News and Features

The City of Charlotte, in partnership with Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont and Central Piedmont, is launching an additional fall cohort of its Renewable Energy and Efficiency Workforce (RENEW) training program on Oct. 6.

RENEW provides paid training in the areas of construction; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC); and the electrical trades.

“These skill sets are in high demand in the Charlotte region,” said Brian Lucas, associate dean of skilled trades at Central Piedmont. “RENEW will teach eligible students the basic skills they need to succeed in the workforce and potentially place them in successful full-time, entry-level employment opportunities upon completion.”

The upcoming 16-week training classes will be held virtually and in person at both the Goodwill Construction Skills Training Center, located at 1335 Alleghany St., and on Central Piedmont’s Harper Campus, located in southwest Charlotte. The classes are scheduled from Oct. 6, 2020 to Feb. 5, 2021, and will focus on a variety of subjects, including:

• basic residential and commercial construction
• HVAC training, with an emphasis on energy efficiency and building automation systems
• basic electrical training that can potentially lead to job placement in facility management, electrical trade work, solar/photovoltaic panel installation and maintenance, and/or electric vehicle maintenance and charging infrastructure careers
• general energy management concepts

In addition to learning real world skills, students will receive: a stipend of $15/hour, career counseling in preparation for a paid work-based learning opportunity, OSHA 10 and EPA 608 certifications, and full-time employment within the industry.

The deadline to apply for participation in the fall 2020 cohort is Friday, Sept. 25, 2020.

Questions? Contact Marvin Kelley with the Goodwill Construction Skills Training Center at 704.839.4235 or via email.

Central Piedmont’s Wilton and Mary W. Parr Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence has been featured in the 2020 Achieving the Dream (AtD) Teaching and Learning Toolkit, a resource that is shared on the organization’s website and with its 277 partner institutions located in 44 states across the country.

AtD assembles the toolkit each year for the nation’s college faculty and teaching staff to build institutional capacity in teaching and learning. The toolkit offers best practices for teaching remotely and in the classroom and an assortment of higher education case studies focused on promoting student success through policies and practices.

Central Piedmont’s Parr Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence is featured in Chapter 5 of the Toolkit titled, “A Hub for Innovation & Change: Strengthening Your College’s Professional Learning Infrastructure.” The chapter focuses on the importance of having Professional Learning Hubs – a term AtD uses to describe any college-wide unit that organizes, develops, and supports faculty professional learning activities – on higher education campuses.

Central Piedmont’s new Parr Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence fits AtD’s Professional Learning Hub definition, as detailed in the article. Chapter 5 describes how the college’s Teaching and Learning Excellence Team used data to not only support the creation of a Center at Central Piedmont, but also to determine the Center’s focus areas (faculty programming, faculty development, faculty engagement, etc.); mission, vision, and values; and more.

“The Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence at Central Piedmont is a hub for innovation,” said Shantell Strickland-Davis, executive director for the Parr Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence. “It’s an anchor, an intentional place for faculty and teaching staff to not only build a culture of excellence for teaching at the college, but also raise awareness of Central Piedmont as a quality two-year college across the region, state, and country.”

NC State’s Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research recently released its International Education at North Carolina Community Colleges report, and Central Piedmont’s efforts in providing international education opportunities to its students were featured in the report’s findings.

The report is a collaboration between the Belk Center and the North Carolina Community College System Office and uses data collected during the 2019-2020 academic year to explore how North Carolina community colleges address the system’s mission to “develop a globally and multi-cultural competent workforce.”

The report provides a broad overview of what sorts of international education opportunities are available at NC community colleges and suggests that international education is much more prevalent at NC community colleges than national data indicates.

Central Piedmont has been offering study abroad experiences to its students and members of the local community in for more than 20 years. Each year, during spring break and the summer term, Central Piedmont faculty members lead short-term study abroad excursions to a variety of locations across the globe, including: Ecuador, Italy, Greece, Japan, Thailand, Peru, Tanzania, and many others.

Since the college’s 2020 study abroad programs were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Learning Office has turned its attention to:

• providing students with virtual, international exchange experiences
• encouraging students to apply for the Scholars of Global Distinction program
• ensuring the college’s curriculum includes a global learning perspective

To learn more, please contact global.learning@cpcc.edu or visit cpcc.edu/academics/global-learning/study-abroad.

Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Company, through its charitable giving arm The Dowd Foundation, has awarded Central Piedmont Community College a $1-million grant to support plumbing and pipefitting scholarships and instruction at the college.

Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Company, founded in 1901, has a deep and ongoing interest in strengthening Charlotte’s construction and infrastructure sectors. Charlotte Pipe, the nation’s leading manufacturer of cast iron and plastic pipe and fittings for plumbing applications, has been working for more than a century to ensure the plumbing and pipefitting trades remain viable career paths for future generations.

“Charlotte Pipe and Foundry and The Dowd Foundation are proud to support the plumbing and pipefitting trades,” said Hooper Hardison, president of Charlotte Pipe and Foundry. “We know how essential these career paths can be for young people, as well as for our nation’s infrastructure. We are delighted we have resources like Central Piedmont in our region to provide an education pipeline for the construction trades.”

