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Marketing Action Client Wins Economic Development Award

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Marketing Action, Inc. is honored to work with Carol Pepper-Kittredge, Director, Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT), Sierra College, who recently won a Placer County Economic Development Award for “Best Support for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Deployment.”

The CACT program is funded through the California Community College Chancellor’s Office Workforce and Economic Development program.  Organizations, manufacturers and technology companies throughout Northern California have benefited from customized training and preparation of their future workforce provided by Sierra College CACT since 1992.

Veronica Blake, CEO, Placer Community Foundation, and Vice Chair of the Economic Development Board for Placer County presented the award to Pepper-Kittredge, mentioning that 480 employees from local companies received training last year. “We know that successful societies are those that attract and nurture the most creative workers and entrepreneurs,” said Blake.  “Sierra College CACT is a dynamic partner and contributor to this effort, building a quality workforce with technical skills, problem-solving abilities and cost effective customer focused solutions.”

Blake also explained the role Sierra College CACT has played in encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship through the unique partnership with Hacker Lab as well as by working with high school Career Technical Education programs supported by the Sierra STEM Collaborative.  “Additionally, through the Sierra STEM Collaborative, more than 15,000 students at eight local high schools completed manufacturing and product development courses,” said Blake.

Learn more about the award presentation —  Sierra College CACT Wins Placer County Economic Development Award

STEM: Welding Adds Applied Math Lessons at Sierra College

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Sierra College Math and Welding departments worked together on a National Science Foundation (NSF) IGNITE grant with the University of West Virginia at Parkersburg (UWVP) to infuse math into welding curriculum.

Sierra College Welding Department chair, Bill Wenzel worked with Katie Lucero, chair of the Sierra College Math Department, to develop the new applied academic curriculum. The math lessons tied directly to a student project and significantly improved students’ math skills. Carol Pepper-Kittredge, director, Sierra College Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) facilitated the collaboration of faculty with the University of West Virginia on this NSF grant project.

See the movie showing these technical education students integrating math into welding at Placer Herald Sierra College addresses skills gap by fusing math with welding (11-29-2012).

Learn more about Sierra College STEM projects.

Tips to Start a Business Services Newsletter

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If you are thinking about starting a newsletter to promote your business services, consider these tips to take marketing action:

  1. Plan on producing a quarterly newsletter. This gives you some flexibility in the dates for distribution.
  2. Focus on how your clients are using your services and benefiting.
  3. Keep it short – one or two pages.
  4. Include photos and remember to take your camera to events and client meetings.
  5. Ask your clients for testimonials to include in the articles.
  6. Use a professional designer to make it eye catching.
  7. Keep a running list of story ideas.
  8. Post your newsletter on your web site.

To see an example of a business services newsletter, look at the College of the Sequoias Training and Development Summer 2012 newsletter. This California community college produced the newsletter to promote customized employer training and business services to manufacturers through the Center for Applied Competitive Technologies.

College Collaboration builds STEM Pipeline

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The Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) at Sierra College in Rocklin, CA, through a grant from the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, has effectively partnered with businesses and schools to open up opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) careers for local students. Marketing Action has had the opportunity to interview teachers, administrators, students and business and hear the results first hand.

  • The courses a student takes in high school and the opportunity to intern at a local business makes a difference in discovering interests and developing an education and career plan.
  • Students who gain skills that are in demand with industry and are exposed to mentors who can demonstrate the education and experience needed to pursue a career are more likely to select that career path.
  • Collaboration between schools, colleges and businesses helps students navigate through the sea of choices to find a port to which they can tie their career aspirations.

On June 14, 2012, The American Association of Community College Times published A collaborative effort forges a path for an aspiring architect. The article describes how a student benefited from Rocklin High School’s Engineering Support Technology (supported by the Sierra College CTE Community Collaborative STEM project — sierraschoolworks), the Placer County Office of Education 49er ROP architecture, construction and engineering program at Granite Bay High School, and Williams + Paddon, an architecture firm based in Roseville.

It is a pleasure to work with people committed to making a difference.

Sierra College trains Vets in CCC for Energy Jobs

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Sierra College CACT announced: “Veterans who served as medics, ammunition specialists and security forces are transitioning to civilian employment as the result of a Sierra College Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) and California Conservation Corps (CCC) partnership. Nine veterans who are on the CCC crew [were] awarded Energy Technology and Lighting Systems Completion Certificates from Sierra College CACT” on January 20, 2012.

Read More: http://sierracollegetraining.com/edu/56/Press_Releases_and_News

Auburn Journal: http://auburnjournal.com/detail/198396.html

Marketing Action is honored to be part of the team working on this collaboration to put veterans to work in skilled jobs.

Jan. 26 — Lean tools to boost success in 2011

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Learn how to cut waste and improve your business process at “Lean Principles to Sustainability” hosted by Sierra College Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) in conjuction with DPMG Corp. on January 26, 2011 at the Roseville Gateway Campus, 333 Sunrise Ave, Roseville, CA from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. $50 registration.

