CPCC Starts Energy Center to Address Work-Force Shortage

John Downey covers the energy industry and public companies for the Charlotte Business Journal.

Ben Heitman has returned to Central Piedmont Community College to head up the school's new Center for Energy Training. 

An internal advisory group headed by Heitman will meet this week with executives for energy-related business. They will discuss the skills CPCC can teach and those the industry needs but is not finding in the region.

"We will be looking for common needs in the four groups we have identified in the energy cluster around Charlotte," Heitman says. "And we will be looking for experts in the industry we can bounce ideas off of for new training."

Heitman had been director of learning services at CPCC for five years before he retired in 2009. He is returning as the college's executive energy adviser and director of the center.
Industry partners

CPCC has gotten input already from a long list of energy companies -- ranging from the very large to the very small -- in the region as it set up the center. The college lists Siemens Energy, Shaw Power Group, Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK), Piedmont Natural Gas (NYSE:PNY), solar developer 02 Energies, battery-components manufacturer Celgard, cable and hardware manufacturer ABB, Areva USA, environmental-equipment pre-processor Coalogix, Lime Energy (NASDAQ:LIME), financial firm Abundant Power, Crowder Construction and Balfour Beatty Construction among those who have worked with the school in designing the program. Read more

Posted in Alumni, Announcements, Community.

Harper Corporation Enhances Educational Opportunities of Flexographic Professionals with CPCC

Partnerships with Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) and Fox Valley Technical College have allowed Harper Corporation to put the educational structures into place that equip its professionals to continue to lead the flexographic industry.

A leader in the flexographic field, global anilox roll supplier Harper Corporation of America credits much of its success to the talent and skill of its employees. As such, the organization is dedicated to ensuring that it provides the educational opportunities that its professionals need to stay current regarding the latest in industry technology and best practices. Partnerships with Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) and Fox Valley Technical College have allowed Harper Corporation to put the educational structures into place that equip its professionals to continue to lead the flexographic industry.

CPCC hosts a flexographic concepts course that offers practical experience and hands-on training to its students. Due to its small class sizes, CPCC is able to provide the individualized attention that allows participants to master each skill that is presented. Eight hours long, the course discusses nearly every aspect of the flexographic process, from conception to printing, and allows participants to ask questions that have arisen from their personal experience in the field. Full story...

Posted in Alumni, Announcements, Campus, Community.

CPCC Student Government Assoc. President- Sara Dir- Huffington Post Interview

A college degree's impact on earning potential is well known, but new data is raises the question: Does an associate's degree beat out a bachelor's?

See and hear testimony by community college graduates on the value of their 2-year degree including CPCC's own Sara Dir.

Watch the interview

Posted in Alumni, Announcements, Campus, Community.

Preparing America for middle-skill work: Your Community College



Q: When the dam finally breaks and the nation's baby boomers retire, what can we expect? Paint us a picture.

A: Baby boomers are staying in the workforce longer than expected. Nevertheless, between 2010 and 2020, there will be 20 million new jobs in addition to 33 million job openings resulting from baby boomer retirements. Certain occupations will be more affected than others. For example, one-third of all nurses are over 55 years old. Healthcare is one-fifth of the economy, and these professions require several years of classroom education and several years of on-the-job training to be work-ready.

Anthony Carnevale, executive director of Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce, shares his views on the importance of middle-skill jobs to the U.S. economy, and the role community colleges play in putting students to work. Read full article...

Posted in Alumni, Announcements, Campus, Community, Resources.

The 10 Best-Paying Jobs for Community College Grads

With college tuition costs skyrocketing--an estimated $1 trillion in student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt in the U.S.--many families are rethinking the traditional path to career success. As it turns out, a four-year college degree isn't the only way to land a good-paying job. A recent study by financial literacy website NerdWallet, based on forecasts by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, reveals that jobs requiring only a two-year associate's degree will have the highest average growth through 2020.

Full Article

The full list of the 10 best-paying jobs:

No. 1: Air Traffic Controllers   
Median Salary: $108,040
Job Description: Coordinate the flight paths of planes.

No. 2: Construction Managers   
Median Salary: $83,860
Job Description: Plan and supervise construction projects.

No. 3: Radiation Therapists   
Median Salary: $74,980
Job Description: Administer radiation treatments to patients suffering from cancer and other diseases.

No. 4: Nuclear Medicine Technologists   
Median Salary: $68,560
Job Description: Scan patients, and prepare and administer radioactive drugs.

No. 5: Dental Hygienists   
Median Salary: $68,250
Job Description: Clean teeth, examine patients and provide preventative dental care.

No. 6: Nuclear Technicians   
Median Salary: $68,090
Job Description: Assist physicists and engineers with nuclear research and nuclear production.

No. 7: Registered Nurses   
Median Salary: $64,690
Job Description: Provide and coordinate patient care.

No. 8: Diagnostic Medical Sonographers   
Median Salary: $64,380
Job Description: Administer sonograms to diagnose medical conditions.

No. 9: Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technicians   
Median Salary: $58,080
Job Description: Operate and maintain equipment used in aircraft and spacecraft production.

No. 10: Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technicians   
Median Salary: $56,040
Job Description: Help engineers design and develop electronic equipment.

Posted in Alumni, Announcements, Campus, Community.

In the Math of Education, Two Years Sometimes is Worth More than Four Years

Workers with associate degrees in occupational and technical fields make about $6,000 a year more than those with associate degrees in non-occupational programs

Want a solid, middle-class salary straight out of college? Skip the last two years.

A site that analyzes state-level data of how much people earn a year after graduating college found some counterintuitive results: Certain students who earn associate's degrees can get higher salaries than graduates of four-year programs -- sometimes thousands of dollars more.

"These numbers and the consistency of these numbers are surprising to me," said Mark Schneider, president of CollegeMeasures.org and a vice president at the American Institutes for Research. CollegeMeasures aggregates anonymized education and earnings data to figure out who earns what after graduation.

But there is a catch: You have to earn your degree in a technical or occupational program to earn anywhere near $40,000. That's the approximate average earned by students who went to school and worked in the state of Virginia and graduated with two-year degrees in these fields between 2006 and 2010. Graduates of two-year nursing programs earned am average of $45,342.   Full article

Posted in Alumni, Announcements, Campus, Community.

Dr. Richard Hagemeyer, first president of CPCC, dies at 95

Dr. Richard Hagemeyer, first president of Central Piedmont Community College

by STEVE LYTTLE / Charlotte Observer


Richard Hagemeyer Sr. came to the Carolinas from the Midwest in the early 1960s to merge two schools into Charlotte's first community college.

Hagemeyer served as president of that school, Central Piedmont Community College, for 23 years and watched it grow into one of the nation's largest two-year schools.

Hagemeyer, lauded as one of the key figures in the integration of education in the Carolinas, died Wednesday at the age of 95.

He had been an administrator at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, Mich., and came South to become the first president of CPCC when it was founded in 1963.

CPCC was a merger of Mecklenburg College, a mostly black school that was founded in 1949 as Carver College, for African American veterans of World War II; and Central Industrial Education Center, a mostly white technical school. The merger came at a time when racial integration was causing a social upheaval in the South -- and it occurred a few years before Mecklenburg County's public schools were integrated. Full Story

Posted in Alumni, Announcements, Community.