• Collin College

Frisco, TX

CTC’s

• Strategic business engagement and business partnerships drive its programs.
• Low-cost, high-return college mentoring launches new courses, certificates, and degrees.
• Green Information Technology and mobile convergence curriculum, and professional development are cutting edge.
• Recruiting strategies attract underserved populations, specifically Hispanic populations

CTC Impacts Student Success Via Faculty Education & Mentoring Through initiatives launched by CTC:

• Thirty-eight students from 2 CTC partner colleges—Collin College and El Centro College of the Dallas County Community College District—have transferred into the Bachelor of Arts in Information Technology degree program offered at the University of North Texas, the third CTC partner institution. This new degree incorporates innovative components and accepts a large number of transfer hours from CTC’s convergence curriculum.
• Five hundred faculty from community colleges around the country have attended weeklong intensive educational programs at Working Connections IT Faculty Development Institute, sponsored by CTC. This professional development has prepared attendees to teach over 4,000 students in these specific topic areas.
• Forty-one new programs have been launched as a result of Working Connections Faculty Development Institute.
• Seventeen colleges mentored by CTC have implemented new certificate and degree programs resulting in enrollments of 4,017 new students in 2008, and 5,091 new students in 2009.

CTC Heeds Business Advice For Well-Prepared Graduates

It is no exaggeration to say that the work of the Convergence Technology Center is and has been owned by the broad range of engaged business people on its Business Advisory Council (BAC). Post 9-11 when IT employment dropped, the center used a modified, development-of-curriculum industry-panel process to identify the knowledge and skills that the BAC members predicted would be needed in the next round of network support professionals they would hire. These skills were then cross-referenced to existing courses, and new curricula were developed. The BAC continues to meet quarterly to advise CTC colleges and refine the job skills list to reflect emerging demands that faculty then incorporate in curricula. As a result, the job skills list includes new topics such as unified communication, virtualization, and Green IT.

Because of the BAC’s involvement, graduates of 2-year degree programs affiliated with CTC readily find employment with median incomes between $43,000 and $48,000.

CTC has also worked integrally with North Central Texas InterLink, Inc., a nonprofit consortium of businesses and educational entities, to characterize the emerging job category of convergence technician. InterLink considers convergence technician a defined category and provides regular employment forecasts for it. Based on responses from 347 business people, InterLink reported that 400 convergence technicians had been hired in the region during 2010. InterLink forecasts that 1,400 additional technicians will be hired in North Texas within 5 years. Further, the Texas Workforce Commission projects at least 1,410 Texas job openings due to growth and 1,000 replacements by 2016.