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DR. SHANNON KENNEDY: Mission Critical Operations, that's a term that is now
been talked about quite a lot on the campus of Cleveland Community College
and it has to do with the 23 million dollar grant that we received from the
Department of Labor
I have with me today Mitch Sepaugh and Jonathan Davis
they are the two co-project managers for this new grant project
and we're gonna talk a little bit about what the grant is for and what it means
to the college and then we'll join a panel discussion we held recently
with Doctor Jill Biden and the Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez
that happened recently on our campus. So, first, Mitch, let me ask you a little bit
about
what mission critical operations is and how that relates to this grant
this funding that we're receiving.
MITCH SEPAUGH: Okay, briefly
mission critical operations is any system
or technology that a company relies on
for their daily business that is central to their
staying in business when that piece of technology goes down
then the company's basically shut down. They have to
to either turn customers away or sent employees home
and so what we're doing is developing a curriculum
towards being able to train technicians
to maintain systems like that that are hybrid systems
of electrical and mechanical and computer based systems
to keep those systems up 24/7
DR. SHANNON KENNEDY: Alright, Jonathan so
that's a real basic definition that the grant does involve more than just
developing the curriculum
Do you want to talk about some of the other things: the certifications and equipment
why that is a unique kind of project.
JONATHAN DAVIS: Yes
it is unique in the fact that we don't we're not aware of any other curriculum
across the country that exists that's quite in a hybrid nature like this
curriculum
in addition to the to the curriculum that we will develop
we'll also work with our industry partners to development in she
recognized certification both in information technology
and in industrial systems in mission-critical operations
so that we will have are a credential that our students can earn
that is a verified by industry.
DR. SHANNON KENNEDY: So Mitch,
one of the unique things about this project is
you know, 23 million sounds like a lot and it is and 13 million goes to Cleveland
Community College but there are other partners so
that I think that brings a little unique aspect to it. You want to talk a little bit
about the partnership
MITCH SEPAUGH: Sure, our partners are Nash Community College
Wake Tech Community College, both of those here in North Carolina
Moultrie Tech Community College in Georgia
and University of North Carolina at Charlotte is our university partner
and each other schools gets a piece of that ten million dollars
that is left in the grant and each one brings a different
area of expertise to the table. Nash is bringing emergency services
emergency preparedness and disaster recovery
Wake Tech is bringing big data analytics and virtualization
and UNC Charlotte is bringing
an articulation program for students that
once they graduate here they can move on to university studies they also bring a
cybersecurity
part to this so we can work with industrial cybersecurity which is a
major
component of the grant and then Moultrie Tech is also bringing to us
a remote telepresence a system that they've
developed, not only for work another community colleges and industry,
but also for working in high schools so we can create a STEM pipeline
DR. SHANNON KENNEDY: Okay so this is really a regional grand in a regional project
MITCH SEPAUGH: Yes, absolutely and I think that's one of the reasons why we
DR. SHANNON KENNEDY: and I think that's one of the reasons why we
received the grant and one of the reasons why Dr. Biden and
Secretary Perez came to visit with us before we go and see little bit
of our panel discussion. Jonathan, they did make two stops
of tours on campus, the first one was and
one of your classrooms and you want to talk a little bit about what they were
doing and why we chose that as one of the stops.
JONATHAN DAVIS: Yes, our students were working on their Cisco
Networking Academy labs where they connect routers and switches
and on that day we were working on a "what if" scenario. We were trying to connect
a network in Shelby to a network in Charlotte. The students must configure
the
the routers and switches for end to end connectivity
and then verify that connectivity to make sure that it works so that's what
we demonstrated in the lab to both Dr. Biden and Secretary Perez
DR. SHANNON KENNEDY: Okay why did we want them to see that? What does that have to do with the
student curriculum.
JONATHAN DAVIS: In the new curriculum ,being a hybrid format, bringing the IT side of it into
into play, communications and connectivity is vital to
a company, vital to any company especially mission-critical operations
You know, networking and connectivity is what it's all about
DR. SHANNON KENNEDY: Great and then Mitch we went to a lab
where we do several programs, automation being one of them
and you demonstrated a telepresence type of scenario. So, explaining why that,
how that relates, a little bit about that stop on the tour
and how it relates to the project
MITCH SEPAUGH: okay one of the key features in this grant
is a distance learning component to it
and the the problem with a lot of distance learning for
work like Jonathan and I do that is very technical and hands-on
is the students when they're at home trying to do their distance learning
they don't have access to some of the same equipment that the student on campus
would have
so the telepresence session that we did was a remote control session
basically
where we took a laptop and we went online over the internet and then came in and
controlled
a piece of equipment in our lab and students will be able to do that as part
of this project
from wherever they are. Whether they're in Georgia or whether they're out east in North
Carolina or
or whatever will be a little reach into our laps and control equipment
and we're planning to role that out at all five campuses
DR. SHANNON KENNEDY: Okay so how they relate to each other, you are connecting from
Shelby to Charlotte for the networking well maybe this was in the same room but it
still was actually in the distance so
they are related right, yes, so you're saying you had to have the internet so
so even though those aren't exactly what mission critical operations are, both of
those are gonna be
tied two components in the in the program. Correct? JONATHAN DAVIS: yes
MITCH SEPAUGH: Right. they're pieces of the puzzle. DR. SHANNON KENNEDY: Right so now one of the things that people have been
asking you know they see this is supposed to be put people back to work
Department of Labor grant but
we're really developing curriculum in multiple pathways so
it'll be awhile before there's anything really to see
Is that correct, Jonathan? JONATHAN DAVIS: It is, you know
we have the first year this really first 18 months-ish
to develop the curriculum and so we won't begin to see students
enroll in this curriculum until at the end of about
15 -18 months I think we are planning
a start in Fall of next year so Fall of 2014
and of course we have to get this curriculum approved by our curriculum
committee. It has to go to the state
community college system, there's a lot to do between now and then to make
sure that they we're ready for Fall
DR. SHANNON KENNEDY: Okay so well, something to be looking forward to
and will be communicating that and now we're going to go ahead and join our
panel discussion that happened on November 18 here on the campus of Cleveland
Community College