Million Dollars To Cleveland State

Million Dollars To Cleveland State

Monday, November 11, 2019 12:00 AM
All

As soon as Cleveland State Community College President Dr. Bill Seymour dots all the I’s and crosses all the T’s, the Tennessee Board of Regents College of the Year will be the proud recipient of a million dollar grant. The award, which actually will amount to $999,956.00, will help grow advanced technology and work-based learning opportunities for present and future students of Cleveland State.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s “GIVE” Grant, Governor’s Investment in Vocational Education, is behind the investment that will pay out over the next three years. The same program will also assist other educational institutions across the Volunteer State to the tune of $25 million. “These funds directly support our workforce development efforts…” said Governor Lee. “…a key component of our strategy to prioritize rural Tennessee.”

Cleveland State’s vision for the grant is to enhance its Advanced Technologies Apprenticeship Institute. “If you attend Cleveland State, and you are enrolled in a work-based technological track for your education, this news will mean great things for you,” said Cleveland State Community College President Dr. Bill Seymour. “This is a huge development for our students all across our counties.”

Before receiving news of the award, Cleveland State had one clear goal if they were to receive it: To allow all qualifying students enrolled in a technical program at the college to have a work-based learning experience as part of their degree or certificate program. On the heels of the college’s successfully piloted Mechatronics Honors Institute, the GIVE Grant will now also assist in the building of the CSCC Advanced Technologies Apprenticeship Institute.

Doing their part to help close the current skilled labor gap in our workforce, Cleveland State will add five new programs to join the Mechatronics program at Cleveland State. Computer Information Technology, Electrical Engineering Technology, Engineering Systems Technology, Cyber Security, and Electromechanical Technology will be born as part of Cleveland State’s plans to build on its impact within the economic community across the region.

 

One of several goals of the GIVE Grant will be to triple its number of industry partnerships over the next three years as a result. “With this new funding, we will now be able to build all of these advanced technology programs and expand them to include Bradley, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, and Polk County in Southeast Tennessee,” added Seymour. “We are very thankful the state is helping us take a great idea to scale. This is something that will pay big dividends for our local economy.”

The award process began in June when the Tennessee Higher Education Commission requested proposals on behalf of the Governor’s program. Among other things, the proposals were required to show local data that identified workforce needs and information on work-based learning experiences in the region.

“With this money, we will be able to help the people and the industry of the region build a highly-skilled workforce,” said Cleveland State Executive Director of Advancement and the CSCC Foundation Christa Mannarino. “Developing this program will not only attract more students, but also position the college as a leader in providing an educated, globally literate, workforce-ready community in southeast Tennessee.”

 

Registration is now underway for all CSCC classes on-campus and online for Spring 2020. For more information on the event, contact CSCC’s Director of Communications and Marketing Don Foley at 423-473-2341 or dfoley@clevelandstatecc.edu. CSCC is the College System of Tennessee’s College of the Year for 2019. The local institution received the Statewide Outstanding Achievement Recognition, or SOAR, Award after being named the College of the Year honor during an awards ceremony last March.

The College System of Tennessee is the state’s largest public higher education system, with 13 community colleges, 27 colleges of applied technology and the online TN eCampus serving more than 110,000 students.

Subscribed

Partners & Initiatives

  • Cleveland Bradley Business Incubator
  • America's SBDC Tennesseey
  • Your Skills. Your Future.
  • OneSource
  • Cleveland State Sustainability Initiative
  • TBR The College System of Tennessee
  • TN eCampus
  • Tennessee Transfer Pathway