Bucks "Ignites A Spark" With Brand New $9.9M Workforce Training Center

BRISTOL TOWNSHIP, PA — Inside the new 28,000 square foot Center for Advanced Technologies in Bucks County, students are preparing for the workforce of today and tomorrow.

Here, in this brand new state-of-the -art learning environment on Veterans Highway, students are being trained with the skills they will need to land and keep a job in a rapidly changing world.

On Thursday, Bucks County Community College President Felicia Ganther officially “ignited a spark” by cutting through a half inch thick metal rod with a hand grinder to symbolically open the new $9.9 million center.

“It is truly a wonderful day for us here at Bucks,” said Ganther. “As a community college our mission is to help elevate the community and to support economic growth and this 28,000 square foot project is doing just that,” she said.

Jeff Werner

“This is a bridge to the future,” said Bob Harvie, chairman of the Bucks County Commissioners of the new center. “This is a bridge to a workforce that will keep our county vibrant. It is a recognition of the talent that we have here in this county that people will be relying on for a long time to help us build a better Bucks County, a better Pennsylvania and a better United States.”

U.S. Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick praised Bucks County Community College for having the foresight to bring the Center for Advance Technologies to Bucks County.

“Bucks County Community College is focusing on the careers of the future,” said Fitzpatrick. “We need to migrate away from the cookie cutter view of education and start looking at the skills needed for the jobs and careers of the future, not just for the success of our local economy
here but for the security of our nation. The future of American economic success and security lies in our young people, many of whom are going through programs such as this.”

Metalworking lab instructor Joe Coates next to a plasma table, which is used to cut metal. (photo by Jeff Werner)

The new center, which has been in the works since 2018, officially opened its doors this past September on the Gene and Marlene Epstein Lower Bucks Campus in Bristol.

"About nine years ago a spark was ignited and a unique and groundbreaking partnership was formed," said Susan Herring, the executive director of workforce development at the college. "Twenty manufacturing CEOs along with the Bucks County Commissioners and the Bucks County Community College collaborated to create the metalwork training program.

"This unique program," continued Herring, " was designed to reinvigorate interest in advanced manufacturing, an industry with a skilled work force that was quickly aging out with no one in the wings. This program's success became the gold standard for developing new, short term training programs designed to quickly upscale workers for high demand, good paying careers."

The new Center for Advance Technologies was built on the foundation laid by the success of the metalwork training program, said Herring.

Thomas Jennings, president of the college's board of trustees, addresses the gathering. (photo by Jeff Werner)

The building itself is designed to be flexible and to adjust to the changing skill sets required by industry for current and future jobs and to adopt to changing technologies, said Herring.

The center is home to various career and workforce training programs "giving students the opportunity to launch meaningful and lucrative careers," said Herring. Many of the programs offered are free to those who qualify for student grants.

in addition to a new welding program, Commercial Drivers License (CDL) training, industrial safety, and soon to come, building and construction trades pre-apprenticeship and HVAC programs.

In addition, the center offers online workforce training in Microsoft Office Technology, Bookkeeping with QuickBooks and ESL (English as a Second Language). New programs are planned in robotics, public safety drone training, and 3D printing.

During Thursday's celebration, Herring gave a shout out to Penn Community Bank, which is making a $140,000 donation to support scholarships and workforce development programs at the center. "They will also play a direct role in the future successes of Bucks students," said Herring.

For additional information about the center and its program offerings, visit https://www.bucks.edu/workforce/.

The Center for Advance Technologies at the Gene and Marlene Epstein Campus of the Bucks County Community College in Bristol. (photo by Jeff Werner)