Washtenaw Community College hosts EV education panel at Detroit Auto Show Mobility Global Forum

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Jan. 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Washtenaw Community College (WCC) will host an electric vehicle panel discussion at the 2025 Detroit Auto Show Mobility Global Forum in downtown Detroit.

“Electrifying Michigan: Navigating the EV Journey for Educators, Industry, and Consumers” will be presented at 1 p.m. Thursday, January 16, on the Atrium Stage at Huntington Place, 1 Washington Blvd., Detroit.

Panelists will be Dr. Rose B. Bellanca, WCC President; Glenn Stevens, MichAuto Executive Director; Neal T. Foley, DTE Energy Director of Electric Marketing and Electrification Group; and Tom Butman, Gene Butman Ford General Manager.

Alisyn Malek, founder and CEO of Middle Third, will moderate. Middle Third supports the workforce at the intersection of electrification and advanced mobility.

The 1 p.m. January 16 forum presented by WCC is free of charge and will be held in conjunction with other panel discussions and activities at the Auto Show’s Industry Days at Huntington Place.

WCC will again have a booth (#107) inside the Automobili-D Industry Days Grand Ballroom (Huntington Place) showcasing its Ford F-150 Lightning and a Ford Mustang Mach-E that students use in hands-on training for emerging mobility product development and service jobs. Automotive industry companies, members of the media and attendees from the public are invited to visit faculty and students at WCC’s booth on Wednesday and Thursday, January 15-16.

Visit the Auto Show website for information about Industry Days tickets and public show access inside the Grand Ballroom, which begins at 1 p.m. each day January 15-16.

The college’s work in the mobility space has been building for the past decade since establishing its Advanced Transportation Center in 2014.

This Fall, WCC launched two EV programs and is in the process of building a new EV lab and preparing to add new battery manufacturing and semiconductor programs.

WCC is also partnering with KLA, imec, General Motors, University of Michigan and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation on The Semiconductor Talent and Automotive Research (STAR) initiative. The Michigan STAR semiconductor initiative will focus on developing a talent base and infrastructure to move the automotive industry forward and advance the electrification of vehicles.

Additionally, since 2017, WCC has been the only community college participating in the University of Michigan-led Center for Connected and Automated Transportation (CCAT), funded by a U.S. DOT federal grant. WCC’s role in the consortium is to apply the research and knowledge gained from this partnership in the classroom and in training the workforce.

WCC at the Detroit Auto Show

• WHAT: WCC-hosted “Electrifying Michigan: Navigating the EV Journey for Educators, Industry, and Consumers” panel discussion at the 2025 Detroit Auto Show’s Mobility Global Forum
• WHEN: 1 p.m. Thursday, January 16
• WHERE: Atrium Stage at Huntington Place, 1 Washington Blvd., Detroit
• COST: There is no cost to attend the forum.
• ALSO: WCC will host a booth inside the Huntington Place Grand Ballroom at the Detroit Auto Show’s Automobili-D Industry Days on Wednesday and Thursday, January 15-16. Faculty and students will be on hand to show off two of the college’s electric battery vehicles – Ford F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E – used for hands-on teaching. Public access begins at 1 p.m. Visit the Auto Show website for information about Industry Days tickets and public show access inside the Grand Ballroom.

About Washtenaw Community College
Washtenaw Community College (WCC), Ann Arbor, Michigan, educates students through a wide range of associate and certificate programs in areas such as health care, business, STEM and advanced transportation and mobility. The college also works through community, business and union partnerships to develop highly specialized training programs to meet the region’s workforce talent needs.

For more information about Washtenaw Community College, visit www.wccnet.edu.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8b124a08-e392-4998-8a17-37f81f08ebc9

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