Biotechnology Certificate of Achievement

Dora Dye   ·  05/27/20

From: Kapp, Nick Date: Wed, May 27, 2020 at 7:23 AM Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] Need approval for new CCSF Biotech certificates To: delveccr . Cc: Folsom, Jing , Vizenor, Andrea , Hernandez, Raymond Dear Dr. Del Vecchio, Thank you for the notification of the changes to your certificate programs sent 05262020. As a regional participant in Biotechnology CTE programs I appreciate the role that each of us have in this particular work ecosystem. By sharing this information we can be sure that we work in support of one another for the betterment of our students. You have been serving on our advisory board for many years and Skyline has been sending representatives to the CCSF Biosymposium about the same amount of time. This past semester's virtual event was an excellent way to continue with the CCSF Biosymposium tradition even in these trying times. The CCSF Biosymposium is an excellent way for both our Instructors and students to get to know the CCSF biotech programs. With this consistent cross pollination I feel that we have many ways to communicate and I look forward to working with the CCSF Biotechnology group in the future with our RJV and ATE collaborations. I agree with the statement in your email that the CCSF program students “tend to work more with research positions”. Your students also tend to be returning students who already have a degree and are looking to retool their work experience in order to find positions. At Skyline with our dual Enrollment classes we are typically looking at recent High School graduates to enter our program. We may have some overlap with the type of students we both serve with our program’s Certificates of Achievement. However, the LMI from December 2019 indicates that Biological Technicians will have over 400 openings per year for the Bay region. This indicates that the workforce demand will more than make up for any overlap in our programs. Also, due to the granularity of the industry that is in our service areas, your service area tends to cover more the research aspect of Biotechnology. A focus on research is clearly denoted in your programs, and this specificity has organically evolved over time as you responded to the needs of industry in your area. I have pulled examples of this from the 3 programs you have listed. Biotechnology Work Experience Certificate of Achievement: “In addition to technical laboratory skills, the students will gain essential career skills with focus on workplace success.” Biotechnology Lab Assistant Certificate of Achievement: “ will prepare students for jobs such as laboratory aides & assistants, laboratory safety monitors and laboratory testing”. Biotechnology Certificate of Achievement lists: “.By leveraging the robust infrastructure at CCSF in the area of biotechnology training, as well as the strong partnerships with local research labs and private institutions, CCSF will be able to make a substantial contribution to the workforce through our certificate program”. These are just snippets that I gleaned from reading the documents you shared. In our ecosystem the CCSF program tends to service more the research aspect of biotechnology and the returning student. At Skyline we try and focus on Biomanufacturing and matriculation from our local high schools. While both our programs focus on the soft skills and while there is a lot of overlap on what we do, I also see that there is projected to be plenty of room in our Bay area workspace for our programs for time to come. Also thanks for consistently providing our area with the Biotechnology Occupations Labor Market Information Report. As usual it is a pleasure working with CCSF Biotechnology. Sincerely Nickolas V. Kapp Director of Biomanufacturing. SMT Division Skyline College 05282020