Strategic Partnerships

Cape Cod Community College Takes Green Technology from Campus to Cape

Cape Cod Community College (CCCC) has become one of the nation’s leading—and most vocal—colleges in promoting and integrating sustainability and green practices through all campus operations and technical training programs. At the same time, CCCC is meeting industry demand across a wide array of green industry sectors, from water treatment to solar and wind power and more.

Cape Cod’s radical environmental wake-up call came in 1989 when Massachusetts Military Reservation locations were designated as Superfund cleanup sites. Since then more than $400 million has been used to identify pollutants, with another $450 million being spent on water treatment and wastewater removal. These investments brought a need for significant workforce development efforts, and CCCC rose to the challenge.

CCCC trains the technicians needed to perform and oversee the cleanup projects, while mobilizing the community to actively support environmental stewardship and preservation. “Our aim is to have students understand the interconnectedness of area resources and the interaction among all of its elements, natural and man-made,” says CCCC Dean Candy Center.

CCCC has also reshaped much of its internal governance structure to drive its sustainability objectives. A Sustainability Team with representatives from Administration, Facilities Management, Environmental Technology, and the Natural Science Department focuses on campus pollution reduction, technology building construction oversight, composting and recycling, wastewater management, and the college’s utility grade wind turbine project.

Partnerships and Funding

CCCC’s leadership has done an exemplary job in forging the appropriate industry and government partnerships to build responsive, high-quality technical programs. Nearly 10 years ago, Cape Wind Associates, the island’s first wind farm, provided $50,000 to jumpstart CCCC’s wind technician program—considered a state model for community-based clean energy workforce development and education.

CCCC has also leveraged U.S. Department of Energy funding for green training professional development and Wal-Mart Foundation funding for energy curricula review. The Wal-Mart grant also supports development of shorter certificate programs based on the appropriate “chunking” of learning objects in current credit certificates and degrees, which will improve the rate of degree completion by allowing students to complete degrees nonsequentially. In addition, the college is designing online energy courses to ensure a wider regional reach to many dislocated workers who are seeking skill upgrades for jobs in areas such as weatherization and building performance.

The National Science Foundation funded the college’s Lorusso Applied Technology Building, which is the first state-owned green building in Massachusetts. 

Programs and Courses

CCCC’s sustainability and clean energy programs include two transfer degrees, an A.A. with an environmental studies concentration, an A.S. in environmental technology, and a host of shorter-term certificate programs. From 2003 to 2009, 223 CCCC students completed certification training in the following areas:

• Coastal Zone Management
• Site Assessment
• Geographic Information Systems
• Photovoltaic Technology
• Small Wind Technology
• Solar Thermal Technology
• Wastewater Management
• Water Supply

The college also allocates $36,000 a year for paid internships for environmental studies students who are placed throughout the district in water treatment centers, at state and national parks, at green construction sites, and in community nonprofit organizations supporting green and sustainable living.

To learn more about CCCC’s academic and career programs please follow the links and contact information below:

http://www.capecod.edu/web/academics/programs
Candy M. Center
Dean of Academic and Student Affairs
Science, Technology, Math and Business
ccenter@capecod.edu