Mid-State Technical College hosted a donor recognition luncheon and ribbon cutting ceremony on July 22 to celebrate the official opening of its Wayne H. Bushman Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering Technology and Apprenticeship (AMETA™) Center. The 48,000 square-foot facility is located in the Stevens Point Industrial Park at 5000 Coye Drive.

 The destination training center is aimed at supplying Wisconsin with highly skilled workers, addressing the workforce shortage and sustaining and growing area businesses. 

“Mid-State is a special place where our exceptional staff and faculty transform lives through the power of teaching and learning every single day, and AMETA will only help us further that mission,” said Mid-State’s president, Dr. Shelly Mondeik. “AMETA is critical to workforce and economic development and will give us another valuable tool in our toolbox in graduating students who are skilled and ready to be employed.”

The AMETA Center provides four main labs featuring state-of-the art manufacturing and engineering equipment used by industry as well as eight classrooms. It is home to 16 programs, several industry credential attainment opportunities and many apprenticeship programs. It also provides dedicated space for the Wisconsin Bureau of Apprenticeship Standards. 

Over 300 business partners and individual donors attending the donor luncheon were recognized for their combined $5 million in contributions to the AMETA Center campaign. In all, the campaign launched in 2019 raised $23 million to build and equip the Center, counting investments from 131 businesses, 187 individuals and eight governmental bodies, including federal, state, county, city and village. Eighteen businesses contributed substantially, securing permanent naming in the building, which is featured prominently throughout the building through signage and a large video wall.

The ribbon cutting following the donor recognition lunch featured remarks from Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, whose Workforce Innovation Grant program invested $9 million in the project.

“This new center is going to build on and work to bolster the state’s workforce and will not only have a huge impact on Stevens Point and central Wisconsin but the entire state of Wisconsin,” Evers said.

Evers noted that Wisconsin is a national leader in manufacturing, with nearly 9,000 manufacturing companies and more than 490,000 manufacturing jobs across the state, adding, “There are exciting projects happening all over the state in the field of manufacturing, and this new center is going to help us meet the rising demand for highly skilled workers needed to move us forward and continue Wisconsin’s place as a leader in manufacturing.”

According to Kurt Bauer, president and CEO of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, a statewide survey of the organization’s members shows that 70 – 80 percent are having trouble finding workers. The AMETA Center “will help address that problem," he said. “The training is critical, but we need to get as many grade-schoolers and middle-schoolers from around this area to tour this gleaming facility, so that they are inspired to go into manufacturing and the professional trades.”

“I’m very proud of this facility,” said Ryan Kawski, Mid-State’s dean of the School of Applied Technology. “We’ve created such strong industry partnerships, and you can see it throughout the building. I can’t wait to see the first apprenticeship students arrive on August 5th and the regular students join us on August 19.”

Scholarships are available for seven different AMETA Center programs, and the public can tour the new facility and meet instructors at two community open houses this week: Wednesday, July 24, from 1 to 7 p.m. and Thursday, July 25, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Learn more about the programs, scholarships and open houses available at mstc.edu/AMETA.