Published in Austin American-Statesman
Austin Community College ― a semiconductor workforce training leader in Central Texas that has been recognized with federal grants secured by U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett and gifts from major manufacturers NXP and Samsung ― is partnering with other companies to share its semiconductor training curriculum nationally, officials announced Wednesday.
“We’re about Central Texas, but we’re about to be central to the country and the world,” ACC Chancellor Lowery-Hart said. “A world that the CHIPS Act and semiconductor work is reimagining.”
With America’s Frontier Fund, the workforce development nonprofit Merit America and the Texas Institute for Electronics, ACC is part of the Opportunity Coalition that will offer the college’s Advanced Manufacturing Production training program nationally at no up-front cost. The new initiative will help low-wage workers around the country transition to high-demand advanced manufacturing jobs through quick-turn programs.
The program will first be piloted at Temple College and Central Texas College, Lowery-Hart said, and it then will expand to Arizona, New Mexico and Ohio. The pilot program, which is sponsored by the Dell Foundation, will launch in January with the goal of expanding nationally next fall, said Garrett Groves, ACC vice chancellor for strategic initiatives.
The coalition hopes to reach 20,000 learners and drive wage-gains of $2 billion total by 2030, ACC said in a news release, which will in turn help meet the country’s growing workforce needs as manufacturing grows in the U.S.
Tags: Advanced Manufacturing, America's Frontier Fund, CHIPS, Merit America, Semicondcutor
Back to Top