Pine Technical and Community College breaks ground for their new technical and trades addition and renovation. Pictured from left are Jake Kiel (Atscott Manufacturing/PTCC Foundation Board member), Karen Jansen (PTCC Foundation Board member), Nolan Peterson (BCI Construction), Bill Maki (vice chancellor for facilities and finance at Minnesota State), Jason Rarick (local state senator), Ann Voda (BRT Architects), Ann Boldt (PTCC Foundation Board member), Gina Pettie (Pine City acting mayor), Steve Hallan (Pine County commissioner), and Joe Mulford (PTCC president).

Get ready to experience THE REC!

Opening in the fall of 2024, THE REC (PTCC Student Recreation Center) occupies 10,000 square feet of space at the new Lakeside Student Living facility on Cross Lake in Pine City, MN! Previously home to the old Fairview clinic along Second Street, this revamped area is set to become the heartbeat of student life at PTCC!

Step into THE REC, and you will find your competitive side in our new Arcade and Game Lounge featuring a pool table, dart board and other automated gaming systems. THE REC will feature an E-Sports gaming room with counsels for multiple players or groups. Stay active and healthy with access to the new gym facility being offered to students staff and faculty. Enjoy workshops and socialization in our flex classroom and lounge spaces or find a comfy space to plop down on a bean bag and study. While you are busy doing all of these new, exciting activities,  join us for a snack in the kitchenette/vending area to quench your thirst or hunger.

THE REC isn’t just a space, it’s an experience. We’re proud to offer a diverse range of programming and events to keep students entertained and engaged throughout the year. From professional sports viewing parties to live concerts and music performances, there will always be something fun and exciting happening. Living the lake lifestyle, we will be offering rental lake equipment for a day of relaxation or fun with your friends: kayaks, canoes, paddle boards, etc.

At PTCC, we like to keep our students involved and active in our communities. THE REC will be staffed with the help of student workers during evening and weekend hours.

In addition to THE REC, PTCC will eventually be moving their Early Childhood Care Center over to this establishment as well.

While all of this is developing, there is a lot that can change in the next few months. We are hopeful to provide the best possible experience for our students at PTCC! See you at THE REC!

To learn more about Lakeside Student Living and THE REC, visit ptcclakeside.com

Pine City, MN – April 2, 2024 Pine Technical and Community College (PTCC) is excited to announce that they have reached their all-time historic high in enrollment.

In March, PTCC documented a historical high in the number of students served! With approximately 900 on-campus (undergraduate) students and 1300 college-in-the-schools students (Post-Secondary Enrollment Option and Concurrent Enrollment), PTCC has surpassed its previous Fiscal Year Equivalent (*FYE) record of 819 in 2019, achieving 832 FYE in 2024.

With year over year enrollment growth in eight out of the last ten years, PTCC is one of few colleges in the state of Minnesota that has seen consistent growth. Slowed only by a slight dip in enrollment through the pandemic, PTCC continues to surpass goals due to the many positive initiatives happening around campus, including scholarships from state and private donors, new program and course offerings, and significant investments in facilities and state-of-the-industry training equipment. PTCC’s statewide recognition for high-quality programs, such as nursing, are drawing students from a wider geographical area.  PTCC’s Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) program recently ranked number one and their Registered Nursing (RN) programs ranked number two in the state amongst two-year colleges for highest pass rate on the MN Board of Nursing licensure exam.  Their RN program would remain in the top four when including four-year university graduates.  Additionally, the PTCC Cyber Security Defense Team finished 5^th in the Midwest at a regional competition for all two- and four-year colleges and universities.

President Joe Mulford attributes the growth to not only the above-mentioned investments and high-quality programming but also to a shifting interest in technical degrees and occupations.  President Mulford stated that, “Technical careers are now the in-demand choice amongst young people as they realize that industry is scooping them up as fast as they graduate.”  He also feels that these decision-makers have fully realized their spending power improves not only from the high wages they will earn but also the low amount of student debt.

