Microsoft and American Association of Community Colleges Select Borough of Manhattan Community College to Host the Northeast’s Only Working Connections IT Faculty Development Institute
March 6, 2003
Microsoft Corp., the American Association of Community Colleges, and Bellevue Community College’s National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies, based in Bellevue, Washington, have selected Borough of Manhattan Community College as the only college in the Northeastern United States to offer cutting-edge information technology training for community college faculty and staff. BMCC is one of only ten colleges nationwide chosen to offer this training.
Microsoft, AACC, and Bellevue’s National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies, created the Working Connections Information Technology Faculty Development Institutes to ensure that community college faculty and technical staff are knowledgeable about emerging technologies. The Institutes will begin training programs in the summer of 2003.
The Working Connections IT Faculty Development Institute located at Borough of Manhattan Community College will host information technology courses for community college faculty from the Northeast. The goal of the Institute is to help professors stay ahead of the fast-paced changes in technology and ensure that their students enter the workforce with skills that are equal to and competitive with the current needs of the IT industry.
Professors are currently selecting from tracks of courses in programming, software engineering, networking, database, operating systems, security and information assurance, multimedia/web, pedagogy, project management, and more. The six most popular courses will be offered at the BMCC Working Connections IT Institute this summer.
“We are very proud to host the Working Connections IT Faculty Development Institute at BMCC,” said President Antonio Pérez. “This demonstrates the strength of our academic programs, particularly those in the computer fields.”
Community colleges enroll more than 50 percent of the nation’s college students, and make up the largest sector of higher education in the United States. Although community colleges provide most of the nation’s training in information technology, faculty and college presidents have consistently cited the difficulty of providing their students with marketable technology skills as one of their biggest challenges. The goal of the Working Connections Faculty Development Institute is to bridge that gap. The Institutes aim to reach 90 percent of all information technology faculty in community and technical colleges within the next four years.
“Microsoft is proud to be offering the same high quality technology once only found in four-year universities to our community college partners,” said Microsoft New
York/New Jersey General Manager Kim Daly. “By offering state-of-the-art training, we are ensuring that community college faculty will continue to play a vital role in transforming students into the skilled IT workforce for the future.”
The Working Connections Institute concept is based on a successful training model used in Washington State for the past four years and funded by Microsoft. Nationally, approximately 15,000 information technology instructors at 1,100 community colleges will continue to benefit as the Institute is fully rolled out to all 50 states over the next five years. The program will also benefit up to 100,000 students in the first two years. The Institute will be managed by the American Association of Community Colleges and by the National Workforce Center for Emerging Technologies at Bellevue Community College.
The Working Connections IT Faculty Development Institute is a natural expansion of the AACC/Microsoft Working Connections partnership that began in 1998. Working Connections helps develop model IT programs across the nation, with a special emphasis on recruiting and serving underserved populations. Microsoft has donated $50 million in cash and software to date.
BMCC’s program in multimedia programming and design received a grant from the American Association of Community Colleges under the Working Connections initiative several years ago.
BMCC was one of eight colleges nationwide and the only community college in the northeast to receive the grant.
For more information on the Working Connections IT Faculty Development Institute at Borough of Manhattan Community College, contact Professors Alice Cohen or Mete Kok in the Computer Information Systems Department at 212-220-1476.
