The expansion of opportunities with shale gas in West Virginia poses challenges for construction companies – especially in the area of industrial construction coordination.

To help meet this need in the construction industry, West Virginia University Extension Service’s Institute for Labor Studies & Research was awarded a $650,000 contract to develop a credit certificate curriculum. The program will be led by Sam White, an associate professor at WVU Extension.

The three-year initiative aims to create a credit certificate program for industrial construction coordination that supports career advancement opportunities for craft workers in the building trades. White and a team of academic and industry experts will develop a 12-hour credit certificate program for the West Virginia Community and Technical College System. A pilot curriculum will be offered through West Virginia University at Parkersburg in January 2015, and an online version will follow in 2016 that will be available through the CTCS.

“This innovative partnership will help bring together WVU, the CTCS, industrial construction users, contractors and craft unions in a focused effort to meet construction challenges related to the expansion of the shale gas industry in West Virginia,” White said.

The program is part of the Bridging the Gap project, a $25 million Department of Labor Trade Assistance Community College and Career Training grant. The grant was awarded to the CTCS in 2013 and is part of an ongoing effort to build partnerships between WVU, the CTCS and the building and construction industry.

“We’re all working toward the common goal of providing enhanced educational opportunities for West Virginians and better trained workers for the industries that need them,” White said.

WVU Extension’s Institute for Labor Studies & Research, located on WVU’s main campus in Morgantown, provides teaching and research programs to improve labor-management relations.

To learn more about WVU Extension programs, visit http://ext.wvu.edu, or contact a local office of the WVU Extension Service.

Connecting the people of West Virginia to the University’s resources and programs is the primary goal of WVU Extension Service and its 55 offices throughout the state. Local experts, like WVU Extension agents and specialists, work to help improve the lifestyles and well-being of youths, workforces, communities, farms and businesses through trusted research in the counties in which they serve.

-WVU-

abb/09/29/14

CONTACT: Ann Bailey Berry, WVU Extension Service
304.293.5691, Ann.Berry@mail.wvu.edu

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