The new NVCC Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center provides students with hands-on access to state-of-the-art manufacturing technology in preparation for employment. NVCC successfully enrolled 57 candidates in August, 2012 and is committed to placing 85% of the graduates in jobs in the region’s manufacturing companies. The 6,400-square-foot center, which occupies most of the fourth floor of NVCC’s Technology Hall, was dedicated last week in a ceremony attended by Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy. Photographs by Saranda Belica

    Naugatuck Valley Community College will host a series of manufacturing panels on Fri., Oct. 12 to discuss manufacturing trends for education and job training and placement in Connecticut. The event, “Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center: Perspectives of Possibilities and Promise,” is an effort to raise awareness of recent and future manufacturing initiatives during October, which has been declared by Governor Dannel P. Malloy as “Connecticut. Dream It. Do It.” Manufacturing Month.

   Manufacturers, legislative leaders, college employees and stakeholders, members of the Connecticut Board of Regents and local manufacturing councils have been invited to attend the panels, which center on state, municipal, business and student perspectives on manufacturing. The public is welcome to reserve seating by contacting Paula Martin at 203-575-8045. Panels will run from 8:30 a.m. – noon in the NVCC Technology Hall Atrium, 750 Chase Parkway, Waterbury. Tours will be available immediately following.

Mayor Neil O’Leary and his economic development director, Ron Pugliese, continued a citywide manufacturing tour last week with a visit to Palladin Precision Products which was established in 1963 and manufactures precision parts to exacting tolerances in a wide range of materials.

   “In recent months, we have made some much-needed improvements in the state in terms of how we respond to manufacturing education and job-training,” said President Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Ph.D. “While these efforts are in their infancy, we believe it is of critical importance to foster and embrace conversations between the College and the communities we serve to ensure the College’s commitment to manufacturing is clear, focused and responsive to our evolving community needs. The manufacturing panels we have brought together are emblematic of that commitment. We thank State Representative Jeff Berger, in particular, for helping us secure speakers who are invested in manufacturing in Connecticut and for moderating two of our panels.”

   View the event program online or see attached for detailed times and panel information.
 

    Panelists include:

   • Dennis Murphy, deputy commissioner of labor, state of Connecticut
   • Catherine Smith, commissioner, Department of Economic and Community Development
   • Mayor Mark Boughton, city of Danbury
   • Claire Leonardi, CEO and executive director, Connecticut Innovations
   • Ron Pugliese, director of economic development, city of Waterbury
   • David Boiano, manufacturing engineer, Prospect Machine Products
   • Douglas Johnson, vice president of operations, Marion Manufacturing Company, Inc.
   • Jack Joyce, President, DSG, LLC
   • Raven Gilliams, student
   • Jariam Oliveras, student