NEWS RELEASE

 

For Immediate Release – August 25, 2014

Nassau Community College Secures $100,000 Grant to Expand Medical Laboratory Technician Program

Garden City, NY — Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced that Nassau Community College (NCC) is the recipient of a $100,000 workforce development grant to expand its Medical Laboratory Technician program. The grant is part of the State University of New York's (SUNY) “High Needs Program,” which is designed to support campus courses of study that will produce graduates who will be employed by those sectors of the economy in great need of an expanding workforce.“The purpose of this grant,” said Dr. Kenneth Saunders, Acting President of Nassau Community College, “is to assist NCC in serving the Long Island community in general, and the Long Island health care industry in particular, by providing it with skilled, well-educated and trained medical laboratory technicians. As the population of Long Island ages and its health care industry relies on even more advanced technology for laboratory testing to diagnose illnesses, the number of lab tests being requested will increase as will the related workforce needs. This is, then, in a very real sense a grant from which we all stand to benefit.”With this funding, NCC will be able to expand its Medical Laboratory Technician program by up to 66 percent through upgrading the physical space in which the program will be conducted and by providing it with state-of-the-art laboratory equipment, thereby enhancing the curriculum to better reflect the skill sets that employers are seeking. Additionally, through the grant funding, NCC will be able to offer several new “hybrid” courses, which will combine face-to-face classroom instruction with online learning, evenly divided between on-campus meetings and web-based activities, thereby making more courses accessible to students whose other work or family obligations require a more flexible schedule. With the upgraded laboratory equipment and space and more varied opportunities for instruction, the grant will allow students more access to hands-on training, which will lead to better results in terms of students’ completing the program and being successful on the licensure examinations.  In commenting on the Governor's announcement of the grants, SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher said, “SUNY’s High Needs Program is just one way in which we honor our promises of economic and workforce development to New York State while educating and training our students in careers that will lead to their success after graduation, and we are proud to foster their development and training on campuses across the State.”NCC noted in its application for the grant that this initiative will have a long-term impact for Nassau Community College and the Long Island region by increasing the number of skilled workers who will have the opportunity for immediate employment in positions that provide both a middle class wage base and the potential for growth. As a result, it will help retain young people on Long Island maintain a workforce that generates tax revenue and supports home ownership. Nassau Community College, a division of the State University of New York, is an institution where almost 22,000 full- and part-time students and approximately 10,000 continuing and professional students start and continue their successful journey through higher education. More than 70 fields of study are offered on a 225-acre campus located in the center of Long Island. As the largest single-campus two-year college in New York State, Nassau Community College maintains a national reputation for excellence. For more information, visit www.ncc.edu.