Flint Hills Technical College has new tools coming to support training and education thanks to a recently announced appropriation from the federal government.
The appropriation, $320,000 in Congressionally Designated Funding, was announced by Kansas US Senator Jerry Moran during a stop in Emporia and the FHTC campus Thursday afternoon. Moran says the allocation of these dollars has been four years in the making.
Moran also stated that Kansas has a bright future when it comes to economic opportunities, but to capitalize on said opportunities, the state needs a “highly educated and trained workforce,” hence his focus on allocating these dollars to technical education.
The funds will be used to purchase new FANUC robotic training arms that mirror equipment used in most manufacturing settings. FHTC President Dr. Caron Daugherty says the benefits, or rather beneficiaries, of these new tools will be “two-fold.”
Daugherty says the college is not planning to stop with the Industrial Engineering Technology and short-term training programs; in fact, the FHTC is currently developing plans to create a FANUC training center that could provide major benefits for local industry partners.
This is the fourth time Lyon County has benefited from Congressionally Designated Funding, with previous allocations benefiting the new Law Enforcement training facility and, before that, the Emporia State University cybersecurity program. Speaking of ESU, Daugherty, during her comments Thursday, stated the university and college have been in talks in recent months to expand their already long and fortuitous partnership by combining efforts in shared programs.
A timeline for when the new machines will be acquired and installed is currently pending and will depend heavily on the drawdown time for federal dollars, according to Daugherty.
