(Fort Bend County) – Texas State Technical College officials, state Legislators, and community leaders broke ground on the TSTC campus in Fort Bend County Thursday, June 25. The groundbreaking signifies the start of a three-part building plan that will be known as Texas State Technical College in Fort Bend County.
Opening in the fall of 2016, the expansion will allow TSTC to bring residents of this rapidly growing part of the state new opportunities in higher education.
“Although we’ve been in Fort Bend County teaching technical education for 15 years, this feels like a new beginning,” said Randy Wooten, Vice Chancellor and Executive-in-Charge at TSTC in Fort Bend County, “new because the opportunity is great to grow and to significantly contribute to the economic development of Fort Bend County.”
The new facility will allow TSTC to increase their course offerings to include Cyber Security, Industrial Maintenance Technology, Telecommunications Convergence Technology and Welding Technology. TSTC in Fort Bend currently offers Heating, Ventilation, & Air Conditioning Technology, Diesel Equipment Technology, Precision Machining Technology.
“Though TSTC has been here for 15 years, we’ve lacked the depth, volume and variety of programs that a dedicated campus can offer for those who want higher education of a non-academic standard,” said Fort Bend County Judge Bob Hebert. “With this groundbreaking today, we take a major step to being able to offer our youth training and high level workforce skills.”
TSTC unveiled plans for the campus in April, and has since had several generous donations, starting with founder of Sprint Waste Services Joe Swinbank, presenting a check for $250,000. Following, Rosenberg Development Corporation donated $2.5 million, the Development Corporation of Richmond provided $1 million, and Fort Bend County has donated $2.5 million.
“It is humbling to see our community leaders and businesses giving to what we at The TSTC Foundation exist to support, the success of TSTC and ultimately the success of our state,” said Curtis Cleveland, Treasurer of the TSTC Foundation. “[These gifts] will be used to create a technical education campus in Fort Bend County of which we can all be proud… one which will further the economic prosperity of this area for years to come.”
TSTC in Fort Bend County will sit on 80 acres on the north side of Hwy 59 between FM Road 2218 and Hwy. 36 (1.5 miles east of Hwy. 36). Construction of the 110,000 sq. ft. building will commence with plans to open the expansion in Fall 2016. The campus is projected to expand into a sprawling 6 to 8 building campus that will be able to provide support a 5,000-plus student body.
“TSTC will now have its own footprint, filled with technical labs uniquely designed for the Fort Bend County and Greater Houston area workforce needs,” Wooten said, “at a campus that has the potential to serve as many Texans as each of our flagship legacy campuses.”
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