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DTSTART:20101026T160000
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STATUS:CONFIRMED
SUMMARY:Lamar Port Arthur's Ribbon Cutting & Groundbreaking
LOCATION:Lamar State College-Port Arthur 1547 Procter Street\, Port Arthur TX 77640
DESCRIPTION:Lamar State College-Port Arthur invites the public to attend two special events on the afternoon of Tuesday\, Oct. 26.

The chancellor of The Texas State University System will join college officials and city dignitaries at 4 p.m. to open a new state-of-the-art Process Technology Laboratory at 1547 Procter Street. The group then will move across the street (1450 Procter)&nbsp\;and break ground for the new $2.2 million Student Success Center. LSC-PA President Dr. Sam Monroe said the new facilities will be welcome additions to the college. &ldquo\;We are very grateful to the Port Arthur Economic Development Commission\, which provided generous grants for both of these projects\,&rdquo\; Monroe said. &ldquo\;The Student Success Center will provide expanded computer access and instructional services for students. The new Process Technology lab has lots of room that will allow us to add more high-tech training aids to that program.&rdquo\; 

The Student Success Center will replace the college&rsquo\;s current Learning Center\, which occupies a small area on the second floor of the Madison Monroe Education Building. The new 7\,461-square-foot building will house two classrooms\, a testing center\, faculty and staff offices\, study rooms and an open area for computer-assisted instruction. SETEX Construction Corp. from Beaumont will build the center\, which is scheduled for completion in May 2011.

The new Process Technology Laboratory was created in response to a rising demand from area industries for trained process operators. Janis Hutchins\, dean of Technical Programs at the college\, said\, &ldquo\;The demand for fully-trained process operators has increased drastically in the Golden Triangle and the entire Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast due to industry expansion and retirement of workers. The new lab will help the college train students to fill that need.&rdquo\;

Lamar State expanded its one-year Process Technology certificate program in 2009\, and now offers both the certificate and a two-year associate degree. The program previously shared a laboratory with the Instrumentation Program. The new lab not only has more room\, it also has a new custom-made CTI Total Trainer skid that simulates process operations and is controlled by a touch screen computer and smart instrumentation. &ldquo\;The trainer is controlled by the same equipment students will use in area industrial plants\,&rdquo\; said LSC-PA instructor Bill Andress. &ldquo\;It was built for us by Bayport Training and Technical Center\, which designs and makes &lsquo\;hands-on&rsquo\; training simulators and educational models.&rdquo\;

The college also has ordered a $44\,000 analyzer training unit for the lab. Both the Process Technology and Instrumentation programs will benefit from the additional space\, Andress said. &ldquo\;We now can accept equipment donations and have a nice place to put them\,&rdquo\; he said. 

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