College of the Sequoias Offers Tulare
Students a Start in Agricultural Innovation
As a new 36,000-square-foot Applied Technology and Trades Complex rises on the Tulare campus of the College of the Sequoias, education in agriculture continues to ready the college’s students for careers in farming and related fields while keeping them at the forefront of innovation.
The 493-acre COS Tulare campus, established in 2013, is the most recently built of the college’s three campus locations.
About 320 acres of the campus is a working farm where faculty demonstrate best practices for students. Coursework is available in a wide array of agricultural disciplines along with a full complement of General Education (GE) classes.
“Ours are foundational courses. Someone could walk in off the street and not know anything in a specific area, and we can teach them how to use and maintain equipment, how to become proficient in areas such as agricultural business management,” said Dr. C. Louann Waldner, dean of agriculture and provost of the COS Tulare Campus.
Coursework covers innovations in such areas as water management, irrigation, mechanized agriculture, agriculture business, animal sciences and plant sciences.
The college offers the opportunity to earn specialized certificates and associate degrees. Students can also participate in two-year programs that prepare them to transfer to four-year universities where careers in related fields, such as agricultural engineering, could be pursued, Waldner said.
Construction of the new $40 million Applied Technology and Trades complex began in February 2024. The three-building complex will adjoin the existing Welding Technology building and is expected to open in early 2025.
The complex will house a new mechanized agriculture program called Equipment Technician, which will include instruction in hydraulics, diesel engines and emission systems, power trains, testing and failure analysis, air conditioning and heating, and farm power. This program is being developed with industry partners for local jobs.
“There’s a lot of automated farm equipment these days,” Waldner said, a development that has prompted the college’s expansion of instruction in mechanized agriculture.
The complex will also house various trade programs, including construction technology, automotive technology, environmental control technology (HVAC), and electrician training. Industrial maintenance and industrial automation, which are increasingly applicable in the agricultural realm, will be housed in the complex, as well.
A two-acre outdoor education area will be part of the new complex and will accommodate outdoor teaching projects, student events and industry partnership activities. The set up will allow for cross-collaboration among the programs.
Trends among students involve innovations that are designed to increase efficiencies and address evolving challenges, such as water management.
Waldner said students may also choose to learn agri-business management skills such as accounting, economics and marketing, broad skills that can prepare them for careers in farming, agricultural sales and governmental regulatory roles.
Interest in plant sciences is also on the rise, she said.
“Many students are learning about integrated pest control,” she said.
Ornamental horticulture is another area of interest, where students learn about plant propagation and greenhouse technology.
“We’ve got a lot of interest in pest control and plant science and anything related to automation,” Waldner said. “We’re constantly applying science to whatever biological system we’re working in. Agriculture is an applied biological science. The objective is to do more with less.”
Many students enroll at COS with the aim of finding jobs and careers locally, often right in Tulare County, the nation’s top milk-producing county, while others choose to apply their newly acquired skills further afield, Waldner said.
To foster the college’s role in preparing students for careers, COS Tulare hosted the second annual Ag & Trades Job Fair in March 2024. The event gives employers the opportunity to meet and connect with students, review resumes and, potentially, conduct on-the-spot interviews. Waldner said college staff attends the annual event, known as the Connect/Recruit/Hire event, to provide introductions and help students as they embark on their chosen career paths.
“During the first year, we had over 135 employers’ representatives from over 80 employers attend to recruit our students for full-time jobs as well as internships,” Waldner said. “The 2024 Connect-Recruit-Hire event was equally well-attended. On March 18, 2025, we will host our third annual Connect-Recruit-Hire event with mostly local employers interested in hiring our students from agriculture disciplines and the trades.”
