(Monaca, PA) – The Community College of Beaver County (CCBC), partnered with members of the Tristate Energy and Advanced Manufacturing (TEAM) Consortium, are working together to build a skilled workforce for the tristate area of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Together they will address the increasing skills gap between growing employer needs and education driven by the discovery of natural gas-rich Marcellus and Utica shale deposits. The tristate region now accounts for 27% of the natural gas output in the United States – making it the third largest producer of natural gas in the world.
Offering a regionally distinctive and the only North America Process Technology (NAPTA) associated Process Technology (PTEC) program within 300 miles of Pittsburgh, CCBC is preparing students for careers with some of the highest job placement rates and wage-earning potential in the energy and advanced manufacturing field. This two-year program, which was created and now supported by industry partnerships, provides broad-based education in math, science computer literacy, and soft skills, while offering students hands-on learning opportunities and real-world training in process technology and mechanical aptitude, leading to career pathways localized to the quad-state region.
In less than six years, the CCBC PTEC program benchmarked against the best programs on the Gulf Coast and brought best practices back to Western Pennsylvania to ensure regional communities had the skilled workforce available for employment opportunities on the horizon. CCBC 2018 and 2019 PTEC alumni have secured employment in the energy and advanced manufacturing industry with an average wage of $28.39 at many of the top 40 companies that lead the Process Technology Industrial Advisory Board, including Shell, Mitsubishi, Covestro, Inland Technologies, XTO Cryogenic, Ellwood City Forge, Nova Chemicals, BASF, First Energy, Hussey Copper, Duquesne Light, Marathon/MarkWest, Lanxess, Nalco/Ecolab, and Ergon.
TEAM’s primary mission is to connect students and workers with education, training and in-demand jobs to take advantage of the growing regional economy. Recognizing the knowledge and skills employers in the 27 counties covered by the TEAM Consortium will need for current and upcoming occupations, workforce and economic development organizations, state and federal agencies, private industry, and higher education partners consisting of ten community colleges, including the Community College of Beaver County, are working together to provide students with skills to lead them towards careers in energy and advanced manufacturing to ensure there is an adequate number of skilled workers to meet growing demand.
To accomplish this, CCBC and other higher education partners of TEAM are aligning curriculum across institutions and state lines to share common entry-level classes, building on foundational and transferable skills and creating recognizable occupational pathways in energy and advanced manufacturing. Currently, CCBC is piloting an innovative approach to course delivery with the Flexible Entry Flexible Exit (FEFE) delivery model, providing on-campus and online competency based instruction, making education more accessible and allowing students to finish their education wherever they are and wherever curriculum is offered. Adding to the accessibility and flexibility of the programs, a stackable credential model has been developed to allow multiple entry and exit points, assisting students in this mobile workforce in finding where they are and building upon it to meet their educational and professional goals.
Fall classes at CCBC begin on August 24. Learn more about the program and how to enroll at https://www.ccbc.edu/programs/