Santa Rosa Junior College applied technology programs

Sonoma County, a dynamic county combining agriculture and industry, City and country, creating unique and varied challenges for its citizens join us as we present some of the information and services provided by the county of Sonoma to help us as we move into the 21st century. Welcome

to Sonoma County in the nineties with your host, Dana rico and Gina Lash. Hello, I'm Dana D'Errico and this is Sonoma County. In the nineties, Sonoma County enjoys the privilege of a community college. And with me today I have two faculty members from the applied technology

department. They are going to discuss some programs that are offered at the santa rosa Junior College this spring. I am also a graduate of these programs and I'm also an adjunct faculty there. So I do have a certain affinity for this program. I would like to

introduce Debra Sweitzer and jerry Miller. Debra tell us your title and what you do over at the junior college. I'm the program coordinator for the architecture and construction technology program. Um I myself am an architect and I teach many of the courses that are offered in

that program. Okay. And jerry and I'm the program Coordinator for Civil engineering and land surveying Technology and I'm a professional and surveyor as well. And I teach the programs within that department. Sonoma County has always maintained a good working relationship with the Santa Rosa Community College.

We've also had very high employment standards. Can you tell us a little bit about that relationship. Well, I'd like to think that we helped contribute to that through the vocational program that jerry and I teach in one of the connections that we value very highly is

the connection to our advisory committee. Each vocational program has an advisory committee that advises the faculty and staff at the junior college about what exactly the future employees should be learning and should be accomplishing in their education. So for example, in my program we have an

advisory committee that represents professionals from both the private and the public sector. Okay. Um, what about the relationship with industry jerry? Do you want to answer that? Yeah. I think no matter which program with the architecture, construction or civil and surveying technology, you, you'd be hard

pressed not to find at least one employee both in public and private sector that That hasn't gone through the program or taking classes or is familiar with it? In fact, there are a few programs, few private firms that are even owned and operated by former graduates

who've gone on to get their license. If you look at like the county and the city of Santa Rosa, you're probably looking at 80% of their technical force in terms of civil engineering have gone through our program. So it's, it's pretty well rounded throughout the whole

county. That's a very high statistics that you've provided an education to that many people in our community. What is the civil and surveying technology program all about? Why don't you tell our viewers? Well, the civil and survey technology program, we've been around for 35 years, more

or less. And basically what we do is prepare a student for a technical position within the civil engineering or land surveying profession. Um They get experience both in land surveying and engineering design and soils and materials testing, uh construction inspection estimating and scheduling. And it allows

that student very diverse background and education to to get jobs in in many different types of areas in in the profession. For instance, um engineering design or construction inspection, land surveying, planning, estimating, scheduling things of that nature. So it's it's a it's a real diverse program,

probably one of six or seven in the state. Deborah, what is the architecture and construction program all about? It's very similar to what jerry described in the two areas that his program serves. Our program serves technicians in both the architecture field and also construction management. And

our program is based on the premise that if everyone understands a little bit about what each sector of the industry does, what responsibilities are etcetera, then they'll be better prepared to work with the many people that have to be worked with. So our program covers both

the documentation that uh architect would prepare for example to provide directions to a contractor to build a project. And it also covers project management, what a contractor would provide to an owner to actually build the project. One of the things that I found so beneficial is

that concepts were taught the overall concept. Many of the technical things that were taught were very good exercises and you had to to acquire that knowledge in order to go on to a career in this industry, but it's the concepts that continually are of great benefit.

So it's a two year program, both our two year certificate program, so we only have these students for a short period of time, you have to be able to get enough information and knowledge and and skills of these people in a four semester two year sequence

and still make them, you know, quality technicians and be able to work within the field. So it's pretty intense and it goes fairly rapidly and you know, with the technology that we have and the expertise in the instruction. I think that's that's the plus what type

of job can a graduate expect to obtain after graduation? I don't think it's a tv show in some cases it's turned out to be in um in my program, the construction and architecture technology, we have our eyes set on two. Primary focus is one is an

architectural technician who would work primarily in an architect's office occasionally and in a contractor's office, preparing documentation, doing the drafting, making the design decisions, selecting materials, understanding the structural system, doing the drawings. That's one of the main occupational goals of many of our students. The other

one has to do more with the construction industry, an entry level project management is where these students typically will find a job. This usually involves doing estimating and scheduling in a contractor's office. And how about you jerry in our program, it's broken down into primarily three

