Events
U.S. Education Secretary Visits Wake Tech
Event Showcases Unique Apprenticeship Programs
RALEIGH, N.C. (June 25, 2025) – Apprenticeships took center stage Wednesday as U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon visited Wake Tech.
McMahon toured two of Wake Tech's seven campuses to learn about the college's significant apprenticeship programs that are preparing skilled workers in traditional skilled trades and emerging biotechnology sectors.
Higher education leaders, including Wake Tech President Dr. Scott Ralls, North Carolina Community College System President Dr. Jeff Cox and East Carolina University Chancellor Dr. Philip Rogers, participated in the visit along with key industry partners and apprentices.
"Wake Tech is helping meet the critical need for skilled workers in fields like manufacturing and biotechnology," said McMahon. "I applaud North Carolina for its serious investment in workforce development programs like apprenticeships, [Career & Technical Education] and skills-based hiring."
Her first stop was at Wake Tech's Southern Wake Campus. She toured the Center for Building Technologies, where she learned how Wake Tech is increasing apprenticeship opportunities to help address the shortage of technical workers in the skilled trades. Funded by Wake County's WakeWorks initiative, Wake Tech currently has more than 500 students working as apprentices at one of more than 150 companies in the Research Triangle region. McMahon toured several labs, including the Building Automation Lab, the Siemens Electrical Lab and the Brady HVAC Lab.
McMahon then toured Heavy Equipment labs, where training takes place on construction and agricultural heavy equipment. Wake Tech is one of only seven Platinum John Deere TECH schools for training John Deere technicians in North America. The college also showcased its new apprenticeship partnership launched last year with Gregory Poole Equipment Co., the region's Caterpillar dealer.
Next, McMahon learned about biotech training at Wake Tech's high-tech RTP Campus in Morrisville. There, she participated in a panel discussion on how apprenticeship partnerships are preparing the talent pipeline for the region's growing number of biopharmaceutical companies.
The first cohort of apprentices for Amgen recently completed its classroom/lab instruction at Wake Tech and is transitioning to on-the-job training at the company's Holly Springs facility. The college will also soon kick off a new Biomechatronics apprenticeship partnership with CSL Seqirus, Fujifilm Biotechnologies and Eli Lilly. All of these biotechnology companies have made major expansion announcements in recent months.
"As we prepare to begin operations at our world-class biopharmaceutical manufacturing site in Holly Springs, and as our overall North Carolina workforce continues to grow, we welcome talented individuals with various training backgrounds and experiences to join us,” said Laurie Braxton, senior vice president and head of North Carolina operations for Fujifilm Biotechnologies.
McMahon participated in a hands-on biotech lab exercise and learned about Wake Tech's focus on what it calls "ladder economics," helping students advance from high school to college to career and beyond. She met the principal of the Wake Early College of Information and Biotechnologies, located on the RTP Campus. She also met the first Wake Tech graduate to earn an ECU bachelor's degree also offered at Wake Tech.
"We're a 'through college' to job opportunities, and we're also an 'and college,'" Ralls said. "It's not either-or. It's not apprenticeship or college; it's apprenticeship and college. And it's not community college or university; it's community college and university."
McMahon said she was impressed with how Wake Tech is meeting workforce training needs.
"I appreciated the opportunity to visit Wake Tech to see how they prepare the next generation in skilled trades through a blend of classroom instruction and hands-on training," she said.
