East Mississippi Community College officials are hoping the Communiversity will be ready for an estimated 350 students this fall.
Jim Huerkamp, EMCC workforce project manager, visited the Columbus Exchange Club’s weekly luncheon Thursday to update club members on the university’s workforce training curriculum — including the Communiversity, the college’s 150,000-square-foot education center for workforce training and development. He said officials hope to begin moving equipment into the building by mid-March.
The building is located on Highway 82, just west of PACCAR and a short drive from the college’s Golden Triangle campus in Mayhew. The $42.6 million facility is being funded with local, state and federal dollars.
“The intent of this building is to teach from 7:30 in the morning to right about 9, 10 o’clock at night,” Huerkamp said.
The building will house instructors’ offices and classrooms for all the credit programs related to manufacturing, along with computer labs and space for industrial outreach training.
The Communiversity will also include an Imagination Center, which will display products made in major industries all over the Golden Triangle.
“We want you to come in and get excited about what goes on in the Golden Triangle,” Huerkamp said. “We’re hoping — I can’t say for positive because I’m not on that committee — but we’re hoping to have products from all industries. Hopefully a drone, maybe. … Maybe a small coil of steel, things like that. We want folks to come in and be wowed by the products that we do in this area.”
Huerkamp said with luck, the equipment would all be moved into the building over the summer and students would be able to begin classes there by the time the fall semester starts in August.
Huerkamp also gave a general overview of the workforce training programs and curricula EMCC offers — from programs that teach specific trades such as welding to classes that focus on how to write a resume and how to dress for a job interview.
“The great thing is, to get these young people a good job, you don’t have to go into debt for hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Huerkamp said. “Nothing against universities. … We need universities as well. But we also need a lot of young people going and learning these other jobs — industrial maintenance, robotics, … computer programmers, electricians. Some of those jobs pay almost as good as those doctorates do and a lot more than a lot of those Ph.D.’s do, I’m telling you.”
The college also houses a job center for area residents looking for employment and offers support for new industries moving into the Golden Triangle.
“If your company’s moving into this area, we’re going to sit down with you, discuss what training you need in your new employees and try to give you that training,” he said.
“That’s the kind of things that EMCC is doing,” he added. “That’s essentially our vision: work with local industry, help the local citizens get the training they need for the job they want and help on the economic development side where we fit in.”
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