News and Notes from around the College

San Jac is finalist for 2023 Aspen Prize

The Aspen Institute named San Jacinto College one of the 10 finalists for the 2023 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.

This newest honor follows the College’s recognition as an Aspen Prize Finalist with Distinction in 2021, Aspen Prize Finalist in 2019, and Aspen Prize Rising Star in 2017.

The $1 million Aspen Prize is the nation’s signature recognition of community colleges that are achieving high and equitable outcomes for students. The 10 finalists represent the amazing potential of more than 1,100 community colleges nationwide as engines of prosperity and social mobility. San Jac has distinguished itself in innovative instructional and student support strategies and leads the nation in Hispanic student degrees, use of data collection and analysis, and workforce and economic development.

Next steps in the Aspen Prize selection include multi-day site visits to each of the 10 finalists to gather insights about effective practices, a review by a distinguished jury to select the Aspen Prize winner, and a late spring 2023 announcement of the winner.

To learn more about San Jac and the Aspen Prize, visit sanjac.edu/newsroom.

With new FAA designation, students can count on top drone training at San Jac

The San Jacinto College EDGE Center — the official education training partner for the Houston Spaceport — is now a partner for the Federal Aviation Administration’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems-Collegiate Training Initiative.

“The College has offered drone classes since 2016, with an increase in course options with the opening of the EDGE Center at Ellington Airport in 2020,” said Janis Fowler, director of aerospace education and workforce training. “This designation from the FAA ensures that our standards for instruction and instructor qualifications are higher than ever, giving our students the very best this region has to offer in training.”

The FAA’s UAS-CTI program recognizes institutions that prepare students for careers in unmanned aircraft systems, or drones. To qualify for the initiative, schools must offer a bachelor’s or associate degree in UAS or a degree with a minor, concentration, or certificate in UAS. Schools must provide curriculum covering various aspects of UAS training, including hands-on flight practice, maintenance, uses, applications, privacy concerns, safety, and federal policies concerning UAS.

The EDGE Center offers four 16-hour drone courses and one comprehensive course:

Drone/sUAS FAA Part 107 Test Prep ($180)
Drone Flight Operations ($285)
Advanced Flight Operations ($350)
Advanced Topics ($310)
Comprehensive UAS/Drones ($1,050)

Among local community colleges, San Jac is unique in offering the flight operations classes and joins only four other Texas institutions in the UAS-CTI program. To learn more, visit sanjac.edu/edge-center.

Mass timber building boasts old-school construction, modern twist

Photo by Courtney Morris

San Jacinto College continues to build and update facilities thanks to the 2015 capital improvements bond program.

The Anderson-Ball Classroom Building celebrated its grand opening Aug. 16. Inside its lobby, laminated black spruce columns climb 40 feet to support double beams spanning a planked ceiling. Taking up one-third of the lobby’s visible envelope, all this timber gleams amber-gold.

At 122,000 square feet, Anderson-Ball is currently the nation’s largest mass timber instructional building. It sits on the foundations of the former Anderson and Ball technical buildings on the Central Campus quadrangle and houses math, pre-engineering, college prep, English, and humanities classes.

While its brick exterior ties it to the campus’ other legacy buildings, its structure comprises mass timber — wood layers laminated together in cross-pattern — rather than steel.

Commercial development, building codes, and certification processes matured at the right time for the College to pursue mass timber.

“The market was ready for someone to do what we did, and we just happened to be there first,” said Charles Smith, associate vice chancellor of fiscal initiatives and capital projects.

Besides using old-school but now vogue timber construction, Anderson-Ball showcases innovative technology like solar tubes and panels, graywater/rainwater harvesting systems, and electrochromic windows that tint automatically.

Anderson-Ball’s innovative design led Engineering News-Record Texas & Louisiana to name it the 2022 “Best Project, Higher Education/Research.”

Other bond projects completed in 2021-2022 include …

Central Campus: