Mayor Office Press Room

Nov. 10 - CCSF Grant

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Contact: Mayor’s Office of Communications

415-554-6131

*** PRESS RELEASE ***

MAYOR NEWSOM AND CITY COLLEGE ANNOUNCE MAJOR NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION GRANT

$750,000 grant will greatly expand job-training opportunities in emerging digital media industry

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Mayor Gavin Newsom joined representatives of City College of San Francisco to announce the receipt of a three-year $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program to develop the Institute for Convergence of Optical and Network Systems (ICONS).

Serving an estimated 1,200 students needed to support the growth of new industries like digital media, the NSF grant will allow City College to update and create new course offerings in the fast-growing information and communication technology field. Students at the newly formed Institute will get hands-on training through a partnership with the City’s Department of Telecommunications and Information Services (DTIS) that will also connect CCSF campuses City wide. The Institute will also focus on recruiting and retaining traditionally underserved students in the field of Information and Communication Technology.

Mayor Newsom hailed the Institute as a vital component of the City’s economic future saying, “We need to focus on creating lifelong employability because graduating from high school is no longer a guarantee for employment.” The Mayor continued, “The industries of the future like bio-tech, commercial life sciences and digital media demand that we provide a highly-skilled, trained workforce – the Institute is an important step in this direction.”

“Once again, City College is at the cutting edge of technology with the recent award of the National Science Foundation grant for the development of City College’s new Institute of Convergence of Optical and Network Systems,” said Rodel E. Rodis, President, CCSF Board of Trustees, adding, “The NSF grant will provide the College with the funds to update and create new course offerings in this field and to develop an A.S. degree in Information and Communication Technology.”

City College Trustee Johnnie L. Carter, Jr., said, “This grant underscores the continuing commitment of City College to focus on programs that link workforce preparation and economic development. In this particular case, the focus is on information and communications technology which is an area of critical need and opportunity for City College, the City of San Francisco and the Bay Area. As Chair of the Board’s Technology Committee, I am very pleased that the College has been awarded this prestigious and timely award.”

“This is a “great news” item – great for the community, the College’s faculty and staff, and most importantly the students that we serve who will benefit from the training associated with this initiative and the high-wage, value-added jobs for which they will be prepared,” states Dr. Philip R. Day, Jr., Chancellor.

The NSF grant positions City College as a national model: CCSF Faculty will disseminate all project products and findings to other colleges nationwide with the support of this grant. The grant funds will be used to develop an Associate of Science (AS) Degree in Information and Communication Technology, but also two certificate programs, one in Metropolitan Optical Networking and the other in Advanced Optical Networks, focusing on the growing fields of Internet Protocol convergence and fiber optic communications.

Professor Pierre Thiry, who is the Principal Investigator (project leader), notes, “The jobs that this program will lead to are needed to manage communication networks locally. They are not about to be outsourced to other countries.” The College estimates that the NSF grant will enable about 1,200 students to enroll in the optical/network system courses.

Enjoining project investigators Carmen Lama and Tim Ryan point out that students will get hands-on experience from two important projects: a Metropolitan Area Network being installed in partnership with the City of San Francisco, Department of Telecommunications which connects CCSF campuses district-wide, and the College’s recently installed Voice-Over Internet Protocol telephone system from Alcatel, a platform that will be partially supported and maintained by students in the new Institute.

Additionally, the new Institute will provide faculty development in the fields of convergence and optical and network systems who will be assisting other colleges in implementing technician training that focuses on this emerging growth industry. Principal Project Investigators will disseminate all project products and findings to other colleges nationwide with the support of this grant.

Industry leaders who wrote letters in support of the grant included Lynn Bumin, Executive Director, External Affairs, SBC, who stated “We are constantly seeking alternative training programs to keep our technology staff educated on the latest advances in this field. The City College program will offer another avenue for our continual development of our staff forces.”

Dennis C. Frezzo, Manager, Research and Development, Creative Learning Studio, Cisco Systems, Inc., noted, “Just as eight years ago the Cisco Networking Academy Program helped address the needs for introductory level networking technicians, the needs of society for technicians trained in optical and Metro Ethernet technologies should also be addressed today.”

The National Science Foundation, headquartered in Washing, D.C., is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950. With an annual budget of approximately $5.5 billion, NSF is the funding source for about 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America ’s colleges and universities.

Founded in 1935, City College of San Francisco serves over 100,000 credit and noncredit students annually in some 100 instructional sites throughout San Francisco.

###