Several A-B Tech Programs Have More Jobs Than Students
Heavy Equipment and Transport Technology student Kevin Peterson rebuilds a 5.9 liter Cummins engine. Students in Peterson's program along with CAD, Machining and Surveying are in high demand, with the number of graduates not keeping up with market needs.
Sherian Howard, CAD Technology chair, received more calls from potential employers looking for technicians in 2005 than she has in the 20 years she has been teaching at A-B Tech.
"I received calls from between 30 and 40 employers wanting to hire CAD technicians," Howard said. "But most people were so desperate they would take a student part-time until they were available for full-time."
The availability of jobs is starting to outnumber the students especially in Civil/ Surveying. "I was encouraged to see some manufacturing employers hiring, but most were Civil Surveying," Howard said. "I have never seen this many people call me in one year with needs for a CAD technician and that's with 20 years here.
"There's just a huge demand for CAD. I even had a company call me from Greensboro and I had calls from Highlands and Murphy.... All of my second-year CAD students have part-time CAD jobs if they want one."
The program has 55 students and every graduate has a full-time job available to them.
It's not just CAD Technology where the number of graduates doesn't keep up with market demand. Surveying Technology, Machining Technology and Heavy Equipment Transport and Technology are also being bombarded with calls from potential employers.
"We can't get enough bodies in the class to get the employers satisfied," said Jim Sullivan, Civil Engineering/Surveying Technology Instructor "I have a job board outside my office that currently has eight job postings on it. I have three or four calls for every able available graduate."
Part of the reason is the region's growth. "Civil encompasses roads, water, infrastructure, building all that is touched in some way by civil engineering," Sullivan said. "Right now we are in a building boom. Right now we need to keep attracting people to this industry."
The story is the same for the Machining program. "We have people begging and very few students," said Larry Boyd, Machining and Welding chair. "Borg Warner is hiring anyone they can get their hands on. Area tool shops would run second shifts if they had enough employees. Most just run first shift."
Borg Warner paid for their assemblers to come to A-B Tech to learn machining because they could not find any, according to Boyd. "There are two kinds of machining. For big companies, most of those are CNC jobs. For the small shops most of those are tool-making jobs. We teach all that."
David Walker, Transportation Technologies chair, said there seems to be good demand in Heavy Equipment and Transport Technology as well. "We are never able to fill all positions," he said. "We get more calls than students.
"Automotive also gets a lot of calls looking for qualified people. We have a good base of new car dealerships in Asheville and a lot of garages. We get a lot of calls daily. There is a good demand for those students. "
Earth Day Celebrated At A-B Tech
Holly McCurry, Health and Physical Education Chair and Wellness Coordinator, encourages students to fill out tobacco use surveys during Earth Day festivities April 7 at the Asheville campus.
BioNetwork Awards Grants for Biotechnology Training
A-B Tech received two BioNetwork grants totaling $114,852 from the State Board of Community Colleges for the Biotechnology and Biology departments and for equipment in the Biotechnology Incubator core lab.
"The Biology Department will receive a photodocumentation system to document agarose gels that are performed in the Biology 110 and 111 courses and test kits to demonstrate biotechnology concepts," said Toby Mapes, Biotechnology chair.
The Biotechnology department received a thermocycler for the amplification of DNA, software to control the BioFlow 110 system, which is a fermentation system, and laptop computers for Bioinformatics.
"This grant has allowed the Biotechnology Department to purchase eight laptop computers for the students to use the Internet to complete exercises in bioinformatics," said Mapes.
The State Board of Community Colleges approved 35 BioNetwork grants across the state. The funds come from a state appropriation for NCCCS BioNetwork.
A study by the N.C. Biotechnology Center, found that the biotechnology industry creates about 3,000 new jobs a year, of which 2,000 are appropriately trained at the community college level. To meet the need for skilled workers, BioNetwork has been developing the infrastructure at community colleges so they have the specialized laboratories and equipment needed to provide suitable training for the industry.
The grants build on start-up funding from Golden LEAF that enabled BioNetwork to award more than 60 grants to community colleges statewide, totaling $6.4 million. The impact has been significant. In 2005, 23 community college laboratories were renovated, retrofitted or equipped, $3 million in equipment was installed and 38,000 square feet of space was dedicated across North Carolina.
The grants were awarded through a competitive process. Review panels consisted of representatives from industry, the State Board, university partners, the N.C. Biotechnology Center, and the N.C. Community College System Office.
Baking and Pastry Arts Capstone
Graduating Baking and Pastry Arts students showcase their capstone projects during a reception April 13. Each of the 10 students had to create their own bakery complete with menu and samples of their baking skills.