Thanks to the support of local industry partners, Ozarks Technical Community College will break ground on the MHC Diesel Technician Training Center in May 2018. The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Monday, May 14 at 2 p.m. at the OTC Springfield Campus.
The capital project, which will add four new truck bays and classrooms with learning labs, is expected to increase the college’s Diesel Technology program enrollment capacity by 45 percent.
In the fall of 2016, OTC received a $1 million grant from the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Grant funds covered half of the $2 million project to expand the Diesel Technology training facility. In an effort to raise the remaining funds, OTC Foundation officials turned to local industry partners for support.
SRC Holdings Corp., a longstanding industry partner to OTC, was eager to back the expansion.
“With the industry shortage of trained diesel technicians, it’s critical to support the institutions that prepare our next generation of workers,” said Jack Stack, founder and CEO of SRC. “We are proud to partner with OTC as the college works to combat this shortage and provide us with highly skilled employees.”
Additional donors for the expansion include the capital project’s naming sponsor, Murphy-Hoffman Company, Commerce Bank, The Larson Group – Peterbilt, the Sunderland Foundation and an anonymous gift.
The MHC Diesel Technician Training Center is scheduled to open to students in the winter of 2019.