News and Features

The PNC Foundation has awarded Central Piedmont Community College a $25,000 grant to support the college’s Single Stop program, an initiative that connects students to the support services they need to succeed in college and administers the college’s Emergency Fund.

“Our entire community has been affected by COVID-19, and the pandemic has been particularly difficult for students who have lost employment and income ― and who depend on campus resources for access to learning and technology,” said Weston Andress, PNC regional president for Western Carolinas and a Central Piedmont Foundation board member. “During this challenging time, we want the Central Piedmont student community to know that we understand and are committed to helping address some of the hardships they are facing.”

Since 2016, Central Piedmont’s Single Stop program has served as a free, on-campus resource, removing barriers for students with critical needs by connecting them with resources to help them flourish academically, obtain good jobs and achieve financial stability ― through one-on-one meetings with experts representing the financial, tax and legal fields.

In addition to matching qualifying students with specific tools to help fuel upward mobility in their lives, Single Stop administers monies available through the college’s Emergency Fund, which provides one-time support of up to $500 for students who have emergency needs related to housing, utilities, medical expenses, food, technology and more.

The PNC Foundation’s gift is timely. The college will use the grant to help purchase the following items, which have been identified as students’ most pressing needs during the coronavirus pandemic:

• Grocery/food gift cards. These items will allow students to purchase food, medicine and other essential products.
   
• Technology access (laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots). The college has witnessed a surge in students needing laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots since it moved much of its course instruction online.
   
• Resources for budgeting during a crisis. Single Stop's financial counselors are implementing and delivering online and virtual sessions for individuals and groups who need crisis budgeting assistance. Each emergency grant recipient is contacted by a financial counselor with tips on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic from a financial perspective.
   

“As a result of the pandemic, the college has witnessed an increase in the number of students needing resources to sustain their everyday lives in addition to their studies,” said Dr. Kandi Deitemeyer, president of Central Piedmont. “Many agencies in the Charlotte area have had to close temporarily, limiting the resources students can turn to for emergency crisis assistance. The PNC Foundation’s gift will help us streamline the connectivity process, ensuring resources such as nutrition assistance, technology support and financial aid reach the students who need them most in a critical time of need.”

Learn more about Central Piedmont’s Single Stop program. If interested in supporting the college’s Emergency Fund, visit https://secure.cpccfoundation.org/donation/.

Beginning this fall, Central Piedmont Community College will offer expanded course offerings of some of its most in-demand classes on weekday evenings, Fridays, and Saturdays at its Central, Harris, and Levine campuses. The added course sections give students more options so they can complete a two-year, college transfer degree more quickly.

Central Piedmont’s new course offerings are comprised of more than 70 class sections of 20 high-demand, general education college transfer courses. The classes will be offered in sequential order and focus on a variety of subjects, ranging from biology and public speaking, to psychology and business.

“We’re excited about our new course offerings and how they will have a positive impact on our students’ lives,” said Edith McElroy, dean of Central Piedmont’s Levine Campus. “By offering more courses in the evenings, and on Fridays and Saturdays, we’re able to better accommodate our students’ busy schedules, setting them up for success both inside and outside of the classroom.”

This is the first time the college’s Harris Campus has offered high-demand college transfer classes to residents, giving individuals more options to complete an associate degree. In the past, its course offerings were specific to an academic program, such as baking & pastry arts, dental assisting, early childhood education, and others.

In addition to offering more high-demand classes at Harris Campus, Central Piedmont will boast Saturday-only courses for students interested in earning a general Associate in Arts degree or an Associate in Arts degree in business administration in two years. Students seeking either of these degrees will be placed on a learning track that will require them to complete two to three courses, every eight weeks.

The additional courses and weekend accessibility will also give residents the opportunity to experience Central Piedmont — a college that believes in providing individuals with an affordable, hands-on education that will prepare them for the real world so they can make a difference in their community and beyond.

To learn more about Central Piedmont’s expanded weekday evening, Friday, and Saturday classes, please visit our transfer degree page or contact Suzanne Marcoux at 704.330.4278 or suzanne.marcoux@cpcc.edu.

Central Piedmont understands there are so many traditional age students and adults in Mecklenburg County with questions about the future. “Will they be able to go back to or start college?” “Is it time to make a career change to something with greater consistency and stability?” 

