Overview
Under my leadership, we have expanded enrollments in our Career and Technical Education programs in the Com Arts Division at College of Lake County by 60% over four years, with a focus on launching new certificates in three areas: Live Entertainment Production, Digital Media and Design, and a new program in development focused on Audio Video Technology. This work has been part of my larger effort to reconfigure our Fields of Interest to better align both with the Illinois Pathways Initiative, but also to provide clearer career and transfer pathways for students interested in the arts and media.
Project Scope
Digital Media and Design: Working closely with faculty and department chairs we have significantly expanding our outreach and support for students pursuing graphic design, web design, social media management, and digital audio and visual production.
This work has entailed developing five new certificates over the past four years, significantly expanding our dual credit offerings, and strengthening our already significant internship relationships with major employers across the district. With the launch of a new digital recording studio, we expanded additional certificates in audio/video technology and audio production.
Labor Market Analytics
Our expansions efforts have been guided by careful analysis of labor market data, particular the use of EMSI tools to help identify high demand, high growth occupations that provide family sustaining wages for our students. As a result of this work we selected the Graphic Design pathway as a primary area of focus for the next five years. Not only does our region boast higher than average demand and wages for Graphic Designers, but the field supports a range of credential and degree types–meaning that our students can immediately benefit from both our basic and advanced certificates, with excellent prospects for transfer if and when they choose to pursue an advanced degree.
We selected our Lakeshore Campus in Waukegan as the primary site for these expansion plans not only because we see great potential in building out our dual-credit and adult education pipelines in this region of the county, but in support of our broader efforts to expand “workforce equity.” Indeed, the field of Digital Media and Design is racially and culturally diverse, and so we see real potential in bringing these well-paying careers to an area that continues to suffer significant economic hardship.
Live Entertainment Production: In 2020, our Theatre Department secured a grant from the United States Institute for Technical Theatre (USITT) to begin developing a first-of-its-kind program in live entertainment production to address the growing demand for training in an industry that has been booming in the wake of COVID. As one of the first schools to participate in the Metallica Scholars Initiative, we were able to team up with Upstaging, Inc. located in Sycamore, Illinois to help further develop our curriculum in alignment with industry needs.
In just one year, students with no previous technical experience in the entertainment industry can acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to get a high paying job with one of dozens of live entertainment companies throughout the Chicago area.
Outcomes
As mentioned previously, enrollment across all of our CTE programs has grown more than 60% over the past 5 years, and we anticipate significant additional growth in both of these programs. In 2023-2024, DMD courses generated 3215 total credit hours or the equivalent of 267 FTE–a 64% growth over five years . With our planned $3 million expansion to the Lakeshore campus, we project the program to generate an additional 1500 credit hours per year within five years.
Similarly, our Theatre Department has experienced a 51% growth in enrollment over the past five years, driven in large part by our ENT program launching in Fall 2023. This past academic year these programs generated 1050 credit hours or the equivalent of 88 FTE. We project the program to have doubled in size within 5 years, generating an additional 1050 credit hours per year.
Administrative Portfolio 