Central Piedmont will allocate Charlotte Pipe’s gift in the following ways to recognize the company’s important role in the region’s plumbing and pipefitting sectors: 

• Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Company Scholarship Fund ($500,000)—This is a permanently endowed scholarship fund that will provide support for financially needy students enrolled in Central Piedmont plumbing and pipefitting courses.
   
• Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Company Instructional Fund ($500,000)—This fund will support instruction in plumbing and pipefitting at Central Piedmont, providing the resources needed to purchase equipment and materials, invest in faculty development and address instructional capacity.

“We are so grateful to Charlotte Pipe and The Dowd Foundation for this generous and impactful grant,” said Dr. Kandi Deitemeyer, Central Piedmont president. “The Charlotte region needs many more skilled tradespersons, such as plumbers and pipefitters. These are stable, sustainable, and well-paying careers. This grant will help the college recruit and educate more individuals, setting them on a path to career success and economic mobility.”

Learn more about Central Piedmont’s construction management technology program. 

Bridge Builders Charlotte, a joint effort between Belk Chapel at Queens University and Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core, has awarded Central Piedmont a $25,000 grant to promote social justice and educational equity across the Charlotte region.

Bridge Builders Charlotte aims to use campus-community partnerships to overcome social divides and make our community stronger – with a specific aim of strengthening the Charlotte community’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.

The grant proposal was spearheaded by Chris Brawley, a religion professor in the Humanities Division at Central Piedmont. The funding will be used to hire three Central Piedmont student interns who will work in conjunction with Central Piedmont’s Student Life department and local nonprofit Loaves and Fishes, to sponsor two food drives during the fall semester that will address the food needs of various faith traditions.

In addition to preparing specially made food boxes and participating in the food drives, interfaith cards will be included in the boxes, highlighting the common call of every religion to serve others. The food drives will be captured on film and distributed to the wider Charlotte community, showing how various faith traditions can work together (and learn from each other) during times of crisis.

Central Piedmont’s project is being funded through the Gambrell Foundation. Collectively, the Gambrell-Foundation is not only helping fund Central Piedmont’s initiative, but also a variety of projects housed at more than 10 faith communities, five other area colleges and universities (Davidson College, Johnson C. Smith University, Queens University, UNC Charlotte and Wingate University), and six nonprofit organizations.

“These projects will forge connections between Charlotte-area campuses, local nonprofit organizations and religiously diverse communities,” Brawley explains. “Central Piedmont is excited to be involved in this process, and an active participant in leveraging Charlotte’s potential to expand opportunity for those who are most vulnerable as result of the coronavirus crisis.”

The North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges has approved Central Piedmont Community College to offer two, new transfer degree programs in teacher preparation – an Associate in Arts in Teacher Preparation and an Associate in Science in Teacher Preparation. The programs will open Aug. 10, the start of Central Piedmont’s fall semester.

These two, new transfer degree programs will help create a larger pipeline for future teachers in North Carolina’s elementary, middle, and high schools, addressing the state’s critical teacher shortage, particularly in its more rural counties.

“Our new transfer degrees create seamless pathways for our students to transition into bachelor degree programs and successful teaching careers,” said Edith McElroy, associate vice president for transfer and pre-college. “This seamless pathway strategy will help ensure the North Carolina K-12 education system flourishes and is recognized as a national model for teacher recruitment and preparation in the United States.”

The degrees require 45 semester hours of general education courses and 14 hours of education courses, including one course with a focus on the science of reading instruction.

In addition to creating the two, new degree programs, the State Board of Community Colleges also approved corresponding teacher preparation pathways for high school students enrolled in their respective college’s Career & College Promise program. Career & College Promise is a dual enrollment program that gives eligible high school students the opportunity to get a jump-start and earn free college credit toward a two-year degree at Central Piedmont.

“The college is excited to offer a Career & College Promise teacher pathway,” McElroy said. “Now, the journey to becoming a teacher in Mecklenburg County can begin as early as high school, creating a robust, diverse pool of teachers who are even more prepared to serve all areas of the state in the future.”

Learn more about the new associate degree transfer programs in teacher preparation at Central Piedmont.

In celebration of its Class of 2020, Central Piedmont hosted drive-thru graduation ceremonies July 29 and 30 on its Cato Campus, located in northeast Charlotte. More than 440 Central Piedmont 2020 graduates participated in the two-day event, which included ceremonies for the college’s traditional undergraduate programs, as well as its College and Career Readiness programs (high school completion, Accelerated Career Training, and NCWorks Next Gen).

Central Piedmont’s graduation committee designed the college’s drive-thru graduation ceremonies with the health and well-being of its faculty/staff, students, and their family and friends in mind. As a result, all event volunteers and graduates were asked to wear face coverings, and social distancing and state guidelines were followed during the ceremonies.