With this in mind, the college’s Communications, Marketing, & Public Relations team worked with the Charlotte marketing and advertising agency, Mythic, to produce 60-second, 30-second, and 15-second “community” commercial spots.

The team asked faculty, staff, and students to submit content showing how they were coming together while apart during this unprecedented time.

Communications, Marketing, & Public Relations received a number of responses and submissions, which were incorporated into the ads that will run across Charlotte, on network and cable tv, as well as on digital/streaming platforms, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.

The ad's message is simple. It highlights Central Piedmont’s sense of community, and that when a student chooses to attend Central Piedmont, they immediately become a part of something bigger – an institution, a community, that will help them conquer possibility.

AT&T has awarded the Central Piedmont Community College Foundation a $15,000 grant in support of the college’s Emergency Fund to provide immediate, short-term, financial support to students and employees who have emergency financial needs related to housing, utilities, medical expenses, food, technology and more.

“Thanks to AT&T’s gift, the college is better positioned to respond to the growing financial needs of its internal community during this unprecedented time in our history,” said Dr. Kandi Deitemeyer, president of Central Piedmont. “This gift will help us purchase the technology our students, faculty, and staff need to successfully learn and work remotely and provide them with the financial assistance they need for tuition, books, child care, transportation, medical care, and other needs.”

Given the extraordinary disruptions created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the college has seen an increase in requests for assistance from students facing a variety of pressing challenges. The pandemic has significantly exacerbated these challenges. AT&T’s support expands the college’s ability to help students in need at this critical time.

“Just as all our lives have been impacted by COVID-19, everyone can play a part in helping neighbors and communities through these days,” said Kathleen Evans, regional director of external affairs for AT&T. “We are pleased to be able to support Central Piedmont in making a difference for students and their families.”

Individuals interested in making a gift to Central Piedmont’s Emergency Fund can visit cpccfoundation.org/donation.

Central Piedmont Community College is excited that two of its 2020 graduates — Koichi Takara and Christopher St. Hilaire — will matriculate to Ivy League schools in fall 2020. Both Takara and St. Hilaire overcame a number of obstacles to reach this milestone in their academic journey.

Koichi Takara

After living in Japan for the majority of his childhood, Takara moved to California and graduated from one of their highest-rated public high schools. His résumé was padded with an outstanding SAT score, 4.2 GPA, and an abundance of extracurricular activities. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, as he was rejected from six of his top seven college choices. To make matters worse, he could not afford the one school that accepted him. As a result, he moved to Huntersville, NC, and enrolled at Central Piedmont where he flourished. During his time at Central Piedmont, he served as president of the Student Government Association and was an active member of the college’s Rotaract, Phi Theta Kappa chapter, and the NC Scholars of Global Distinction. After graduating from Central Piedmont on May 14, Takara plans to attend Cornell University as a junior on a full scholarship. He’ll major in industrial labor relations. Says Takara, “coming to Central Piedmont was the best decision of my life.”

Christopher St. Hilaire

St. Hilaire felt isolated in high school and dropped out at just 15 years of age. He later completed his studies, earning his GED from Central Piedmont in 2015. He immediately joined the workforce, working as a server at Ballantyne Country Club. A club member recognized St. Hilaire’s potential and urged him to go back to school. Thankfully, St. Hilaire heeded his friend’s advice and enrolled where he was most familiar: Central Piedmont. Back on campus, St. Hilaire decided to be a part of everything the college community had to offer – Student Government Association, Rotaract, Model UN, and Phi Theta Kappa. He excelled at Central Piedmont, and will graduate this week with an associate (transfer) degree. This fall, St. Hilaire will move to New Jersey, where he will study philosophy at Princeton University on a full scholarship as one of only 13 community college students in the country to be admitted to the Ivy League school for the fall term. “Central Piedmont welcomed me back with open arms and getting involved in its many student life and leadership activities made it all worthwhile,” says St. Hilaire.

For more Central Piedmont student success stories, please visit the college’s Facebook page.

The PNC Foundation has awarded Central Piedmont Community College two grants totaling $500,000 to support the college’s early childhood education program and help train more pre-K teachers as Mecklenburg County works to provide more pre-K opportunities for local children.

