June 6, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Grand Rapids Community College’s Craft Brewing program is changing to best prepare students for careers in the popular, evolving field, with a series of in-person and virtual open houses to share information about classes.
“The craft brewing industry continues to evolve,” said Allison Hoekstra, an assistant professor in GRCC’s Secchia Institute for Culinary Education. “The industry has grown as a whole since the program was first launched. Our revisions are designed to meet the changing needs of the industry.”
Planned open houses include virtual sessions from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 10 and noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, June 14. An in-person event is planned for 5:30- 7 p.m. on Monday, June 12 at the Fountain Hill Brewery in GRCC’s Wisner-Bottrall Applied Technology Center.
Registration for the sessions is available here.
Hoekstra said the Secchia team has researched program changes for about two years, talking to students, alumni, and industry leaders, and worked with the program’s advisory board.
“We sought their input about the skills they think graduates need to be successful in the industry and got their feedback on proposed program changes,” she said. “We used this information to determine what our program needed to add to stay current with the demands of the industry.”
The program created five new courses and revised expected outcomes in all other brewing courses. The new courses focus on the science and quality control aspects of brewing as well as expanding on topics like regulation and packaging.
New courses are: Fermentation Biology; Draft Systems and Packaging; Quality Control; Developing a Sensory Program; and Brewing Operations and Regulatory Affairs. Details are available on the program’s website here.
The new classes will also be open to program alumni who have graduated & want to expand their knowledge.