Missouri Western State University (MWSU) and North Central Missouri College (NCMC) are collaborating to grow the region’s skilled manufacturing and construction workforce with Missouri Western’s newly constructed Houlne Center for Convergent Technology. The Center delivers practical, applied learning instruction in skilled manufacturing and construction professions as well as innovative service technologies – like AI, robotics, GIS, sensor technologies, information technology and cybersecurity – that drive those sectors and others. The Center is home both to a broad range of certificate and degree programs as well as offering targeted workforce training, designed to meet the needs of incumbent workers.
The Houlne Center houses applied learning labs that mimic the equipment and facilities used in today’s and tomorrow’s manufacturing technology, industrial technology, and construction technology employer’s factory floors and job sites. The Center is the capstone of an increasingly comprehensive ecosystem of technology-based professional education founded upon the alliance of MWSU and NCMC, with partners at the Saint Joseph School District and Hillyard Technical Center.
The HCCT will be a bustling hub for education and training in manufacturing, construction, and advanced support technology. Visitors will include employees and leaders of regional industries, college and university students, new companies considering relocation to our area, government leaders and economic development professionals, K-12 school groups, adult learners, equipment vendors, civic organizations, traditional faculty and professors of practice, and more.
