating and
facilitating cost-effective and harmonized training of
technicians to implement, manage, and maintain advanced ICT
systems.”
 Supporting
MPICT, Tom Burns, President of the Enterprise Solutions
Division of Alcatel-Lucent, wrote: “In the 21st century, we
live in knowledge and information economies where Information
and Communications Technologies are essential strategic
elements for success. We need to support educator efforts to
develop competent technicians to implement and maintain key
ICT infrastructure and support systems.”
 In
support of MPICT, Eddie Garcia, Vice President of Government
Affairs for the Bay Area Region at Comcast, wrote: “Comcast is
a major employer in the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern
California, as well as throughout the U.S. The continuing
demand for our products and services, as well as our
continuing network expansion, are driving our need for network
technicians and installers; we expect this situation to
continue into the future. We believe that your efforts to
develop a competent workforce from which we can hire new
employees, and to provide cost effective training resources
that our employees can take advantage of will be of tremendous
assistance to Comcast in its efforts to be a market leader…
“Most citizens and residents of the region served by MPICT
need or desire entertainment and/or communication services
which Comcast provides. It makes good sense to have a major
community organization like Comcast work closely with
community colleges in the region to develop and deliver badly
needed ICT skills and knowledge.”
 Lynn
Bunim, Executive Director of External Affairs for AT&T, wrote
in support of MPICT: “AT&T is a very large employer in the
region. We appreciate your efforts to develop a competent
regional ICT workforce… AT&T provides essential ICT
infrastructure and services to serve communities throughout
the M-PICT region. AT&T believes in and supports the M-PICT
Center Mission…”
The Mid-Pacific ICT Center is very interested in gathering
input, learning about quality ICT practices, engaging with
State governments, building collaborative relationships and
exploring additional funding sources. Please contact us if you
would like to collaborate on those efforts!
Back to Q4 2008
Newsletter
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