PITTSBORO - Central Carolina Community College will hold its second annual Educators Summer Institute on the college's Chatham County Campus during June.

The Educators Summer Institute is specifically designed for educators and industry professionals seeking professional development opportunities in their fields. It features expanded course offerings in the Continuing Education subject areas of Sustainable Technologies, Hospitality and Culinary Arts, and Early Childhood Education.

With a focus on incorporating sustainable practices in the classroom and the workplace, the institute equips participants with the tools to create enriched learning environments and to develop community resources and connections.

The institute will run 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, June 17 through June 20, in the Sustainable Technology Center on the college's Chatham County Campus, 764 West St., Pittsboro.

Participants may register for one of the six courses; class size will be limited to 16 for each course. Students will earn 3.2 Continuing Education Credits upon completion of the institute course.

Registration is currently open and spaces will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, visit www.cccc.edu/chatham/summerinstitute or email Chef Gregg Hamm, chair of CCCC's Hospitality and Culinary Arts Department and coordinator for the institute, at ghamm@cccc.edu.

"With the Educators Summer Institute, we wanted to offer an affordable option to educators and career professionals who want refreshers in their fields," said Hamm. "The institute is ideal not only for teachers in the local area but also for people across the state who may be looking to update their training."

He said that last year's institute included participants from Cumberland, Nash, Robeson and Wilson counties.

New to the institute for 2013 is the program area of Early Childhood Education, with its course offering of C 2728 -- Best Practices in Early Childhood Education. In this course, participants will develop activities, learn to incorporate NC Foundations, receive Be Active Kids and Playground Safety training and tour the CCCC Preschool, a 5-star campus-based lab center with accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Three courses are offered in the area of Sustainable Technologies: C-2723 - Best Practices in Sustainable Agriculture Education; C-2724 - Green Building Principles: Design and Interiors; and C-2725 - Renewable Energy Technologies.

In the program area of Hospitality and Culinary Arts, the two course offerings are C-2726 - Culinary Arts for FACS Teachers who may be teaching Culinary Arts or Foods I or II, and C-2727 - Culinary Arts for FACS Teachers.

According to Hamm, there are plans to expand the Educators Summer Institute each year, eventually supporting all Career Technical Education (CTE) programs, which cover the subject areas of Family and Consumer Science, Trades and Industry, and Business.

A pioneer in sustainable education for over a decade, CCCC earned the 2012 Green Genome Award from the American Association of Community Colleges for the innovative program design and implementation of its sustainability programs.

With its various Sustainable Technologies programs such as biofuels, ecotourism and sustainable agriculture, the CCCC Pittsboro Campus is considered "Green Central," making it a natural fit as the site of the Educators Summer Institute.