Fourth Quarter 2007 Report

QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORT – FOURTH QUARTER 2007

SECTION 1: GENERAL GRANT INFORMATION A. Clearly Identify Your Grant: Grantee’s Name:

Gloucester County College 1400 Tanyard Road Sewell, New Jersey 08080

Name of the Project:

FITS – NJ Careers

Grant Number:

CB-15918-07-60-A-34

Date:

January 30, 2008

Reporting Period:

Fourth Quarter 2007

Contact Information:

Robert D. Rossi, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Chemistry Gloucester County College 1400 Tanyard Road Sewell, NJ 08080 (856) 415-2267 [email protected]

B. Summary of General Grant Activities: During the fourth quarter, Gloucester County College (GCC) held a science teacher training event “Science Day at GCC”, which exposed local area high-school science teachers to the science program opportunities at the college. Our new science A.S. degree programs were highlighted, including our Food Science program. Plans are also underway for our second summer workshop for middle- and high-school science teachers, which is planned for June, 2008. Articulation has been signed with Delaware Valley College. This becomes the first articulation for our Food Science degree program. Agreements with Cornell and Rutgers Universities are still in progress. A total of 197 incumbent Food Production Industry employees were trained in a variety of continuing education coursework during this past quarter. Additionally, several new continuing education courses are being developed for businesses in the food production area and these will be available for delivery during the first quarter of 2008.

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Salem Community College (SCC) has now established a program of study in food process technology. As part of this program, new courses have been proposed. Formal approval from SCC’s Curriculum Committee and the New Jersey’s Presidents’ Council are the next steps in this process. C. Status Update on Leveraged Resources: The only leveraged resource activity that took place this past quarter involved use of the science facilities during the “Science Day at GCC” event that took place on November 7, 2007. D. Status Update on Strategic Partnership Activities: Corporate partnership activity this past quarter involved a meeting of GCC’s the Industrial Advisory Committee on October 10, 2007. Many of our industry and academic partners were also in attendance, and participated in our Science Day event held on the campus of GCC on November 7, 2007. Preliminary discussions have taken place this past quarter with key representatives of The Campbell Soup Company and Rutgers University in preparation for the our next Summer Workshop “Food Science for Middleand High-School Science Teachers” to be held in June, 2008. Articulation has been signed with Delaware Valley College, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, constituting our first articulation agreement in Food Science. Discussions continued with our partner, Cornell University, toward an articulation agreement with hopes of signing early first quarter, 2008.

SECTION II: TIMELINE FOR GRANT ACTIVITIES AND OUTCOMES Below is a working timeline for our program. Please note, this is an abridged version of a master timeline we are maintaining using Microsoft Project. This abridged form is complete for the key tasks in the fourth quarter 2007, and will be updated and supplemented with additional tasks for subsequent quarters as they approach. The narrative addressing these key tasks can be found mainly in Section III of this report. Project Activities Finalize articulation agreement with Cornell University SCC to assemble program advisory committee Propose initial plans for IC 401 renovation into a food science laboratory

Projected Completion Date

Actual Completion Date

July 15, 2007 July 31, 2007 August 15, 2007

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November 30, 2007

Project Activities Finalize plans for IC 401 renovation into a food science laboratory Hold 2nd GCC Technical Advisory Committee meeting for 2007 Offer first continuing education training Assemble food science faculty hiring committee at GCC Participate in local IFT “Supplier’s Night” event Finalize articulation agreement with Delaware Valley College Promote food science at “Science Day” event at GCC Develop continuing education courier offering food industry course/training for incumbent workers Join New Jersey Food Producers Institute Develop brochure for continuing education coursework being offered in Winter 2008 Hire food science faculty member at GCC Develop and implement a Food Science Website SCC to define a food processing curriculum of study Mail brochure to 600+ Food Production Industry Businesses Fourth quarterly report due to FPO

