Welcome to the Mid-Pacific Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Center and California Community Colleges ICT Collaborative Home Page

In the information, knowledge and innovation economies of the 21st century, we increasingly depend on information and communications technologies - and the increased connectivity and productivity they enable.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is an umbrella term, widely used outside the U.S. and in the United Nations, to encompass all rapidly emerging, evolving and converging computer, software, networking, telecommunications, Internet, programming, information systems and digital media technologies.

Improvements to deployed ICT technologies, infrastructure, systems and solutions, and people’s abilities to productively use them, are strategically important issues to individuals and organizations of all kinds – and to local, state, national and global economies.

To enhance education initiatives in this field, the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program has awarded a 4 year, $3 million grant to establish the Mid-Pacific ICT (MPICT) Center, at City College of San Francisco in 2008. In 2012, that grant was renewed at similar annual amounts for 3 years.

MPICT’s mission is to coordinate, promote and improve the quality of ICT education, with an emphasis on 2-year colleges, in a region consisting of California, Nevada, Hawaii and the Pacific Territories.

To accomplish this mission, MPICT launched in 2008 with 4 Regional Partner schools: Ohlone College, Cabrillo College, Foothill College and Santa Rosa Junior College, which together with City College of San Francisco, represent the San Francisco Bay Area. Fall of 2009, MPICT added a new Regional Partner, Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, NV, which adds connections to ICT programs at all 4 Nevada community colleges through the NSF funded NVITE project. In the Fall of 2010, a sixth Regional Partner College representing Hawaii, Kapi'olani Community College, was added.

MPICT endeavors to:

• Champion the importance of ICT

• Build collaborative relationships with the rich ICT industry resources of the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley to improve ICT education

• Coordinate efforts to harmonize, improve and communicate educational and career pathways and experiences in ICT

• Expand and diversify the skilled ICT workforce

In 2011, the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, Division of Workforce and Economic Development Career Education Practices Unit awarded a Perkins IV, Title 1B Leadership grant to create the California Community College (CCC) ICT Collaborative. Its mission is to:

advance ICT education programs at California community colleges and enable a diverse student population to succeed in meeting industry and business ICT workforce needs.

The CCC ICT Collaborative works closely with MPICT to provide statewide leadership for the strategically important ICT sector throughout the California Community College system. One in four community college students in the U.S. attends a California community college, the largest higher educational system in the U.S.

Please explore the information and resources on this site – and feel free to contact us!