Stark State College is getting a half a million dollars from the Ohio Department of Higher Education to expand its advanced oil and gas technology training programs.
Students from Eastern Gateway and Hocking Technical colleges will be able to come to Canton for concentrated specialized studies toward associate degrees in oil and gas at their home schools—including hands-on learning at Stark State’s $3.7-million Well Site Center.
ShaleNet
Jean Barbato is a project lead for the program, which is part of a public private partnership for education and training in the oil and gas industry called ShaleNet.
She says it is helping to maximize the return on investments in new, sophisticated educational facilities and helping to build a much needed, trained workforce for the industry.
She says it also will help students reach their goals faster and with less expense. Twenty credits of course work would be done here during 10 weeks in the summer. "Students would be able to, instead of waiting two years, to get out there with their degree to work in the oil and gas industry, now it would be an accelerated associates degree, cut down to about 18 months.”
The latest grant will pay for up to 80 tuition scholarships and cover an arrangement with Malone University in Canton for the out-of-town students to stay in its dorms.
