Public Power - September/October 2007 - (Page 23)

employees for the program, and then added a new hire. The courses are fully interactive, with e-mail and chat sessions. “The distance issue didn’t really come up,” said Donald Ricketts, a newly minted senior engineering technician at Danville. “We could always telephone the college, but we didn’t need to,” For Ricketts and most of his participating co-workers, the online Bismarck State College program was the only realistic option. “It would have been almost impossible for me, as a parent, to attend classroom sessions in the evening.” Getting started—There is more than one way to establish a relationship with a community college, as a sampling of public power utility partnerships reveals. But in most cases, the utility took the first step. “We can’t assume that community colleges will discern our needs,” said Bob Haug, executive director of the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities. When Salt River Project in Phoenix began looking at training options a couple of years ago, it turned to another utility in the region, Arizona Public Service. “We asked people there what kind of designer training they did,” said Pam Hull, an SRP assistant project manager. “They mentioned an online program through the Energy Providers Coalition for Education. That was the trigger for me.” SRP had undergone a reorganization, moving people into electrical design positions. Hull found an online program through Bismarck State College that would augment SRP’s internal training for designers. The college recently graduated the first six SRP employees to enroll. Now, about 25-30 employees are interested in starting the program, said Hull. “Our critical challenge area is electrical design. In addition to designers, we’re including other jobs associated with the electrical design process, such as job processing coordinators. The program isn’t limited to designers.” Sometimes, the idea for a training program comes from outside the utility industry. Capital Idea, an organization in Austin, Texas, that provides educational assistance for lower-income residents, approached Austin Energy about two years www.APPAnet.org ago. “The organization wanted to know if it could place some people in jobs with us,” said Austin Energy’s Alba. “We said it would be hard to place students, because we needed lineworkers and technicians.” So Capital Idea asked: Have you talked to Austin Community College? The answer was no. But the seed had been planted. Austin Energy, together with the Lower Colorado River Authority and a few other municipal and cooperative utilities, contacted Hector Aguilar, chair of the college’s Electronics and Advanced Technologies Department, which offers various degrees in high-technology areas. “They asked if the community college would be interested in developing a program for electric utility workers. “We said: ‘Absolutely.’” As Ron Modesty, Capital Idea’s employer coordinator, noted: “We weren’t driving the train, but we showed the direction and helped put together a relationship that made the program happen.” The program is a good example of cooperation among companies that are competing for talent. “When the tide rises, all the boats rise at the same time,” he said. Austin Community College’s power generation and distribution program, which included internships, exceeded everyone’s expectations. After Austin Energy promoted the program in a bill stuffer, “we Utilities Go the Distance The Energy Providers Coalition for Education (EPCE) partners with educational institutions to provide online programs to help build the utility industry work force . In addition to Bismarck State College in North Dakota, EPCE works with Excelsior College in New York state and Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey. Clemson University in South Carolina will join the effort later this year. For utilities, it’s another tool in the toolbox, said Devon Sheldon, EPCE director. “We talk continually with industry about the kind of work force development needs that can be addressed through quality online education.” Through collaboration with its utility industry members, EPCE develops and sponsors online curricula based on utility job requirements. “We started in 2001 by offering an associate of applied science degree in electric power technology at Bismarck State College,” said Sheldon. “It focused on transmission and distribution, with 17 core courses, and specialization areas such as line construction, metering and system design.” EPCE now sponsors two programs at Bismarck State College, one in nuclear technology and one in electric power technology. It now also sponsors a bachelor’s degree in energy utility technology at Thomas Edison State College. The online curricula at Bismarck State College were designed and developed through a collaboration of EPCE industry partners and the college. The EPCE model is to establish national, standard, industry-specific curricula accessible by anyone, from anywhere, anytime over the Internet. The concept involves leveraging utilities’ time and resources by working in partnership. Because the American Public Power Association is a charter member of EPCE, APPA member utilities can take advantage of two online college programs through Bismarck State College at a discounted tuition rate. The programs are Electric Power Technology and Nuclear Power Technology. Both offer associate of applied science degrees and certificates. Information on EPCE-sponsored training programs can be found at http://www.epceonline.org. Questions about the programs can be sent to info@epceonline.org. s SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2007 23 http://www.epceonline.org http://www.APPAnet.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - September/October 2007

Contents Washington Focus 10 Questions Public Power (Every) Week Training Tomorrow’s Work Force What’s in Your Wallet? U.S. Lags in Broadband Deployment Now What? For Engineers Safety Community Broadband For Governing Boards Human Resources Hometown Connections Customer Service DEED Index to Advertisers Advertisers by Category Parting Shot

Public Power - September/October 2007

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