Skip to main content
Enter search terms below…

Member News

HVCC to Build $85M Skilled Labor Center



Citing a desperate need for lab space, Hudson Valley Community College is building an $85 million center to prepare students for skilled labor jobs. "It will allow the college to double the number of students enrolled in skilled trade programs," said President Roger Ramsammy. Right now, electrical science is so popular that the school has already added three classrooms at HVCC North, in Malta, and it wasn’t enough. “We still can’t service all the kids who are applying for that program,” he said. Other skilled labor programs are also booming, he said.

In addition, the college is running many microcredential programs, in which a student might take only a few classes or attend for a few weeks to “upgrade” their skills, as he put it. He wants to do more — much more. He envisions running three-month certificate programs for refugees and immigrants so they can go back to doing the skilled work they did in their previous country.

“They are skilled, they’re just short on U.S. certification,” he said. “They need a certificate that they are indeed at a level to do what they do well, what they’ve been doing all their life.” But all that takes lab space. So HVCC is building a 130,000-square-foot Applied Technology Education Center, which will take the place of Williams Hall and will encompass nearby Cogan Hall. Inside, there will be actual manufacturing labs where students learn how to work with superconductor chips, manufacture electric vehicles, build off-shore wind turbines and more.

“That’s why it’s such a massive building,” Ramsammy said, adding that it actually needs to be bigger.

“We’re building a clean room at the North campus because this building, we’re out of space,” he said. “I can’t expand the building any more than I have.”

Getting donors was difficult, he said, because few community college graduates support their college in the way that people do after graduating from a four-year school. HVCC has received federal support, including a $4 million Economic Development Administration grant for automative manufacturing labs. Alumni who now run their own businesses have donated, as have major companies like GlobalFoundries, which wants more workers trained at HVCC.

“Some of them reap the benefits of our students coming out,” he said. “Some of them just believe in what we’re doing.”

He anticipates that many new students will learn at the building without ever getting a degree.

“This building isn’t just about a degree. It incorporates students who need to upgrade their skills,” he said. “Microcredentials are the key to getting people into the workforce.”

A student could come to HVCC and take five biotech classes, then get a job at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in Rensselaer County and “have a bright future,” he said. He’s focusing on students like those — the “invisible worker,” he said.

"That’s someone who needs a little education, possibly fewer than two years, to get a well-paying skilled labor job. But they’ve been overlooked," he said.

Now they’re desperately needed.

“I hear this all the time: we are so short-staffed, get me the people with the skills,” Ramsammy said. “A lot of companies are no longer interested in degrees. They will help their workforce get that later, when they want to move up.”

Construction on the center is tentatively scheduled to start next June and finish in 2025.

For Release: Immediate – Monday, July 28, 2025   Pioneer and USA Gas Partner on $4M Redevelopment Project at Prime Location in Clifton Park    Housing Pioneer’s new Clifton Park branch and USA Gas station and convenience store, new building will provide enhanced financial services and retail options to customers   Albany, NY – Pioneer (NASDAQ:…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Nicole Frisbee, VP/Chief Administrative Officer National Bank of Coxsackie [email protected] | (518) 731-6161   Justice for Orphans Receives $5,000 Donation from National Bank of Coxsackie Supporting Vulnerable Children and Families in Albany and Greene Counties   Ravena, NY — [July 2025] — Justice for Orphans…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Edward Parham VP of Public Relations  Rueckert Advertising & Public Relations, Inc.  (518) 446-1091   MARIA COLLEGE RESPONDS TO MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS WITH NEW COUNSELING MASTER’S DEGREE   Albany, N.Y. (July 23, 2025) – To address the growing mental health crisis and shortage of trained counselors, Maria College is…
Jul
31
Come join us as we continue our celebration of our 125th anniversary. Attendees will enjoy an afternoon of networking, connections, cake and an open bar!…
July 31st, 2025 3:00pm-6:00pm
Aug
13
The 1 Million Cups Monthly Meetings are happening throughout 2025 in the Chamber's 1st Floor Conference Room! Held every second Wednesday of the month,…
August 13th, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am
Aug
18
Join us for the Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce Annual Golf Classic for a day of clubs, carts and connections at Normanside Country Club!…
August 18th, 2025, check-in begins at 10am and shotgun begins at 11am