Regional Skills Center
Columbia Gorge Community College
The Regional Skills Center serves students, local businesses and community partners through the provision of hands-on training to meet the region’s workforce development needs.
Size: 18,410 sf
Location: The Dalles, OR
Located at the main entry to the campus overlooking the Columbia River Gorge, the gateway location announces the importance of skills training as core to the College’s educational mission. The main entry is marked by a glass covered bi-facial photovoltaic array that opens to an informal learning space with views into the Construction Skills Lab and the high-tech Flex Clean Lab.
An adjacent divisible multi-purpose room with dramatic views of the Gorge provides a venue for local and regional skills partner meetings, conferences and recruitment fairs.
The new building, made possible through state legislative funding and the financial commitment of community partners, supports training in Career Technical Education (CTE) programs like welding and metals fabrication, construction and other trades, helping to fill the significant skills gap that has limited local employers from hiring trained employees to help their companies grow in a competitive marketplace.
The metals shop have 15 welding booths and a wide array of digital and manual machining equipment. A Digital Design Lab supports the increasing use of CNC and other digital machining technologies.
The bright, light-filled spaces reframe the common perceptions of CTE shop spaces toward well-paying technology-supported careers. The Center is also a connector to the North Wasco County School District, supporting regular advanced high school skills classes and supporting the transition to post-secondary education.