“As our communities face the serious health and economic challenges presented by the current crisis, it’s important to acknowledge that pre-K education is essential to helping today’s children and tomorrow’s workforce achieve economic mobility,” said Weston Andress, PNC regional president for Western Carolinas and a Central Piedmont Foundation board member. “These grants will help train and develop the pre-K educators who will be integral to the growth, quality and resilience of pre-K education in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.”

The first grant of $255,000, awarded over five years, will enable the college to hire an early childhood education recruiter/academic coach. With a focus on Charlotte-Mecklenburg's Title 1 high schools and low-income students from other area high schools, the recruiter/academic coach will promote the program in schools and youth programs such as Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas and the City of Charlotte Mayor's Youth Employment Program. Upon identification of interested students, the recruiter will work with students and families to assist with enrollment and registration. Once students are enrolled, the recruiter will serve as an academic coach, shepherding them along their chosen career pathway.

The college will use the second five-year grant of $245,000 to provide scholarships and other assistance to incumbent child care workers in need of additional college classes and credits to earn an associate degree in early childhood education. Specifically, early childhood education students participating in the Reinforced Instruction for Student Excellence (RISE) developmental math and English program at Central Piedmont will have access to:

• online tutoring service through Smart Thinking available 24 hours a day/seven days a week;
• peer mentors;
• on-site, face-to-face tutors;
• an academic coach/career navigator; and
• laptop computers to aid out-of-class learning, for those with demonstrated financial need.

“The college is grateful to PNC for its generous support of Central Piedmont’s early childhood education program,” said Dr. Kandi Deitemeyer, Central Piedmont president. “Providing opportunities for more Mecklenburg County children to attend pre-K school is an important economic mobility initiative in the county. The success of this effort will depend in large part on having enough Pre-K teachers.

“PNC is a true partner with the college and Mecklenburg County as we endeavor to ensure all children have the education they need to pursue their academic and life goals,” Deitemeyer said.

Dr. Jacob Garbini, chair of Central Piedmont’s engineering program, continues to produce components for healthcare workers’ face shields, using the 3D printers in Central Campus’s Advanced Technology Center.

Dr. Garbini received more 3D printing material on April 20, and, since that time, he has printed approx. 1,000 face shield parts. He delivered the parts to Charlotte MEDI on April 28.

While dropping off the parts, he learned from one of Charlotte MEDI’s representatives and a few healthcare workers, that an issue with the current design of the face shields is cutting into the heads of users. Considering a nurse’s shift is 12+ hours, this was unacceptable to Dr. Garbini.

As a solution, Dr. Garbini suggested he design his own face shields/masks, independently of Charlotte MEDI’s design, using only Central Piedmont equipment in the engineering lab. His design would address the practical nature of the shield. His request was approved!

Beginning this week, Dr. Garbini will work virtually with a design team, consisting of five personally-selected Associate in Engineering students studying civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering. They are: Alexander Stephenson, Bailen Huggins, Lauran Echols, Laurick Amadi, and Luke Sewing.

The design team will meet virtually to develop a prototype based on utility, which includes comfort, cleaning, and assembly, by May 1. It will be tested by Atrium Main Hospital nurses by the end of the week so the team can receive feedback on its design/fit and make any necessary adjustments before Dr. Garbini mass produces the units in the college’s Engineering Lab.

One of the student volunteers, Lauran Echols, also serves as president of Central Piedmont’s Society of Women Engineers. She and her peers are on standby, waiting to contribute to the effort as well.

Dr. Garbini will need the assistance of as many individuals as possible as he strives to meet the demand created by in-need Atrium Main Hospital oncology nurses, local dental hygiene clinics, SC hospitals, and the Medical University of South Carolina.

“It's exciting to think about the number of people we are helping with our innovation, effort, and collaboration — especially in this time of need,” said Dr. Garbini.

Learn more about Central Piedmont’s STEM programs.

The National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education Program has awarded the North Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership, located at North Carolina State University, in collaboration with community college partners the North Carolina Community College System, Central Piedmont Community College, Wake Technical College and Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, a $443,619 grant to establish a Robotics/Automation and Cybersecurity Knowledge Sharing Coordination Network (TRACKS-CN).

