Texas HVAC Insider News

Intellitec College Granted Accreditation.

HVAC Excellence proudly announces that Intellitec College in Colorado Springs, Colorado has been granted accreditation of its’ Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVACR) program.

In 1965, congress passed the Higher Education Act (HEA) providing financial assistance for students to attend post secondary institutions and improve our workforce. This resulted in new career training schools opening across the country, including Intellitec College. A great deal has changed in educating and training the American workforce since 1965. However, one thing that has remained constant is Intellitec College leading the way to training our workforce.

The American jobs market is quickly changing towards a green economy. Over forty million new jobs in green and sustainable technologies will be created over the next twenty years. Energy efficiency has never been so closely tied to economic opportunity. However, the National Renewable Energy Lab has identified a shortage of trained persons as a leading barrier.

Intellitec College understands that when you are discussing sustainable technologies, that we are discussing the HVACR industry. HVACR is a $200-billion-a-year U.S. industry, and second only to transportation as the largest consumer of energy. These are jobs that will be performed on American soil. To validate that they were preparing students for jobs in the fastest growing sectors of the new economy, IntelliTec College decided to seek accreditation of their HVACR program.

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Programmatic accreditation is where an independent third party reviews a program against set standards in: Curriculum, Faculty, Student facilities, Placement services, financial aid, and Advisory committee involvement, Training facilities, Equipment & safety. In the HVACR industry, programs are reviewed for accreditation by HVAC Excellence (www. hvacexcellence.org).

Programmatic accreditation validates that a program is preparing students for jobs in the HVACR industry and verifies that the program has the needed resources and administrative support to accomplish their goals. In seeking accreditation, the staff at Intellitec College had to complete a self study evaluation of their program. This is a process where the school documents every detail of what they do over an 18 month period with students, and demonstrates how they meet the national standards. The self study once completed was submitted to HVAC Excellence for review.

Executive members of HVAC Excellence thoroughly assessed the self study. Upon completion of their review, HVAC Excellence selected a group of industry veterans with over 70 years of combined technical, administrative and teaching experience in the HVAC industry to visit the campus and validate the self study through an intense on site evaluation. The onsite visit took place on February 16, 2010.

During the onsite visitation, the following personnel were interviewed: Robert Arnold (President), Michael V. Schranz (Executive Vice President), Edwin J. Kraus (Chief Operating Officer/Executive Director), Raymond Ada (Dean of Faculty), John A. Vargas (Director of Career Services), Ivan Smith (HVAC Program Supervisor), Eric Seltenright (HVACR Instructor), Kim Templin (Admissions Representative), Natalie Cole, Julie Ham (Purchasing/Collections), Alex Jasso (HVACR Instructor), and Charles Ledford (HVACR Instructor).

HVAC Excellence having reviewed the self study and evaluated the program decided to grant a six year accreditation with commendation of the Colorado Springs program. HVAC Excellence has granted accreditations in twenty one other states over the past decade. However, Intellitec College is the first institution to achieve HVACR programmatic accreditation in Colorado. Intellitec College understands that a better education will lead to a better life in Colorado. The on site team had numerous commendations of the program, including: Intellitec College is commended for being the first school in the United States to build a virtual trainer for teaching the safety of Carbon Monoxide. They employ six highly competent instructors, each with diversified and unique backgrounds to successfully prepare their students for careers in the HVACR industry.

Some of the benefits of Intellitec College HVACR program accreditation include: students can have more confidence in the HVACR program, employers have the assurance that the graduates are properly trained, creates goals for self improvement, can assist the students in the acceptability of transfer credits, and it involved the faculty in the evaluation process.

The Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA) and the United Association (UA) represent over 3,000 premier employers and a workforce of 350,000. They have made a commitment to recruiting HVACR technicians from schools with HVAC Excellence credentials as a top priority and will provide new hires advanced placement into their apprenticeship program.

As one of the premier schools in the country, Intellitec College will be listed on www.5starcareers.com HVACR recruitment site. Interested individuals can visit this site to learn about the career opportunities in the HVACR industry and find the top programs in the country, which includes Intellitec College. Intellitec College has undergone many changes in 45 years however, one thing has remained constant - they will continue to be a leader in technical education. To learn more about embarking on a career in an ever changing world, interested persons should contact Intellitec College 719 632-7626 or visit http://www.intelliteccollege.edu.

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