VGCC pursuing advanced manufacturing center
Mar. 15—HENDERSON — North Carolina Rep. Frank Sossamon was the primary sponsor for House Bill 348, filed March 13, that would grant Vance-Granville Community College $11,500,000 in nonrecurring funds to build a 60,000 square feet Applied Center for Advanced Manufacturing.
The center would "support industry training needs in the areas of industrial maintenance, mechatronics, electronics, welding, and fabrication, serve as an advanced manufacturing company recruitment benefit and support collaborative high school and college career and technical education partnerships," per the bill.
The bill would go into effect on July 1, assuming it passes. The planned ACAM would be constructed in the Triangle North Granville business park, which neighbors Interstate 85.
"This has actually been talked about for a number of years with the previous president," said VGCC President Rachel Desmarais. "This has been something that has been in our heads for long-range planning; we started to plan for this a couple of years ago.
"Our facilities here at Vance-Granville for some of the applied manufacturing-related areas are really old, and they're dated. They're undersized. So, that really stunts us on the ability to grow our programs and to modernize our programs. And, meanwhile, you know, we have industries in our current service area that need us to help keep pace and provide additional workers."
They have a few goals with this — "providing facility modernization, it's allowing us to expand existing programs and allowing us to develop more career and technical education high school partnerships. And, it also opens the door — we can't even consider any new programs right now because we simply don't have that kind of space. So, this would allow us to expand some of our program offerings."
One of the programs VGCC doesn't offer is computer numerical control machining, a field based around using high-speed cutting tools to create designs out of metal or plastic. That and other programs are some that the school may offer should the plan go through. But, that's a big question mark, Desmarais said.
"And, there's a synergy involved in having like programs together," said Desmarais. Students in one of the programs housed in the new center are likely to enroll in some of the other related programs.
The center would come with an added benefit — "VGCC would also benefit from being able to use the existing space these programs currently occupy to expand other programs and create new programs for which we currently do not have room to even begin, once vacated...."
Besides the requested state funding, the college has received help from Granville County to the tune of $1.1 million.
"Granville County Economic Development, the Triangle North Board, and Kerr-Tarr Council of Governments have joined to set aside 15 acres in the park for the project," per the project's executive summary.
Sossamon was unable to be reached by press time.
