Staff Report
gsanews@scbiznews.com
Published Oct. 23, 2013
The U.S. Department of Commerce and other departments and groups awarded $3.5 million to Clemson University to support regional economic development and advanced skills training, the university announced Tuesday.
The grant for the Clemson University Center for Workforce Development is part of the federal government’s Make it in America Challenge, a $20.5 million funding program designed to encourage U.S. companies to keep, expand or re-shore manufacturing operations in America, and to entice foreign companies to build facilities here.
The Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration, the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration and the Delta Regional Authority are providing funding for the winning proposals. Additionally, Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership plans to make awards in early in the 2014 fiscal year.
Kris Frady, operations director of Clemson’s Center for Workforce Development, said in a news release that this award will be a key component of the center’s workforce development initiatives.
“This will enable us to expand the center’s programs and help create manufacturing jobs in South Carolina,” Frady said.
The project will create a statewide workforce “Virtual Innovation Hub” that will utilize distance learning and provide technical assistance in innovation engineering. Clemson University will collaborate with Work Link, Greenville Technical College, Northeastern Technical College, Tri-County College, the S.C. Manufacturing Extension Partnership and others.
The funding also will finance an addition to and partial renovation of Freeman Hall to establish the Select S.C. Innovation Hub, a digital innovation center built on Clemson University’s campus and run by the Center for Workforce Development.
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