Frederick Community College (FCC) today announced the opening of a new center on
its main campus that will significantly increase the College’s capacity to offer short-term
healthcare workforce training programs to better meet the region’s fast-growing healthcare
staffing needs.
Named the Miller Center for Healthcare Training to acknowledge the Carl and Norma
Miller family’s legacy of commitment to the community through FCC, the building is
redesigned to feel more like a modern healthcare facility. Students will gain greater
familiarity, confidence, and comfort in their chosen field, in immersive learning
classroom and laboratory settings that mirror real-world clinical environments.
As a result, healthcare employers in Frederick County and the region, where demand
for skilled health care workers is rising rapidly, will benefit not only from more
graduates entering the profession. These graduates will also be familiar with the
latest tools, techniques, and technologies and will have learned how to apply them
in a more clinical setting. Features include a welcoming reception area, a large room
of patient beds filled with mannikins, inspired by long-term care settings for practicing
nursing assistant skills, and several laboratories outfitted with advanced technology
and equipment.
“Our responsibility at FCC is to understand community needs as fully as we can and
then ask where this College is uniquely positioned to make the greatest contribution,”
noted FCC President Dr. Annesa Payne Cheek at today’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. “That
requires listening, judgment, and sometimes thinking differently about the people,
programs, partnerships, spaces, and resources entrusted to us. That is what this Center
represents.”
By moving all short-term healthcare workforce training programs at FCC from the Monroe
Center location to the Miller Center, the overall number of student cohorts in healthcare
training at FCC could increase from 16 to 25 per year across the following programs:
- Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)
- Clinical Medical Assistant (CMA)
- CPR/First Aid/AED (Basic Life Support) (single courses only)
- Dental Assisting & Oral Radiography
- Medical Billing and Coding
- Phlebotomy Technician
- Sterile Processing Technician
- Veterinary Assistant
Already this fall semester, the College is offering four new student cohorts (two
for Medical Assistant, one each in Sterile Processing and Dental Assistant), maximizing
schedule access for three of them by offering both day and evening classes for the
first time.
Moving all healthcare workforce training programs to the new facility has other advantages
too. It opens space in the Monroe Center for additional program offerings in the skilled
trades, another high-growth, high-demand industry sector where FCC is well-positioned
for growth. Cultivation of industry partnerships and renovations are already underway
to accommodate increased course capacity in the electrical trades.
In addition, co-location of these short-term programs on the main campus places them
in close proximity to the healthcare degree programs offered in Linganore Hall, fostering
more interprofessional learning across healthcare disciplines. This practice will
strengthen connections between workforce entry and long-term career advancement, making
continued education and professional growth more visible and attainable for students.
Dr. Anne Davis, FCC Provost and Vice President of Teaching, Learning and Student Success,
emphasized that increased capacity across sectors with growing demand for highly skilled
personnel demonstrates FCC’s role as a talent hub driving the vitality of Frederick
County. “FCC is shaping the future of how people learn, work, and thrive,” Davis said.
“By offering accessible education, industry-aligned programs, and innovative workforce
solutions, FCC strengthens local talent pipelines and fuels a vibrant, forward-looking
community.”
Speakers at the Miller Center ribbon-cutting ceremony included:
- Dr. Annesa Payne Cheek, FCC President
- Elena Quiroz-Livanis, Interim Secretary, Maryland Higher Education Commission
- Jessica Fitzwater, Frederick County Executive
- James Hand, grandson of FCC legacy donors Carl and Norma Miller
- Juan Loya, 2025 FCC healthcare alumnus, employed as a Dental Assistant
To see highlights from the opening of the Miller Center for Healthcare Training and learn more about its features, visit the Miller Center website page. To learn more about the wide variety of programs that FCC offers in the healthcare fields, visit the Healthcare Professions Career Community web page.