ATEP received a $440,000 grant from the State Chancellor's Office to form an Industry Drive Regional Collaborative (IDRC) Center for Environmental Design and Compliance. The Center will provide regional training for energy management, safety, and green manufacturing. Dean Rocky Cifone is researching several additional grant opportunities involving workforce training sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Veterans Administration.
ATEP continues to seek partnerships. This month, three executives from HAAS Automation, Inc. visited the campus to discuss technology partnership opportunities as part of their educational outreach program. ATEP staff also met with Matthew Jenusiatas of OC OCtane to discuss participation in the state-funded Orange County Innovation Hub (iHub). OCtane is a principal agent in the consortium of private-public entities forming the iHub. There are seven iHubs statewide focusing on economic development in green technology and biotechnical science.
ATEP staff is working closely with the Chancellor's Executive Team, District Leadership Team and the district-wide community to gather input for strategic planning foundation documents that will serve to clarify information, review potential issues and provide ongoing planning for the ATEP development. The document will be presented this spring to the Board of Trustees.
The ATEP Development Forum met on Feb. 26 to discuss the process for filing a prospectus outline to solicit ideas for new programs or courses that may be developed for the ATEP expansion. Information was sent to both college Vice Presidents of Instruction for distribution to all faculty to solicit ideas via the prospectus process with a due date of April 16. Many prospectus outlines have been received and will be reviewed by the ATEP Development Forum committee members at the April 30 meeting.
A sharepoint site was created for the ATEP Development Forum representatives to host all planning documents, collect prospectus outlines and share information among participants.
Saddleback College's Rapid Tech operation will move part of its operation to ATEP at the end of May and Saddleback's rapid digital manufacturing classes will be schedule for fall semester.
Recruitment for the Academic Foundations Summer institute has begun and Dr. Maria Besnard is working closely with the Orange County Rescue Mission's Village of Hope and the newly opened Orange County Tustin Family Campus to form the next cohort.
Provost Randy Peebles will attend the AACC conference and a national meeting of OPTEC (The National Center for Optics and Photonics Education) to discuss ATEP becoming an NSF/ATE Regional Photonics Center in 2-4 years.
Provost Randy Peebles and ATEP staff continue to assist the colleges with work on the accreditation reports.
Marketing Director Tere Fluegeman participated in two Business Continuity meetings related to emergency planning and communications continuity between the colleges, district and ATEP.
Promotion of summer classes continues. A schedule of classes at ATEP is being designed for outreach and an online schedule is live on the ATEP website. Promotion of workforce development courses continues with the One Stop centers to assist displaced workers.
ATEP staff continues to attend monthly meetings of OCBC's Economic Development Committee, Workforce Development Committee, and Community College Working Group in order to continue outreach, community relations and recruit partners for training and instruction in broadband engineering, renewable energy, the OC Solar Initiative, and contract and distance education of various types.
ATEP staff attended several community outreach events including Senior Day at Irvine Valley College; a Tustin Chamber member breakfast presentation on two desalination projects subsequent workforce development; and an award presentation to the City of Tustin Police for their nationally recognized Community Relations program.