Head of manufacturing technology programs at Daley College helps create mold for future factory work

After 20 years in manufacturing, Ray Prendergast learned not to fear change.

Although he was laid off a half-dozen times, he always found other opportunities. And besides, he said, his first factory jobs paid significantly more than what he made as a lab assistant after graduating from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry.

Now 61, Prendergast is training the next generation of factory workers as director of manufacturing technology programs at Richard J. Daley College, one of the seven schools in the City Colleges of Chicago. Daley College is tasked with closing the skills gap that manufacturers say prevents them from filling thousands of jobs…Please click here to read Alejandra Cancino’s full story in the  Chicago Tribune.