Projected Completion Date

Actual Completion Date

September 30, 2007

October 10, 2007

October 10, 2007

October 10, 2007

October 18, 2007

October 30, 2007

November 27, 2007

October 30, 2007

October 30, 2007

November 5, 2007

November 5, 2007

November 7, 2007

November 7, 2007

November 9, 2007

November 9, 2007

December 31, 2007

December 19, 2007

December 31, 2007

December 31, 2007

December 31, 2007 December 31, 2007 December 31, 2007

December 31, 2007

January 4, 2008 January 30, 2008

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January 30, 2008

Project Activities Initiate new mailing to 12th grade students in Gloucester and surrounding counties who qualify for NJSTARS program Apply for NJEA endorsement of 2008 Food Science Teacher’s Summer Workshop File required paperwork for pre-approval of gas chromatograph Prepare an abstract for a poster presentation of our Food Science grant activities to 2Y3C (20th BCCE) conference at Indiana University in July, 2008 Mail new brochure to county K-12 schools for 2008 Teacher’s Summer Workshop SCC to hold advisory board meeting SCC to internally approve a food processing curriculum of study Develop and finalize Food Production Orientation Curriculum Hold 3rd GCC Technical Advisory Committee meeting for 2007 SCC new AAS Program Announcement distribution and address any issues Offer first session of Food Production Orientation Courses SCC AAS paperwork in hands of Academic Issues Committee

Projected Completion Date

Actual Completion Date

January 30, 2008

January 30, 2008

February 15, 2008

February 15, 2008

February 15, 2008

February 15, 2008 March 31, 2008

March 31, 2008

March 31, 2008

April 2, 2008

April 15, 2008

May 2, 2008

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January 8, 2008

Project Activities Identify and schedule presenters at first regional conference Purchase Gas Chromatograph NJ Presidents’ Council Approval of SCC AAS degree program Hold “Food Science for Middle- and High-School Science Teachers” Workshop Present poster presentation on “Development of a Transferable A.S. Degree in Food Science” at 20th BCCE conference at Indiana University in July, 2008

Projected Completion Date

Actual Completion Date

May 15, 2008 May 30, 2008 June 2, 2008

June 23-25, 2008

July 27-31, 2008

SECTION III: GRANT OUTCOMES A. Capacity-Building Progress, Deliverables, Impact and Dissemination: 1. Progress and Deliverables GCC A.S. Degree in Food Science Program: Program Publicity, Educational Training and Marketing Events 

During this past quarter GCC held “Science Day at GCC” event. During this event, approved by the Gloucester County Board of Education, GCC served as the county-wide in-service day for middle- and high-school science teachers. The purpose of the event was to publicize the outstanding science education being offered at GCC and its partnering 4-year institutions, and through a series of workshops and presentations, give the participants course content material consistent with the New Jersey core curriculum standards for the various scientific disciplines. Particularly highlighted were our new A.S. degree science programs including Food Science. Some 47 total science teachers participated, with 16 attending the workshop for Food Science. The workshop portion of the Food Science program was a joint effort shared between GCC faculty along with partner university representation from Cornell and industry representation from the Campbell Soup Company. The program in general was so well received by the participants that plans are to hold a follow-up session in the Fall 2008.

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

Preliminary work also began this quarter on the “Food Science for Middle- and High-School Science Teachers” Workshop planned for summer 2008. With agreement of our partners from Rutgers University and The Campbell Soup Company, the dates for this year’s workshop have been set for June 23-25, 2008. The technical program has been slightly modified in response to the evaluations made by last summer’s participants, and more time for curriculum development activities are planned. In addition, this year we are seeking the endorsement for our workshop from the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), the largest K12 teachers union in the State. Unlike last summer’s workshop, this year we plan to offer no stipend to the participants, and in addition plan to charge a nominal fee for participation in the workshop to offset costs incurred that are not covered by grant funds.



Food Science Program Marketing Activities o A template for a web page design for our grant program has been developed and now awaits content input from the various program sections. All aspects of the program will be accessible through this one web site. o A new Food Production Industry Training brochure was completed during this quarter. The brochure describes the four free seminars being offered in February and March of 2008 and invites businesses to send as many employees as they wish to the seminars which cover HACCP Overview, Good Hygiene Practices, Quality Assurance Fundamentals, and Food Supply and Terrorism. A targeted mailing of these brochures will be made to all food production industries within a 50 mile radius of Gloucester County College. Also, to further emphasize the opportunities made possible by these seminars, e-mails will be sent to food production businesses with whom a personal working relationship and network has already been established.

