Job-training needs are not the only aspect of life that’s changing as people in Rowan and Cabarrus counties turn their sights on the biotechnology center taking shape in Kannapolis. Dr. Dick Brownell, president of Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, says the area is experiencing a cultural shift, too ó “from barbecue and NASCAR to Tai Chi and tofu,” Brownell said Tuesday.
He was sitting in on a session the college held for area newspaper, TV and radio reporters. Even journalists need additional training to deal with biotechnology. And, like everyone else, journalists are wondering how the campus and related industries will transform the region.
“Quickly” might be the first answer. Pillowtex’s Plant 1 is rapidly being replaced by the N.C. Research Campus. Projections say the campus could lead to 2,219 biotech jobs by 2008 ó just next year. RCCC has already added nearly 50 itself, including three key positions involved with its biotech program that have just been filled. All three had to be recruited from outside Rowan and Cabarrus, but at least the search is getting easier. As the Research Campus Core Lab has risen from the ground and word about the campus spread, the college has received more and more applications for its biotech training jobs. At first applicants were hard to come by. In this most recent round of hiring, college officials say they had a good pool of candidates from which to choose.
Dr. Ed Otto, RCCC’s director of biotechnology, holds a doctorate in molecular biology from Duke University and has held such positions as director of the Office of Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies at the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologic Evaluation and Research. But he can explain scientific concepts in a way that makes this newcomer to our community ó biotechnology ó seem less intimidating and more accessible.
That’s good, because thousands of people here will be working in biotechnology, and the sooner people can grasp what it is, the sooner they can find their place in it. Jeannie Moore, the college’s vice president of continuing education, emphasizes that a majority of jobs in biotechnology ó 60 percent ó do not require a bachelor’s degree, but a high school diploma or equivalent is a must. RCCC is developing three new associate programs related to biotechnology, with enrollment beginning in the spring. Some training options are already being offered, such as the Biowork Course.
And with its RC3 Center (RC “Cubed,” for Refocus, Retrain, Re-employ), the college is dovetailing these new opportunities with efforts to help former Pillowtex employees and other displaced workers who are still out of work or underemployed take advantage of this new wave of development. It’s a transformation all around ó for the community, for workers and for RCCC. Biotechnology is not the only workforce training the college will do, but it is the newest. RCCC has truly embraced this new mission and is leading the community forward. Its role is pivotal.