Courtesy HVCC
Hudson Valley Community College and GlobalFoundries are expanding their partnership by creating a new training and apprenticeship center at the college’s HVCC North extension center in Malta.
The center is part of the college’s $12.5 million expansion project aimed at boosting workforce training efforts in high-demand areas.
The GlobalFoundries Workforce Training and Apprenticeship Center at HVCC North, announced on Aug. 5, will be created through a philanthropic gift of $500,000, which includes specialized equipment for workforce training.
Officials said that once completed, the center will allow the college to prepare more students though credit and non-credit workforce training programs and apprenticeships as well as through associate degree programs such as electrical engineering technology, semiconductor manufacturing, mechatronics and clean energy management to fill key positions at GlobalFoundries and in other companies and industries throughout the region.
GlobalFoundries’s gift will also help the college to create a new advanced radio frequency/vacuum technology laboratory and a new innovative mechatronics laboratory, as well as allow for the conversion of the mock clean room laboratory currently located at TEC-SMART to a Class 10,000 ISO clean room.
The news comes just weeks after GlobalFoundries announced plans to build a new chip fab over the coming years in Malta, which is expected to double the site’s capacity and create more than one thousand jobs for Capital Region residents.
Officials said the increase in open positions, combined with the urgent need for qualified workers in Saratoga County, makes the HVCC North project even more timely, as the facility will increase access to credit and non-credit career programs and allow the college to train a larger share of the workforce faster.
The HVCC North expansion project includes renovations to current facilities at TEC-SMART and the creation of a new two-story, 14,500 square foot STEM Education Center, which will include brand new, state-of the-art labs for microbiology, anatomy and physiology, chemistry and biology, and new classrooms, student support spaces and offices.
Once completed, HVCC North will create the space and resources to allow the college to increase access and broaden education and workforce training opportunities in the highly specialized and growing fields of healthcare, STEM, and skilled trades.
According to the college, all of these industries are experiencing an urgent shortage of qualified workers and a skills gap that continues to widen exponentially with time. HVCC North will allow the college to train hundreds of graduates to enter the in-demand fields and address urgent industry needs while keeping the workforce local and providing a significant economic boost for the Capital Region.
“Hudson Valley Community College is thrilled to partner with GlobalFoundries to create a new Workforce Training and Apprenticeship Center as part of our HVCC North expansion project,” said HVCC President Roger Ramsammy. “GlobalFoundries has long been a valued partner to the college, and we very much appreciate their support in kicking off our HVCC North fundraising with this generous donation. Hudson Valley recognizes the significant economic growth that GlobalFoundries continues to create in our region, and as an institution committed to training the Capital Region’s workforce of tomorrow, the college is pleased to continue to grow and strengthen our partnership with such a prominent workforce development leader.”
“GlobalFoundries’ $500,000 donation continues a long history of collaboration between Hudson Valley Community College and GlobalFoundries,” said Peter Benyon, Fab 8 vice president and general manager at GlobalFoundries. “It is critical to the industry to have a partner in education that keeps pace with the rapidly evolving semiconductor industry. There is real value in the proximity of HVCC North to GlobalFoundries, and through our continuing partnership, we envision opening our doors to each other for the benefit of Hudson Valley, GlobalFoundries and the entire Capital Region.
“We hope GlobalFoundries’s corporate contribution will inspire other regional businesses and community organizations interested and vested in the future of the Capital Region to come on board and support this important capital project that will expand opportunities in STEM and skilled trades and will provide benefits and long-term success for us all.”