The Adams County Community Foundation has provided a $25,000 grant to the HACC Foundation in support of the Gettysburg Campus Fund for Excellence in Mechatronics. The fund for excellence supports the purchase of an additional state-of-the-art robot for the Robotics Lab at the Gettysburg Campus of HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College. The robot will allow the Gettysburg Campus to offer industrial robotics classes.
The Gettysburg Campus Fund for Excellence in Mechatronics was established to ensure that HACC offers mechatronics training using the advanced technology that students will encounter in the workplace. HACC’s Mechatronics Program provides hands-on experience in programming, maintaining and repairing various electronic, electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic equipment. With the addition of industrial robotics classes, the Gettysburg Campus will now be able to deliver an associate degree in mechatronics.
More than 20% of Adams County’s workforce is employed in manufacturing, and the average wage is approximately $8,300 more than the county’s median wage for all industries. According to the Economic Profile of Adams County, there are currently more than 9,420 manufacturing jobs in the county.
Representatives from the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), along with representatives from the Adams County Economic Alliance and local industry, recently toured the Gettysburg Campus Mechatronics Lab as a best practices business education partnership. At that meeting, Danijel Lolic, engineering manager at Rice Fruit Company, said, “We’re very pleased to have HACC’s Mechatronics Program supporting local industry. With the increased sophistication of our technology and equipment, we need employees who have been trained in understanding and troubleshooting electromechanical systems. Our newest maintenance team hire is a graduate of the certificate program, and we know that he received a solid technical foundation and directly applicable practical skills from this program.”
Charles (Chuck) Stangor is Gettysburg Connection's Owner, Publisher, and Editor in Chief. I would like to hear from you. Please contact me at cstangor@gettysburgconnection.org.