Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington received a $1 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to lead national efforts in developing and expanding workforce training in medical device manufacturing over the next four years.
“This DOL grant award further enables the college to provide vital support for community workforce and economic development needs, and it solidifies Ivy Tech-Bloomington’s national leadership in biotechnology workforce development and skills training,” states John Whikehart, Chancellor of Ivy Tech’s Bloomington campus.
Ivy Tech’s Bloomington campus is one of 12 colleges to receive grant funding through its membership in the national Community College Consortium for Biosciences Credentials, which received a $15 million dollar U.S. Department of Labor grant through the DOLs Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) initiative. (See addendum, below, for complete listing of consortium members).
Ivy Tech-Bloomington’s portion of the grant, $1 million, is dedicated to developing new courses specifically tailored for medical device manufacturing.
“Ivy Tech-Bloomington’s goal is to harmonize the national curriculum on medical device manufacturing education,” states Dr. Sengyong Lee, professor of Biotechnology at Ivy Tech-Bloomington. “Currently, there is no well-defined medical device curriculum that is endorsed by the industry nationwide, so Ivy Tech-Bloomington is responsible for developing the pathways for a two-year degree and specific certificates by closely working with our industry partners.”
Additionally, Ivy Tech’s Bloomington campus will purchase machines for the manufacturing training suite at the Indiana Center for the Life Sciences – a plastic thermoforming machine, blown film extrusion equipment, and a compression molding press.
In total, 297 schools received grants as individual applicants or as members of a consortium. The grants include 27 awards to community college and university consortia totaling $359,237,048 and 27 awards to individual institutions totaling $78,262,952. All education materials developed through the grants will be available for use by the public and other education providers through a Creative Commons license.
Addendum
The 12 community colleges in the Consortium include:
- Alamance Community College in Graham, NC
- Austin Community College in Austin, TX
- Bucks County Community College in Newtown, PA
- City College of San Francisco in San Francisco, CA
- Forsyth Technical Community College, Winston-Salem, NC (Consortium Leader)
- Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington, IN
- Los Angeles Valley College in Los Angeles, CA
- Madison Area Technical College, Madison, WI
- Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, PA
- Rowan Cabarrus Community College in Salisbury, NC
- St. Petersburg College in St. Petersburg, FL
- Salt Lake Community College in Salt Lake City, UT