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Delaware Technical and Community College, according to President Dr. Orlando “Lonnie” George, places 93 percent of its graduates in jobs in the field of their studies.
“No institution anywhere has a higher number than that. It’s an accountability statistic that is being used more and more in the field of higher education.”
George, Owens Campus Director Ileana Smith and other Del Tech officials, this week showed off one of the reasons for the success. Along with a group of Sussex County legislators who helped secure funding, they toured the recently completed 140,000 square foot William C. Jason Technology Center which houses the majority of the campus’s classrooms, book store, and recently renovated gymnasium. The project involved an extensive renovation of the former William C. Jason High School which from 1950 to 1967 served the educational needs of Sussex County black students, prior to the end of segregation. In 1967 the Jason building became the first building of the new Delaware Technical and Community College system in Delaware.
“This is a $13 million project that has been 10 years in the making,” Smith told the legislators. “It is now our flagship facility – a place of learning for all seasons.”
George proudly showed computer laboratories with banks of computers that are available for students each day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. In all, the Jason Technology Center includes 11 computer classrooms, a video-interactive lab for distance learning that connects all of Del Tech’s statewide campuses, state-of-the-art engineering and science labs, and the latest technology in all of them. “Nowhere in this country will you find educational technology that doesn’t exist in this building,” said George.
Smith noted that the final project came in at a cost of $96 per square foot. “It would have cost $150 a square foot to only build a shell from the bottom up,” said Smith. “In all, it would have cost $26 million to build this new.”
The project also includes a total makeover of the gymnasium with a new fitness center and other facilities and equipment to meet those needs.
Many of the classrooms of the Jason Technology Center serve the burgeoning health care field. Judy Caldwell, dean of instruction at Del Tech, said one-third of all students at Del Tech’s Owens Campus are involved in health-related education including nursing, respiratory and occupational therapy, medical lab technology and radiology. Nursing is the largest single sector. George said Del Tech statewide has a waiting list of 862 students who have passed their science requirements and are waiting to get into the nursing program. “They are good paying jobs and there are plenty of jobs waiting. Our job is to bridge that chasm between the students and the jobs. We are seeking more state funding so we can expand our program. Currently we can handle 160 nursing students at a time.” George added that 95 percent of Del Tech’s nursing students pass their licensure exams. “That’s the highest rate of any higher education institution in Delaware,” he said.
“I don’t mean to be bragging but Will Rogers said ‘if you can do it it ain’t bragging.’ We’re doing it.”
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