The North Carolina School of
Telecommunications (NCST) was established on
the campus of Central Carolina Community
College (CCCC) in Sanford, North
Carolina on January 22, 1969. It was the
first program in North Carolina to be
sponsored and given a facility by a private
association: The North Carolina Association
of Independent Telephone Companies, which is
now the North Carolina Telecommunications
Industry Association (NCTIA). Since its
inception, the school has trained and
re-trained thousands of prospective
employees and current employees of the
telecommunications industry.
In addition to the NCTIA’s initial donation
of the building and grounds, individual
telecommunications companies have
continuously supported the school by making
donations of equipment and supplies such as
copper cable, fiber cable, test equipment,
fault location equipment, splice case
terminals, key systems, cable TV systems,
LAN equipment and a complete DMS 10 switch.
These donations have been made by a wide
variety of companies including Nortel, 3M,
Armstrong Telecommunications, Power & Tel,
Raychem, Hubbel, Homaco, Alltel, Star TMC,
Lucent Technology, Skyline TMC, BCI, Comdial,
Ellerbe Telephone, Verizon, Quabbin, Molex,
Chatsworth, Anixter, Hilti, Harger, Unique
Firestop, Electric Motion Company, Crescent
Electric Supply, Comscope, Erico Caddy,
Weyerhaeuser, Siemon Company, Wilkes
Telecommunications, Surrey
Telecommunications, Communication Supply
Corporation, and DCS.
The college could not have met the training
needs of the telecommunications industry
without the advice and support of the
NCTIA. Also, without the NCST, the small
telephone companies, many of whom are
without teaching facilities and training
officers, would not be able to keep their
employees trained and updated in the rapidly
changing technology of the industry.
The school offers a wide range of
telecommunications courses for its full-time
curriculum students and for
telecommunications company employees who
need upgrade training. These courses cover
such topics as telecommunications basic
electricity, fiber optics, LAN, station
installation and repair, BICSI, cable
splicing, OSP, fault location, Comdial
systems, DMS-10 operations, T-1 span lines,
transmission fundamentals, pole climbing,
OTDR operation, and ADSL installation.
In 1999, CCCC and its School of
Telecommunications became one of the first
community colleges in the country to become
a Building Industry Consulting Service
International (BICSI) authorized training
center. BICSI qualifications are recognized
throughout the world, and those who complete
its requisite education and experience
receive the coveted Registered Information
Transport Systems designation. All
curriculum students are now taught BICSI
classes and are eligible to test for BICSI
certification. The college also offers
special BICSI class sections (Installer
Level 1, Installer Level 2, and Technician)
for telecommunications companies.
In the fall of 2001, the college began
offering telecommunications classes at its
newly opened West Harnett Site. During the
same time period, Lee County Senior High
School began enrolling students in three
special telecommunications classes at CCCC
in a joint effort between the college and
the Lee County Public School System designed
to increase the vocational/technical course
offerings available to high school seniors.
In the fall of 2002, these special
telecommunications courses were opened to
Western Harnett High School students as
well.
In the spring of 2003, the college began
construction on its new 20,000 square foot
telecommunications building,
and classes at the site began in the spring
of 2005. Designed by Kurt F. Lent, the new
building is anchored by an eight-sided
structure that forms a hub for the facility.
The octagon-shaped centerpiece contains
administrative and faculty offices,
conference room and lounge area. A wing of
classrooms, with a second student lounge,
extends north from the hub, which is
designed to accommodate future wings as
needed for expansion. It includes eight
traditional classrooms, two BICSI
classrooms, a telephone switch classroom, a
student lounge, administrative offices,
faculty offices, a general purpose meeting
room, a conference room, a library, and a
distance education classroom. Historical
artifacts depicting the evolution of
telephony are on display. The building is
designed and furnished with a distinctive
telephony décor.
Outside, the site incorporates additional
training facilities that simulate conditions
in the telephony workplace. Included in the
external training grounds are a working
utility maintenance hole (manhole),
telephone pole field, station installation
practice walls, and miles of buried and
aerial telephone cable.
The $3.2 million facility is located on 15
acres in Lee County Industrial Park in the
greater Sanford, NC, area. It is located in
the geographic center of the state, is
easily accessible, and has economical living
accommodations for employees who are sent to
the college for initial training and
retraining sessions of one to two weeks in
length.
