PAC Program "Best of Texas"

Palo Alto College’s Information Technology Workforce Training has been selected by The Center for Digital Government to receive its “Best of Texas” award for its Creative Approach to Workforce Development Strategies at its annual award ceremony in Austin, Oct. 14.

The Best of Texas awards program recognizes information technology (IT) professionals and government organizations for their contributions to the IT field in Texas. Selection criteria include collaboration between agencies, innovative use of technology and improvement of services to citizens or state employees.

PAC’s Information Technology Workforce Training is offered through the college’s Corporate and Community Education Division.

According to Tod Bruning, PAC’s IT workforce program manager during the award consideration period and currently an account executive for the Alamo Community Colleges Advanced Technology Center, the division sought to develop a job-entry technology skills program based on industry-driven knowledge and skill sets. The training curriculum featured industry-standard knowledge and skills supplemented with extensive hands-on experience.

Bruning, in close partnership with Goodwill Industries, Southwest ISD Career & Technologies Department, Time Warner Cable of San Antonio, and the Advanced Technology Center at the Port of San Antonio, created and managed three programs which were recognized by the awards committee: a Basic Cable Installer program; a CompTIA A+ Desktop Support Technician program; and the Gateway to a Career in Information Technology program, a program aimed at recent high school graduates that imparts skills in cable installation, basic networking and computer repair.

Since its inception, the CompTIA A+ Program has graduated more than 60 students. The Cable Installer program which began this past summer recently graduated 13 students in two sections, and the Gateway to a Career in Technology program had five companies conduct formal interviews with its graduates last month.