June 17, 2002
INFORMATION: Sue Bozman or John McElwain, (661) 362-3415 or 3494

National Science Foundation Awards $2 Million Grant to COC-led Consortium

The National Science Foundation awarded a $2 million grant to a College of the Canyons-led consortium of community colleges and universities for the creation of a new Regional Center for Information and Manufacturing Technology based at College of the Canyons. The center will serve as a hub for the development of new educational programs and training for students and teachers in the fields of manufacturing and information technology.

Scheduled to be funded over the next three years, the grant will expand an already-existing program ­ the California Regional Consortium for Engineering Advances in Technological Education (CREATE) ­ to a greater scale.

Implemented in the fall of 1997, CREATE brought together community colleges and businesses in an effort to produce new technology-related educational programs, expand existing ones and provide professional development for teachers in technology, so they can provide hands-on training to students. CREATE relies on the expertise and resources of seven Southern California community colleges ­ College of the Canyons, Antelope Valley College, Allan Hancock College, Cuesta College, Moorpark College, Santa Barbara City College and Oxnard College ­ to provide specialized training in specific engineering technology fields ranging in breadth from Cisco, NetPrep and Microsoft systems training to manufacturing technology to robotics. This partnership allows students enrolled at one campus to transfer to any other college in the consortium to take classes in a specialty area. Since 1997, CREATE has educated more than 3,500 students, developed and implemented 30 new degree programs and 105 new courses, and has facilitated more than $1 million in cost-sharing through innovative industry and college partnerships.

The CREATE Regional Center will now take this mission further by increasing feeder classes for students and training opportunities for teachers at the high school level, developing workshops for community college professors, creating internship and job-training opportunities with local businesses, expanding and implementing regional programs in network security and wireless and telecommunications technologies, and developing transfer agreements with four-year universities.

Currently, five universities have agreed to become part of the CREATE Regional Center. They are Cal State University, Northridge; Cal State University, Channel Islands; Cal State University, Fresno; Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona.