Dominion East Ohio’s Foundation recently gave $33,000 to Washington State Community College (WSCC) – it’s part of a $220,000 higher education grant, split among six Ohio colleges with programs in business, skilled crafts, engineering, environmental, or technical studies.

WMOA News spoke with Washington State’s President, Dr. Bradley Ebersole, who says their proposal was to purchase a “Process Control Pilot Plant” system – a training tool for the Electrical Engineering Technology program.

“This equipment is very much needed for the program and its enhancement,” notes Dr. Ebersole. “The faculty is very excited about it and, already, they’ve expressed that it’s built up the enrollment, because students see that we do have state-of-the-art equipment.”

WSCC recently transitioned from a system of quarters to semesters, which caused total enrollment to drop and created a financial strain.  

“In this time when budgets are very, very tight, getting funds from outside of our operating budget is critical,” says Dr. Ebersole. “It’s a way that we are able to buy equipment that we may otherwise be unable to purchase, so we’re working very hard to get as many grants as we can and are very grateful to the Dominion Foundation for funding this.”