http://www.sustainablesantafeguide.com/
Santa Fe Community College GEARS UP TO GO GREEN
In the fall of 2007, the Santa Fe community overwhelmingly passed a bond
providing funding for a new Health Science Building and the STC, a
38,000-square foot facility at the Santa Fe Community College that would
serve as Santa Fe’s focal point for all environmental trades and advanced
technologies programs and activities. With classes opening in the fall of
2010, the Sustainable Technologies Center will realize SFCC President Dr.
Sheila Ortega’s long-term dream: to provide students with hands-on
education in high growth, high-tech programs for 21st century careers.
Above: SFCC President Sheila Ortego at Sustainable Technologies Center
groundbreaking ceremony.
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Curriculum development in sustainability has been underway for years as
part of the College’s institution-wide initiative to secure SFCC’s place
as a leader in the greening of post-secondary education in New Mexico.
The College now has an approved two-year, 60 credit-hour Associate of
Applied Science in Environmental Technologies degree with solar and water
concentrations. A stand-alone one-year solar certificate is attracting
students from around the state. Two other certificates now available are
Green Building Systems, intended primarily for professionals already
working in construction-related industries and Green Building
Construction Skills, incorporating technology and sustainability in
applied vocational skills for students new to the field.
At the end of spring term 2009, a new Biofuels certificate was approved
and the first classes were held this past fall. This science-strong
certificate provides students with the skills required to work in the
industry or create their own biofuels business, emphasizing non-food
sources such as algae and native plants. The development of this program
is being funded through the Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic
Development (WIRED), a Department of Labor program. The Biofuel
Certificate is intended to become a part of a larger Alternative Fuels
degree in the future.
Thanks also to funding from WIRED, scholarships are available for
students to complete one of the green certificates or degrees; they also
supported a summer program, Training Today’s Youth for Tomorrow’s Jobs,
providing at-risk students with 9-credit hours toward the 23-hour Green
Building Construction Skills certificate this past summer while building
a Habitat for Humanity home.
STC classes are not only technical in nature. Core to the programs are
courses focusing on whole systems thinking, environmental ethics, law,
economics and renewable energies. The Institute for Sustainability is
overseeing integration of the concept into programs curriculum-wide.
Another goal for these new green programs is to engage students into
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-related fields.
These new certificates can count for credit in other, more transferable
programs, such as general engineering.
The new Sustainable Technologies Center will provide much-needed space
for new programs. Five high-ceilinged ‘shop’ classrooms will house
plumbing and integrated construction technologies, a
photovoltaic/concentrated solar power/solar thermal and small wind lab,
welding, biofuels and a Green Grid lab. The entire building, designed by
Lloyd and Associates, will be a learning environment, featuring a
demonstration park where business and industry can ‘plug and play’
alternative energy sources into the smart grid control center. Rooftops
will be accessible for students to install, monitor and maintain solar
and small wind systems. A 3-D ‘cave’ will enable high definition
simulation and modeling. Credit and non-credit courses will be available
to the public at large on topics of community interest.
Opportunities abound, as well as challenges. The STC will require
equipment and resources for which there is currently limited funding.
Director of the Sustainable Technologies Center Randy Grissom is a board
member of the New Mexico Green Collaborative, a statewide working group
that has requested stimulus funding for shovel-ready green jobs. “New
Mexico is poised to be a leader in renewable energies,” he believes.
“With the STC, Santa Fe can lead state efforts in education and training
for a green workforce.” All of the STC programs are currently offered
through the School of Business and Applied Technologies. SFCC was an
original signatory of the American College and University Presidents
Climate Commitment, and faculty and staff are working hard to meet the
Climate Commitment requirements for the institution.
President Ortega sums up the current efforts, saying, “I am enthusiastic
about the impact we can have now, and in the future, not just to reduce
SFCC’s carbon footprint but to ready a new workforce to meet the
monumental challenges we face, as an institution, as a nation, as a
civilization.”
Al Reid is a native Santa Fean and dean at SFCC who’s worked at the
college for 19 years. For more information about the Sustainable
Technologies Center, call Director Randy Grissom at 428-1641 or email
randy.grissom@sfccnm.edu
Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
an educational
non-profit since 2000
(805) 962-2571
P.O. Box 92156, Santa Barbara, CA 93190
margie@sbpermaculture.org
www.sbpermaculture.org
"We are like trees,
we must create new leaves, in new directions, in order to grow." -
Anonymous