Educational groups to study aerospace center

Clark State part of training effort to fill new jobs.

Greene County educational institutions and businesses will use a $50,000 grant to study whether a proposed stand-alone educational and training aerospace center would be feasible in Greene County.

Greene County Career Center, Clark State Community College, Wright State University and Beavercreek City Schools plan to partner for the project, said David Deskins, superintendent of Greene County Career Center, the study’s leading partner. The Aerospace Professional Development Center and businesses including Peerless Technologies and The Greentree Group will also join the initiative.

Deskins said the proposed aerospace center could provide training for jobs at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and surrounding aviation-related businesses that could have nearly $2 billion in economic impact on the region. The center would serve both high school students and adults.

Citing the Ohio Means Jobs website and a WrightPatt study, Deskins said a number of jobs are about to open up as people retire. With the potential of so many new jobs coming to the area, Deskins said it was important to make sure everyone had the training they needed to be successful.

“The job of this academy is to prepare the region for those jobs,” he said.

The first part of the study would be a feasibility study, Deskins added.

“It’s a first-step effort to make sure we make it as a research-based decision,” Deskins said.

Instruction could include aerospace and materials engineering, logistics, aviation maintenance, information technology, intelligence and security, said Ron Bolender, public information administrator of the Greene County Career Center. The curriculum would be developed by educational institutions, such as the Greene County Career Center, Wright State and Clark State, alongside advisory committees consisting of industry experts from around the region and across the U.S., Bolender said.

Clark State provost and vice president of academic affairs Amit Singh said the aerospace and aviation industry plays a pivotal role in Greene County’s economy. The new aerospace center would provide training for new jobs opening up.