Southside Virginia Community College has partnered with M.C. Dean to pilot an electrical apprenticeship program.
Beginning this spring, M.C. Dean level one employees that are working their way through a four-year apprenticeship program will also become SVCC students. The apprentices will be able to earn college credit toward an Industrial Electrical Technician Career Studies Certificate. The program will be housed at the Lake Country Advanced Knowledge Center in South Hill.
The students will also have the option to apply the credits toward an Industrial Technology Degree. Vincent Brown, Associate Professor of Industrial Technologies, SVCC; and Chris Foster, Instructor of Industrial Technologies, SVCC; will teach the curriculum for the program.
The curriculum for the program is the NCCER Electrical curriculum. NCCER develops standardized construction and maintenance curriculum and assessments with portable credentials. These credentials are tracked through NCCER’s Registry System that allows organizations and companies to track the qualifications of their craft professionals.
David Nelson, Master Instructor with M.C. Dean, recently met with SVCC faculty members to discuss learning outcomes important for their apprentices.
"M.C Dean is excited about this partnership and the opportunity to recruit local talent. We want these students to have the best training experience possible, that replicates real world applications," said Nelson.
M.C. Dean is headquartered in Tysons, Virginia and employs more than 3,700 professionals who engineer and deploy automated, secure, and resilient power and technology systems. The company has employees currently working at Microsoft's data center in Boydton, VA.
M.C. Dean designs, builds, operates, and maintains cyber-physical solutions for the nation's most recognizable mission-critical facilities, secure environments, complex infrastructure, and global enterprises. The company's capabilities include electrical, electronic security, telecommunications, life-safety, instrumentation and control, and command and control systems.
Anyone interested in starting the apprenticeship program should contact M.C. Dean at (703) 802-6231.
Photo Caption (From left to right): Chris Foster, Instructor of Industrial Technologies, SVCC; David Nelson, Master Instructor, M.C.Dean; and Vincent Brown, Associate Professor of Industrial Technologies, SVCC.
