New Instructor Growing Bilingual Classes To Better Serve Local Landscapers (Photo) -01/14/25

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ore. – In a first for the college, Portland Community College is expanding its bilingual class offerings in its Landscape Technology (LAT) Program to better connect and serve Spanish-speaking workers in the landscape industry. 

Rachel Munzig is the new full-time faculty member who is leading the effort within the program. Based at the Rock Creek Campus, she focuses on industry outreach and developing dedicated non-credit courses conducted in Spanish that serve the industry’s bilingual workforce.

Her vision for her role at PCC extends beyond individual classes, though. She hopes to reach as deep and wide as the walnut trees to remove barriers for landscapers. The nut of her liaison work with landscaping firms is that she hopes to find further sponsorship support in the form of partnerships and grants. Last December, Munzig led a "Winter Pruning Workshop" to 26 mostly Spanish-speaking landscapers, who enrolled on their employers’ behest to further their skills. 

“The goal is to empower workers with Spanish-language training, enabling them to advance their skills and careers, becoming future arborists, irrigation experts, and leaders,” said Munzig.

Munzig brings a wealth of experience and credentials to the program. A double major in Biology-Environmental Studies and Spanish at Bowdoin University in Maine, she also holds a graduate certificate in Urban Forestry from Oregon State University and is an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA)-certified arborist. 

Raised on her family’s avocado and citrus farm in Southern California, she grew up immersed in the bilingual nature of agriculture.

“It’s a bilingual industry like landscaping,” Munzig said. “How do we alleviate barriers to meet current workers’ needs?” 

She is extra considerate of the hurdles of non-English speakers navigating online. 

“Are they computer savvy? Do they have internet access? Can they afford to skill-up?" she said. "So, I’m excited for the launch of this new program and to deep dive into meeting these needs.”

Her career has been a balance of cultivating plants and connecting with people. She lived in Paraguay for two years working with both trees and the community. In 2019, Munzig taught for the LAT Program under a short-term grant, offering pruning and plant identification courses in both Spanish and English.

“One of the reasons we're doing this work is to be responsive to industry, providing education to all members of the industry, and to help provide upward mobility within the landscaping field,” said Tara Nelson, program dean for PCC's Building, Environmental Technology & Trades. “We hope to expand what we currently offer in response to industry.”

Beyond teaching, Munzig worked in community-focused roles, including with the Portland Fruit Tree Project, which gleans fruit from urban orchards for food pantries and shelters. She also co-founded Alder Commons, a nonprofit multigenerational and multicultural community space where people of all ages can learn, collaborate and grow. Munzig also volunteered with local environmental justice nonprofit Verde where she tutored Spanish-speakers to prepare for the ISA Arborist exam.

Munzig said she believes efforts like her bilingual PCC courses can create ripples of change in the industry. 

“Great things happen when you meet people where they are," she added. "By offering landscapers Spanish-language training to skill up, we can support the industry in building a more inclusive and skilled workforce, one worker and one father-and-son team or larger business at a time.”

For more information, please visit https://www.pcc.edu/programs/landscape/.

 

About Portland Community College: Founded in 1961, Portland Community College is the largest post-secondary institution in Oregon and provides training, degree and certificate completion, and lifelong learning to more than 50,000 full- and part-time students in Multnomah, Washington, Yamhill, Clackamas, and Columbia counties. PCC has four comprehensive campuses, 10 education centers or areas served, and approximately 200 community locations in the Portland metropolitan area. The PCC district encompasses a 1,500-square-mile area in northwest Oregon and offers two-year degrees, one-year certificate programs, short-term training, alternative education, pre-college courses and life-long learning.

 

Visit PCC news on the web at http://news.pcc.edu/

PCC Champions Equity At Its Construction Sites, Winning Diversity Honor (Photo) -01/07/25

PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Community College recently won the prestigious Public Agency Excellence Award by the Business Diversity Institute (BDI).

 

The award was given based on PCC's supplier diversity and the breaking down of contracting barriers on its bond construction projects. The college's bond program supports minority- and women-owned businesses, which showcases a proactive community engagement and transparency. In addition, the institute stated that “PCC's clear reporting and commitment to a diverse workforce highlight their dedication to equitable opportunities, making them deserving of the Public Agency Excellence Award.”

 

Other reasons for the award include PCC's contracting equity objectives and commitment to holding project contractors accountable to reach objectives, creating a public-facing dashboard for transparency, and instituting a “teaming arrangement” requirement on larger design and construction projects to bring new minority-owned firms to college projects.

 

“We are humbled and thrilled to be recognized for our investment in our region’s contracting community,” said Amy James Neel, workforce and contracting equity manager at PCC’s Planning & Capital Construction (P&CC) office, which oversees the college’s bond work. “Our commitment to processes that produce more equitable outcomes is attributable to our deeply supportive practitioner community, who have shared their expertise and best practices with us.”

 

An example is PCC’s Respectful Worksite Program, which seeks to eliminate the bullying and harassment that disproportionately affect minority and women workers in the construction industry. By fostering harassment-free work environments through its bond construction program, the college aims to increase the retention and advancement of underrepresented workers. It is part of a broader commitment by PCC to create positive jobsite cultures and ensure that all workers, regardless of their background, feel respected and valued.

