North Georgia Technical College (NGTC) has a rich history of excellence dating back to 1907. Just like NGTC, Walla Walla (Wash.) Community College, founded in 1967, has a tradition of excellence in education, too.

Now it can boast that it is the first program in Washington State to be granted accreditation of its Energy Systems Technology - Refrigeration and Air Conditioning program by HVAC Excellence. At the same time, the history and accomplishments at NGTC continue to grow. The school recently earned programmatic accreditation from HVAC Excellence, also.

Programmatic accreditation is a growing trend in career and technical education. It is designed to help prospective students in identifying the quality of a school’s program, assist other institutions in accepting transfer credits, show the community that a school offers a high quality program, and to ensure that an HVACR program has the needed resources and administrative support to accomplish the above-mentioned goals.

In both cases, Thomas Tebbe and Coy Gibson of HVAC Excellence conducted each of the on-site visits. The visiting team compiled and submitted a detailed report of their findings to the HVAC Excellence Executive Review Committee.

After critique and review of the self-study and site report, HVAC Excellence determined that the program and the staff at each college met or exceeded all of the required standards for accreditation. Having exceeded these standards, it granted a full six-year accreditation to both schools.

For additional information on programmatic accreditation, go to www.hvacexcellence.org, or call 800-394-5268.

Publication date: 08/18/2008