CCAC and Google Celebrate Successful Partnership, Announce New Student Cohort for the 2023 TechWise Program
Leaders from CCAC, Google and the government joined TechWise program participants on the Allegheny Campus on April 12.
CCAC hosted Google executives, lawmakers and VIPs to celebrate the college's successful partnership with the TechWise learning program. The event, held on Wednesday, April 12, at CCAC Allegheny Campus, also served to announce the 11 CCAC students who recently began their participation in the TechWise program as part of Cohort 2 in March. County Executive Rich Fitzgerald; U.S. Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania; U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California; former U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb; Shivakumar Venkataraman, Google Vice President and General Manager; Dr. Santanu Paul, TalentSprint CEO; Debjani Mukherji, TalentSprint Vice President, Strategic Alliances; Dr. Quintin Bullock, CCAC President; Dr. Michael Rinsem, CCAC Endowed Professor of Technical Curriculum; and CCAC TechWise program participants were all in attendance.
TechWise is a diversity, equity and inclusion program offered by TalentSprint and supported by Google. This 18-month program identifies and empowers capable students from underrepresented groups in select colleges to prepare for high-growth tech careers. Participating students have the opportunity to engage with TalentSprint's learning platform and work with Google mentors to blend their academic knowledge with hands-on experience to build technical expertise, soft skills and the tools necessary for the corporate world.
"For our technology focused students, this is an amazing opportunity. While we can teach them the essential skills they need to understand how a fundamental program works, adding the TechWise learning to their education allows them to immerse in a real-world environment to see how systems integrate and help them make the mental connection from writing code to the creation of complete programs," said Michael Rinsem, CCAC Endowed Professor for Technical Curriculum.
The TechWise program is fully funded by Google and provides 100% free tuition, along with an added scholarship of $5,000 to help students take care of basic expenses so they can focus on learning.
"We're proud to be working with TalentSprint to bring the benefits of the TechWise program to CCAC," said Shiv Venkataraman, VP/GM for Labs at Google. "TechWise reinforces our commitment to help empower students from underrepresented groups so they can succeed in future tech careers."
One of four participating community colleges in the nation for Cohort 2, CCAC has partnered with TechWise since the program began in January 2022. Nationwide, only 120 students per year are expected to receive offers to join the elite program. CCAC students were offered 33 of those positions in 2022. Those CCAC students in the inaugural group (Cohort 1) are scheduled to complete their TechWise learning this summer.