PORTSMOUTH — Shawnee State University will receive $2 million to modernize and expand its industrial chemistry program, state officials announced this week as part of a larger investment in Appalachian Ohio communities affected by the downturn of the coal industry.
The grant comes through the Appalachian Regional Commission’s Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization Initiative, known as POWER. In total, more than $6 million from the commission will go to five Ohio projects focused on workforce training, economic development and stronger student-to-career pipelines.
At Shawnee State in Portsmouth, the money will pay for new, state-of-the-art laboratory equipment and an enhanced curriculum. The university also plans new certificates, degrees and professional development programs tied directly to industrial chemistry, a field that connects classroom science to jobs in manufacturing, materials and process industries across southern Ohio.
The project is designed to reach well beyond current university students. Over a three-year performance period, Shawnee State expects to develop three new programs of study, serve more than 5,600 K-12 students through chemistry outreach programming, and work with 25 organizations and 10 businesses in the region.
State leaders framed the award as part of a longer responsibility to Appalachian communities that helped power Ohio and the nation for generations. As energy and manufacturing change, officials said, training programs like this one are meant to help workers and students build resiliency rather than be left behind by shifts in the coal economy.
For Portsmouth and Scioto County, the practical impact is a stronger link between local schools, the university and employers. Younger students will get earlier exposure to chemistry careers, while adults already in the workforce will have new credential options that can be completed closer to home instead of requiring a move or a long commute. Industrial chemistry skills are used in quality control, environmental testing, plastics and chemical processing, all of which appear in the region’s employer base, so graduates do not have to leave Appalachian Ohio to use the training they receive in Portsmouth.
What happens next is program building: purchasing equipment, updating courses and launching the new study programs and outreach over the three-year grant period. NewsForce247 will follow Shawnee State’s rollout and how local businesses and school districts take part.