{"id":1535,"date":"2017-04-20T15:13:40","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T15:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=1535"},"modified":"2017-05-01T15:17:38","modified_gmt":"2017-05-01T15:17:38","slug":"tstc-breaks-ground-on-new-abilene-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=1535","title":{"rendered":"TSTC Breaks Ground on New Abilene Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"groundbreaking\"<\/a>(ABILENE) – Texas State Technical College officials and community leaders broke ground on the college\u2019s newest venture in Abilene on Thursday, April 20. The ceremony, held at 1717 Navajo Trail, marked the start of construction on a 56,000-square-foot Industrial Technology Center that will be the first of a multibuilding campus.<\/p>\n

The college is excited for the opportunity to better serve the community with access to advanced technical education that can lead to great career opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur campus expansion in Abilene will support industry growth and expand the city\u2019s economy while reducing the ever-widening midlevel skills gap,\u201d said Rick Denbow, senior field development officer at TSTC. \u201cThis groundbreaking marks a new era for TSTC in Abilene and in West Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Development Corporation of Abilene, Dodge Jones Foundation, Dian Graves Owen Foundation, Shelton Family Foundation, City of Abilene and community leaders have invested $6 million toward the project, which will allow TSTC to add programs in Industrial Maintenance, Welding, and Electrical Power & Controls and will house its growing Emergency Medical Services program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese programs were chosen from analyzing data from the Rick Perryman study where we looked at economic growth across the state and what the needs were in those particular areas,\u201d said TSTC Executive Vice Chancellor and COO Elton Stuckly Jr. \u201cWe also did some research of our own and selected the programs based on the needs of the community and this region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abilene Mayor Norm Archibald, a longtime supporter of TSTC, was quick to jump on the opportunity for a new TSTC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho are the winners in all of this?\u201d Archibald asked the crowd at the event. \u201cFirst of all, construction jobs will be made. People that live in our community will be out here working. That\u2019s good. Students will come to this campus and learn skills and go out and get a job that they can be proud of. They\u2019re one of the winners. The workforce helps bring in businesses that think, \u2018I\u2019m thinking of coming to Abilene. Do you have the workers I need to make this business work?\u2019 The answer will be yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Development Corporation of Abilene (DCOA) was among the first to invest in the new campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe DCOA went through an extensive strategic planning process and identified 10 goals we want to focus on,\u201d DCOA Chairman Dave Copeland said. \u201cOne of those goals was to build a more highly skilled workforce. Another was to support our existing businesses\u2019 growth and prosperity. The businesses in this town are closely linked to the workforce. We feel that this new facility takes us a long way toward those goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stuckly stressed the importance of building relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cTSTC is known for providing a skilled workforce for Texas, but of course everything you do takes money,\u201d he said. \u201cWithout the support of the county, the city, the DCOA, we wouldn\u2019t be here today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denbow shared the same sentiments.<\/p>\n

\u201cTSTC has a reputation of doing great things,\u201d said Denbow, \u201cGrowing businesses, growing the economy, transforming lives — but we can\u2019t do any of that without you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new building is expected to open in the summer of 2018. For more information on Texas State Technical College and the programs currently offered, visit tstc.edu.<\/p>\n

\n-#-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(ABILENE) – Texas State Technical College officials and community leaders broke ground on the college\u2019s newest venture in Abilene on Thursday, April 20. The ceremony, held at 1717 Navajo Trail, marked the start of construction on a 56,000-square-foot Industrial Technology Center that will be the first of a multibuilding campus. The college is excited for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abilene"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1537,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535\/revisions\/1537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}