Waubonsee Community College and the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters Apprentice and Training Program celebrated National Apprenticeship Week by recognizing a new degree program designed to help carpentry apprentices translate their education and work experience into a college degree.
Waubonsee Board of Trustees approved the new Construction Technology Professional Associate in Applied Science Degree program in March. It is administered in partnership with the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters, and allows those completing the council’s four-year registered apprenticeship program to earn 45 college credits through the credit for prior learning process based on their apprenticeship classroom training and on-the-job learning. When combined with 15 semester hours of traditional college course work in communications, the humanities, mathematics, physical science and social and behavioral science, participants in this program are eligible to earn an Associate in Applied Science Degree through Waubonsee.
The Carpenter Apprenticeship Open House – held this month in Elk Grove Village – featured a presentation about the Registered Apprenticeship Program and a facility tour.
The Construction Technology Professional program began accepting students for this semester. It follows Waubonsee’s commitment in 2014 to become a member of the Registered Apprenticeship-College Consortium (RACC), a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of Education. RACC member institutions have agreed to partner with others in a network of colleges and registered apprenticeship programs operated by unions and others to provide greater college-to-career opportunities and create an accelerated pathway for those enrolled in registered apprenticeship programs to earn associate or bachelor’s degrees.