PTCC projects that the number of students enrolled will continue to trend upward as they break ground on their historic Technical and Trades Lab Expansion and Renovation project which will add and renovate nearly 25,000 square feet of technical learning labs.  When completed in the spring of 2026, PTCC students will have all new technical learning labs and almost all new equipment in those labs. In addition, there is a new student housing facility opening two blocks from the campus on Cross Lake: Lakeside Student Living (the old Lakeside Medical Center nursing home), which can house up to 150 students. This new housing opportunity coupled with new and larger lab spaces will provide even more capacity to increase the educational attainment rate in our region. President Mulford shared his excitement that in a few months, “PTCC students will have the opportunity to live on a lake next to campus while learning in the newest technical labs in the state!”

While these are only numbers, what matters is that there is a student and a story behind these amounts – each with unique experiences and reasons they have chosen to come to PTCC whether they are starting out or starting over.

* One FYE is equivalent to 30 college credits

Congratulations, students who made it on the Dean’s List at PTCC for fall semester! #proudpine

The Dean’s List recognizes academic achievement within a single semester. To be eligible for the Dean’s List, a student must be in good academic standing, enrolled in 12 credits or more, and receive a grade point average of 3.0-3.9.

Congratulations, students who made it on the President’s List at PTCC for fall semester! #proudpine

The President’s List honors students who enrolled in 12 credits or more, and received a grade point average of 4.0.

The Pine Technical and Community College (PTCC) Cyber Defense team traveled to Illinois over the weekend to compete in the Midwest Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (MWCCDC) taking 5th place!

After placing first in Minnesota amongst other two-year and four-year colleges, PTCC was the only 2-year college that made it to the Midwest Competition and the only college to represent the state of Minnesota. Other colleges that competed include: Baker College, Cedarville University, DePaul University, Drury University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Indiana Tech, Southeast Missouri State University, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, University of Louisville, and University of Wisconsin-Stout.

MWCCDC brought together top tech-savvy students to form teams and compete in a high-stakes challenge. These teams constructed and protected mock production business infrastructure against professional “hackers” tasked with the mission of disrupting their production systems and breaching their security. While these determined teams defended against these relentless attackers, the competition’s judging staff introduced network enhancement and upgrade challenges, assessing the teams’ performance, scoring their efforts, and providing essential support throughout the event.

“I can’t express how proud I am of this 2024 Cyber Team. They put in many hours of practice and research and came together to make this experience one that I’m sure they will never forget. PTCC was the only two-year college at the MWCCDC and placed 5^th overall. It says something about the dedication of these students that they can compete with four- and six-year colleges and beat most of them” – Chris Morgan, Cyber Security Instructor

Congratulations to the team for putting PTCC and Pine City on the map!

To learn more about the Cyber Security program at PTCC, visit https://pine.edu/academics/programs-courses/cyber-security/

Minnesota State IT Center of Excellence (MN STATE IT COE), one of eight Minnesota State Centers of Excellence, provides high school and college students with various resources and programs to support the ever-changing world of Information Technology and Computer Science. The Center has contributed significantly by reaching out to thousands of secondary students, funding dozens of new curriculum efforts, and leading numerous other efforts to increase the quality and quantity of IT talent in the state.

One of the annually sponsored and organized events is the Minnesota State Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC). Winners of the Minnesota CCDC advance to Regional CCDC (https://www.cssia.org/mwccdc/) hosted by Moraine Valley Community College in Illinois with a chance to compete at the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition At Texas San Antonio, Texas, in April 2024. (https://www.nationalccdc.org/index.php)

Over 80 students from 8 different Minnesota State System institutions joined this year for a full day of competition and learning. Along with students, faculty and industry members participated as advisors, sponsors, and Red Team (Ethical Hackers/Penetration Experts).

