While some technical schools may strive to create a more comprehensive learning environment, STLCC-Meramec, already a comprehensive college, strives to incorporate more quality technical programs into the curriculum.
Rory Sullivan
– Staff Writer –
While some technical schools may strive to create a more comprehensive learning environment, STLCC-Meramec, already a comprehensive college, strives to incorporate more quality technical programs into the curriculum.
Andrea Lewis Miller, Ph.D., chancellor of Sowela Technical College (STC) and candidate for campus president at Meramec, said she has worked at STC to offer students more degree options.
“A big reason why I was hired at Sowela was to transform it from a technical college to a technical community college,” Miller said.
According to Miller, in Louisiana where STC is located, technical colleges only offer Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degrees. Technical community colleges, however, offer AAS, Associate in Arts (AA) and Associate in Science (AS) degrees.
Miller said while STC is currently accredited by the Council of Occupational Education, it will be accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools once it becomes a technical community college.
“There’s a difference in who accredits the college once it becomes a comprehensive community college and there’s a difference in the types of degrees that are offered,” Miller said. “We can serve more students and we can serve the community better.”
At Meramec, AAS, AA, AS, Associate in Fine Arts and Associate of Arts in Teaching degrees are available, as well as Certificates of Proficiency (CP) and Certificates of Specialization (CS). Constant work is done to add quality, relevant Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. Programs including accounting, interior design, nursing, occupational therapy and sales are just a few of the programs at Meramec that offer degrees and certificates.
Gina Benesh, acting director of career and technical education for STLCC, said the CTE programs are numerous and of high quality.
“There are 144 certificate and degree programs here at STLCC,” Benesh said. “It is cost effective and it’s quality education.”
Degrees and certificates offered in the CTE program is an AAS, which generally takes two years to complete, a CP, which can take a year or more to complete, and a CS, which can be completed in under a year. The programs offered often change, and programs are sometimes added or removed to fit the work environment.
“There’s a five-year cycle where we review all the programs in a five-year period,” Benesh said. “We want the curriculum to meet the needs of the local work force so that when a student leaves here, they have the skills they need to either go on to a four-year institution, or to work.”
Benesh said the CTE programs are built based on what business leaders and workers in different fields require.
“If it’s a police officer, we bring in police officers. If it’s a parole officer, we bring in parole officers,” Benesh said. “We sit them at the table and spend a whole day asking them ‘What do you do?’ Then we list them.”
Benesh said approximately one out of three students at Meramec are in a career and technical education program concentration.
According to the Association for Career and Technical Education, there is a tremendous shortage of individuals with the necessary skills in sustainability practices, and employers seeking more “green-collar” workers often face bleak prospects.
Benesh said programs like these are exactly what CTE should be trying to make available.
“That’s what we’re here for; to prepare students for the local work force so that they can get jobs that are high pay and high wage,” Benesh said.
