Bullock promotes CCAC’s education, workforce development

Calling Community College of Allegheny County President Quintin Bullock “doctor” would technically be more accurate than in the case of most academics because he earned his DDS in Texas more than 20 years ago. But before he ever set up a dental practice, he took a teaching position as a professor of biology and director of the Center for Urban Education Studies at Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y.
“Who trains students in health-related fields? Doctors and nurses. Who trains dental hygienists? Dentists,” he recently told the New Pittsburgh Courier editorial board. “That’s how it started for me, teaching at a community college. Eventually, I was offered a position I couldn’t turn down.”
In 2002, Bullock was hired as the provost of the Tidewater Community College in Norfolk, VA and oversaw the construction of a state-of-the-art science building and secured accreditation for its applied sciences associate degree program.
In 2009, he was hired as president of the Schenectady County Community College in New York. During his tenure there Bullock developed two satellite learning centers and an $11 million student housing center. He also established new partnerships with local business and industry, and secured more than $12 million in funding for targeted academic and career programs coordinated with workforce needs.
After eight months at the helm of CCAC, he sees his mission here as essentially the same; building new partnerships with the business and trade communities, developing targeted academic and workforce development programs, and training tomorrow’s leaders.
“One example is our new cyber security program. The curriculum is fully developed and is just awaiting final review before we offer it,” he said. “My job is to position CCAC as a vital economic player in southwestern PA.”
Bullock said the college is looking to data from federal, state and county employment and job statistics to determine what jobs need to, and will need to, be filled, how many are needed and whether there is something CCAC can do to develop the requisite skills training.
The college has already developed certificate programs for customer service and medical coders—positions that are in demand in Pittsburgh now. It has also added logistics as a new concentration in its business curriculum.
But Bullock is also looking to the future.
“We have 42 school districts in the county participating in our dual credit “college in high school” program, which allows qualified students to earn credit for high school and community college classes simultaneously,” he said. “And our East-West program allows students from Homewood, Rankin and North Braddock to get to career training—in HVAC, mechtronics, plumbing, electrical wiring, and automotive programs—at our West Hills Center.”
That’s the same West Hill Center that President Barack Obama called “a model for the nation” when he and Vice President Joe Biden visited the center in April. Last month, CCAC received more than $600,000 in federal grants to support expansion of its robotics systems programming at the center.
On his own future, Bullock is equally visionary.
“I’m looking forward to being around a long time and making a positive impact,” he said.
(Send comments to cmorrow@new­pittsburghcourier.com.)
 
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