Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2010

Skills-training center to mark anniversary

The Johnston County Workforce Development Center will celebrate its fifth anniversary with an open house from 3 till 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 24. Light refreshments will be served, and tours of the building will be available.

The Workforce Development Center is a collaborative effort among Johnston County, Johnston Community College, Johnston County Schools and local biopharmaceutical companies. The 30,000-square-foot skills-training center houses six classrooms, three science labs, three computer labs, the Small Business Center and a functioning sterile fill line.

In its five years, the biotech center has continued to serve more community college students each year in JCC's programs in bio-processing, aseptic processing and pharmacy technology. Also, local companies have benefitted from using the site to train employees.

Joy Callahan is director of the center and department chair of economic- and workforce-development programs at JCC. She attributes the center's success to its many partners and their commitment to enhancing workforce-training opportunities in Johnston County.

"The success of the center comes from the hard work and dedication of the JCC employees housed at the center who work tirelessly to help the vast numbers of people who walk in the door or call us on the phone," Callahan said. "I also want to thank our partners, the Johnston County Economic Development Corp., Talecris, Novo Nordisk, The Walthom Group, Johnston County Schools and many others who had the vision to develop this facility and make it a reality."

"We look forward to many more years of service and innovation as our county continues to grow and develop new jobs and careers," she added.

During the open house, visitors can observe lab activities and biotechnology, science and computer classes. Also, staff will demonstrate sterile gowning and filling-process techniques, offer tours of the Small Business Center and provide information about teacher-renewal training, teacher-assistant training and other programs.

For more information about workforce-development opportunities, call 209-2591.