WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. –– Salem College announced on October 10, 2019, a new co-admission agreement with Forsyth Technical Community College (Forsyth Tech) to facilitate degree completion and student success by improving access to undergraduate educational resources, university facilities, and support systems.

“Forsyth Tech is excited to collaborate with Salem College in this agreement,” said President of Forsyth Tech Janet N. Spriggs. “Having this strategic alliance will offer tremendous benefits to our students and to the community in demonstrating how higher education works together to improve student completion and success.”

“Salem College is honored to be a key member of the wonderful higher education eco-system that we have in Winston-Salem,” Salem College President Sandra Doran said. “We offer a diverse and inclusive community at Salem College as we prepare graduates to make a bold impact locally, nationally, and globally. We’re thrilled to welcome Forsyth Tech students to our campus.”

In partnership, Salem College and Forsyth Tech will enhance and expand the educational opportunities for Forsyth Tech’s Associate in Arts (AA), Associate in Science (AS), and Associate in Applied Science (AAS) graduates. Salem College will establish a seamless, guaranteed transfer guide for Forsyth Tech’s AA, AS, and AAS graduates with a 2.0 grade point average or higher for the Bachelor of Arts degree. In most cases, up to 60 hours of transfer credit will be accepted. Salem College will maintain a part-time Coordinator of Transfer Admission on Forsyth Tech’s campus one day each week.

Initially, Salem College will offer a Bachelor of Arts in Integrative Studies to Forsyth Tech students who meet admission requirements. Recruitment will begin immediately upon signing with classes being offered in the Spring 2020 term. Both colleges will participate in a joint Advisory Committee comprised of Salem College and Forsyth Tech faculty, staff, and/or administration that will meet twice a year to review this partnership.

Forsyth Tech has launched four new co-admission partnerships with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Winston-Salem State University, to improve student access to undergraduate and graduate education. The programs began enrolling students this fall.

About Salem College
Salem Academy and College is the oldest educational institution for girls and women in the United States. With more than 18,000 alumnae who serve as entrepreneurs, physicians, researchers, artists, lawyers, teachers, community volunteers, and corporate executives, Salem Academy and Salem College continue to educate the next generation of global leaders. For more information about Salem Academy, please visit salemacademy.com. For more information about Salem College, please visit salem.edu.

About Forsyth Tech
Forsyth Technical Community College provides students with guided educational pathways into a competitive workforce for the community and global economy. The college offers associate degrees, diplomas, and certificates in more than 200 programs of study, including programs that promote personal and professional development through non-credit courses and seminars, as well as customized training for business and industry. Forsyth Tech is the seventh largest community college in North Carolina and serves more than 35,000 students with approximately 1,500 full and part-time faculty and staff. For additional information,  follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

With support from Governor Roy Cooper, Forsyth Technical Community College and Collins Aerospace announced a new apprenticeship program giving opportunities for apprentices in engineering to work at Collins Aerospace while going to school.

Governor Roy Cooper signed the 2019 Manufacturing Week Proclamation at Collins Aerospace on October 1, 2019, and also took the time to help Forsyth Technical Community College and Collins Aerospace kick off the apprenticeship program.

Manufacturing Week, held this year from September 30 – October 5, encourages thousands of companies and educational institutions around the nation to open their doors to students, parents, teachers and community leaders.

“You think about manufacturing in the days of old and it’s so much different now,” said Gov. Roy Cooper. “It requires so much more knowledge and talent. That’s why it’s so important for us to continue to invest in education and to make sure people have the skills necessary to get these good paying jobs.”

The new apprentice program is part of the college’s LEAP@Forysth Tech program, a structured collaboration between Forsyth Tech as the apprenticeship sponsor and instructional provider, and local companies committed to employing the apprentices throughout their educational journey. LEAP@Forsyth Tech will expand the skilled workforce for the region, create a strong positive impact for the economy, and increase the region’s ability to attract new and expanding industries to the community.

“Our apprenticeship programs are also an important part of our comprehensive and diverse educational portfolio here at Forsyth Tech and it will help us achieve our vision of being a catalyst for equitable economic mobility, by empowering our students so they can be active participants in transforming our communities,” said Forsyth Tech President Janet N. Spriggs. “We are thrilled to celebrate this impactful workforce development partnership with Collins Aerospace.”

As more and more skilled workers are reaching retirement age, businesses like Collins Aerospace, defense and aerospace manufacturer, need highly-skilled workers to help them maintain, grow and expand their business operations and to fill gaps left when employees move up into other roles or reach retirement age.

