2019 Address Dena P. Maloney, Ed.D. Superintendent/President
In the year since our inaugural State of the College event last November, the landscape of higher education in California has continued to change rapidly. This summer, Governor Newsom signed the largest budget in state history—nearly $215 billion. The budget included more than $81 billion in K-12 and community college spending, an increase of about $3 billion over last year. Some of the budget’s most significant community college-related investments offer a glimpse into the issues our campuses face: $9 million in ongoing funds to support rapid rehousing efforts for homeless and housing insecure students, almost $4 million in one-time funds to address food insecurity, and $5 million to augment veterans’ resource centers. Community colleges like El Camino serve a diverse and often disadvantaged student body. That means we’re increasingly called upon to provide social services in addition to educational services, but it’s a challenge we gladly accept because removing barriers to student success is one of our primary objectives.
Success & Progress at El Camino Of course, an accessible, affordable education remains our core offering. To that end, the new budget provides an additional $43 million in ongoing funding to support a second year of tuition-free college for first time, fulltime community college students. The statewide California College Promise Program is growing, and El Camino’s program, the South Bay Promise, is no exception. This fall we welcomed nearly 800 new students to campus thanks to a newly
expanded South Bay Promise. These students are part of the largest group ever to participate in this initiative designed to improve college access and affordability for recent high school graduates. We’re pleased to report that
built on the site of the original structure on Crenshaw Boulevard, is scheduled to open this spring. And, our state of the art Pool and Classroom building, complete with two pools and kinesiology classrooms, will open in the summer of
“Community colleges like El Camino serve a diverse and often disadvantaged student body.” El Camino’s efforts to expand the South Bay Promise are exceeding expectations. Exiting high school seniors this past spring showed strong interest in the program, submitting more than 2,000 applications for this fall. We’ve come a long way since the pilot cohort of 12 students back in 2014. And, these students are persisting in their studies at a higher percentage than the general student population at El Camino, and at a higher percentage than students on a statewide level. Our research shows that 75 percent of South Bay Promise students are returning to El Camino College the following fall term to complete their second year of college and move on to transfer or to enter the workforce. It’s clear: the South Bay Promise works! And, as you’ve likely noticed, the face of the El Camino campus continues to evolve. Just as this fall semester got underway, we opened the doors of our new, state-of-the-art Student Services Building on Manhattan Beach Boulevard, bringing all student-related service functions under one roof for the first time and creating an inviting “front door” to the north side of campus. Our new Gymnasium, located south of Murdock Stadium, is nearly complete. It houses two full instructional and athletic competition areas for basketball and volleyball. A new administration building, 1
2020. Several other projects are under construction or in the design process.
Thoughtfully Designed Education That concept—design—is something I’ve thought about a lot lately. We often talk about something being “well designed” or “poorly designed.” Good design suggests planning or fashioning something in a way that’s artistic and skillful. It brings organization and structure to various elements in a way that yields something useful, effective, and pleasing. As you would expect, we devote considerable time and effort to the design of El Camino’s programs and facilities. Everything we do on this campus is designed with student success in mind. And, of course, if El Camino College students are successful, then the communities we serve and the partners we work with—all of you—will be successful as well.
“Everything we do on this campus is designed with student success in mind.” So, I want to examine the State of the College through the lens of design; specifically, our most cutting edge, design-related academic programs that are filling the South Bay’s workforce pipeline and fueling the Los Angeles region’s economic vitality.
I’ll begin with some data that show the vital role community colleges play in preparing workers for some of Southern California’s leading design-centric industries. Then we’ll take a look at some of the academic programs here at El Camino College that help meet the needs of those and other industries. Let’s start with a quick look at some illustrative numbers. The economic impact of the Los Angeles-area community colleges is tracked by the Center for a Competitive Workforce, a partnership between the L.A. County Economic Development Corporation, the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce, and the nearly 30 community colleges in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
The Impact of DesignRelated Careers A 2017 report from the Center pinpointed several industries and
occupations that are expected to help drive our regional economy over the next few years. Specifically, the report identified 20 occupations as promising “targets” for post-secondary community college programs. These occupations included design-focused roles like web developers, fashion designers, film and video editors, and graphic designers. The numbers are impressive. Tracking projected growth over a five-year period from 2016 to 2021, the report anticipates nearly 1,800 new web development positions, almost 800 new fashion design jobs, more than 2,400 graphic design positions, and over a thousand new film and video editing jobs.
As we know, these and other design-centric industries blend artistry with technical expertise—the kind of expertise gained through the training that community colleges like El Camino provide. As the report accurately notes: “Technical training is expected to play a major role in helping new workers find employment in a fastevolving labor market.”
That’s a core mission for us here at El Camino College: helping graduates find employment in a fast-evolving labor market. One of the ways we do that is through academic offerings that are current, relevant, and meet the needs of industry. With that in mind, let me introduce you to a few of our cutting edge, design-related programs that contribute to the economic health of this region.