 

The college’s contracting equity objectives further reinforce a commitment to equity. Projects valued at over $200,000 are required to allocate at least 20% of contract value to minority, women owned, emerging small business and service-disabled veteran business enterprises-certified firms, with a focus on minority- and women-owned businesses. Additionally, workforce diversity goals include ensuring that 25% of journey hours are worked by people of color, 9% by women and non-binary individuals and 22% of apprentice hours by minorities.

 

For example, the metrics achieved for the recently completed Sylvania Campus Health Technology Building renovation project featured 23.1% hours performed by trades workers who are people of color, 15% of the hours worked by tradeswomen, 23.8% by registered apprentices and 29.4% of the project’s contracts were done by certified firms.

 

Angela Smith is owner of Minority Construction Group, which is a minority-owned firm and co-owner of Sapling LLC (partner with Pence Construction). Smith has been impressed with PCC’s equity efforts on projects. Her company worked on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning upgrades at the Cascade Campus Student Union and Cascade Hall in North Portland, classroom and office renovations at the Opportunity Center at 42nd Avenue and a project at the Carolyn Moore Writer’s House in Tigard.

 

“Partnering with PCC has been a truly inspiring journey,” Smith said. “The mutual respect shared among staff, vendors, trade partners and general contractors fosters a collaborative spirit that drives us to successfully complete each project as a unified team.”

 

Smith said that PCC’s focus on equity stems from the college’s commitment to creating safe and respectful job sites that prioritize mentorship, advancement, accommodation and dignity for all workers. This has been instrumental in driving the college’s capital projects toward increased participation of minority-owned, women-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses. 

 

“PCC’s commitment to maintaining a respectful workplace, valuing diversity in every aspect, is evident,” Smith added. “They ensure that general contractors provide essential training at the start of each project, so every partner understands and upholds these values. My team and I are always excited to work with PCC, knowing that each experience will be uplifting and enriching.”

 

For more on PCC's Planning and Capital Construction work, visit https://www.pcc.edu/bond/

 

 

About Portland Community College: Founded in 1961, Portland Community College is the largest post-secondary institution in Oregon and provides training, degree and certificate completion, and lifelong learning to more than 50,000 full- and part-time students in Multnomah, Washington, Yamhill, Clackamas, and Columbia counties. PCC has four comprehensive campuses, 10 education centers or areas served, and approximately 200 community locations in the Portland metropolitan area. The PCC district encompasses a 1,500-square-mile area in northwest Oregon and offers two-year degrees, one-year certificate programs, short-term training, alternative education, pre-college courses and life-long learning.

 

Visit PCC news on the web at http://news.pcc.edu/

PCC Earns Nearly $1.7 Million For Mental Health Initiatives As Nursing Wins Big Honor (Photo) -12/17/24

PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Community College’s Family and Human Services and Addiction Studies programs recently received $1.675 million from the U.S. Department of Education. This grant supports mental health and community wellness efforts, benefiting PCC students and the broader Portland community as mental health challenges continue to rise.

In addition, PCC is the first community college west of the Rockies to earn national accreditation for human services education, awarded by the Council for Standards in Human Service Education. This news comes as, according to a Community College Survey of Student Engagement, 66% of students reported feeling “anxious, nervous, or on edge.” This funding and accreditation allows PCC to address such concerns by expanding its mental health literacy efforts, equipping students and the community with the tools to foster safer environments.

The grant funds a new fall term seven-credit “Foundations in Behavioral Health” course series, designed for completion within a single term. The program includes “Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training” and “Mental Health First Aid” classes as core components. These practical courses provide entry-level skills for students in various human service roles, preparing them to assist those in crisis and connect them with more professionalized support.

“This program is ideal for anyone, including current community service workers, case managers and peer recovery mentors,” said Andrew Garland-Forshee, chair of PCC's Family and Human Services Program. “These courses enable professionals and students to quickly gain skills and certifications to supplement or up-skill their careers.”

For more information on PCC's offerings, visit the Family and Human Services webpage.

Nursing Program Ranked No. 1

The college has earned the distinction of being the top-ranked registered nursing program in the United States, according to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). 

This ranking reflects the program’s preparation of students, culminating in consistently high pass rates on the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), a critical certification for aspiring nurses. The NCSBN also ranked PCC first among 2,228 programs nationally and tops among 30 programs in Oregon in its 2023-2024 program reports.

“We are all so excited for our students and incredibly proud of our faculty and staff,” said Janeen Hull, dean of the Academic and Career Pathways, Health and Emergency Professions Pathway. “It’s really a reflection of the time, energy and efforts of our amazing team, who are truly dedicated to preparing students for success.”

Over the past 15 years, PCC’s nursing graduates have maintained NCLEX first-time pass rates exceeding 90%. In 2023, the program achieved a 100% pass rate, then a 91% pass rate in 2024. While other schools may achieve high pass rates in a given year, Program Dean Adam Wright emphasized that such “sustained performance is rare among nursing programs.”

For more information visit pcc.edu/programs/nursing .

 

About Portland Community College: Founded in 1961, Portland Community College is the largest post-secondary institution in Oregon and provides training, degree and certificate completion, and lifelong learning to more than 50,000 full- and part-time students in Multnomah, Washington, Yamhill, Clackamas, and Columbia counties. PCC has four comprehensive campuses, 10 education centers or areas served, and approximately 200 community locations in the Portland metropolitan area. The PCC district encompasses a 1,500-square-mile area in northwest Oregon and offers two-year degrees, one-year certificate programs, short-term training, alternative education, pre-college courses and life-long learning.

 

Visit PCC news on the web at http://news.pcc.edu/