areas. Um Civil engineering, land surveying and what I consider like land planning or development in the civil engineering. It could be design technician helping a civil engineer out with the civil engineering design for subdivisions, roadway layouts, public works projects, um could also be construction inspection out

in the field, inspecting these heavy construction projects, soil and material material testing. That's a tough one where you're actually taking samples, testing them for standards and and strengths in land surveying. It can be both office worker field work and what I mean by that is working

on a survey crew running a survey crew or working in the office preparing the maps and plans. Um and the land planning area, we're looking primary at plan checking um land development planning issues, owning things of that nature. So um it takes on a there's a

real broad area and they get a little bit of experience in each of them and then are able to apply that knowledge into a full time position who hires these individuals obviously uh county government, city jurisdictions um find a good many of their employees from this

pool and private firms who else um for talking private firms. You're looking at civil engineering offices, land surveying um geotechnical, which would be the soils materials, environmental science, environmental seems to be a big issue these days. Um both in the private and the public sector. And

when I mean public, we're talking federal, state, local county, local city Caltrans for instance has quite a few um around in this area though the county of Sonoma, the city of santa rosa are probably the top two. But you could call city of Healdsburg, City of

Sonoma, city of Petaluma, any of them. And they would all have employees on staff, which is which is a great resource for us and also, you know, a great great tool for promoting the program to um in the private sector. It runs the gamut. I mean

you could open up the phone book and put your finger down and call them up and you probably would find somebody who's been through the program. Well PG any also was hired quite a few people. Pacbell also has some PG in their construction departments. So there

really is a broad avenue for employment opportunity. It's another area as well. And this is more connected to the construction and architecture program which is in the many services support the industry. We have graduates, for example who work for companies that produce pre manufactured trusses who

sell building materials, who do many of the support services for the construction industry. So that's another area where students find employment prefab buildings. Um does the civil engineering and land surveying feel offer good opportunity for minorities. Yeah, I would say minorities and women, especially at the

political climate that's changing now and affirmative action and all that. Um, I think you're finding more and more women are interested in engineering and scientific fields of sciences and architecture. I mean you go to eighth grade schools, which we both travel to elementary and junior highs

and high schools and speak with them. And, And you can tell little girls that, you know, you don't have to aspire to be. Not that being a mother is a bad thing. You don't have to aspire to just be a mother. But you can, if you're

interested in mathematics and science, you can go on to, uh, you know, these are positions that you can take. So yeah, I think it's in my program right now, it's 20% women. So that's fairly high. That's very high. Remember it's been a few years, but many

of the classes I was the only woman and it was kind of interesting at times. But um, what is the range of age of the people who attend these programs? The average age, I would say the average age is probably late 20. We particularly in my

program, it's probably true in yours as well Jerry, many of our students have been working and they have decided it's too time for a change in career. And many of them have been working in the construction industry and decide they'd like to shift their focus and

they come back to school to do this, we do also have students directly out of high school, but I would say more of our students are older and many of them have excellent backgrounds and can really benefit from the educational opportunities that the junior college represents.

You mean in their early thirties, late twenties, early thirties, the range, I just looked it up, the range was 17 to 55. So, you know, it runs, it's fairly people enrolled in the program. Yeah, 17 1 thing too about the experience that also that we're able

to, if they have certain skills and experiences that lend itself to um meeting prerequisites or meeting certain courses that we offer. You know, we can give them credit for and we like to do that. We would like to recognize the experience that people have had, There's

no point to have someone do something they already know how to do on the job training yet maybe lack some formal education. Were able to move them along in that process. So how a student could make an appointment with you if they've had some background and

you would go over their back ground or is there a test that you give them or do they just tell you what they've been doing and you make an assess, how do you make your assessment? It depends in my case, there are courses where there are

specific skills that are required and I ask for documentation of some sort to demonstrate those skills. So for example if we're talking about drafting, if a prospective student can present a portfolio, I can gauge that and say well you belong at this level in our program.

