November 3, 2009
For Immediate Release

RCCC Receives Grant to Equip High-Tech Classroom at NCRC

                 SALISBURY, N.C. — Rowan-Cabarrus Community College has received a grant of $50,142 from the U.S. Department of Commerce to equip a distance-education classroom at the college's North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC) building now under construction.

                  The grant comes to RCCC through the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and its Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP). The PTFP assists public radio, public television and non-broadcast, distance-learning projects across the nation. RCCC's grant is part of $19.95 million in grants the PTFP is awarding.

                  RCCC will use the grant to help create a highly connective distance-learning classroom with cutting-edge video conferencing capabilities, plus a mobile video conference system. The interactive classroom will possess all of the equipment needed to provide and receive instruction via two-way video transmission over the Internet, including cameras, projectors, theater-style projection walls, microphones, monitors and a control system.

                  As with RCCC's other video-conferencing facilities, the NCRC classroom will be able to connect to other RCCC campuses, sites throughout North Carolina, and national and international education and industry sites. The mobile unit will have much of the same equipment and functionality, giving RCCC the ability to send and receive video-conferencing content within non-interactive classrooms.

                  "Our goal is to use video-conferencing instruction at the NCRC to educate and train students as well as the local workforce," explained Debra NeeSmith, RCCC dean of instructional technologies. "Classes and professional-development events conducted via video-conferencing will give participants access to instructors and industry experts regionally, nationally and globally. The mobile system will enable a traditional classroom or conference room to become a 'distance-learning' room, enhancing the instructional experience.

                  "Overall, this interactive platform will provide flexibility for learning and greater access for students and the community," NeeSmith added.

                  RCCC's 62,332 square-foot biotechnology facility has been described by many as a tangible link for local residents to opportunities on the NCRC, in Kannapolis. The building will be the home of RCCC's two associate degree programs in biotechnology and agricultural biotechnology and continuing education programs related to biotechnology and clinical research. These programs and others RCCC will develop will prepare local residents to meet many of the NCRC's future workforce needs.

                  RCCC plans to open the building next summer, in time for its fall 2010 semester. The facility will have the focus of providing instructional space for hands-on biotechnology training in a realistic research and development setting.

                  For more information about RCCC's distance education programs, see the RCCC website at www.rowancabarrus.edu/distance/. For details about RCCC's biotechnology programs, visit www.rowancabarrus.edu/programs/biotech/index.html.

               RCCC is a comprehensive, community-based institution of higher learning, serving the citizens of Rowan and Cabarrus counties in North Carolina. RCCC is one of 58 colleges in the state-supported North Carolina Community College System.

                RCCC offers fully-accredited associate-degree programs in more than 40 areas of study, including arts and sciences, business, information technology, health and public services, and engineering technologies. RCCC also offers accredited diploma and certificate programs focused on career training, continuing education and basic skills education. RCCC provides a strong foundation and transferable credits for students moving on to four-year colleges and universities and helps adults get the additional training they need to start new careers.

               RCCC annually provides more than 2,000 course offerings, serving an overall enrollment of approximately 20,000 students. In addition, RCCC provides the education and job-training programs needed to meet many of the workforce demands of the North Carolina Research Campus being developed in Kannapolis. For complete details, see the RCCC website at www.rowancabarrus.edu.