Gadsden State announces plans to build new technical facility
Gadsden State Community College will be the home to a new 50,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Advanced Manufacturing and Workforce Skills Training Center that will be constructed on the East Broad Campus in Gadsden. The announcement was made on July 28, 2022, at the Beck Field House in Gadsden.
“This facility will impact the community, our service area and the great state of Alabama,” said Dr. Kathy Murphy, president of Gadsden State. “It will change the lives of those in our communities for good and forever.”
The Gadsden State Advanced Manufacturing and Workforce Skills Training Center was identified as a needed project through the ACCS ASPIRE 2030 initiative. ASPIRE stands for “Achieving Systemwide Potential through Increased Resources and Engagement” and is the result of a statewide bond issue passed by the Alabama Legislature in 2020 to provide funding for facility upgrades and new construction for all levels of education in Alabama. The decision to focus on the Center was determined by committees comprised of Gadsden State employees as well as partners in K-12, government, business and industry, nonprofits and economic development organizations.
“ASPIRE 2030 called on us to be creative, innovative and aspirational,” she said. “It required us to think outside the box. Then, we burned that box so we don’t put ourselves back in it. “Gadsden State is proud of the engagement we had with local business and community partners in determining that we had a critical need for an advanced manufacturing center that will provide our region with training in several high-demand, high-wage fields.”
The Center is among various infrastructure projects that will move forward in the next few years through Public School and College Authority funds for capital improvements at Gadsden State and other state community colleges. Jimmy Baker, chancellor of the Alabama Community College System, previously made workforce center announcements at Snead State Community College in Boaz and Northeast Alabama Community College in Rainsville.
“I have a strong interest in funding a way to make sure the Alabama Community College System is moving our communities forward,” he said. “I believe the community college system is the best vehicle to bring about change in the state of Alabama.”
The facility will not just be beneficial to Gadsden State and its students. It will also greatly benefit local school systems. Dr. Alan Cosby, superintendent of Etowah County Schools, said the Center will help alleviate space issues it has at the Etowah County Career Technical Center, which has been experiencing record-setting enrollment. The school system will provide its students with transportation to the East Broad Campus.
“This facility allows us to expand opportunities to our kids that they might not otherwise have,” he said. “We have the workforce walking the hallways of our schools and we want them to be trained at Gadsden State so they can enter the workforce and earn a good living.”
The Center will include high-tech laboratory space for programs, such as Mechatronics, Industrial Automation, Precision Machining, Mechanical Design Technology, Additive Manufacturing and Electronics Engineering.
“This facility will provide a modern, state-of-the-art space for students to train for extremely high-tech careers that are in high demand and have high wages,” said Alan Smith, dean of Workforce Development at Gadsden State. “It will allow us to expand capacity to serve more students and provide specific training in an effort to support workforce development and economic development needs. It will give us the ability to increase training capacity by modernizing our facilities and creating a training center for technical dual-enrolled students, traditional college students and students who need non-degree, short-term training.”
For more information on career technical opportunities offered on Gadsden State’s Valley Street, East Broad and Ayers campuses, please visit www.GadsdenState.edu/Technical.