And in addition if work experiences related to one of the skills that we are teaching will grant grant that course to the student. You can tell very quickly just at what level by, by the drawings. I look at blueprints and drawings every day and it's it's

interesting to see yes. At a glance we need to take a pause here, Stay tuned. We'll be right back with more information on the applied technology program. I always thought my dad collected U. S. Savings bonds. He was really helping to ensure the future. His and

mine welcome back to Sonoma County in the nineties, let's rejoin Debra Sweitzer and jerry miller and find some more things about the program offered at santa rosa Junior College this spring. Deborah or jerry. You either can

answer what kind of scholarships or internships or money is available, All different sorts and we'll probably both answer this question because we sort of have access to different pots of money. Uh there are many scholarship programs through our scholarship office at the junior College and students

apply for these and then each year they are awarded and in fact jerry and I participate in evaluating the applicants and selecting the people who receive these scholarships. In addition in my program the industry has been very generous in supporting an internship program. And so we

are actually able to take students in our program put them in a work situation and pay them for doing this so that they have the experience of what it is like to work in a job. We have the professional organizations throughout the county in civil engineering.

Land surveying have also set up specific scholarships just for those students. And then we have scholarships that we give within the applied technology department also. Um The internships are both paid and non paid. They get college credit for those. Um I find those to be the

most beneficial for a student and we try to get them to do at least one before they get out of the program. Uh For two reasons. One they gain some really practical experience on the job. And to they'll find out right away that I make a

wise decision is this really what I want to do? And uh you find out right away. And and there's a real wide variety of them. We have a really good internship program there at the J. C. Tell me I remember the math was a very frightening

thing to think about. Why don't you give us an idea as to how complex that becomes. Math is fun Is not frightening. We offer math classes as part of our program that are applied math class is one of the things that we have learned is that

many of our students are very good at solving real problems. But when you abstract it to its concept level, pure concept pure theory um students don't do as well. So what we have done is we've provided an alternative within our program that focuses on practical mass

skills that students will use in the field that they've chosen to be employed within. And we have found this to be very successful. And then in the courses that we teach, we use these concepts. Everything's reinforced. I mean for instance surveying is just right angle trigonometry,

but when somebody hears trigonometry, they shudder and freeze and guffaw. Uh we teach a good practical application. In other words, you you look at that right angle triangle. And in a math class you may say, I have no idea what this person is talking about. If

you explain to them in real sense or construction sense, maybe what they're, what they're used to, what they have experience in the light bulb tends to come on a little bit quicker. Um Math hasn't changed. It's the same math that's been taught for 2000 years. But

what's changed is you and I and how we perceive things and I think that's the beauty of both. The programs were able to apply mathematics in a in a sense that um is successful, people are successful at it and sure it is a little intimidating, but

I think that's the way things are being taught is how you perceive these, this information. So it's a real hands on where you have a physical example, so you can apply sense to it. Yeah, that's that's great because I know that that is kind of a

fear that people do have um what type of classes are taught in the certificate program? You mentioned some of them um Tell me about the architecture and construction. Okay. I'd like to, first of all show the schedule of classes. Every resident in Sonoma County should have

received one of these classes start on 15 January, so there's still time to enroll in the classes, all the courses that are offered are listed under either applied technology, construction or a civil engineering and survey technology. And in the back of the book are the actual

certificate patterns, the courses that are required to receive the certificate. And I think that's probably really the question you were asking. So let me respond first by saying that in the architecture construction program, uh the first year is looked upon as building basic skills. This is

where we teach basic drafting skills, some on the board and also computer aided drafting and basic math. There are some other computer literacy skills, it's certainly clear that computers are here to say in the construction industry. Um in addition we begin to develop knowledge of code

and also of project management and in the final year of the program. The student is engaged in courses which teach skills related to scheduling, estimating uh design of structural systems, materials, testing much much more advanced and technical skills. Same with us. We begin with basic skills

learning new equipment, how to operate new equipment, surveying equipment, how to make measurements, uh dealing with the numbers, the math. Um developing good drafting skills, computer skills. Another thing with both courses, communication skills that seems to be the number one um complaint of most employees. They

want their employees to be able to work and problem solve together. So communication skills in the last year the last two semesters they're able to apply those skills in a practical project oriented type classes where they put all the skills together to produce a project and

working type environment. So what are the minimum prerequisites to get into the program Or are there any essentially we have none. The program itself provides the prerequisites for being successful and and finding employment in the industry. High school graduate or G. E. D. Coming down signing

up on the dotted line and take the classes and working hard and and no math background. They can pick up their math background. They could they could start a lot of students come in and say boy it's been 20 years since I was in high school.

