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Vincennes University is located in the Southwest portion of Indiana. Its Gene Haas Training and Education Center is located in the center of the state near Indianapolis and shares a facility with the Haas Factory Outlet Midwest.

Last week, I attended the open house for the new Vincennes University Gene Haas Training and Education Center, located near Indianapolis in Lebanon, Indiana. The provided a $1.5 million grant to the city of Lebanon to help fund the construction of the 24,000-square-foot educational facility, which also houses the Haas Factory Outlet Midwest with demonstration area and offices.

The heart of the center is a CNC lab that includes five Haas VF-2 VMCs and five ST-10 turning centers as well as some TL-1 CNC lathes. There, students can take advantage of Vincennes University’s CNC Machinist NOW program, a 15-week, 600-hour training program designed both for military veterans as well as unemployed or under-employed folks looking to embark on a new career path. Similar programs are available for industrial maintenance and metrology, and the facility includes labs and classrooms for those programs, too.

The CNC lab includes a range of VMCs and turning centers available for students enrolled in the school’s CNC Machinist NOW program.

This lab supports the school’s 600-hour metrology program and includes inspection equipment ranging from hand gages to ¸ßÅâÂÊÁùºÏ²Ês.

During the open house, the Foundation also presented $382,400 to the center to be used for student scholarships. Kathy Looman, foundation administrator, says this year alone the Foundation has granted more than $9 million to manufacturing education in the form of scholarships, “inspiring young people to explore manufacturing as a career and program support.”