The TRACKS-CN project is anticipated to take three years to complete, with a projected timeline of July 1, 2020–June 30, 2023.

TRACKS-CN will focus on workforce development efforts at the intersection of robotics/automation and cybersecurity, bringing together organizations and expertise with a focus on workforce development and improving manufacturing in the United States, including community colleges, Manufacturing Extension Partnerships and Manufacturing USA Institutes.

Thanks to Central Piedmont’s past work on a U.S. Department of Transportation’s TAACCT-funded project, which focused on mechatronics (Mechatronics Re-Envisioned), the college was identified as having the subject matter expertise and capacity to serve as a community college partner on this project.

As a result, Central Piedmont’s Jami Dale, chair of the Mechatronics Engineering Technology Program, has been identified as the subject matter expert and will serve as co-Principal Investigator (co-PI) on the three-year project. A portion of the grant fuds will support Dale’s role, which includes participating on quarterly partnership calls with TRACKS-CN participants, attending two annual workshop meetings and working on Advanced Technological Education projects that focus on robotics/automation to ensure they align with the work and goals of the TRACKS-CN.

“The network this grant establishes couldn't be more timely,” said Dale. “As learning environments transition to needing an increased catalog of online technical engineering training materials for college instructors, it’s important our partners in education and industry work together to encourage and facilitate the creation and distribution of educational materials for use in North Carolina and beyond.”

Dale was a natural choice to fill the project’s co-PI role. Central Piedmont has operated a mechatronics engineering technology program since 2005. Robust automation content is woven throughout the college’s curriculum and aligns with the goals of the TRACKS-CN. In addition, the college has a strong cybersecurity education program and is exploring the links between these two technology areas as a contributor to the TRACKS-CN.

For more information about STEM programs of study at Central Piedmont and STEM career fields, see cpcc.edu/stem, or contact Chris Paynter, Central Piedmont dean of STEM, at chris.paynter@cpcc.edu or at 704.330.6531.

Central Piedmont Health Professions and Human Services donated more than 30,000 pairs of gloves, 670 N95 masks, 350 isolation gowns, 250 level 3 masks, and 400 bouffant caps to Atrium Health and Novant Health.

All of our health programs and Environmental Health and Safety offered their supplies to meet the community's needs. Faculty from all of the college's Health Careers areas wanted to come in and help pack but we wanted to limit the number of faculty involved to just a few. They were:

• Karen Summers, Interim Dean ,Health Professions and Human Services
• Eileen Clark, Dental Hygiene
• Cathy Flores, Medical Assisting
• Mel Angelisanti, Surgical Technology​

Learn more about Central Piedmont's Healthcare programs.

Central Piedmont’s Dr. Adam Harris, chair of the computer engineering technology, electrical engineering technology and electronics engineering technology programs, and Dr. Jacob Garbini, chair of the engineering program, are partnering with Charlotte Latin to produce the parts needed for CharlotteMEDI to make face shields for area hospital personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As instructors, Dr. Harris and Dr. Garbini regularly work in the college’s FabLab, home to 10 3D printers, which the duo has been visiting tirelessly, sometimes twice a day, to manufacture the headbands and bottom clips needed to complete the assembly of CharlotteMEDI’s face shields.

To date, the Central Piedmont team has made approximately 300 3D printed parts, such as bottom clips and headbands.

But, according to Dr. Garbini, that’s only the beginning.

Once the team receives more filament — the material used to produce the parts — and services a couple of the machines to get them all working at 100 percent capacity, Dr. Garbini anticipates being able to print approximately 160 clips a day going forward.

However, productivity isn’t his only concern, so is safety. “I’ve sectioned off the lab in the building to prohibit the parts from being exposed to any external germs or elements before they are shipped,” adds Dr. Garbini. “At the end of the day, Adam and I are grateful to be given the opportunity to use our college’s equipment to contribute to a community need. Any support we can offer to our healthcare providers during this critical time is extremely important — both for their safety and the well-being of the greater Charlotte community.”

Dr. Garbini delivered the face shield parts he and Dr. Harris produced to an approved CharlotteMEDI drop-off location on April 8. The parts will immediately be assembled into face shields, to later be shared with healthcare personnel working at area hospitals throughout Charlotte.