South is Teaching Others How to Teach Sustainable Building Management
As building technologies become increasingly sustainable, efficient and complex, and as current facilities managers retire, the need for a workforce ready to manage these new technologies is critical. This is especially true in the Pacific Northwest, where green building is a top priority.
That's why South Seattle College created a Sustainable Building Science Technology Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.S.) program, and with the help from a National Science Foundation grant we are working closely with a team of managing partners to train the next generation of building managers and implement a professional pathway to connect Washington workers with jobs in the field.
A critical part of creating that professional pathway came together this summer. In July 2016, we offered a 30-hour Summer Teacher Institute titled Supply and Demand: Framing Energy through Sustainable Building Science Technology, with high school teachers and community college instructors. Teachers were in attendance for five days and learned about sustainability, energy/energy efficiency, building science, smart buildings, data and analytics. They learned about the Sustainable Building Science Technology degree and met students from the program. They experienced community learning laboratories, including the Smart Buildings Center, the Bullitt Center, and the campus of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
The institute was a great success, with participants taking their newfound knowledge and teaching techniques back to their schools, colleges and students. We had three teachers turn around and teach high school students (based on what they learned at the Institute) at a STEM Summer Learning Opportunity at Cleveland High School.
Those Cleveland High School students may very well be the next generation of sustainable building managers.
To learn how you can get involved, visit our Sustainable Building Science Technology B.A.S. website.