The Pearl River Community
College Lowery A. Woodall Advanced Technology Center is open for business.
The Workforce Development Center staff moved into the Center on September
1, 2004. The first training event was held the following day.
The opening of the Woodall Center represents a milestone in efforts to
upgrade the skills of south Mississippi’s workforce.
The Woodall Center represents
the achievement of a long-standing goal of educational and business leaders
in the Hattiesburg/Forrest County area to acquire an advanced technology
training facility.
The Woodall Center was ten
years in the making. First, the Mississippi Legislature had to be
persuaded to fund the project. This was no easy task, but thanks
to the involvement of a strong core of community leaders, led by Lowery
A. Woodall, the Legislature was finally persuaded to provide $4,000,000.00
to establish an advanced technology training facility in Hattiesburg on
land donated by the Hattiesburg and Forrest County Industrial Park
Commission. Generous financial contributions by the City of Hattiesburg,
Forrest County and the Asbury Foundation provided additional funding for
the project.
It should not be difficult
for anyone who keeps up with the times to appreciate the value of the Woodall
Center. As lower-wage production jobs migrate overseas, those jobs
that remain in the U.S. are increasingly high-skill. The competition
for these jobs is intense and there are increasingly more people competing
for fewer jobs. Training becomes the key to individual competitiveness
in the high-skill job market. The training programs that will be
available through the Woodall Center will significantly improve Pearl River
Community College’s capability to train high-skill workers.
Federal Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan emphasized the vital importance of workforce training in
recent testimony before the U.S. Congress. Greenspan expressed his
belief that “growing U.S. income inequality largely reflects differences
in workers’ education and job skills” and that “the growing pay gap reflects
the ‘skill premium’ commanded by relatively higher educated, better trained
workers”. In simpler language, the more skills you get, the more
money you make.
Bringing the Woodall Center
project to a successful conclusion is attributable to the labors of a small
band of dedicated persons who kept the project alive when its chances looked
slim. South Mississippi’s workforce owes a debt of thanks to these
individuals and to the legislators who supported the
struggle to obtain state funding for the Center.
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