Advanced Manufacturing The South Bay’s signature industry, aerospace, relies heavily on advanced or “smart” manufacturing—and El Camino provides the highly technical training employees need. Our students develop a solid foundation in engineering technology principles, automation in manufacturing environments, machine tool operations, and prototyping. They learn by doing as they create three-dimensional designs with modeling software and produce actual components of their designs on computer-numerically-controlled machine tools. Students also master complex advanced manufacturing processes like water abrasive jet machines, grinding machines, and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing. Through courses on robotics and automation, students deepen their expertise in areas like
“Technical training is expected to play a major role in helping new workers find employment in a fast-evolving labor market.” 2
imbedded electronics, micro-controller programming, motors, and drivetrains. To demonstrate their mastery of these highly technical skills, students construct, program, and test robots. Even as we work to prepare students to enter advanced manufacturing fields, we find there’s often a lack of tools available to assess whether local businesses are ready to adopt smart manufacturing technologies. There’s a similar lack of corresponding training programs across the country. To address this, El Camino College is working with the Smart Manufacturing Institute at UCLA and with partners at UC Berkeley and Cal State Northridge on a 2-year, $1.3 million project to design a Smart Manufacturing Workforce Development Model. The program will have a modular design so that any curriculum, training component, or business development tool can easily be adopted and customized by all levels of education and training. The modules, classes, and career pathway can stand alone or enrich existing K-12, community college, and university programs to develop the smart manufacturing workforce nationwide. After a piloting period here in California, this collection of resources can then be adapted and implemented by organizations nationwide.
Web Design & Development With high-tech sectors like our local aerospace industry also being heavily reliant on computer-aided design and drafting, El Camino College offers advanced training on the processes of product design from concept through final production drawings. Instructors emphasize industry best practices throughout the curriculum as students develop skills in conceptual sketching, orthographic projection, and dimensioning. To ensure a comprehensive learning experience, students do their research, planning, and sketching manually before using CADD software to prepare formal drawings.
Speaking of software, our proximity to the tech giants of Silicon Beach makes the computer science programs at El Camino College vitally important. The number of students taking computer science courses at El Camino has grown from 174 in the fall of 2013 to 538 this fall—an increase of more than 200 percent. That growth tracks with the trends we’re seeing in the industry. Companies are eager to hire well-trained new graduates as well as strengthen their existing workforces. For example, this summer, Amazon announced plans to retrain a third of its U.S. workforce— some 100,000 workers—by 2025 to help employees move into more advanced jobs or find new careers. The planned program will be one of the largest corporate retraining initiatives ever, at a cost of roughly $7,000 per worker, or $700 million. Among the planned initiatives are Amazon Technical Academy, which will equip non-technical employees with the skills to transition into software engineering careers, and Amazon Web Services Training and Certification, which will provide employees with courses to build practical AWS Cloud knowledge.
Cloud Computing Certificate If you attended last year’s State of the College, you’ll recall that El Camino College has launched a program as 3
part of the California Cloud Workforce Project, which collaborates with Amazon Web Services and its AWS Educate program to offer a regionally recognized cloud-computing certificate. El Camino is one of 19 community colleges in the Los Angeles region to join the program, which offers students access to a 15-credit certificate program that focuses on in-demand cloud computing skills. As part of this initiative, we’re also partnering with area high schools to offer dual enrollment in the certificate program. Initiatives like this augment an existing computer science curriculum carefully designed to fulfill industry needs. Our students develop marketable skills
in coding courses where they learn how to design and write applications, develop graphical user interfaces, create multimedia, and manage databases and servers. El Camino’s web development curriculum prepares students to enter the e-business industry with proficiency in designing dynamic and responsive websites. Using industry standard programming languages, students develop skills that allow them to design the style, appearance, and presentation of web content.
Computing Talent Initiative And, the employment prospects for our computer science students have been further enhanced with the launch of our Computing Talent Initiative. When this fall semester began, El Camino College became only the second community college in the state and the first in Southern California to partner with the California State University system in creating a computer science degree with a workforce experience component. We’ve joined CSU Monterey Bay and Hartnell College in Northern California, along with CSU Dominguez Hills here in the South Bay, to replicate a successful pilot of a cohort model, four-year computer science bachelor’s degree pathway from the community college to the university level. Over the next several years, this program will support more than 200 high-achieving, financial aid-eligible students who are working toward bachelor’s degrees in computer science. The National Science Foundation funded the design of this unique, student-centered program.
Cybersecurity We also provide vitally important curriculum in cybersecurity. Using a practice known as penetration testing or “ethical hacking,” El Camino’s computer science students explore how a system’s vulnerabilities can be exploited and then learn how to avoid such security breaches. Of course, training like this has vast implications. As with many other sectors, California plays a key role in our national security. Contributing more than $160 billion and almost 800,000 full-time positions to the state economy, national security is one of the largest economic drivers in California. We’re home to more than 6,000 defense manufacturers and approximately 30,000 defense suppliers. Cybersecurity has emerged as a critical capability in the defense manufacturing sector. The absence of a robust cybersecurity protocol can mean a business loses revenue, future business, and competitive advantage. With that in
education—to support leading edge programs that provide excellent career opportunities for graduates and fill the pipeline needed for economic growth.
