St Philips College

College Credit for Heroes assists Veterans returning to the classroom

AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry officially launched the College Credit for Heroes program on Thursday at a bill signing ceremony held at St. Philip's College in San Antonio. Administered by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), the $3 million workforce development initiative is designed to recognize the exceptional knowledge and skills gained by military service members and award them college credits for their military experience, allowing these veterans to more easily re-enter the workforce.

SB 1736, authored by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, seeks to maximize academic credit awarded by higher education institutions to veterans and military service members. Experience, education and training obtained during military service will be evaluated for college credit in order to expedite the entry of veterans and military service members into the workforce.

"The knowledge and skills our veterans bring back from service are an important, and all too often untapped, resource for our communities," said Gov. Perry. "While we can never fully thank them for their service to our nation, I am proud of the steps we took this session, which will help veterans and military service members transition to civilian life by applying their skills and experience to help them graduate more quickly and save money on tuition."

Seven community colleges were selected to participate in the College Credit for Heroes program. The colleges will provide models for awarding college credit by evaluating military training, including testing and prior learning assessments, which other Texas colleges may replicate. There will be a focus on allied health careers, and the initiative will partner with the Military Education Training Center (METC) in San Antonio to provide current active duty service members with an accelerated degree plan.

"Approximately 25,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans separate from the service and return to Texas every year," said TWC Chairman Tom Pauken. "These young men and women have answered our country's call under very difficult circumstances and they deserve the best support we can provide to help them make a successful transition to the civilian world."

According to the Texas Veterans Commission, Texas is home to 1.8 million veterans, including 450,000 who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. College Credit for Heroes helps address high unemployment rates seen in veterans who served on active duty after September 2001.

"Service men and women are highly skilled, experienced individuals who have a tremendous amount to offer their communities when they return home after serving their country," said TWC Commissioner Representing Labor Ronny Congleton. "College Credit for Heroes will ultimately give our returning veterans faster employment opportunities and help fulfill the workforce needs in Texas.

St. Philip's bolsters offerings - San Antonio Express-News

Metro- Student Stephan Engel, right, explains the portable solar panel generator he built with student Lawton Smith, not pictured, during the Grand Opening Celebration for The Center of Excellence for Mathematics, The Center of Excellence for Science and The Alternative Laboratory at St. Philip's College Southwest Campus on Tuesday, April 26, 2011. Watching, from left/front row are Gwendolyn P. Robinson, Executive Director of the Alamo City Black Chamber of Commerce, Bill Mock, Executive Vice President of The Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Bruce H. Leslie, Chancellor, The Alamo Colleges' Board of Trustees, and Eric Chastain, an advisor for the program. LISA KRANTZ/lkrantz@express-news.net Photo: Lisa Krantz/Express-News, Lisa Krantz / lkrantz@express-news.net metro- Jim Pennington with Autotest Company, looks at a Wind Turbine Generator Control Learning System during the Grand Opening Celebration for The Center of Excellence for Mathematics, The Center of Excellence for Science and The Alternative Laboratory at St. Philip's College Southwest Campus on Tuesday, April 26, 2011. Pennington talked with faculty and students about a collaboration with the school's program doing research on Autotest Company's test equipment. LISA KRANTZ/lkrantz@express-news.net Photo: Lisa Krantz/Express-News, LISA KRANTZ / lkrantz@express-news.net

Known mostly for welding and auto mechanic programs, St. Philip's College Southwest Campus is working to shed its strictly vocational image with new facilities and degrees in the hard sciences.

On Tuesday, the college celebrated the opening of the Center for Excellence in Science, the Center for Excellence in Mathematics and the Alternative Energy Laboratory , which together offer programs in statistics, chemical research, earth and environmental sciences, biotechnology and alternative energy.

St. Philip's, one of five Alamo Colleges, has its main campus on the East Side and the Southwest Campus on the old Kelly AFB with Port San Antonio. With a focus on green jobs training, the new centers boast the city's largest noncommercial solar installation, which is expected to generate $100,000 in energy cost savings per year for the campus.

Remodeling and equipping an old warehouse cost about $14 million, paid for almost entirely with federal stimulus money and a pool of federal funds reserved for historically black colleges, St. Philip's being one.

“It's green for green,” said John Dendy , a spokesman for the college.

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