Major grant expands apprenticeship opportunities at UC
CCPS to help scale learn-and-earn pathways in high-demand industries
The University of Cincinnati will help expand Registered Apprenticeships in the skilled roles that build and maintain artificial intelligence, semiconductor, and nuclear-energy infrastructure. UC’s College of Cooperative Education and Professional Studies (CCPS) is a partner on a $40 million U.S. Department of Labor Pay-for-Performance award led by Jobs for the Future (JFF). Over the next four years, JFF and its consortium partners will grow apprenticeship programs in the occupations that support that critical infrastructure.
Aaron Burdette, associate professor and faculty director of workforce development for CCPS
Associate Professor and Faculty Director of Workforce Development for CCPS Aaron Burdette will serve as principal investigator for UC’s sub-award. In that role, he will work with national and regional partners to create new pathways for students and workers into these high-demand industries.
“UC already has the employer relationships and the paid-experience infrastructure that most apprenticeship intermediaries have to build from scratch,” Burdette said. “This award lets us put that co-op system to work for Registered Apprenticeship—either by sponsoring programs ourselves or by helping companies stand up their own.”
Burdette has led apprenticeship work at UC since 2019. He was lead author, co-principal investigator, and faculty lead for UC’s NEXT Apprenticeship Program, an $11.9 million Department of Labor grant that expanded apprenticeships in information technology. He has since helped launch pre-apprenticeship programs and apprenticeship degree pathways at the university.
With this award, CCPS is positioned to connect existing co-op partnerships to Registered Apprenticeships in targeted industries. UC may sponsor industry apprenticeships or support companies that want to establish their own programs. Because UC created cooperative education in 1906 and still operates one of the nation’s most extensive co-op systems, the university is uniquely prepared to pair related classroom instruction with paid, structured on-the-job learning.
“Pay-for-performance funding rewards programs that actually enroll and retain apprentices, not just those that write a plan,” said Michelle Clare, dean of the College of Cooperative Education and Professional Studies. “That model fits how we already work with employers.”
JFF will lead the national effort with a consortium of eight industry and apprenticeship partners, including the University of Cincinnati. Details on UC’s sub-award amount, target occupations, and employer outreach will be shared as the consortium finalizes work plans.
Employers in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, nuclear energy, and related trades—and students interested in earn-and-learn pathways—can contact Aaron Burdette via email at aaron.burdette@uc.edu for more information. More information is available in the JFF press release.
Featured top image of Addie Salvador at work inside the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. Photo/Brooke Buchan, NREL.
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