The College of Southern Nevada frequently collaborates with community and business organizations to make sure we’re always responding to local needs when it comes to training the workforce.
Our Air Conditioning Technology program goes one step further by inviting people in the industry to help design the curriculum and steer the program.
“The whole purpose of a community college is to give the community what it needs,” says CSN Industrial Technologies Program Director Rodney Nestmann.
CSN’s Air Conditioning Advisory Board, left to right: Brandie Koehler from Switch, CSN air conditioning instructor Crystal Naegle, CSN Vice President of Academic Affairs Hyla Winters, Dennis Cicala from Steamatic Las Vegas, CSN Chair of Applied Technologies Dennis Soukup, Cal Sanders with Cal Air Cooling and Heating, Ken Goodrich with Goettle Air, CSN Campus Administrator Joan McGee, Adam Green with Geary Pacific Supplies, Chris Bless and his wife, Kayla, with Carl’s Air, Dennis Cope with Evolution Air Conditioning, Paul Mehl with Lawyer Trane, CSN Industrial Technologies Program Director Rodney Nestmann, CSN research professional Seanna Larson, and Randy Tussing with Lawyer Trane. Not pictured: Advisory Board Chairman Blake Ballard with Sahara Air.
To that end, CSN has created an Air Conditioning Advisory Board, stacked with local industry movers and shakers. They got a look at the program’s newest facility this week, a 6,000-square-foot, off-site laboratory space with specialized equipment to teach Boiler and Chiller Operations, Advanced Controls and Sheet Metal Fabrication.
CSN Chair of Applied Technologies Dennis Soukup, left, and CSN Industrial Technologies Program Director Rodney Nestmann, in blue, talk with Ken Goodrich with Goettle Air.
The space features working hot water and steam boiler systems, a 160-ton York Chiller, a BAC Cooling Tower, a complete sheet metal fabrication area, and more. It’s all designed to make sure CSN’s students are working with the latest technology so they’ll be ready to work even before they graduate.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the field has a much greater than average job outlook, and the median salary is more than $44,000.
“It’s all about jobs,” Nestermann says. “We base our training on what the community needs.”
Nestermann discusses curriculum and accreditation with the advisory board.
The program offers both an Associate of Applied Science degree and a Certificate of Achievement in Air Conditioning Technology. Nearly all graduates find jobs immediately, many of them even before they finish their degrees.
Switch, the local technology company, for example, recently formed an internship program with CSN in which the company will pick eight CSN students each year to train until graduation, and then hire once they have their degrees.