Message from the President
As the year draws to a close, I want to thank all the students and employees at Maine's community colleges for their work this semester. The pandemic has dragged on longer, and with more ferocity, than we could have imagined, making the incredible effort by our community even more impressive.
I hope you find time this holiday season to experience rest, joy, and connection to the people and things you love. Taking care of ourselves, and each other, is critical to our mental health these days.
Even as we face this ongoing challenge, the colleges and the system have been busy in recent months. It has been fantastic to see more activity on campus, athletes taking the field and our dorms filled.
One of the highlights of the fall was the launch of the Harold Alfond Center for the Advancement of Maine's Workforce, an ambitious venture aimed at expanding our short-term training, increasing training for existing employees at Maine businesses and developing paths for people to move from short-term training to certification or degree programs. This is exciting work that comes at a critical time in Maine, where employers are struggling to find skilled workers. We are particularly focused on training workers for medical professions to help heath care providers across the state.
Across the system, colleges are launching new academic programs and partnerships, adding innovative tools and new facilities, and finding new and creative ways to best serve our students. Read on for some highlights!
David Daigler, President
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Huge expansion in workforce training underway at new Alfond Center |
The Alfond Center is backed by a $15 million grant from the Harold Alfond Foundation, $35 million through Governor Janet Mills' Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan and another $10 million in matching funds provided by the private sector, other grants, and existing workforce training funding.
"Maine's community colleges have demonstrated over the years that they can quickly provide workforce training that is highly responsive to employers' needs and gives Maine workers the skills they need to enter and progress in today's workforce. This is a life-changing opportunity for Maine workers at a transformative moment in time for our state," said Greg Powell, chairman of the board of trustees for the Harold Alfond Foundation. More>>
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SMCC nursing gets big boost with $500K donation from Boyne family |
A $500,000 gift from John and Candy Boyne of Freeport will be used to establish the Boyne Family Endowed Nursing Faculty, which will fund a nursing faculty position at SMCC. The position will provide training to more nursing students and help address the critical nursing shortage in Maine. There are 200 students currently enrolled in SMCC's nursing program.
The generous donation comes as the system is pushing for the resources to double the number of nursing graduates systemwide to meet the state's nursing shortage. The Maine Department of Labor has projected that there will be a shortage of 3,200 registered nurses in Maine in 2025. More>>
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CMCC adds new training facility for conservation law and social sciences
CMCC is close to completing construction on a training facility for students in the college's new conservation law enforcement, social sciences program, and other programs. More>>
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WCCC's new coastal fisheries and marine technology degree program offers stackable credentials
WCCC's new coastal fisheries and marine technology associate degree program offers students a number of career, certificate, and degree options. More>>
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SMCC opens new virtual welding lab at the college's Midcoast Campus in Brunswick
SMCC's new virtual welding lab allows students to weld on simulators, saving costs and providing enhanced learning for the college's workforce training and academic welding programs. More>>
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Short-term training helping NMCC student start new career path
After serving four years in the U.S. Marines, Kyle Gleason returned to northern Maine and is enrolled in NMCC's one-year welding certificate program.
Gleason said the program is helping him quickly gain the skills he needs to start a new career and plan for his future.
Gleason chose welding because he likes to see the outcome of his work. While he may someday rejoin a branch of the military, his primary interest is learning a trade to provide for himself, and perhaps one day a family. His long-term goal is to become an underwater welder. He is confident the skills he is learning will provide for a secure and better future.
"This trade can take you anywhere," Gleason said.
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Been there, done that. Now get the college credit
A renewed effort is underway to spread the word about PLA – prior learning assessment. It's a great way for adult learners to get college credit for what they learned through work and life experience, even if they've never gone to college. Getting that PLA credit can move a person closer to getting a certificate or degree that means getting a better job or a pay hike.
People can get credit for prior learning through transfer credits from another institution, work-related certifications or licensing exams, corporate training programs, military experience, early college courses, and more.
To get started adult learners just need to sit down with someone at a community college, who will assess their prior learning and determine what credits may be available to them. These prior learning assessments may include testing, credential reviews, or a portfolio review. More>>
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ICYMI, news highlights
Student MCCS Board of Trustee member Valerie Laure Bilogue was featured in Amjambo Africa. She shared her story about how she went from teaching IT in Cameroon to earning an associate degree at NMCC while raising her family. A member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, Bilogue is now studying cyber security at the University of Maine at Augusta and working full time as an IT technician at Cary Medical Center in Caribou.
Short-term workforce training programs at Maine's community colleges were highlighted in a national news story on career-switchers who need to get new skills for new jobs. Current students and graduates of short-term training programs were featured in the Hechinger Report story that also ran on Maine Public radio and National Public Radio. More>>
The Maine Office of Tourism collaborated with MCCS and HospitalityMaine to update its WelcomeME customer service training program. WelcomeME is a free on-line training course for people working in Maine's service industries. This interactive course provides frontline staff with the essential customer-service skills for working with the public.
The Student Information System Modernization and Enhancement Project is underway, with a steering committee wrapping up discussions with four companies that submitted information as part of a Request for Information (RFI) process. For more information, go to the SIS Modernization tab in MyMCCS.
The Maine legislature is set to convene in January and we're watching a few bills with interest, including a bill sponsored by Senator Mattie Daughtry, D-Cumberland, that would provide $2.5 million to the community colleges to expand nursing programs. President Daigler is also serving as a member of the Commission to Study College Affordability and Completion, a legislative task force that will report its findings to the full legislature in 2022.
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For those who do
While some of our classes are still taught remotely, our in-person learning never stopped. Here are some of students and staff hard at work.
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