“The timing of this announcement was really perfect. Manufacturing Week is an opportunity to show what modern manufacturing careers truly look like. They are innovative – these are not your grandfather’s jobs. They are high-tech, high-demand and high-paying. LEAP@Forsyth will meet this need and provide opportunities for our students. They will make money while they are learning and earning their associate degree, helping them graduate debt-free,” said provost of Forsyth Tech, Joel Welch.

Several companies like Siemens, Progress Rail and Thermcraft and Triumph Actuation Systems, Inc. have partnered with Forsyth Tech to provide apprenticeship programs through LEAP@Forsyth.

“Today, manufacturers across the country are facing a gap between the technical skills their employees need and the skills they find in applicants. Apprenticeships provide the practical along with the conceptual learning to create that highly skilled individual,” said dean of engineering technologies, John Carstens. “We are illuminating the pathways to a good career with life sustaining wages and opportunity for advancement.

For more information about LEAP@Forsyth, contact Danielle Rose, Apprenticeship Coordinator (DRose@forsythtech.edu, 336-734-7232).

2019-2020 academic year HES kicked off with nearly 100 attending

The Forsyth Tech Humanities Enrichment Series (HES) held its inaugural event for the 2019-2020 academic year on September 19, 2019 with a talk given by Dr. Raisur Rahman from Wake Forest University on “Unity in Diversity; The Making of Bombay as a Global City. Continue reading →

Nearly nine months after becoming the seventh president of Forsyth Technical Community College, Janet Spriggs was formally sworn into office Thursday.

With community members, elected officials, current Forsyth Tech students and professors filling the Stevens Center, the more than two-hour inauguration ceremony featured 14 speakers as well as musical performances.

Spriggs came to Forsyth Tech after more than 22 years working at community colleges, including 15 years at Carteret Community College where she started her career in education.

Earlier this summer, EdNC.org sat down with Janet Spriggs, who became president of Forsyth Technical Community College in Winston-Salem in January. We talked to Spriggs about what prepared her for the role, Triad industry partnerships, outreach to high schoolers, and the college’s strategic plan.

“I think that my whole life has prepared me to be a community college president, although most of that time I probably did not realize that,” Spriggs said. “I grew up on a tobacco farm in North Carolina just across the Virginia border, and I’m a first generation college student.”

She said her experiences growing up allowed her to relate to barriers and risk factors of students. Plus, 14 years working in business and nearly 23 years serving in the community college space have given her a greater understanding of bringing education and business together. This understanding has led to a robust vision for Forsyth Tech’s future.

For the first time in at least 15 years — possibly ever — the top officials of Forsyth County’s six higher-education institutions shared a stage last week.

The Winston Salem Chamber of Commerce held its inaugural State of Education luncheon Wednesday at the Benton Convention Center. The goal was “bringing the community together for an important discussion about workforce opportunities.”

If the collaborative and collegial nature of the conversation is any indication, a new or extended series of partnerships could be spawned from the forum.

Forsyth Technical Community College’s newest president doesn’t have a lot of free time — but with the time she does have, she’s helping the college make strides after taking the reins from retired president Gary Green.

Dr. Janet Spriggs has worked in a variety of roles in the N.C. community college system for 22 years, most recently as the chief operating officer at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College in Salisbury. She’s not without accolades, either — the prestigious Aspen Institute selected her for the 2018-2019 Aspen Presidential Fellowship for Community College Excellence.

Registered nurse Lidia Danilevich was commissioned as U.S. Navy ensign in the Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas on Aug. 30. Lt. Barbara Sterrenberg, from the Navy Officer Recruiting Station in Knoxville, Tenn., administered the commissioning oath.

Danilevich, a Russian national who earned her U.S. citizenship in 2015, began nurse’s training at Forsyth Technical Community College in Winston-Salem and finished at University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Given her choice to be deployed to Japan, Fort Belvoir or Walter Reed Medical Center, she chose Walter Reed

It was during a presentation by Kristen Nicholson, a biomechanist and assistant professor at Wake Forest School of Medicine, that Waynon Graham’s face lit up. You could practically hear the light bulb click on in his mind.

As a rising first-year student at Forsyth Technical Community College (FTCC), Graham planned to study computer science due to his love of video games. Through Nicholson’s presentation, he’d realized the connection between motion capture used in video game creation and biomechanics.

“Out of all the people that gave speeches, this is the one that resonated with me the most,” he said, even following up with Nicholson to discuss career pathways in the field like product development for running shoes or injury prevention for athletes.
Continue reading →