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The
kind of clean, controlled environment that is essential for high-tech
manufacturing, scientific research, food processing, and even healthy
living doesn’t come naturally. “Our
heating came from fireplaces and cooking stoves," Lynch said. "Where
I was growing up there was no electricity. We used oil lamps and candlesticks." Lynch shared his family's interest in cabinetmaking and millwork, and was also interested in architecture. He attended the London Institute of Technology in England before arriving in the United States in 1961. "When I was in London, my aim was to become a technician at the BBC," Lynch said. Lynch's father was in the U.S., and he encouraged his son to cross the Atlantic. In New York, Lynch took work on Wall Street but with few advancement opportunities. “Back in the early '60s, Wall Street was a quiet place," Lynch said. "I did not see a great future. Things changed, of course." Lynch's uncle, a teacher in air conditioning, heating and refrigeration, advised him to switch gears and study to enter that trade. Following service in the U.S. Army, including a year in Vietnam, Lynch earned his associate degree in environmental control systems from City College in New York. He also earned teaching credentials in air conditioning, refrigeration, heating and solar energy, cabinetry and millwork, and business and industrial management. Lynch journeyed to San Diego in 1973 and developed a number of companies, including a furniture manufacturing business and an air conditioning enterprise. As luck would have it, in 1974 he started as an hourly instructor at San Diego City College, teaching refrigeration and air conditioning; almost 30 years later, he’s still there, heading the program now. "Our program is not just about fixing refrigerators,” Lynch said. “We handle complex systems, everything from water coolers to huge environmental systems. We design and engineer systems. The program has a very large scope." Today's AIRE program offers comprehensive education in refrigeration, air conditioning and heating, including solar energy and ventilation. It deals with the technology of controlled environments for structures, enclosures and processes, from water fountains to large central air conditioning systems. Alternative energy systems such as solar and wind systems are also explored. "Much of what we do the public is unaware of," Lynch said. "There is a high level of security involved in what we do, because of the danger and the major problems that can be caused if something goes wrong. The technology we're involved in now covers the entire economy, from biotech processing to microchip manufacturing. We help people produce instant coffee and pasteurize milk. We're involved in getting lettuce and other produce to market." As more homes, offices, schools, hospitals and airplanes become dependent on clean-air technology, the AIRE program becomes critically important in providing skilled employees. As a training center for most of the air conditioning and refrigeration companies in San Diego, along with many of buildings and institutions with central utility systems –- hotels, hospitals, the convention center –– City College is meeting the challenges of the field's evolutionary process for new developments. An example is clean-room technology, an advancing field, involving new materials and new super-clean requirements for microchip manufacturing and biopharmaceutical companies based in San Diego. "There is a need for something like 10,000 new qualified workers in this field," Lynch said. "The environmental requirements mean fewer calls per day, so there is a strain on the existing workforce. By working closely with the companies in our area, we are helping ease that strain. "The salaries in this field are extremely good," Lynch added. "The students who stick through the program help us earn our good reputation." For Lynch, the most rewarding aspect is student success. One student, Zbigniew Cabaj, used the AIRE program to begin a new business specializing in building automation and energy management. Cabaj hires graduates of Lynch’s program because, he said, “I’ve seen firsthand the calibre of their training.” With the only other comparable AIRE-type program at Ferris State University in Michigan, Lynch has made the City College program attractive to people from all over the western United States. Enrollment fluctuates between 140-170 students in 18 courses. A program of City's size typically would have at least two or more full-time faculty and two lab positions. If the state budget deficit weren’t putting a pall over all education, and community colleges in particular, Lynch would seek to add instructors and lab staff. Frustrated by space and other financial constraints to enlarge his program, Lynch hopes the recent passage of Prop. S will provide additional space in a new industrial building, and funding for new equipment. The need for training equipment is so great that Lynch has personally contributed equipment on several occasions. Lynch enjoys his teaching immensely but wishes there were time for more of his many other interests. "If I wasn't teaching at City College, I would be an architect, a lawyer or own my own wood products manufacturing company," Lynch said. Meanwhile, City College has Lynch and is enjoying its luck in finding this Irishman all those years ago.
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Jerry Lynch
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