NAM’s Manufacturing Institute Recognizes Eleven Florida Colleges Offering ET Degree

The Florida Department of Education (FL DOE) announced in a press release last week that the National 

Association of Manufacturers’ Manufacturing Institute has included 11 colleges from the Florida State College System as charter members of its “M-List” that recognizes schools for excellence in manufacturing education. The FL DOE also indicated that the Manufacturing Institute acknowledges Florida as the national leader with the most schools on the list. The 11 Florida colleges that made the “M-List” are: Brevard Community College, Broward College, College of Central Florida, Florida Gateway College, Florida State College at Jacksonville, Hillsborough Community College, Pensacola State College, Polk State College, St. Petersburg College, State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota, and Tallahassee Community College. 

The list recognizes schools for ensuring students earn credentials endorsed by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). The recognition by NAM of the Florida colleges prompted Florida College System Chancellor, Randy Hanna, to issue the following statement; 

“I am very proud the Manufacturing Institute recognized 11 Florida colleges for incorporating industry standards into manufacturing education and job training. The Florida College System’s strong connection to the manufacturing community ensures our students are receiving the highest quality education that will prepare them for good jobs.”

FLATE is particularly pleased with this Manufacturing Institute acknowledgement and Florida College System Chancellor’s announcement. Each of the colleges on the list offer the statewide articulated A.S. degree in Engineering Technology (ET) with its accompanying integration of the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council Certified Production Technician (MSSC CPT) industry recognized certification. Students entering this degree program, at any of the colleges listed above that hold the CPT, automatically receive 15 credit hours in this 60 credit hour ET degree program. Students entering without the CPT are prepared to sit for the exam by the completion of their first year in the ET program.

FLATER’s hat is off to Meer Almeer, Michael Ouendeno, Cheryl Fante, Margi Lee, Ernie Friend,

Alessandro Anzalone, Mike Cannon, Eric Roe, Brad Jenkins, Adrienne Gould-Choquette and Bruce Batton from the Florida colleges on the “M-List”. Without their efforts, none of the colleges would be on the list. In addition, FLATE anticipates that Florida’s impact on the “M-List” will go up because the ET degree has very recently been adopted by Gulf Coast State College and Northwest Florida State College. Finally, a very special “thank you” to Eric Owens, senior director of adult and career education at FL DOE for his ongoing support of our work. Without his help, the ET degree would have never gotten off the FLATE drawing board. Thanks gang! 

For more information on the award winning, statewide engineering technology degree and the specializations offered at regional Florida community and state colleges visit www.madeinflorida.org, or contact Executive Director of FLATE, Dr. Marilyn Barger at barger@fl-ate.org.