Delaware Tech partners with Lane Community College to offer energy management curriculum
Delaware Technical & Community College (DTCC) is partnering with Lane Community College (LCC) in Eugene, Oregon, to offer Delawareans an associate degree program based on Lane’s award-winning curriculum in residential and commercial energy efficiency and building systems management. Graduates of the program will work as facility managers, energy auditors, and energy program coordinators for such…
Delaware Technical & Community College (DTCC) is partnering with Lane Community College (LCC) in Eugene, Oregon, to offer Delawareans an associate degree program based on Lane’s award-winning curriculum in residential and commercial energy efficiency and building systems management. Graduates of the program will work as facility managers, energy auditors, and energy program coordinators for such diverse employers as engineering firms, public and private utilities, energy equipment companies, and departments of energy.
Roger Ebbage, director of the Northwest Energy Education Institute at LCC, is helping DTCC develop its degree program through the support of a National Science Foundation grant. Since 1992, Roger has led Lane’s Energy Management Program, the oldest comprehensive associate degree in the country and one of the few accredited by the Institute for Sustainable Power. The program has become a national model for energy education and received the “Innovation of the Year” award from the League for Innovation in the Community College. “There has been a need for these programs across the country since the Carter era, but it has been slow in catching on. This grant allows us to provide the curriculum that community colleges need to deploy these vital programs in states where the energy efficiency workforce doesn’t exist, and Delaware Tech is one of our most enthusiastic partners,” according to Ebbage who is helping interview candidates for Delaware Tech’s new energy management instructors as part of the grant.
This degree program is the latest in a series of Delaware Tech’s new applied energy offerings that are fully aligned with Governor Markell’s goals of creating new energy-related jobs, helping consumers and businesses reduce their energy consumption, and creating a healthy environment for Delawareans. According to DNREC Secretary Colin O’Mara, “By integrating forward-thinking policies, pioneering programs from the Sustainable Energy Utility, Delaware Tech’s expertise delivering world-class workforce development programs, and the efforts of numerous innovative local companies, Delaware is working toward become a national leader in the transition to a clean energy economy and creating thousands of well-paying jobs in the process. The partnership between Delaware Tech and Lane Community College, supported by funding from the National Science Foundation, will ensure that hundreds of Delawareans have the skills they need to seize the emerging economic opportunities in numerous clean energy-related industries.”
Slated to begin this fall, the program contains an on-line component taught by Lane faculty and a hands-on lab component taught by Delaware Tech’s new energy management instructors. “While we’re currently offering short-term programs in weatherization and residential energy auditor training, an associate degree program in energy management is another step towards fulfilling the College’s college’s vision to become a regional center of excellence in energy education,” remarked Dr. Orlando J. George, Jr. , president of Delaware Tech.
Source: DTCC press release
May 10, 2010
Lisa Hastings-Sheppard
(302) 562-8600
