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City College of San Francisco - California Competes

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THEME V<br />

Organizational support for providing programs to support student learning. One <strong>of</strong> the operational<br />

objectives in the 2003-04 Annual Plan for the School <strong>of</strong> Science and Mathematics, which houses the<br />

Biotechnology Program, is “To provide high quality educational programs and courses for associate<br />

degrees, transfer to baccalaureate institutions, career education and workforce training …” and the<br />

Operational objectives include “Continue to develop the <strong>College</strong> initiative in workforce education and<br />

economic development …” The Biotechnology Program is cited in the Annual Plan as one <strong>of</strong> the school’s<br />

strong workforce training programs. Several needs <strong>of</strong> the Biotechnology Program are noted in the “assessment<br />

<strong>of</strong> problems and needs” section <strong>of</strong> the Annual Plan. One is the need for more sections <strong>of</strong> classes:<br />

“With strong demands for BIO 11 and CHEM 32, many <strong>of</strong> the beginning biotech students could not find<br />

spaces in these classes.” As a result, they were able to add more sections <strong>of</strong> these courses in Spring 2005.<br />

Also this report notes that “In terms <strong>of</strong> equipment, ASTR, BIO, BIOTEC and ENGN have long lists <strong>of</strong><br />

equipment to keep their courses up-to-date.” Further, “Space for labs and <strong>of</strong>fices are major problems in<br />

BIO, BIOTECH, CNIT, and PHYC.”<br />

The need for constant updating <strong>of</strong> curriculum, faculty retraining, equipment, supplies, and facilities to<br />

keep up with a rapidly changing industry make the Biotech program expensive to maintain. Fortunately,<br />

the Office <strong>of</strong> Research, Planning and Grants has been instrumental in seeking and receiving major grant<br />

funding to sustain the program. Half <strong>of</strong> the salaries <strong>of</strong> the two coordinators <strong>of</strong> the biotechnology program<br />

are grant funded. VTEA funded the original Bridge to Biotech program and has provided crucial support<br />

in launching numerous other vocational programs at the <strong>College</strong>. The Bridge to Biotech program currently<br />

has a $500,000 grant from NSF’s Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement Program (CCLI), and<br />

the On-Ramp to Biotech program has a $600,000 grant from the NSF Partnership for Innovation Program<br />

and also receives VTEA funding. These grants fund curriculum development and expansion <strong>of</strong> these<br />

programs. An NSF ATE grant for $815,000 has funded a project entitled Fix-a-Gene that trains students to<br />

work in gene therapy. A Genentech grant is supporting the development <strong>of</strong> an equipment clearinghouse.<br />

The <strong>College</strong> also has a Center for Applied Competitive Technology (CACT) grant, which, along with some<br />

funding from other grants, supports the new equipment clearinghouse, Bio-Link, and NCBC. Bio-Link<br />

originated in 1998 as the NSF Advanced Technological Education Center for Biotechnology, and, over<br />

the years, has received $6.5 million from NSF. Bio-Link’s primary purpose is to improve biotechnology<br />

education throughout the United States, providing pr<strong>of</strong>essional development for instructors, promoting<br />

partnerships with industry, and creating a network <strong>of</strong> educators who share resources and information.<br />

Bio-Link draws on a network <strong>of</strong> regional centers located in community colleges throughout the nation,<br />

including NCBC, funded by the State Chancellor’s <strong>of</strong>fice, which also resides at CCSF. NCBC, like Bio-Link,<br />

supports workforce and economic development in biotechnology through curriculum development,<br />

pr<strong>of</strong>essional development for faculty, and industry partnerships, but at a local level.<br />

Through Instructional Block Grant funding, the Biotechnology Program has received some funds to<br />

develop a lab at the Southeast Campus, but the Biotechnology Program has mainly relied on other<br />

grant funding to meet its needs and in fact has been able to provide the Biology Department with some<br />

supplies. Since the program is mainly sustained by outside funding, it has not needed to make a lot <strong>of</strong><br />

requests through the <strong>College</strong>’s budgeting process for the limited <strong>College</strong> funds available. If grant funding<br />

diminishes, finding alternate ways to fund the program will become a serious concern. The Buildings<br />

and Grounds Department has provided support to the Department in getting equipment donations<br />

from industry. Equipment worth about $250,000 has been received from companies such as Amersham<br />

Bioscience, Bayer, Chiron, and Genetech. The program has been challenged to find ways to collect the<br />

large equipment and sort, store, catalog, and establish processes for checking out equipment. Fortunately,<br />

a grant has funded a position to coordinate the development <strong>of</strong> this equipment clearinghouse.<br />

CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO<br />

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