Background: Personal smoke-free policies (home and vehicle) reduce secondhand smoke exposure, improve health, and increase quitting among smokers. Overall, 83.0% and 78.1% of Americans report smoke-free homes and vehicles, respectively. However, little is known about such policies among 2-year community college (CC) students, who represent a…

Community colleges are attempting to bridge America's widening blue-collar skills gap through workforce development programs promising living-wage jobs that don't require four years of college. While trade, construction and manufacturing companies are starving for talented workers, these fields also suffer from an image problem, one fueled by…

Based on a recent survey, this issue of "DataPoints" finds that work, expenses and family issues are the top three challenges to success cited by community college students. A breakdown of those categories shows the specific hurdles.

Sometimes the best mathematics problems come from the most unexpected situations. Last summer, a Corvette raced down a local quarter-mile drag strip. The driver, a family member, provided the spectators with time and distance-traveled data from his time slip and asked "Can you calculate how many seconds it took me to go from 0 to 60…

It's been more than three years since the U.S. automobile industry nearly collapsed. A controversial federal bailout, an increase in consumer demand, and a growing interest in environmentally friendly fuel-efficient vehicles and related technologies have combined to help create a remarkable recovery. Total U.S. sales of light vehicles in 2012 are…

Just as good community colleges pivot to mirror the needs of their local communities, the multistate Auto Communities Consortium (ACC) continues to evolve to counteract the challenges encountered by employers in its service region. Established in 2010 to address pervasive economic losses faced by communities whose major employers were auto…

As community colleges continue to experience record enrollments, administrators must face the challenges of growth. The unprecedented growth in community college enrollment is due to both the rising expense of higher education at four-year institutions and the number of people returning to school to train for careers in higher demand. However,…

Few industries are as critical to the U.S. economy as transportation. Skilled automotive, railroad, and airline technicians shuttle the goods and people that drive every aspect of domestic and international commerce. The transportation sector offers some of the most exciting opportunities for workers to address critical issues of this time:…

The graduate of the Motorcycle Mechanic apprenticeship program is a certified journeyperson who will be able to: (1) repair and maintain motorcycles and ATVs which are powered with internal combustion engines; (2) comprehend work orders, technical bulletins and estimates, and relate the information to the job at hand; (3) interpret warranty policy…

The graduate of the Automotive Service Technician apprenticeship program is a certified journeyperson who will be able to: (1) repair, maintain and overhaul or modify a motor vehicle; (2) comprehend work orders, technical bulletins and estimates, and relate the information to the job at hand; (3) interpret warranty policy in terms of service…

The U.S. automotive industry has always been a cyclical business, but its near-collapse in 2008-09 and the subsequent bankruptcy of two of the three largest domestic automakers was more than a cyclical downturn. As light vehicle sales and production slowly recover, the industry has started to hire again, though with caution. In an industry known…

The graduate of the Heavy Equipment Technician apprenticeship program is a certified journeyperson who will be able to: (1) diagnose repair, and maintain by skills and knowledge gained through training and experience any of the working parts of diesel engines as well as the various components of mobile industrial equipment; (2) use, competently,…

The graduate of the Transport Refrigeration Technician apprenticeship program is a certified journeyperson who will be able: (1) to diagnose repair, maintain and operate transport refrigeration equipment used to heat or cool the load as well as of diesel engines, APUs and other prime movers; (2) to use tools and equipment in order to carry out…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine continuing education students' perceptions of adult education instructional practices at an urban community college. The continuing education students recently graduated from programs of law enforcement, truck driving, and health occupations. Perception analysis was based on the six principles…

Nestled in the Lower Piedmont region of upstate South Carolina, Piedmont Technical College (PTC) is one of 16 technical colleges in the state. Automotive technology is one of its most popular programs. The program features an instructive, motivating activity that the author describes in this article: building a high-performance car. The Cobra…