The National Center for Convergence Technology (CTC) builds upon its partnership with businesses and educational institutions in North Texas and the network of partner and mentored colleges developed as a regional center. The reach of the National Center is expanded to at least sixty community colleges nationwide by working through five partner colleges that mentor community colleges in their geographic region to implement high-demand convergence degree and certificate programs in the emerging technologies associated with the networking IT infrastructure, including mentoring feeder high school and four-year university programs in a 2+2+2 pathway. The regional Business Industry Leadership Team (BILT) is expanded nationally to provide job task analyses to guide the nationwide network of community colleges to prepare their students for high-wage, high-demand jobs in IT infrastructure including mobile networks, cloud computing, mobile device integration, storage and network virtualization, and video integration. These are all expansions of convergence technology: voice, video, image, and data over a secure network. The Center provides e-books and interactive on-line tools to support delivery of courses and professional development of faculty. The Center focuses on increasing the number of degree/ certificate completers ready to meet workforce needs and on implementing nationally-known best practices for recruiting, retaining, and graduating underserved students. A set of stackable certifications is created to expand career potential and allow for rapid reemployment. An evaluation measures the effectiveness of the Center in developing mentored colleges that implement courses and programs that provide regional business with workplace ready employment candidates that have content skills to meet the latest changes in the industry as well as employability skills that ensure effective workplace behavior. The evaluation also measures the effectiveness of the professional development of faculty and the content knowledge and employability skills of the students. The methodologies include gathering numbers data, interviews, and surveys of students, faculty and BILT members.
