Watch Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
Belleville, IL – In preparation for the official fall 2024 opening of the Advanced Manufacturing Academy on its Belleville campus, Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC) held an official ribbon cutting on Thursday, July 11, 2024. SWIC would like to thank Governor Pritzker, Senator Christopher Belt, General Assembly Leader Jay Hoffman, Representative Katie Stuart and former Representative Latoya Greenwood, Mayor Patty Gregory, and numerous industry partners for attending.
Through the leadership of Governor Pritzker and SWIC President Nick Mance, coupled with the generous DCEO and other source funding, the new Advanced Manufacturing Academy will reinvigorate the regional manufacturing industry with a sustainable, high-skilled workforce to further reestablish Illinois and the U.S. as a center of global manufacturing. SWIC is utilizing State funding to launch a multi-phase plan to create an academy that focuses on the needs of local manufacturing partners and builds the relationships necessary to solidify southern Illinois as a hub for manufacturing education and industry. By reinforcing the strong manufacturing opportunities available to the community and highlighting the success of SWIC’s manufacturing students, the college will continue to improve the overall image of U.S. manufacturing in the region.
Sustainable manufacturing is becoming increasingly important in the changing landscape of the industry. SWIC will be at the forefront of manufacturing innovation with its state-of-the-art equipment and program offerings and will spur modernization throughout the regional industry. Planned programming for the new facility will include revision of previously established programming as well as the addition of new and innovative manufacturing programming.
Governor Pritzker commented, “I chose to come to SWIC because of your successes, to demonstrate my own intent to put community colleges at the forefront of our economic revitalization of the state. SWIC and other community colleges are the dynamic institutions that are capable of building the workforce of the future, creating opportunities for hardworking Illinoisans, and maximizing economic growth potential for the entire state and particularly for this region.”