Nearly a month after a major donation from Simmons Pet Food, Flint Hills Technical College President Caron Daugherty expects more such announcements to come for the Advancing Tomorrow capital campaign.
With the general plan in place for a new Advancing Industry building at the college’s main campus, Daugherty says fundraising continues at a time when other decisions are ahead to move things closer to construction.
On KVOE’s Tech Talk this week, Daugherty says things are progressing well.
Advancing Tomorrow is important for numerous reasons, including the fact the $17 million campaign is the largest-ever for the college — but the 27,000-square-foot Advancing Industry Education Center will house advanced manufacturing, industrial engineering, automation and robotics. Besides the $500,000 naming rights donation from Simmons for the industrial technology lab and a $20,000 naming rights agreement with Emporia State Federal Credit Union for a conference room, the project already has a $2 million lead gift from the Jones Testamentary Trust and is around $3 million either raised or pledged.
Separately on Tech Talk, Daugherty said the Board of Trustees updated its policies on service animals as part of its meeting this week, expanding the list of allowed animals.
The list of service animals is part of overall college policy on animals, including educational use animals in labs, campus security and K-9 units and emotional support animals.
Board members this week also officially closed out the American Rescue Plan Act grant that funded the expansion of the Welding Technology program with additional booths, an outdoor learning space and a mobile welding unit. The college received $500,000 in COVID relief funds for that project.
