Northern New Mexico College Technical Trades Programs
Create Career Pathways & Economic Development
The Northern New Mexico College Technical Trades department offers a wide range of options from noncredit coursework to certificates and associate degrees, all geared toward making students career ready upon completion. Close associations with the local unions strengthen curriculum development and provide pathways to union membership. Any student who receives a plumbing certificate from NNMC is accepted into the UA Local 412 Plumbers and Pipefitters Union through a direct placement program.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local union 611 provides consulting, advising and some training for the electrical program, and a pathway to apprenticeship in the union. Western States Regional Council of Carpenters just helped develop an Associate of Applied Science in Carpentry, which will provide either apprenticeship or pre-apprentice status. Pre-apprenticeship allows graduates to enter directly into an apprenticeship program.
The curriculum is taught on both the El Rito and Española campuses as well as several satellite locations. The El Rito campus has an electrical lab geared toward both residential and commercial training and a well-equipped plumbing and pipefitting lab. Northern’s Continuing Education program participants and dual credit students from Española Valley High School are taking classes in an upgraded welding lab on the Española campus, and a former facilities shop on that campus is being transformed into a lab for electrical and HVAC classes. The college just received a grant from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to upgrade the electricity in the El Rito welding lab so they can operate their large equipment.
“Once we get that big equipment going up there that lab is going to be a desirable lab for any training organization,” said Frank Loera, Chair & Instructor in the Department of Technical Trades
The Tech Trades program has expanded through dual credit programs and satellite campuses registered through the Higher Education Department. Satellite programs are established at UA Local 412 Plumbers and Pipefitters Training Centers in Albuquerque and Los Alamos (the latter is being relocated to Española) and Española Valley High School. The department has applied to establish two more satellites at Jemez Pueblo, one at the Walatowa Charter High School and another at Jemez Valley High Schools.
In addition to dual credit students coming to the Española campus, students from Mesa Vista High School in Ojo Caliente take dual credit courses on the El Rito campus. A dual credit program at Coronado High School in Gallina is growing so quickly that staff may apply for another satellite. Conversations are underway for a dual credit program at Escalante Middle/High School in Chama, which could also expand into a satellite. Once the sites are established the college can begin offering traditional courses and other career pathways.
The department’s programming has expanded rapidly in the last two years.