College of Eastern Idaho: Gateway to Opportunity By Cindy Chan
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any new and exciting things are happening at the College of Eastern Idaho (CEI). This educational institution has been around for a long time. It was established in 1969 as a technical college until 2018 when the college went out for a bond issue, becoming a comprehensive community college that offers not only career technical education courses but also transfer courses, according to Chuck Bohleke, dean of Career Technical Education at CEI. Bigger goals mean the need for a bigger facility, which is currently in the works to provide CTE training for energy, environment, and technology careers. Jeffrey Sneddon, Workforce Training and Continuing Education Executive Director at CEI, says their college was the only institution in Idaho without this kind of facility – until now. The soon-to-be, state-of-the-art Future Tech building’s tagline is “Gateway to Opportunity”, which alludes to the kind of endeavors and courses awaiting its students. The two-story, 88,000-square-foot building will include programs for cyber, energy systems, nuclear technician, computer network technician, cybersecurity, software/web, radiation safety, agricultural technology, engineering technician, 56 BUILDING IDAHO • 2022 SPRING/SUMMER
Chuck Bohleke.
GIS modeling/virtual reality, machine tool technology/ advanced manufacturing, battery, solar, electric vehicles, and entrepreneurship. Future Tech boasts a forward-thinking curriculum with its facilities, as well as field testing to benefit students and industry partners. “We were struggling a bit to add new programs because we don’t have space to put them,” Bohleke says. “We’re fundraising right now to be able to build the new building. That will be an exciting addition to the college that will help us in so many ways.” The project is slated to be complete in late 2023 or early 2024. CEI is a leader in CTE – career technical education – which is the practice of teaching skills-based careers to students in middle school, high school, and post-secondary institutions. As a result, the college focuses a lot on workforce development by partnering with individuals in business, industry, and economic development, such as the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), with whom CEI meets regularly. The CEI also has workforce training and continuing education divisions, which provided training, certifications, and adult enrichment to 17,595 learners in the fiscal year 2021. To break it down further, there were 11,686 direct to employer contract
