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Pratt Community College is one step closer to a new Solar Technology program. In a special one-item agenda meeting Thursday morning, the PCC Board of Trustees voted to approve the program.
The Program will now go the technical education authority and if approved it will go to the Kansas Board of Regents for final approval, said PCC President William Wojciechowski.
If KBOR approves the program quickly, PCC will start curriculum development as early as February, said Jerry Burkhart, dean of technical instruction.
The Thursday meeting helped get program certification under way and avoid a delay of 30 to 60 days if the Board had waited until their monthly meeting on Monday, Jan. 24.
Funding for the program could come from a Department of Commerce grant. Fort Hays State University will administer the $1.6 million Energy Net grant that can be used for anything dealing with energy. Burkhart and Wojciechowski will meet with FHSU later this month to present the PCC solar program proposal. Burkhart is confident they will receive funding for the PCC program.
The solar program is the latest PCC effort to expand the reach of their alternative energy programs and make PCC an area wide education facility.
“Over the last two or three years we have tried to position ourselves as a regional training center,” Wojciechowski said.
With the establishment of the solar program, PCC has put itself in a position to take the lead among educational institutions.
“We’re going to be one of the first in the state to provide training for incumbent workers in the electrical energy field,” Wojciechowski said.
When the program is instituted, eight of the required twelve courses are already being taught at PCC. The other three courses, Solar Energy Tech I, II and III will have to be added to the curriculum. Development of those three courses will take some time and that is another reason why PCC used the special Board meeting to approve the program.
In total the program has 35 credit hours including a six-hour occupational work experience course in the summer
A Coffeyville Community College instructor will teach the solar classes.
Initially the course will be offered only on-line. The program will focus on business and industry. They will work with local business partners Stanion Electric and Adams Electric and train their incumbent workers for a start. Both businesses are very serious about getting into the solar market because of tax incentives and depreciation on equipment.
Pratt Community College is one step closer to a new Solar Technology program. In a special one-item agenda meeting Thursday morning, the PCC Board of Trustees voted to approve the program.
The Program will now go the technical education authority and if approved it will go to the Kansas Board of Regents for final approval, said PCC President William Wojciechowski.
If KBOR approves the program quickly, PCC will start curriculum development as early as February, said Jerry Burkhart, dean of technical instruction.
The Thursday meeting helped get program certification under way and avoid a delay of 30 to 60 days if the Board had waited until their monthly meeting on Monday, Jan. 24.
Funding for the program could come from a Department of Commerce grant. Fort Hays State University will administer the $1.6 million Energy Net grant that can be used for anything dealing with energy. Burkhart and Wojciechowski will meet with FHSU later this month to present the PCC solar program proposal. Burkhart is confident they will receive funding for the PCC program.
The solar program is the latest PCC effort to expand the reach of their alternative energy programs and make PCC an area wide education facility.
“Over the last two or three years we have tried to position ourselves as a regional training center,” Wojciechowski said.
With the establishment of the solar program, PCC has put itself in a position to take the lead among educational institutions.
“We’re going to be one of the first in the state to provide training for incumbent workers in the electrical energy field,” Wojciechowski said.
When the program is instituted, eight of the required twelve courses are already being taught at PCC. The other three courses, Solar Energy Tech I, II and III will have to be added to the curriculum. Development of those three courses will take some time and that is another reason why PCC used the special Board meeting to approve the program.
In total the program has 35 credit hours including a six-hour occupational work experience course in the summer
A Coffeyville Community College instructor will teach the solar classes.
Initially the course will be offered only on-line. The program will focus on business and industry. They will work with local business partners Stanion Electric and Adams Electric and train their incumbent workers for a start. Both businesses are very serious about getting into the solar market because of tax incentives and depreciation on equipment.
If the on-line program takes off the program will expand to a face-to-face program at PCC, Burkhart said.
Initiative to start the program got a boost when Stanion Electric invited Burkhart to attend a one-day workshop by Kyocera, a manufacturing company that produces many products including solar panels. At that workshop Burkhart was given 20 minutes to promote the program to contractors from various locations. The contractor’s response was overwhelming.
“They were ecstatic, very optimistic, very encouraging and very supportive of the idea,” Burkhart said.
Besides the business and industry element, PCC is hopeful high school concurrent students will be enticed into the on-line program and that could lead to full time enrollment at the college for program certification.
The business and industry market allows flexibility in program starting time and PCC hopes to start teaching that portion in June. The high school concurrent program should be available in August, Burkhart said.
The response to the concurrent program will give the college a feel for an eventual campus wide program. Currently there is no other solar technology degree program in the state.
