HOUSTON (Aug. 23, 2012) – As part of the statewide College Credit for Heroes program, Lone Star College System is hosting a Veterans Excellence Conference Aug. 29 – 31 to gather best practices for expediting the transition of military members into the civilian workforce.
The College Credit for Heroes (CCH) program works to maximize college credits awarded to veterans and service members for their military experience and training.
Senate Bill 1736 by state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte created the program and it includes a partnership between the Texas Workforce Commission and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board that allows the colleges to award course credit to veterans for experience, education and training obtained during military service.
This helps veterans save time and money as they pursue college degrees, and helps speed their transition into the civilian workforce.
College representatives from seven Texas community colleges, including Lone Star College, have been hard at work over the past year, each responsible for different aspects of the program.
The conference next week, to be held at LSC-University Park, will bring these colleges – and their part of the CCH program – together to share best practices to move the program from idea to implementation.
In addition to Lone Star College, the other six colleges include: Alamo College, Central Texas College, Houston Community College, Lee College, San Jacinto College and Temple College.
The conference also includes many veterans support resources like the Texas Veterans Commission, the Wounded Warrior Project, the Worklife Institute, Career Gear Houston and United Way of Greater Houston.
Keynote speakers for the conference will include a past special assistant to the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the commander of the U.S. Navy Corps, chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission and others.
The conference will also include a separate job fair for veterans on Aug. 30, with Houston-area companies on hand to hire for a number of positions.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry praised the efforts of the seven community colleges involved with the CCH program. He first called for the creation of the initiative in June 2010 and officially launched it July 18, 2011.
"Our veterans are an underutilized resource, a highly-trained, talented and dynamic group of individuals, whose character has been demonstrated time and again in hotspots around the globe," Gov. Perry said during a recent visit to Central Texas College "College Credit for Heroes helps our veterans save valuable time and money on tuition as they work toward a degree, getting America's best and brightest into the workplace as quickly as possible, which benefits our veterans, their families and the state's entire economy."
CCH is administered by the Texas Workforce Commission as a $3 million workforce development initiative with the overall goal of helping veterans more easily re-enter the workforce and to address the high unemployment rates for veterans who served on active duty after September 2001.
With 75,000 students in credit classes, and a total enrollment of more than 90,000, Lone Star College System is the fastest-growing community college system in the nation and the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area. Dr. Richard Carpenter is the chancellor of LSCS, which consists of six colleges including LSC-CyFair, LSC-Kingwood, LSC-Montgomery, LSC-North Harris, LSC-Tomball and LSC-University Park, five centers, LSC-University Center at Montgomery, LSC-University Center at University Park, Lone Star Corporate College, and LSC-Online. To learn more visit LoneStar.edu.
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