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Program Announcements

 

BTC LAUNCHES NEW LABORATORY TECHNICIAN ASSISTANT
PROGRAM AT MONROE CAMPUS

 

Blackhawk Technical College will offer a new technical diploma at its Monroe Campus starting in January, 2008. The Laboratory Technician Assistant program is designed to prepare students to provide laboratory support to the agriculture, environmental, food processing, and medical industries. The program was recently approved by the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) Board.

 

During this one-year program, students will be prepared to conduct or assist in laboratory analysis of water, food, fuel, soil, drugs or other elements. According to Chris Wellington, Dean of the Monroe Campus, graduates will have a strong understanding of scientific principles, quality methodology and process management. “The program is designed to train students for work in a variety of industries by focusing on the common skills employers see as essential in a laboratory environment,” she said.

 

Career opportunities include agriculture/food laboratory technician, quality assurance laboratory assistant, environmental science protection assistant, and laboratory assistant. Demand locally has been on the rise with 75 percent of employers reporting they had difficulty finding employees with the necessary skills to fill entry-level positions. Cindy Fuerstenberg-Peters, a counselor at BTC’s Monroe Campus, notes that the job outlook for graduates is positive. “Students interested in this program will find they can earn more than $12 per hour and with experience could make over $34,000 per year. These wages are particularly competitive for the local labor market,” she said.

 

For information about the Laboratory Technician Assistant program or other course offerings at BTC’s Monroe Campus, call (608) 328-1660 or stop by the campus at 210 4th Ave. in Monroe.

 

NEW ACCELERATED MANAGEMENT
DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

 

Announcing the new integrated Accelerated Management Development program! You can achieve your Associates Degree (66 credits) by attending classes twice a week for two school years. Then you are halfway to your Bachelors degree! The subjects you will study are immediately applicable and relevant to where you work now or where you want to work in the future.  Click to See Brochure

 

APPLICATIONS BEING ACCEPTED FOR BTC’S 
PHYSICAL THERAPIST ASSISTANT PROGRAM

 

Applications are now being accepted for Blackhawk Technical College’s Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) program. The program has had an extensive waiting list for a number of years, and while there is still a waiting list, according to BTC officials, it has diminished to the point where students can get into the clinical portion of the program much more quickly.

 

Working in a variety of healthcare settings such as hospitals, outpatient and sports medicine clinics, skilled nursing facilities, schools and pediatric treatment centers, physical therapist assistants have the rewarding opportunity to make a positive difference in the quality of people’s lives. Under the supervision of physical therapists, PTAs conduct treatment programs enabling patients to receive from health problems resulting from disease of injury.

 

“The need for PTAs continues to grow,” said BTC  PTA Coordinator Ilene Larson. “Over the long run, the demand for PTAs will continue to increase 37 to 44 percent due to the number of individuals with disabilities, the rapid growth of the elderly population, and the large baby boom generation entering prime age for needing increased health care,” Larson added. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of PTAs is expected to grow much faster than the average through the year 2008. That bureau along with America’s CAREERinfoNET list the PTA career as one of the 25 fastest growing occupations for the 1998-2008 time period.

 

According to the American PTA Association, the median annual income for PTAs is $30,000. BTC’s PTA graduates, who are entry-level practitioners, enjoy starting wages above the national median income, Larson said. “Salaries have increased steadily over the past couple of years,” she said. “BTC is proud of their 100 percent employment placement rate, with community employers anxious to hire Blackhawk PTA graduates.”

 

Anyone interested in further information or wanting to apply for the program can contact Ilene Larson at BTC at (608) 757-7698 or ilarson@blackhawk.edu.