SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: AMERICAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Careers in Technology

Students can feel at home in a personalized, caring environment that offers a guiding hand. Whether from across the street or across the globe, students realize dreams at American community colleges. Community colleges (sometimes called "junior colleges") offer both academic transfer programs and career technology training. Often, a community college can provide an international student more personal and individual attention than a university is able. Community colleges proudly say they put students first, treat each student individually, and provide quality opportunities.

Community colleges provide high quality transfer programs for students seeking degrees from the best colleges and universities. Their success story is clear and continually confirmed. On average, students beginning at a community college perform as well or better in universities than students who begin their careers at those same institutions. Additionally, community colleges offer two-year career and technical education degrees and certificate programs of varying scope. According to Jim Rizzuto, President of Otero Junior College, "Students will find many community colleges on the cutting edge of technology. At OJC we're committed to preparing our students with the IT skills and experiences employers need."

Picture an eager employee in your country, arriving the first day of work able to use multiple software packages. Ripping through word documents and excelling at spreadsheets, this new star becomes a strong asset to his employers. PowerPoint presentations, palm pilots, and desktop-published brochures further his usefulness to the company, increasing his chances for promotion. In fact, arriving anywhere on the planet without these basic survival skills, would now normally result in frustration and failure. Students attending college in the United States gain the technology skills that propel them into the next generation.

Community college technology programs enable thousands of students to specialize in vendor-supported and vendor-neutral training that prepares them for emerging career opportunities. Training can be vendor specific with formalized agreements that position students for brand-name certification. Training may be classified as vendor neutral, allowing acquisition of a more broadly defined skill set. Training increases appreciation for skill transference and continual upgrading, empowering graduates to be critical thinkers and problem solvers, relationship builders as well as skilled technicians.

Vendor-Supported Training
Community colleges support technical training while offering general education options to the international student either concentrating on the training as a job entry goal or moving toward university studies as a broader objective.

At community colleges throughout the United States, CISCO and Microsoft support CISCO Academies and Microsoft software engineering programs. LANs and WANs and network cabling, routers and servers, designing secure systems, networking, engineering, and administering systems appeal to many who see technology as a powerful ally. The Cisco Academy offers training for CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) and CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional). Microsoft training leads to the MCSE (Microsoft Certified System Engineer). Both are international certifications.

Technology careers invite students to move beyond computers. Integrated circuit fabrication challenges students to pioneer design and manufacturing of microelectronic semiconductor integrated circuits and other necessary components to develop new technology. Training includes microchip manufacturing technology along with pneumatic and robotic systems. Working in partnership with business and industry, American community colleges custom design technology programs as changes occur on the front line — practical, hands-on, and paying off now.

Vendor-Neutral Training
Drafting, modeling, CAD (computer aided design), computer graphics, animation, multimedia, and WWW design hold an allure for those capable of integrating technology into real life applications. Digital media opportunities acquaint students with Adobe, 3D Studio Max, After Effects, and other programs necessary to produce and edit marketable products. Interior design and architecture depend upon smart, skilled workers to translate concepts into 3D models people can see with their own eyes, touch with their own hands. Modern production manufacturing, applied technologies, and automotive technologies require insightful approaches to interfacing with smart machines. Modeling technologies, mapping, computer sensors and experimental probes, and global positioning systems allow us new views of old problems.

At community colleges, courses in computer operation are basic to almost every student. Specialized technology is available even for students with non-technology majors. Business education in the United States includes introduction to basic office programs including word processing, spreadsheets, data base management, presentations, and publications. Healthcare technologies engage students with electronic probes used in diagnosis and internal imaging, record keeping, and data base management. Innovations in pharmacology include laboratory technology. Agriculture, veterinary science, fire fighting, law enforcement, ecology and hazardous waste, transportation, communication programs…only a few of many programs at community colleges to include training in current technologies.

Community Colleges are an Excellent Choice
It's a powerful list, a huge, attractive menu from which to select. If technology is to shrink distances and bridge historic barriers, then every country needs well trained technology professionals. Whether heading toward a certificate, completing a two-year program, or embarking on a four-year course of study with a two-year college start, it's all available through American community colleges. There, students are valued individually and rewarded with solid experiences, thus enabling them to achieve their goals.

Provided by Dr. Thomas Armstrong, Vice-president of Instructional Services, Sallie J. Hibbs, Director of International Relations, Otero Junior College, La Junta, Colorado, and Thomas Hibbs, Senior Consultant, Educational Technology Unit, Colorado Department of Education.

Additional Resources

• Search for Community Colleges