Written on: December 2, 2021 by ICM
Lincoln Educational Services Corp., marking 75 years in 2021 as a national leader in specialized technical training, leads all educational institutions in the country with 36 Certified Master HVAC/R Educators (CMHEs), according to HVAC Excellence, the nation’s largest and oldest accrediting body. With the organization’s recent certification of an instructor from Lincoln’s Union, NJ campus, more than 25% of all certified master educators in the HVAC industry are now employed within the Lincoln Tech Group of Schools.
Founded in 1994 by the ESCO Group, HVAC Excellence certifies instructors through seven credentialing exams – exams which must be passed with scores of 80% or higher, a benchmark few instructors across the country meet each year. Only 129 instructors have earned the CMHE designation, and Lincoln’s 36 pace the nation; the second-highest total for a single organization is 11.
Hands-on HVAC career training formed the foundation of Lincoln Educational Services 75 years ago.
“Our first campus was founded in 1946 specifically to provide HVAC training to servicemen returning home from World War II,” says Scott Shaw, Lincoln Tech’s President & CEO. “To have so many of our instructors across the country recognized as Master Educators truly embodies that history.”
Of Lincoln’s 36 certified Master instructors, 16 of them teach at the Union, NJ campus. The Grand Prairie, TX campus boasts 11 CMHEs on staff. Campuses in Mahwah, NJ and Marietta, GA also feature Master instructors.
With 385,000 openings projected for skilled, trained HVAC Technicians across the country by 2030*, ensuring a steady influx of candidates to the workforce is vital. Training with exceptional instructors will set candidates on a faster course to an HVAC career, and CMHE certification is a mark of excellence for instructors in the industry.
“Achieving CMHE is the highest credential an HVAC educator can receive,” says Keith Satterthwaite, Lincoln’s Corporate Director of Product Development. “It validates one’s mastery of the trade and is highly sought after by instructors who have proven their skill at training the next generation of technicians.”
CMHEs have successfully completed testing in the areas of education principles and practices, electrical, air conditioning, light commercial air conditioning, light commercial refrigeration, electric heat, and a seventh exam of their choice: gas heat, oil heat, or heat pumps. Earning the title confirms these instructors have the knowledge and skills necessary to prepare students to enter the HVAC/R field as entry-level technicians.
* Data compiled from the U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the years 2020-2030, www.careeronestop.org, captured on Nov. 18, 2021.
