Albany Technical College will celebrate Engineering Technology Week with an event on Thursday, February 26, 2015, beginning at 1pm in the Kirkland Conference Center.

Attendees will have the opportunity to meet the faculty, students and engineers from the community, learn about Engineering Technology programs at Albany Tech, including Pathways to four-year degrees, and participate in several activities. For those who would like to tour Albany Tech’s Engineering Technology labs, there is an opportunity later in the day at 5:30pm.

This event is another initiative Albany Tech is offering since receipt of a share of a $13.6 million consortium grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2012 as part of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Training (TAACCCT) initiative. Albany Tech shares the grant with Atlanta Tech and Athens Tech.

Since receiving the grant, Albany Tech, Athens Tech, and Atlanta Tech have all been working on strategies designed to add and/or enhance associate degree programs in the Engineering Technology field. The goal is to increase the number of graduates of associate degree programs in Engineering Technology in an effort to meet current and future workplace demands.

Albany Tech currently offers associate degree programs in Civil Engineering Technology and Electromechanical Engineering Technology. Plans have been underway to enhance these programs by adding much needed instructional equipment and introduce embedded certificate programs as they are developed. Each of the three colleges have developed a protocol for “prior learning assessment,” in which students can obtain college credit for skills they have mastered previously in their jobs. 

This event is just one of many the grant is covering to educate attendees on career opportunities in the engineering technology field. Last fall, Albany Tech held an Engineering Symposium. More events are scheduled for upcoming months.