How do I? I haven't taken math since then And maybe they would feel more comfortable taking a refresher course or maybe they want to jump in and try it and that's the beauty of the community college system. You have that opportunity. There's many different paths in

which you can go in the, in the community college also offers an assessment service so students can test their level to determine the proper level for both math and english skills in the assessment center. They also offer a program where you can also be assessed for

your aptitude towards certain programs. Is that not correct? Yeah. Do some jobs. Yeah, that, that, that is also a benefit to the public if they're not quite sure. Um, what program they want to go into, what kind of income can a student expect to earn after

completion and graduation. We're just talking about this on the way over it. I've been with the program four years now and since I've come to the program, it's been, um, anywhere starting salary from 12 to $15 an hour, which I think is a phenomenal amount of

money for a two year education, um, has gone as low as 8 to 10 from what certain employers have said. But on the whole of all the graduates that I've had, they've all started around 12 to 14 and a couple at $15 an hour And knock

on wood. We still have, everybody's gotten a job, so that's a good sign. So employment rate percentage is 100%. Just about, yeah. In my program, the starting salaries are a little bit less than that. And um in fact it depends on whether you choose to pursue

architectural technology or construction management technology, but 8 to $12 is that's pretty wide range. But within that range is typically what the starting salary would be for an entry level technician in those two areas. Do you have any statistics on um where they go from there

from the starting level in like five years? What the income actually the ones that I always give out are the counties pay schedules and the city's pay schedule. Since they're published, private firms generally don't want to give out that information. But the you know for technician

levels. Tech one tech two, tech three. The county will give you the job description or the city and the pay scale and with their different rates of pay and that's a real good judge. I think most firms take the county as the standard and then go

from there. Um So there is, you know, you can see the progression of where you can go, how much you can make and what jobs are available, where how many of the students go on to a four year program? Do you have numbers on that in

mind? It's only been, I've only had two. I have many more. I have many students who go on to architecture school and some who transfer to four year programs in construction management. The I would say probably 30% of my students do that. I'm gonna say it's

about 10. Are there any four year colleges or universities that are earmarked after graduation from this program where they kind of can go right into that. In general community colleges are transfer institutions to CSU and you see our particular school has what are called articulation agreements

with all of the schools and colleges and we know ahead of time what courses that we offer will transfer. And when the student has decided where they would like to go to school, they can go to our transfer center and determine what courses will actually transfer.

I should say that there is a difference between a transfer program and a vocational program and what jerry and I have been talking about is a vocational program. Our concern is with practical skills that students can put to work right away. The beauty of it is

is you have the opportunity to go on if you wish and much like you know that you can go on and become a licensed engineer, surveyor, architect. Um even after this program, if that's what you wish. And and that's sort of the nice part about it.

It's really the basics getting the foot in the door and the basic training, what kind of equipment and technology is available within the program. We've been very, very fortunate we have. Now, I'm gonna guess 50 stations more or less to complete computer rated integrated classrooms. I

think that's the term we use these days um with the full computer software, architecture, civil engineering and applied graphics graphic arts besides uh the Windows 95 format with all the Microsoft spreadsheet database and word processing. Um the new one was about 100 and 50,000 or so,

something like that. So the school has really been um behind us in terms of buying the best equipment, the best technology and in the surveying equipment, I probably have easily over $150,000 in surveying equipment alone. Um So we're real beneficial. I think the facilities, from my

point of view in my program are excellent. Um I'd put them up against most firms here in the county would probably be a little jealous of what we have. There are all the electronic, absolutely all electronic total stations and data collection. Now. We still have, you

still have to use those. You have to start there. Oh you still use those. We didn't throw those out area that we have access to is an excellent materials lab where we actually test the strength of materials and failure rates and behavior of different materials and

that's very well equipped as well. Okay. Another resource though that never should say never gets overlooked those. I think the quality instruction if you look at the instructors, both adjunct and full time. Um We have some very, very good instruction going on there and and they

all have good qualifications. They've all worked in the industry besides having good educational background. So in the case of the adjunct faculty in my program, they are all working in the industry, people like you, for example, as well as other architects, other construction managers, people who

are actually working in the field. So our students know what it is. By the time they finished taking the program they have access to people. It is self evident just by the employment rate and the support that the community gives and the county and we're constantly

upgrading. I mean every four years we're mandated to go through the curriculum. But I think on a yearly basis we constantly are doing the same thing. We need to stop. We're out of time. Thank you for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed the show. Thank

you for joining me. Be sure to register