Rowan College’s Bold Move in Advanced Manufacturing Education
Dr. Cortney Bolden, an engineering administrative instructor at Rowan College of South Jersey, showcases a hexapod robot used by students in their Advanced Manufacturing program.
Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ) is making significant strides in advanced manufacturing education, thanks to a substantial funding award of nearly $400,000 from the New Jersey Community College Consortium for Workforce and Economic Development. This funding is set to propel students into new educational and employment opportunities in the advanced manufacturing sector.
Last October, RCSJ was granted $380,996 as part of the third year of the New Jersey Pathways to Career Opportunities (NJ Pathways) initiative.
According to njcommunitycolleges.org, the NJ Pathways program is designed to unite employers, industry associations, labor unions, educational institutions, and workforce development partners. The goal is to equip students and workers with the necessary education and career paths to secure competitive wages and ensure that employers have access to a highly skilled workforce to meet labor market demands.
One of the core strengths of NJ Pathways lies in the collaborative relationships among New Jersey’s educational institutions. Recently, RCSJ announced its role as the Lead Institution for the Center of Workforce Innovation for Manufacturing and Supply Chain Logistics, a part of the NJ Pathways initiative.
Collaborating institutions include Camden County College, Sussex County Community College, Raritan Valley Community College, and Hudson County Community College, among others.
“Together, we will align our educational goals with the state of New Jersey’s critical workforce needs, fulfilling the goals of this NJ Pathways to Career Opportunities Initiative,” stated Dr. Fred Keating, president of RCSJ, in a press release. “On behalf of RCSJ, I want to thank the partnering institutions for their leadership and innovation. I’m excited to see the transformative work this collaboration achieves.”
The funding has been allocated to two main “Pathways Projects”:
- Center of Workforce Innovation for Renewable Energy: Workforce Plus Series: Renewable Energy and Offshore Wind (Hybrid)
- Center of Workforce Innovation for Manufacturing & Supply Chain Management: Advanced Manufacturing Stackable Degree
Dr. Cortney Bolden, an engineering administrative instructor at RCSJ, regards the NJ Pathways initiative as a “blessing” for the college.
“It’s just providing students pathways to getting training, getting various degrees and certifications and to do it in … a more synergistic way,” she explained. “It helps traditional and non-traditional students including CTE (Career and Technical Education) students who want to continue their education.”
Bolden, who also serves as the director of the Mechatronics Innovation Learning Lab (MILL), emphasized how the initiative supports an advanced manufacturing stackable degree and enhances the college’s training facilities. “It really puts us in a good place,” she added.
In a piece she authored about stackable degrees, Bolden wrote: “Stackable credentials refer to the ability to accumulate knowledge and skills gained through training, school or the workplace and apply them toward higher-level or adjacent credentials.”
The grant has also enabled RCSJ to award scholarship funds to 40 high school students interested in advanced manufacturing.
“We’re working with four high schools, Millville, Egg Harbor Township, Gateway, and Cumberland Regional,” Bolden mentioned. “We provided four five-week boot camp courses to introduce them to various elements of advanced manufacturing. They got a chance to use the CNC (Computer Numeric Control) machines. They got the chance to use the robot … that we recently purchased.”
The college has also invested in placing a CNC machine and a collaborative robot on its Gloucester campus, enhancing the training programs available across both campuses.
RCSJ collaborates with local vocational schools, such as the Cumberland County Technical Education Center and the Gloucester County Institute of Technology, to further enrich the program.
“With the funding, we have several partners. We have Salem Community College and another is Rowan University,” Bolden noted. “Rowan is also creating an advanced manufacturing bachelor’s degree so that we can stack. We created it with the University so that students can have … a direct path to a bachelor’s degree without any issues.”
Bolden highlighted the vast employment opportunities in the field of advanced manufacturing, which includes roles such as manufacturing engineers, machinists, manufacturing technicians, robotic technicians, and mechatronic technicians.
“They also have the opportunity to become automation technicians and designers,” she elaborated. “We realize manufacturing has been around forever. The difference is now we’re creating products in a more advanced, innovative way. Now, we’re using robots to help us create products. Now we’re using automation to help us create products. We’re using different materials … that haven’t been used before.”
The advanced manufacturing program not only benefits RCSJ and its students but also brings advantages to local businesses.
“RCSJ is becoming a premier advanced manufacturing institution, so this program will essentially help the greater community,” Bolden stated. “The equipment we have is based on the current market, but it’s also based on what our local employers say they need.”
For additional information about Rowan College of South Jersey programs, please visit RCSJ.edu.
Original Story at snjtoday.com