ATEP has begun substantive discussions of space allocations and specifications with Vital Link Executive Director Kathy Johnson as well as representatives of Hudson Capital and gkkworks to outline a potential partnership in ATEP's Phase 3a expansion. Other potential partnership meetings were held with Doug Smith, principal of Village Green, who is interested in partnering with ATEP to deliver green workforce training and development.
Dr. Don Busche, members of the ATEP team and Chancellor's Executive Team facilitated a District Leadership Team planning workshop on ATEP which included a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analysis, evaluation of ATEP's vision and mission statements and ATEP's strategic direction. A subsequent survey is being sent to all district managers and administrators for input on delineation of ATEP and college responsibilities and communication strategies.
ATEP hosted approximately 50 8th grade students from multiple Orange County schools to participate in a Career Tech day sponsored by the SB 70 Career Technical Education Collaborative at Saddleback College. The students spent time with faculty in the Center for Applied Competitive Technologies learning about careers in software development, optics, photonics and lasers; and the Design Model Making/Rapid Prototyping lab learning about the many careers that employ skilled workers in model making, prototyping and industrial design.
Provost Randy Peebles continues to be an active member on accreditation committees at Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College to provide input and feedback regarding ATEP for the college accreditation reports under development.
Student services staff and faculty from IVC and SC convened to discuss and plan expansion of requisite special and ancillary services at the ATEP campus to better serve students.
ATEP staff participated in Design Phase Two of District IT's "Sherpa" knowledge base system and is also working with District IT to develop an ATEP mobile application for smartphones.
Provost Randy Peebles, Dean Rocky Cifone and Director Tere Fluegeman attended the Orange County Business Council (OCBC)'s Annual Dinner to network with business leaders for potential partnerships.
ATEP is developing an ACCCA Conference presentation entitled, "Thinking Outside the College: A Model for Serving Tomorrow's Students" which will highlight the unique challenges and innovative opportunities that the ATEP campus will provide for serving tomorrow's students.
ATEP has contracted with Orange County Business Council (OCBC) to provide detailed research in four major program areas as part of the ongoing development of ATEP in support of the colleges.
The ATEP administrative and development team developed a partnership prospectus to outline partnership criteria and classifications for consideration by the Chancellor's Executive Team. A funding model is also being developed which outlines all of the potential available funding resources for the development of ATEP. A construction timeline has also been developed which outlines the various planning steps for the completion of ATEP's next expansion (Phase 3a.)
The Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) has developed a new collaboration with UCI Extension that will enable both UCI and ATEP to offer classes jointly on the two campuses. CACT is currently offering technical math workshops, and courses in Fiber Optics Fundamentals, Fiber Optics Communications, Computer Repair Basics with CompTIA A+ Certification, LabVIEW basics, and LabVIEW Optical Component Analysis.
CACT is working on several Economic and Workforce Development grant proposals: one for the renewal of CACT state funding; two Industry Driven Regional Collaborative (IDRC) grants that would establish a design center and an environmental training center at ATEP; a NSF grant proposal to fund a "MIT FabLab" at ATEP. Funding from this grant would be shared between Saddleback College's RapidTech program and CACT to provide lab time for companies to use rapid prototype equipment and faculty to develop new products and production processes.
CACT director Bruce Sobczak is attending three local conferences: WEST 2010, Aerospace Expo; SolidWorks 2010, Design Expo; and the Pacific Design and Manufacturing Show where he will network with industry representatives, gather information about workforce training needs and promote CACT's services.
Promotion of spring classes continues and enrollment is steady and strong at the ATEP campus with increased efficiency in the use of the facilities.