Fashion & Cosmetology
mind, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research has launched CASCADE: the California Advanced Supply Chain Analysis and Diversification Effort. The goal is to bolster the cybersecurity resilience of California’s defense supply chain and to support the growth of its cybersecurity workforce through training and apprenticeships. This summer, with funds from the U.S. Department of Defense, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research awarded El Camino College a grant of more than $150,000 to design cybersecurity training for the defense workforce. The curriculum will be piloted here at El Camino before it’s rolled out to more than a dozen colleges across California. The rollout will include guidance on how to embed the materials into existing career pathways programs or develop pre-apprenticeship programs to create a new generation of cybersecurity readiness. El Camino College truly is a leader in working across sectors— including government, business, and
Our design-oriented curriculum isn’t limited to manufacturing and technology, of course. Principles of design permeate the artistic disciplines we teach at El Camino as well. For example, this summer, our fashion program presented its 37th annual
student fashion show. Featuring student designs modeled on the runway, the show is student-produced from the design and merchandising to the modeling, promotion, budgeting, and staging. Students learn event-planning principles and produce the fashion show as their final project.
“El Camino College truly is a leader in working across sectors— including government, business, and education—to support leading edge programs that provide excellent career opportunities for graduates and fill the pipeline needed for economic growth.” 4
During their time in El Camino’s fashion program, students explore clothing, construction, fashion illustration, pattern making, draping, computer-aided design and manufacturing. Through merchandising classes, students learn about presentation techniques, planning and promotion, fashion coordination, advertising and sales. Those are invaluable skills, as the Center for a Competitive Workforce indicates that fashion designers are in high demand across a number of sectors in the Los Angeles area, including apparel manufacturing and the motion picture industry. Students seeking careers as hair stylists and designers, salon owners, estheticians, skin care specialists, and manicure technicians get the handson training they need in El Camino’s cosmetology program. Last year, our cosmetology program was named a California Strong Workforce Silver Star recipient because of its strong postcollege outcomes in earnings gains and employment in a job related to the field of study. Stop by our campus art gallery when student works are on exhibit—including our Annual Student Art Show—and you’ll see impressive and inspiring examples of classroom learning put into practice. Whether it’s painting, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry making, metalsmithing, or printmaking, our student artists leave here prepared for successful careers or for additional education.
Digital Media & Visual Communication Of course, digital media and visual communication are ubiquitous in daily life, and a critical component of the media and entertainment industries here in Southern California. In fact, thanks to El Camino College’s proximity to Hollywood, we frequently host TV
“Our students design their futures as they move on from these programs to find success at four-year institutions and in the workplace.” and film productions on our campus for location shoots. Through these collaborations, we hope to develop internship and job opportunities for our students with these studios and production companies.
resume-ready material from their handson learning experience here.
And, as we’ve seen, there are jobs to fill. For example, the Center for a Competitive Workforce reports that in 2016 there were nearly 12,600 film and video editor jobs in the L.A. Basin, and almost 12,700 graphic designer jobs. Community colleges like El Camino are well equipped to help fill positions like these, thanks to our robust academic programs in those fields.
And that’s the goal of every El Camino College program I’ve described: sending marketable graduates out into the workforce, prepared through real-world training. That’s how we help sustain the economic health of the South Bay and beyond.
Our curriculum exposes student artists to essential principles of graphic design and page layout, illustration, typography, 2D and 3D design, and digital photography and digital publishing. They learn how to develop problem-solving skills and carry a project through the creative design process to completion. Students pursuing careers in video production develop competency in highly technical specialties like motion graphics and computer animation, non-linear editing, audio production, and cameras and lighting. They explore the production process as they plan, write, shoot, and edit a variety of individual and group projects—leaving the program with
I wish to express my appreciation to you—the friends, supporters, donors, and partners of El Camino College. This institution is tasked with fulfilling a vitally important mission, and we simply cannot fulfill that mission without you. You truly put the “community” in community college, and for that I am deeply grateful. Thank you for your continued support of El Camino College.
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Students Designing Their Futures
For that reason, I’m happy to say the State of the College is active, vibrant, and integral to the economic vitality of our region. As you’ve seen, our thoughtfully designed academic programs—and the graduates they produce—help us design our future. Most importantly, our students design their futures as they move on from these programs to find success at four-year institutions and in the workplace.
www.elcamino.edu 1-866-ELCAMINO The El Camino Community College District is committed to providing an educational and employment environment in which no person is subjected to discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, creed, age (over 40), disability (mental or physical), sex, gender (including pregnancy and childbirth), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, military and veteran status, or retaliation; or on any other basis as required by state and federal law.