SF College in Gainesville receives $3 million grant to help job growth in the region

Santa Fe College students soon will have a degree track they can enroll in to further pursue careers in engineering to address the needs of businesses and industries throughout the region.

SF College received $3 million from the FloridaCommerce Florida Job Growth Grant Fund in November.

The grant will be used to develop an associate degree track in engineering technology with a specialization in advanced manufacturing, according to a press release.

“I saw there was a need for a new direction and I wanted to do what I could to bring it up to speed,” said Rod Thomas, SF College’s construction and technical programs director, who has been working in higher education for 31 years and in his current position for eight. “We’ve done a good job in the area.”

The job placement rate of students who who have gone through the construction and technical program is at 90%, and enrollment in the program has doubled since 2016, Thomas said.

That year, Thomas said, the program had 300 students enrolled and recently enrollment went to 600.

The college has students working in the fields of engineering, robotics, microchips and semiconductors, he said.

“Build it and they will come,” Thomas said. “We have folks coming from Alachua and Bradford counties and throughout the state of Florida.”

SF President Paul Broadie II said in a press release that he is looking forward to the grant helping students further their careers in the field by better preparing them for the workforce.

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“Santa Fe College is committed to both addressing the needs of the business community, while providing training and educational programs that will lead to excellent career opportunities throughout our service district,” Broadie continued in the press release. “This grant bolsters our effort to support students interested in entering careers in the emerging semiconductor industry, and we greatly appreciate the state’s continued support of our institution and the work we do transforming the lives of our students.” 

The $3 million is in addition to $1.8 million the college received in the last legislative session to help the college acquire the equipment needed in the new Ralph W. Cellon Jr. Institute for Skilled Trades and Advanced Manufacturing that is scheduled to open in the fall of 2025.

The institute will house the new engineering technology degree program, Thomas said.

This grant will help the college with construction of the new facility and create a focus on semiconductor training as early as this spring, officials say.

The grant is a part of a larger $28 million Florida Job Growth Grant announced by Gov. Ron DeSantis in November last year, according to the press release.

According to SF College, the institute will be able to serve approximately 1,300 additional students over the next decade. Also, the grant will help double the capacity of its existing welding and HVAC programs, in addition to the new engineering technology degree program.