Progress was also made this past quarter toward the hiring of a food science faculty member. A committee of four members of the faculty and staff of GCC was established to review the applicants for this position and invite the most promising/qualified on campus for a half day interview session. A total of 24 applications were reviewed, from which 4 applicants were selected. These applicants will give an on campus interview in January, 2008, after which a final selection will be made. It must be pointed out here that this faculty hiring process is approximately 7 months behind schedule. Articulation of our food science program with Delaware Valley College, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania occurred on November 5, 2007. This represents our first signed articulation with a 4-year institution. This agreement comes with a very generous financial aid package from Delaware Valley College, to help qualified students with the costs of this private institution.

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Articulation discussions are also underway with the University of Delaware and the Pennsylvania State University, but are both in early stages. During the next quarter, paperwork for pre-approval of the purchase of a programmable gas chromatographic will be filed with the FPO. This instrument is required in support of the Food Science Laboratory (FSC 202) developed for our Food Science Program, and is a needed upgrade to equipment currently used in our Organic Chemistry course, which is a required course sequence for completion of the A.S. degree in Food Science. The bidding process is complete (total cost $18.5K); we await information on the procedure for pre-approval of the funds. Salem Community College A.A.S. Degree Program: Since the Food Process Technology Program is a new technology program at Salem Community College, recommendations were made to select an advisory board to help develop the curriculum, courses, lab equipment, etc. The committee was selected and consists of:  John Steiner – Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Salem Community College  Robert D. Rossi, Ph.D. – Associate Professor, Chemistry at Gloucester County College  Raymond Carroll – Director of Thermal Process at Campbell Soup Company  Mukund Karwe, Ph.D. – Professor of Food Engineering, Rutgers University  Paul Takhistov, Ph.D. – Associate Professor of Food Science, Rutgers University  Haiquing Chen, Ph.D. – Professor of Food Science, University of Delaware  Ms. Jeanne Held – Regional Manager, Texture Technology Corporation A decision was made by the advisory board to select an outside consultant from the academic community. The advisory board collectively selected Steve Mulvaney, Ph.D., Food Science Technology Professor at Cornell University. Dr. Mulvaney is familiar to many of the advisory board members and several have studied under him during their undergraduate degree studies. Another major concern was to develop a pertinent and effective program curriculum allowing students to learn the important concepts for immediate employment upon graduation. It was suggested that rather than “reinvent the wheel’, the program should try to model another current two-year Food Processing Technology College curriculum. The Peterson’s Two-Year College Reference Guide listed over 1900 colleges. Only one college, Copiah-Lincoln in Mississippi, was listed in the “food processing category”. However this program is no longer offered by that college. The next approach was to contact field representatives who sold Food Texture Analysis Equipment and ask if they had any information regarding existing 2-year programs. Both Brookfield and Texture

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Technology Company’s were contacted, but neither had information on current programs. The advisory board also could not provide any further insight on this. As a result, with the assistance of Mr. John Steiner (John has been instrumental in developing other technology curriculum’s at Salem Community College in the past) the current Associate in Applied Science Degree Program for Process Technology was taken as the basic framework for the A.A.S. degree and modified to meet our current food processing degree needs. We selected the required general educational courses and core technology courses, then, filled in the voids with proposed new pertinent food processing technology courses. The proposed graduation control sheet for the new A.A.S. program of study is shown below, with the new courses highlighted. First Semester CS 115 ENG 101 BTC 101 MAT 136

Second Semester CHM 130 ENG 122 MAT 201 BTC 110 Third Semester New New PHY 101 SOC 101

Fourth Semester ECO 202 New New

Computer Applications English I Intro to Biotechnology Intermediate Algebra Intro to Food Processing Technology

