East Mississippi Community College will break ground on a new student union at its Mayhew campus early next year, President Rick Young told Oktibbeha County supervisors Monday, after the school successfully lobbied area counties for financial pledges this summer.
Citing an expected future influx of students and workforce trainees associated with Golden Triangle industrial development efforts, EMCC officials launched its most recent fundraising push for capital improvements this June, an in-person request targeting additional millage pledges from six county boards. School representatives originally eyed a plan that would construct a student union at the Golden Triangle campus and a new student housing complex at its Scooba campus. Those plans were estimated this summer to cost a combined $34 million
Young said five of six area counties — Clay, Kemper, Lowndes, Noxubee and Oktibbeha — stepped up to the plate with funding pledges after setting Fiscal Year 2013-2014 budgets in September, and construction at the Golden Triangle campus is expected to begin in January or February. Only Lauderdale County, he said, failed to pledge additional monies for capital improvements.
Oktibbeha County’s FY 2013-2014 budget provides EMCC with $230,535 for such improvements. A breakdown of pledges from the other five counties was not immediately available at press time.
Construction efforts will be funded by the new pledges, EMCC contributions and a 20-year note.
As major industries, such as Yokohama Tire Corporation, begin operations in the Golden Triangle, demand for job-readiness classes and skills training at EMCC is expected to spike. Young and other school officials lobbied this summer with a simple message: Expansion is crucial for the Golden Triangle workforce. EMCC representatives have championed their workforce training program as industries have committed to the Golden Triangle.
“There’s an environment being created where we have a lot of people from industry coming in or upgrading, and that will need us to prepare the workforce for new jobs. Expansion will allow us to grow and develop with the predicted influx that is approaching,” Young said. “This will step up our level of service to the people who attend our commuter campus. We’re serving approximately 4,000 credit students, and that number does not include those in industry and job training.”
The new student union will serve as a multi-use building, housing 10 additional classroom spaces. The additional room will allow EMCC to expand its allied health program, an area of education that is already experiencing significant student interest. For example, Young said EMCC recently received 90 applications for 20 open slots within its associate degree nursing program.
“We’re trying to do more there,” he said, referring to the nursing program. “The ability to accommodate and afford more amenities to those we serve, and to be able to expand instructional programs are critical to our mission.”
Location for a Starkville satellite facility still undetermined
Young also said EMCC and Oktibbeha County have not decided upon a Starkville location to house a planned satellite facility. Increased industrial demand in the future, he said, could accelerate the project based upon new market needs.
Supervisors and EMCC representatives most recently pitched the idea during an October county board meeting. A mutual agreement was reached saying both entities would work together on a partnership to bring such a facility to Starkville.
In that meeting, Raj Shaunak, EMCC vice president for workforce and community services, told supervisors that the school would require an almost 6,000-square-foot facility to bring introductory manufacturing classes to Oktibbeha County.
EMCC opened a similar training facility six years ago in West Point after the Sara Lee plant ended operations. A facility used by the city and the Tennessee Valley Authority was donated for the project. Oktibbeha County supervisors said they were keen on opening a Starkville facility since those looking for workforce training opportunities do not always have the means to commute to other counties for education.
“The point is there are a lot of unemployed and under-employed (Oktibbeha County residents) … who need to be motivated and encouraged to participate and take part in educational training,” Shaunak told the board in October. “At once, (Oktibbeha County has) some of the highest educated folks with the third-highest income in the state, but we also have the third-highest poverty rate and low educational attainment. It’s really two different worlds that we have here. Still, there are a lot of people beyond high school age who lack relevant skills to be gainfully employed.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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