Bioprocess Program seeks high-tech flexibility

As the new 3,100-square-foot Bioprocess Technology laboratory at Vance-Granville Community College nears completion, VGCC staff are preparing to make the program technologically sophisticated and convenient for students.  The Bioprocess Technology program prepares men and women to work as process technicians in facilities that manufacture biological products. Some possible jobs include mixing chemicals to make cancer drugs, formulating medical and cosmetic creams, and creating DNA testing kits.

Graduates will complete a two year Associate in Applied Science degree and could work for local companies such as IAMS, Novozymes, Revlon and others.  The number of jobs in the field is expected to grow rapidly in the near future.  The first Bioprocess Technology class is scheduled to graduate in May 2007.

Christine Klahn is program head for Bioprocess Technology at VGCC.  Recently, Klahn’s program tried what she calls “hybrid distance learning,” in which students meet for two hours each week in a laboratory, but spend another five hours per week learning online, often from home.  Klahn says that this system has worked very well, and she hopes to continue in that direction. 

Klahn would also like to add video-conferencing equipment to the new lab, which would allow classes to be taught from either the Main Campus in Vance County or the Franklin County Campus (home of the one-semester BioWork courses) to students at either location.  “This would allow me or another instructor to be in two places at once,” Klahn says.  Classes could meet at the same time on both campuses, for example, while instructors would not have to travel back and forth.  Klahn tries to make the schedules for her students as flexible as possible, to accommodate different needs.  She also schedules as much distance learning as possible.

Many of Klahn’s Bioprocess Technology students are working full-time, and some have families.  She says that her students are seeking to enter a growing field, one that holds the promise of jobs that pay well and offer good benefits. 

For information about registering in the Bioprocess Technology program, call Rebecca Fuller at (252) 738-3311.