| November 20, 2019 | Juan Ibarra | editor-in-chief |
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Another year of scaffolding on NW Campus and the possible addition of a new diesel technician Level 1 certificate program were discussed at the most recent board of trustees’ governance meeting.
The newest possible addition of the diesel technician program came from South President Peter Jordan speaking to Fort Worth officials about the need for more entry-level workers in the diesel engine career field, according to Provost Elva LeBlanc.
According to the program summary, 11 new courses would be added to the TCC catalog, including Diesel Engine I and Tractor-Trailer Service and Repair.
This program would be in partnership with the city of Fort Worth to teach its future workforce by using its facilities and equipment, but LeBlanc said this is just the beginning of an ongoing program.
“Initially, the work is with the city of Fort Worth,” LeBlanc said. “The anticipation is that it will grow and open up to other individuals.”
LeBlanc acknowledged a similar agreement TCC has with Oncor on South to train students as part of the electrical line technician program.
“I know the workforce development board definitely has this as one of their top items on their list of people needing to be trained,” board of trustees member Michael Evans said. “I know the ISDs definitely need this training as well. So I think this is a great start.”
Evans emphasized how important it is that the program be available to all students.
According to the program summary, careers within the diesel technician field are set to grow 8.9% nationally and 19.4% statewide by the year 2028.
Another proposal during the meeting was to provide NE Campus renovations for its academic classroom and health sciences buildings. Four classrooms in NACB and one in NHSC were listed as the main priorities owing to their poor condition, according to construction firm Freedom Construction.
“It’s just a basic face-lift: paint, carpet, ceiling and light,” associate vice chancellor for real estate and facilities Gary Preather said.
A proposal to maintain the scaffolding on NW Campus for another year was discussed as well.
“This will continue to keep our students, faculty and staff safe while we’re in the process of developing the restructure of the NW Campus,” Preather said.
Preather then confirmed that approximately $1.2 million has been spent on scaffolding for NW Campus since the initial installation.
LeBlanc presented a new process of designing and organizing courses within the section list. This system would streamline things for both TCC and the students registering for classes.
She also believed the current system creates common errors such as double-booking classrooms as well as placing small classes into large classrooms and vice versa.
LeBlanc explained some of the areas that could be improved and discussed the flaws in the current system.
TCC offers about 9,600 classes per semester but cancels approximately 2,850 to arrive at a final schedule, LeBlanc said. She added that around 2,700 sections are built into the system after the first day is live, which prevents students from seeing the full list of classes offered until after it is live.
The process of implementing a new system is already underway but is not planned on being fully available until Fall 2021.