This one-day lecture and interactive educational forum introduces Lean Thinking as a methodology to identify and eliminate waste from processes in any organization and achieve sustainability. Gain tools to boost your competitve edge in 2011:

  • Get an overview of lean principles to begin to recognize how to identify and eliminate waste in your own organization
  • Learn to leverage Lean Thinking to achieve sustainability
  • Define and understand the different types of waste as viewed by your customers
  • Get the “Big Picture” – transform your business
  • Remove the Myths about “Lean Thinking”
  • Apply Lean Principles to “do it right the first time”
  • Learn how Lean Principles can create a collaborative partnership between people and valued partners
  • Experience a real world practical application through simulation of the how the lean principles can generate measurable outcomes
  • Learn from professionals; begin to practice the process in this educational forum to save time and money

Upcoming Lean Workshops: Feb 22-23 Business Process Mapping — Identify the steps and practices for breaking down a process and create a System and Relationship Process Map and April 5-6 Value Stream Mapping (VSM) — See the step-by-step development of current and future state value stream maps and how they can be used with improvement initiatives.

Learn more at Sierra College CACT and Training & Development under 2011 Lean workshops.

Sierra College Employer & Energy Programs win Awards

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Congratulations to Sierra College for the acknowledgement at the Placer County Economic Development Summit held March 17, 2010 for leadership in economic development. Both the Sierra College Energy Technology Program and Sandra Scott, director of grant development and career technical education for Sierra College, received awards.

Marketing Action, Inc. is honored to work with both the Energy Technology Program and Sandra Scott who oversees Sierra College Training and Development for employers, the Sierra STEM grant promoting careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, and the Sierra College Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT).

Learn more about the awards: Sierra College Receives Awards at sierracollegetraining.com

Hands-on projects inspire kids, newspaper articles catch parents’ attention

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Sierra College Workforce Development and Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) is inspiring young people to consider careers in product design, engineering, technology and manufacturing by offering hands-on projects at schools in Placer and Nevada counties.

After a recent build in Grass Valley, the Tech-Explorer catapult project was featured in the Union newspaper. Kids catapult into learning College program eyes local work force

To spread the word, Sierra College has used press releases describing the goals of the program:

For Immediate Release December 16, 2008 #62

Contact: Sue Michaels/Diane Wright, Sierra College Marketing/Public Relations 916-660.7272, 916-630-4535(fax) smichaels@sierracollege.edu

Lincoln High School students apply math skills to building catapults

Sierra College STEM grant introduces education path to highly-paid, technical careers

ROCKLIN -Students in teacher Ellen Byron’s Honors Algebra II and Pre-Calculus classes will measure, cut and manipulate metal on industrial power tools to manufacture parts and build catapults from 10:45AM to 3PM on Wednesday, Dec. 17 at Lincoln High School located at 790 J St. in Lincoln, CA. Learn about the project at: http://www.sierracollegetraining.com/techexp_program.php

A former Industrial Engineer, Byron is excited about offering this project. “Building the catapult will give students a glimpse into ‘What can we do with the math we learn?’” said Byron. “In careers like engineering, it is so exciting to think of a concept and then turn it into reality. Many of these students are so focused on the academics that they don’t realize all the great career choices that math and science can provide. Through this project, I hope some sparks will fly in their minds and open their imaginations to many technical career choices.”

According to Sandra Scott, Director of Workforce Development for Sierra College, the hands-on Tech-Explorer catapult project engages students and makes academic studies more relevant. “Project-based learning allows students to apply what they are learning in the classroom to real skills used in the workplace,” said Scott. “This project introduces students to local, highly paid in-demand careers such as technicians, product designers and engineers.”

Sierra College won a Science Technology Engineering & Math (STEM) grant from the California Community College Chancellor’s office to bring short-term, turn-key applied academic projects that meet State of California secondary education standards into middle and high school classes.

STEM careers are in demand reports Nicholas Terrell for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in STEM Occupations http://www.bls.gov/opub/ooq/2007/spring/art04.pdf. The report shows that “STEM workers earned about 70 percent more than the national average in 2005, accord­ing to BLS” and the average wage for STEM occupations in 2005 was $64,560 compared to $37,870 for all occupations. (pg. 29 BLS Occupational Outlook Quarterly Spring 2007)

The BLS recommends: “Prepa­ration should begin in high school, with coursework and extracurricular activities focusing on honing problem-solving skills. … Students interested in a STEM career should get started in high school by taking as much math and science as they can. Even those who struggle in these subjects during school can succeed on the job; with persever­ance, many people who may have had difficulty with early math or science classes can later thrive in a STEM career.” (pg. 30 BLS)

The mission of the Workforce Development Division is to deliver flexible learning opportunities that produce change. For more information, go to www.sierracollegetraining.com or contact Sandra Scott, Sierra College Workforce Development at (916) 781-6244.