The six community college teams in the 2024-2026 MentorLinks cohort met their mentors in October in Washington, D.C., and quickly fell into discussions about the details of their plans for improving a STEM technician education program.
In between those conversations, the mentees attended professional development sessions organized by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) to introduce the mentees – who are community college faculty members and administrators – to the resources of the National Science Foundation (NSF), particularly its Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program. AACC offers MentorLinks with the support of an NSF ATE grant.
This article is the second of two that examine some of the projects developed by community colleges in the National Science Foundation’s MentorLinks program. Today’s article focuses on colleges in the 2024-26 cohort, while the previous one looked at colleges in the 2023-25 cohort.
During formal presentations and small group meetings, mentees had the opportunity to learn from all the mentors – who are either retired or active community college educators with expertise in advanced technology and experience executing successful grant-funded projects.
The networking that MentorLinks facilitates is one of its distinctive features and one that former mentees have rated as extremely valuable. MentorLinks provides participants with access to the annual ATE Principal Investigators’ Conference right after the MentorLinks meeting. Mentors help program participants navigate the large conference and introduce them to principal investigators who can help them attain their MentorLinks project goals.
Another unusual feature of MentorLinks is the travel support it provides for each mentor to visit their mentee team’s campus and for mentees to do a reverse site visit. During reverse site visits, participants tour one or more community colleges with a well-run program and faculty that are willing to explain their advanced technology initiatives, which are in the same field as the mentees’ project.
New participants’ plans
The 2024-2026 mentees summarized their goals and plans for the next academic year during the MentorLinks meeting in October.
Cascadia College in Washington, which is primarily a transfer institution, wants to revitalize its information technology (IT) pathways to align its computer science degree offerings with industry needs. The project plans to reach out to high school guidance counselors, teachers, students and parents to explain it will soon offer technical training in computer science, not just transfer programs. The project intends to work with nonprofit organizations to develop internships for students and mentorships for new graduates to help them transition to the technical workforce.
Brian Bansenauer, senior founding faculty, leads the project. Erik Tingelstad, dean for student learning, is the other team member. Their mentor is Ken Yanow, professor of geographical sciences at Southwestern College in California.
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The team from Guilford Technical Community College in North Carolina is developing curriculum and buying equipment to launch a bioprocess manufacturing degree program in 2025. Interest in this new degree was sparked by a company in the college’s service area announcing its plans to expand into tissue development and biomanufacturing. While that company’s facility is under construction, the team anticipates that graduates will find employment with small, local biotech firms.
Anne Simpson, dean of science, technology, engineering and math at Guilford Tech, leads the project. Kristen Johnson, chair of the sciences department and associate professor of biology, is the other team member. Their mentor is Bridgette Kirkpatrick, a professor and coordinator of biotechnology at Collin College in Texas.
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Lehigh Carbon Community College in Pennsylvania plans to embed course-based undergraduate research experiments in revised biology labs. The team hopes this hands-on approach to learning technical and research skills – both prized by the region’s large employers – will attract and retain students. Mentor Sheela Vemu said the innovative project will help students develop “skill-based research portfolios” that will show prospective employers that they can do particular skills and work on teams. Vemu anticipates that the revamped labs will also teach students how to assess data and communicate its meaning. The team aims to build more connections with industry during the next academic year.
Andrew King, assistant professor of Biology leads the Lehigh Carbon team; Robyn Davis, assistant science laboratory manager is also on the team. Vemu is an associate professor of viology at Waubonsee Community College in Illinois.
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River Parishes Community College in Louisiana plans to launch an industry match day for process technology internships. The team hopes the program will increase both paid work-based learning opportunities for students and the percentage of students who participate in them. Among the hurdles the project seeks to overcome is that many students cannot do unpaid internships because they have other jobs. Another is that each company that offers internships has its own application process and timeline for interviewing and placing students.
Project leaders are reaching out to industry with ideas for standardizing the internships process. They anticipate a unified effort will help the college align its program to match industry needs and help students gain experience using the skills that employers want. “There’s a lot of merit in what they’ve put forward already,” said mentor David Cofer, senior director of community partnerships at Columbus State Community College in Ohio.
The project is led by Donovan Thompson, dean of energy sciences. Paul Donaldson, vice chancellor of academic affairs and institutional effectiveness is the other team member.
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Rochester Community and Technical College in Minnesota plans to add a cybersecurity degree program. A key goal of the project is to develop a “meaningful” capstone course. The team also hopes to encourage students to take certification exams and develop a mechanism for covering exam costs so all students have the opportunity to earn industry-recognized cybersecurity credentials.
The team is led by Brendan Shea, professor of philosophy and computer science. Brenda Frame, dean of liberal arts and general education, is also on the team. Their mentor is Davina Pruitt-Mentle, lead for academic engagement at the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, an initiative of the National Institute of Standards and Technology at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
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University of Arkansas Rich Mountain Community College intends to start a technical agriculture program for beginning farmers and ranchers. The rural region served by the college has many small family farms. The team hopes the program it develops with input from poultry producers, cow-calf operators and large retail purchasers of agriculture products will attract students from across the state.
The project is led by Kyle Carpenter, associate vice chancellor for academics. Walker Anttila, agriculture instructor and the college’s livestock judging coach, is also on the team. Their mentor is Ellen Bluth, former principal investigator of the Environmental and Natural Resources Technology Center, an ATE center at Central Carolina Community College.