In a controlled virtual environment, CCDC competitors assume administrative and protective duties for an existing “commercial” network – typically a small company with 50+ users, 7 to 10 servers, and standard Internet services such as a web server, mail server, and e-commerce site. Each team begins the competition with an identical set of hardware and software and is scored on their ability to detect and respond to outside threats, maintain the availability of existing services such as mail servers and web servers, respond to business requests such as the addition or removal of additional services, and balance security needs against business needs.

Throughout the competition, an automated scoring engine periodically verifies each team’s services’ functionality and availability, and traffic generators feed simulated user traffic into the competition network. A volunteer Red Team (Ethical Hackers) provides the “external threat” of all Internet-based services, which allows the teams to match their defensive skills against live opponents (hackers).

WINNERS
The competition was tight this year, with the top four (4) teams within 2,000 points (out of 42,000).
1st Place – Pine Technical and Community College, Pine City, MN
2nd Place – Alex Technical and Community College, Alexandria, MN
3rd Place – Hennepin Technical College, Brooklyn Park, MN
4th Place – MCTC, Minneapolis College, Minneapolis, MN

Other Participating Teams: Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, MN; Minnesota State Community and Technical College with MN State U, Moorhead, Moorhead, MN; Minnesota State University, Mankato; and St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN.
Pine Tech will automatically move on to the Regional CCDC on March 15-16, 2024, and 2nd and 3rd Place Teams – Alex Tech and Hennepin Technical College will complete in the Midwest Wildcard on February 24th, 2024, for an additional chance to move on to the Regional as well.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Janice Aanenson, PhD
MN State IT COE Executive Director and CCDC State Director
Minnesota State IT Center of Excellence
612.659.7226
Janice.aanenson@metrostate.edu

Target Corporation has made a generous donation of over $500,000 worth of furniture to Pine Technical and Community College (PTCC) to enhance the experience for their students at the developing Lakeside Student Housing project.

PTCC staff had the opportunity to visit one of Target’s former office towers in Minneapolis, where workers have mostly gone remote following the COVID-19 pandemic and selected needed furniture from several floors. The donation includes a range of essential items such as desks and storage for each student, soft seating, booths, tables, chairs, televisions, whiteboards, benches, and more. These furnishings aim to enhance spaces for relaxation, study, and daily living for students.

“Target Corporation’s donation is the single largest donation in the PTCC Foundation’s history. “The gift allows the college to enhance the student experience with high quality and functional furniture and allows PTCC students to study and socialize in the same furniture that corporate professionals use.” says PTCC President Joe Mulford.

“We are grateful to Target Corporation for this historic donation to both PTCC and the East Central Minnesota region. This donation directly benefits students and will allow the college to focus resources on other student needs.”

The Lakeside Student Housing project has seen remarkable progress and the former nursing home has undergone a significant transformation. Many areas would be unrecognizable to former residents and staff. Although the exact date for occupancy is still not finalized, the facility continues to develop.

Also, in progress is the conversion of the former clinic on the east side of main housing building, which will become both a daycare and student recreation space for all students – including those who do not rent from Lakeside. PTCC is working with an architect to develop final plans for renovating this space.

Top tech-savvy students from two-year and four-year colleges and universities are coming together to form teams and compete in a high-stakes challenge. These teams will construct and protect mock production business infrastructure against professional “hackers” tasked with the mission of disrupting their production systems and breaching their security. While these determined teams defend against these relentless attackers, the competition’s judging staff will introduce network enhancement and upgrade challenges, assessing the teams’ performance, scoring their efforts, and providing essential support throughout the event.

Excitement is sweeping through Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Missouri, and Wisconsin as applications pour in for the MWCCDC competition. These competitions offer invaluable experiences for students to bolster their career development, with no prior competition experience required.

Stacy Bruch, a local student in Cyber Security and Network Administration at Pine Technical and Community College (PTCC), has achieved recognition by securing a position in the top ten of Palo Alto’s ‘Secure the Future’ competition. Palo Alto, a prominent leader in the cyber security industry, organized this competition to challenge 298 college students, representing community colleges, four-year institutions, universities, and Ivy League schools. The competition aimed to address cyber threats targeting vulnerable industries, including energy, transportation, finance, healthcare, and education.

