[Scpg] Community College Training for Managing Green Job New york Times Aug 25/10

Fri Aug 27 06:42:00 PDT 2010

Community College Training for Managing Green Job

By 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/elizabeth_olson/index.html?inline=nyt-per>ELIZABETH 
OLSON

  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/education/26GREEN.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Published: August 25, 2010

BEYOND “green-collar” jobs, like retrofitting a 
home to conserve energy or helping build a wind 
farm, an energy-conscious economy will need a new 
generation of environmentally smart managers, and 
that’s where 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/community_colleges/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>community 
colleges are stepping up with new courses and 
degree programs.

The federal government is pouring $500 million 
into training for green jobs, and the sector 
devoted to energy efficiency is estimated to grow 
as much as fourfold in the next decade, to some 
1.3 million people, according to the Lawrence 
Berkeley National Laboratory. Its 
<http://eetd.lbl.gov/EA/EMP/reports/lbnl-3163e.pdf>March 
2010 report was financed by the Energy Department.

Green-collar jobs have grabbed the public’s 
attention, and educational institutions are 
starting programs to train the managers who will 
oversee the technologies, manufacturing processes 
and materials that will be used to conserve 
energy and help safeguard natural resources.

Some community colleges already are offering 
two-year degrees in environmental management and 
certificates for managers who want to add green 
qualifications - which means learning more about 
the environmental aspects of a particular field - 
to their résumés. These colleges are offering 
some courses and training on campus as well as 
online.

Lane Community College, in Eugene, Ore., for 
example, is offering two-year programs - for 
associate degrees in applied sciences - in energy 
management, renewable energy or water 
conservation.

The college, which has an organic garden and 
changed its faucets and toilets to conserve 
water, was an early proponent of environmental 
education, and its degree programs are serving as 
models for 10 other community colleges, according 
to Roger Ebbage, director of energy programs at 
the college’s Northwest Energy Education 
Institute.

“When we first started two decades ago we were 
focused on community and residential energy 
efficiency,” Mr. Ebbage said. “Now we are 
preparing people to go into the commercial sector 
anywhere in the country.”

The graduates are in great demand, said Mr. Ebbage.

“They are working for utilities, on engineering 
jobs, for school districts, cities and the 
military,” he said. “We’re not going to be in 
areas where there is no job demand,” he added, 
noting that some short-term green job training 
programs have been criticized because they do not 
always lead to employment in the current economy.

The demand for its managerial graduates prompted 
Lane Community College to accelerate its two-year 
program, with help from federal money, starting 
this month. The college is beginning a trial 
program that allows students to earn their energy 
management degrees in fewer academic terms. Their 
tuition is subsidized as part of the federal 
stimulus funds for green courses and training, 
including a $2,500 tuition tax credit.

Matthew Heflin, 49, decided to get his energy 
management degree after spending 18 years working 
at a 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/hewlett_packard_corporation/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Hewlett-Packard 
lab that researched new products. Mr. Heflin, a 
military veteran who does not have a college 
degree, wanted to be prepared for the green 
economy.

“I was first interested in wind or solar, but 
then I heard about the energy management 
program,” said Mr. Heflin, whose previous job had 
been eliminated. “Now I’m taking math, physics 
and three energy management classes, including 
sustainability.”

Mr. Heflin is among the program’s 25 students, 
most 25 to 55 years old and many displaced from 
industries like computers and aerospace. Math and 
sciences are part of the program, so applicants 
have to have at least an algebra background.

The students can also take the college’s other 
continuing education courses, including 
sustainable landscaping, and cross-disciplinary 
courses like natural resource economics, 
environmental politics and global ecology.

Last year, the college won a $890,000 grant from 
the federal government - not stimulus money - for 
its accelerated program. An additional grant is 
being used to help 10 other community colleges 
across the country begin or enhance their 
programs in energy management over a three-year 
period, said Mr. Ebbage.

Those colleges include American River College in 
Sacramento; Northeast Wisconsin Technical College 
in Green Bay; Delaware Technical and Community 
College; and 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/w/west_virginia_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org>West 
Virginia University, in Parkersburg.

Delaware Technical and Community College, which 
has campuses in Dover, Georgetown and Wilmington, 
will be offering an applied energy program to 
train energy managers and “green power” 
technicians starting in September, said Stephanie 
Smith, the college’s academic vice president.

“Lane is the national leader in this program, and 
we are modeling our program on them,” she said. 
The college plans to offer a two-year associate’s 
degree in applied science, first in energy 
management and then, starting in the 2011 
academic year, in 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/solar_energy/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>solar 
energy management.

The program, which opened student enrollment this 
month, will have 30 students, both entering 
freshmen and older people trying to retool their 
skills, said Ms. Smith.

Such training is also being offered in rural 
areas, with online environmental degrees and 
certificates, according to a survey of 321 
community colleges by researchers at the 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/university_of_louisville/index.html?inline=nyt-org>University 
of Louisville’s National Research Center for 
Career and Technical Education.

Rod P. Githens, one of the authors and assistant 
professor of work force education at the 
University of Louisville, said many of the green 
learning programs were for workers in transition 
and required education beyond a high school 
diploma but less than a four-year degree.

A few, like the College of Southern Maryland, in 
La Plata, offer management programs, including 
one in environmental planning, and a separate 
program in environmental management. These 
programs provide a letter of recognition, and not 
a degree.

For those seeking a four-year degree, the 
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study found 
that about two dozen four-year colleges and 
universities across the country offer degree 
programs with courses that are directly relevant 
to the energy efficiency sector.

A version of this article appeared in print on 
August 26, 2010, on page F8 of the New York 
edition.

Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
    an educational non-profit since 2000
(805) 962-2571
P.O. Box 92156, Santa Barbara, CA 93190
margie at sbpermaculture.org
  www.sbpermaculture.org

"We are like trees, we must create new leaves, in 
new directions, in order to grow." - Anonymous
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