“It was important we recognize our 2020 graduates’ accomplishments, especially during this unprecedented time, when so many of them had to overcome multiple obstacles to achieve their educational goals this year,” said Kandi Deitemeyer, president of Central Piedmont, who was on-site both days to personally congratulate graduates. “The Class of 2020 is a resilient group of individuals. I look forward to hearing their many success stories and wish them all the best in their future endeavors.”

The college offers nearly 300 programs to get students real-world ready. Affordable and flexible Central Piedmont classes can help students earn the skills to fast track into a career pathway or lay the foundation for a four-year degree. Registration for the fall 2020 term is open. The college looks forward to welcoming new and returning students on Aug. 10.

Fall semester classes at Central Piedmont Community College will begin on Aug. 10, and be taught in multiple formats – online, hybrid, blended and face-to-face. (Hybrid and blended courses include both online and some face-to-face instruction.)

For the safety and well-being of the campus community, the college will complete the vast majority of face-to-face instruction prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. After Thanksgiving, remaining class work will be finished online. Fall classes will end Dec. 11.

“Over the past several weeks, Central Piedmont Community College has been preparing for a safe and successful fall 2020 term,” said Jeff Lowrance, vice president of communications, marketing & public relations at Central Piedmont. “Through numerous discussions and detailed planning across all units of the college, Central Piedmont seeks to provide a safe environment for its students to learn and faculty and staff members to work.

The majority of Central Piedmont students will come to campus a minimal number of times during the semester, with the rest of their instruction occurring online. The college is updating class schedules and information, so current and prospective students should check the college website periodically for updates.

“Central Piedmont is committed to delivering a high-quality educational experience regardless of the program or courses a student selects,” Lowrance said. “The college is working hard to protect the well-being of everyone in our campus community and help students stay on track in their degree, diploma or certificate programs.”

For students who attend classes on campus, the college has adopted a number of safety protocols. Current and prospective students should read the college’s Student Guide to Returning to Campus carefully. It will be important to know and follow all of the safety practices detailed in the guide. These include wearing a face covering, keeping a social distance from others, washing hands frequently, monitoring possible COVID-19 symptoms and staying home if one feels ill at all.

The college offers nearly 300 programs to get students real-world ready. Affordable and flexible Central Piedmont classes can help students earn the skills to fast track into a career pathway or lay the foundation for a four-year degree. Registration for the fall term is now open. The college looks forward to welcoming new and returning students on Aug. 10.

The Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) has awarded Central Piedmont’s Respiratory Therapy program its Distinguished Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) Credentialing Success Award.

The award recognizes a program’s success in inspiring its graduates to achieve their highest educational and professional aspirations and is presented as part of the CoARC’s continued effort to ensure the RRT credential remains a standard of professional achievement in the respiratory therapy field.

To be selected for the award, a program must meet the following criteria:

• Have three or more years of outcomes data
• Hold accreditation without a progress report
• Document RRT credentialing success of 90 percent or above
• Meet or exceed established CoARC thresholds for CRT credentialing success and retention

“It is always an honor to be recognized for exceeding the metrics set forth by our accrediting body - CoARC,” said Jeff Ruiter, program chair for Central Piedmont’s respiratory therapy program. “Our program’s passion for the respiratory profession invigorates us to embody a professional and positive learning environment that enhances student learning. More importantly, it validates our faculty’s commitment to student success and ensuring students achieve their ultimate goal of becoming a respiratory practitioner.”

Learn more about Central Piedmont’s respiratory therapy program.

Central Piedmont is partnering with Chime Solutions, an Atlanta-based customer-contact service provider, to offer customized training for the 250 new life/health insurance agent positions the company is bringing to the Queen City.

As part of its expansion package, Chime Solutions was named a recipient of the North Carolina Community College System’s Customized Training Program.

The community college system’s Customized Training Program provides education, training, and support services for new, expanding, and existing business and industry in North Carolina. To qualify, businesses must demonstrate an appreciable capital investment, the creation of new jobs, and/or the deployment of new technology.

Central Piedmont will facilitate the work with Chime Solutions’ leadership team to not only design a customized life and health pre-licensing program, but also a Medicare supplement training program for the company.

A handful of the college’s community partners will assist with several facets of the customized training program — Charlotte Works and the Urban League of Central Carolinas will support and advertise a virtual job fair for Chime Solutions, and Horizon Professional Education will facilitate the Medicare Supplement training sessions required of each candidate. All of the provided training will be available at no cost to new employees seeking a life/health insurance agent position with the company.

To become qualified for Chime Solution’s new positions, candidates will receive computer training in Microsoft Excel and take a variety of interpersonal skills classes; while aspiring, new leaders will complete a host of supervisory skills training classes.

“During a time period when unemployment is high in the Queen City, Chime Solutions recognized the talented workforce available in our area,” said Allison Bowers, director of economic recruitment and corporate learning at Central Piedmont. “We are delighted Charlotte was chosen as their final destination.”

The college plans to provide the training in-person via multiple sessions over several weeks, so it’s able to adhere to the state’s social distancing guidelines during the current pandemic. Candidates will be required to complete 24 hours of life and health pre-licensing training, as well as additional hours of Medicare supplement training.

Learn more about the college’s Corporate Engagement team