3 credits 3 credits 3 credits 4 credits 3 credits 16 credits

Basic and Organic Chemistry Business and Occupational Writing Statistics Biotechnology Lab Methods

3 credits 3 credits 3 credits 3 credits 12 credits

Food Production Safety/Toxicity Food Engineering Physics Intro to Sociology Humanities Elective

3 credits 3 credits 4 credits 3 credits 3 credits 16 credits

Microeconomics Food Packaging Food Analysis and Product Development Thermodynamics Social Science Elective

3 credits 3 credits 4 credits 3 credits 3credits 16 credits

TOTAL CREDITS: 60

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GCC Continuing Education Program in Food Science: Due to the late hiring of the Coordinator of Continuing Education, our continuing education training program is approximately nine months behind schedule. Nonetheless, during the fourth quarter of 2007 a total of 197 incumbent Food Production Industry employees were trained in a variety of continuing education coursework including Lean Manufacturing, Team Building, Spanish for Business, and Time Management. Each employee participating in a training session completes a registration form. This form containing the requisite statistical information required by the DOL, will help generate a database being maintained by the Administrative Assistant. Also, each participant completes an evaluation of the coursework and this documentation is kept on file. These evaluations help to ensure that coursework targets the needs of the business while upholding the high quality standard expected of Gloucester County College. Included with this report under Section III, B, Training Outcomes, is the first reporting attempt at documentation of individual trainees. Many of the fields indicated do not yet apply to these incumbent workers, and addressing each outcome has proved to be very challenging. It is hoped that the modified reporting requirements now under discussion for community-based job training grants, will soon be finalized and accepted. All 46 companies responding to the original business survey were contacted through personal letters, follow up phone calls, and e-mails. These outreach efforts made by the Coordinator of Continuing Education helped to ensure that each and every respondent was contacted and made aware of the opportunities available in this grant. Several new continuing education courses are being developed for businesses in the food production area and these will be available for delivery during the first quarter of 2008. These courses include HACCP Overview, Good Hygiene Practices, Quality Assurance Fundamentals, and Food Supply and Terrorism. They are currently advertised in the noncredit, community education courier sent to addresses within and beyond the county. In addition, a brochure highlighting this coursework was also developed and will be sent to all food production businesses within a 50-mile radius of Gloucester County College. The brochure invites businesses to send as many employees as they wish to attend these seminars, all made possible through the Community-Based Job Training Grant. Registration for these courses has been streamlined to include web-based registration. The addition of our newly developed Food Industry Training and Science logo to the web registration will ensure a smooth and seamless registration process. A full curriculum on Food Processing Orientation will also be ready during the first quarter of 2008. Once fully developed, the coursework will include modules in a variety of field-specific topics such as Good Hygiene and Sanitation, Allergens, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP’s), Problem Solving, and Statistical Process Control. The curriculum will first be offered to businesses in a traditional instructor-led format, but will ultimately become a computer-based, site specific program for businesses to use when training newly hired workers.

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March 26, 2008 has been established as the date of our annual conference. The agenda, although not yet fully conceived at this writing, will include a seminar on Bioterrorism as well as a presentation on the computer-based training being led by the Houston Area Safety Council. A meeting of business partners who will serve as the continuing education advisory committee was held during the fourth quarter of 2007. Attendees represented major food production companies including The Campbell Soup Company, LaBrea Bakery, and J&J Snack Foods. Committee members offered suggestions for further marketing the opportunities available through this grant including joining the New Jersey Food Processors Association, and advertising through the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT). These participants will be extremely helpful in carrying out the goals of the grant through their expertise in the Food Production Industry and through networking with major corporations. As more food-industry specific curriculum is developed, these corporate representatives will also review and critique all course guidelines prior to delivery of the training. Summary of Grant Outcomes:

Deliverable or Activity (with brief description) Articulate Food Science program with Delaware Valley College Promote food science at “Science Day” event at GCC SCC to define a food processing curriculum of study Deliver Continuing Education Coursework to 4,960 Employees

Percentage Complete This Quarter (if applicable)

Completion Date (actual or projected)