Beginning on October 14, participants embarked on a guided, self-paced academic journey, immersing themselves in advanced cybersecurity technologies and defense methods. Stacy Bruch presented a compelling analysis focusing on fortifying the energy sector against cyber threats. Her presentation focused on strategies addressing sector vulnerabilities, the utilization of artificial intelligence and machine learning, and the importance of intelligence sharing in enhancing cybersecurity.

The competition brought the top 10 finalists, including Stacy, to present their research to a panel of Palo Alto Networks experts at the company’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California. This invaluable opportunity not only showcased Stacy’s expertise but also positioned her and her peers for potential job interviews, both for full-time positions and internships at Palo Alto Networks.

The final level of the competition demonstrated the high caliber of talent among the top 10 finalists, as all participants were within 20 points of each other, underscoring the competitive nature and proficiency demonstrated by Stacy Bruch and her fellow competitors.

“Stacy is a dedicated parent and student that continuously challenges herself in the world of Cyber Security. She is a triple major in Cyber, Networking and Liberal Arts. She has taken on a great challenge and landed in the top 10 worldwide for her Palo Alto and Cyber research. We could not be prouder of her great accomplishment, and I know there will be even more in her future.” – Chris Morgan, Cyber Security and Networking Instructor.

Stacy volunteers with Master Gardeners U of M Extension in Pine County, and she is a Girl Scouts River Valleys Juliette leader and volunteer. She is part of Phi Theta Kappa, art club, and the Cyber Defense team at PTCC. In the future, she hopes to launch a non-profit dedicated to empowering youth through leadership development.

St. Paul, Minn., June 21, 2023 – The Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities today approved the annual operating budget for FY2024 that includes a freeze in undergraduate tuition at FY2023 levels, which averaged $8,685 at the system’s universities and $5,471 at its colleges. The move was made possible by funding approved by the legislature and Governor Walz in their higher education funding bill for the 2024 – 2025 biennium.

“We have deep appreciation for the leadership that Chair Gene Pelowski, Chair Omar Fateh, committee members, and Governor Walz showed in making this tuition freeze possible with their historic investment in higher education,” said Devinder Malhotra, chancellor of Minnesota State. “The funding positions the colleges and universities of Minnesota State to respond to the critical needs of students, promotes equitable student success, and will help provide Minnesota the talent and workforce it needs.”

The funding that made the tuition freeze possible was one outcome of the 2023 legislative session that featured a $292.9 million investment in the colleges and universities of Minnesota State. The legislation provides funding to freeze tuition rates for undergraduate degree-granting programs for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 academic years at 2022-2023 academic year rates.

In addition to the tuition freeze, other key provisions of the final bill that enhances higher education affordability and accessibility included funding for:

• The “North Star Promise” – a scholarship program that provides access to public higher education without tuition cost for students from families with annual incomes of less than $80,000. The program will become available FY2025.
• Student support initiatives that will help campuses address basic needs insecurity, mental health, and other high-need student support services.
• Developing and expanding industry sector programming to build capacity and support new and redesigned curricular options with an emphasis on offering students work-based learning experiences. State funds will be matched with cash or in-kind contributions from non-state sources.
• Improving college and university equipment and learning environments – state funds will be matched with cash or in-kind contributions from non-state sources.
• Expanding offerings in free course materials and resources, including through open educational resources, open textbooks, and implementation of “Z-Degrees” (complete associate or bachelor’s degree programs that exclusively use course resources that are available at no cost to students).
• Continuing the highly successful Workforce Development Scholarship program that encourages students to enter programs in high demand by employers.

The colleges and universities of Minnesota State have long offered students the lowest tuition and fees in the state, providing students an outstanding education value and the ability to limit or avoid debt.

Media Contact:
Doug Anderson
Minnesota State
Director, Communications and Media
Office: (651) 201-1426
doug.anderson@minnstate.edu