Allegheny College recently launched its branch campus ALIC @ Bessemer, an initiative designed to help spur workforce development and education in western Pennsylvania.
“This isn’t just a branch campus of Allegheny College, it’s a platform for transformation,” said Allegheny College President Ron Cole during the April 25 ribbon-cutting ceremony. “We are reimagining what higher education can be when it’s rooted in community needs and aligned with regional opportunity.”
Located on Bessemer Street in Meadville, Pa., the Allegheny Lab for Innovation and Creativity (ALIC) @ Bessemer is a branch campus of Allegheny College in Crawford County.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, leaders of regional manufacturing companies, and Allegheny College faculty, staff, and students joined Cole to celebrate the collaboration between government, industry, and education to foster innovation in new and existing businesses, build a more skilled and competitive workforce, and increase manufacturing growth.
“We know that western Pennsylvania has a long, proud tradition of manufacturing. And we also know the challenges that face this region: a changing economy, declining population with an aging workforce, and the urgent need to upskill for industry in the 21st century,” said Cole. “We created ALIC @ Bessemer to respond to those challenges with bold action.”
The new branch will build upon Allegheny’s 210-year tradition of academic excellence, and will integrate traditional liberal arts education focused on the development of critical thinking, problem-solving, and interdisciplinary learning with practical workforce training for high-demand sectors for adult learners.
Crawford County stands to benefit from ALIC’s role in helping to prepare the next generation of workforce-ready professionals. ALIC @ Bessemer will expand opportunities for students pursuing workforce-ready education, and create new avenues for collaboration between faculty, staff, and the broader community.
“Across the state, regional businesses can partner with higher education institutions to solve problems and develop new ventures,” Cole explained. “At the same time, liberal arts institutions can think about their programs and who they are serving to determine which areas of expertise they can offer to their region and new ways to deliver it.
“It’s building relationships with partners that will forge the ideal path to build stronger connections between higher education and economic development in our Commonwealth,” added Cole.
Participants at the ribbon-cutting ceremony toured ALIC @ Bessemer with student guides and learned about the Technical Training Facility, where incumbent workers, recent high school graduates, and underemployed individuals will learn high-tech, advanced manufacturing processes and operations.
They also toured the Incubator and Accelerator, where low-cost office space and technology and equipment are available for students and community members to start businesses, as well as the Applied Research Laboratories, where the college’s undergraduate students will work alongside industry partners on applied research opportunities.
ALIC @ Bessemer also will provide shared-use equipment for rental by blocks of time in an effort to help alleviate internal capacity issues and allow users to access high-end machinery that might otherwise be out of reach.
“ALIC @ Bessemer will open more doors of opportunity for students, for the Meadville community, and for businesses and industries here in northwestern Pennsylvania,” said Shapiro. “There are many paths to success and prosperity in this commonwealth. We need to respect each of those paths equally and invest in all of them.
“We’re showing that respect in my administration by ensuring skills and experience are valued in hiring, increasing investment in apprenticeships and vo-tech by more than 50 percent over the past two years, and enrolling more than 14,000 new apprentices in fields like welding, manufacturing, agriculture, and transportation,” added the governor.
Byron Rich, assistant provost of academic innovation at Allegheny College, pointed out that ALIC “blends the state of the industry with the state-of-the-art emerging technology, evolving processes, and future-forward skill sets.”
Representatives from local manufacturing companies, including Pennco Tool & Die, Acutec Precision Aerospace, Moon Tool & Die Co., and Kuhn Tool & Die Co., participated in the event, as did the National Tool and Manufacturing Association.
“While one in 10 people in our nation work in manufacturing, that number in Crawford County is one in four,” said Cody Passilla, business and development manager at Pennco Tool & Die. “We plan to work with ALIC in many ways, starting with sending our employees to them for a variety of training, whether that be basic machining training, software training, or even more advanced training on equipment.”