Cerritos College, a two-year institution which boasts one of the finest automotive programs in the United States, is the latest school to include NAFA’s Certified Automotive Fleet Manager (CAFM) courses in its curriculum. Located in the greater Los Angeles, California area, Cerritos becomes the first West Coast school (and fourth overall) to offer NAFA’s CAFM courses for college credit.
“Cerritos has a great partnership in the area with fleets and auto dealers,” explained Rick Sikes, CAFM, Fleet Management Superintendent for the City of Santa Monica and Chair of NAFA’s Fuels & Technology Advisory Council. “They have state-of-the-art facilities and many programs related to automotive technology and auto dealer management. The school is also centrally located to many areas in the region.”
Cerritos has more than 600 students in its automotive program, which offers training in Automotive Collision Repair, Automotive Mechanical Repair, and Advanced Transportation Technology and Energy.
It is the only automotive program on the West Coast with three OEM sponsorship programs. In addition, the college has a partnership with Northwood University in Michigan that allows students to continue their education towards a full Bachelor’s Degree.
“Offering NAFA’s CAFM courses makes our program even stronger,” said Jannet Malig, Director, Advanced Transportation Technology & Energy at Cerritos College. “The curriculum itself incorporates directly into a 4-credit program. It’s a natural fit.”
For the past year, Cerritos and NAFA have been working well together. The college has hosted several of the Association’s Pacific Southwest Chapter meetings at their facility. In return, NAFA’s local chapter recently issued their first two scholarships to students in the automotive technology program at Cerritos. The chapter plans on providing two additional scholarships for automotive technology students as well as two for the CAFM/CAFS program in the spring.
NAFA’s CAFM program is also endorsed by the National Conference of State Fleet Administrators (NCSFA), Rocky Mountain Fleet Management Association (RMFMA), and Florida Association of Governmental Fleet Administrators (FLAGFA).
In addition, the CAFM program is offered for college credit at Ferris State University (Big Rapids, Michigan), Georgian College (Barrie, Ontario, Canada), and Ranken Technical College (St. Louis, Missouri).