Impact (known or potential, if applicable)

Impact Calculation Methodology

100%

November 5, 2007

5 Food Science Majors per year

20% of the declared Food Science majors per year

100%

November 7, 2007

16 K-12 Science Teachers

Actual head count

100%

December 31, 2007

24 students per year

Targeted program registration

4%

December, 2009

197 participants completed training to date

Actual head count of participants

10

2. Dissemination Activities and Events for Grant Deliverables B. Training Outcomes: Training Outcomes and Information and Enrolled Trainees

Baseline (from Statement of Work) 4,960

This Quarter

Cumulative Total

197

197

N/A

N/A

N/A

4,960

197

197

4. Number of participants that earned an industry/professional certification as result of training

N/A

197

197

5. Number of participants not employed prior to training 6. Entered employment (Common Measure #1) 7. Employment Retention (Common Measure #2) 8. Average earnings (Common Measure #3) 9. Number of participants employed in the same occupation

N/A

0

0

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Not yet known

N/A

N/A

1. Number of participants enrolled in training program 2. Number of participants who have exited Number of participants successfully completing training

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Notes Approx. 9 month delay due to late hiring of Continuing Ed Coordinator

Date Needed to Complete December 2009

Exit date

These 197 employees participated in Lean Manufacturing Overview (146), Spanish for Business (8), Team Building (30), and Time Management (13). Based on the standard of the Continuing Education Department, CEU’s (Continuing Education Units) were offered using the formula of one CEU per 10 hours of training.

All 197 employees successfully completed coursework.

All 197 received CEU’s for participation.

All incumbent workers.

All employed at time of training

Training Outcomes and Information and Enrolled Trainees or industry as their training that received a promotion after completion of training 10. Number of participants who were employed during training (regardless of industry or occupation) that received a wage increase in the first, second or third quarter after completing training 11. Number of participants who obtained employment in the occupation or industry related to their training program following the completion of training, where that occupation or industry was different than their previous employment (e.g. a food service worker in hospital becoming employed as a CNA after CNA training or a tobacco assembly line worker becoming employed in the biotechnology industry after biotech training) 12. Other measures defined by grantee Information regarding enrolled trainees:

Baseline (from Statement of Work)

This Quarter

Cumulative Total

Not yet known

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

TBD

TBD

Gender -

Male

114

114

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Notes

Date Needed to Complete

All trainees are incumbent workers in Food Production Field

Requirements under the Jobs for Veterans Act and the Nondiscrimina

Training Outcomes and Information and Enrolled Trainees -

Baseline (from Statement of Work)

Female

Ethnicity - Hispanic or Latino - Not Hispanic or Latino

This Quarter

Cumulative Total

83

83

27

27

Notes

105 responded to this question

Date Needed to Complete tion and Equal Opportunity provisions for the Workforce Investment Act

Race -

American Indian or Alaska Native - Asian - Black or African American - Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander - White Disability Status - Persons with disabilities Veteran Status - Veterans

“

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Trainees must be given the opportunity to provide the training provider with this information, it cannot be required

46 N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

SECTION IV: PROMISING APPROACHES AND SUCCESS STORIES A. Promising Approaches, Processes and Lessons Learned: Nothing to report this quarter. B. Sharing “Success Stories”: An abstract for a poster session presentation entitled “Development of a Transferable A.S. Degree in Food Science” has been submitted to the “Two-Year College Chemistry Conference” (2YC3, a division of the American Chemical Society), held jointly with the 20th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (20th BCCE) in July, 2008 at Indiana

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University. This conference offers an excellent opportunity to share our program with an audience composed mainly of science educators from 2-year institutions. We will be notified early March, 2008 of the acceptance status of our poster paper. C. Other Positive Developments: Initial discussions were held this quarter with the high-school science faculty at Williamstown High School in Gloucester County, to assist in the development of their “Food Science Academy”. The intent is to put high-school students on an educational track that would specifically prepare them for a degree in food science at GCC. More discussions are planned for 1st quarter 2008, with consideration of identifying college level courses offered by college faculty at the high school.

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