SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)— Lackawanna College is expanding. It is adding a new building to house multiple programs already in place at the school.
28/22 News reporter Connor Coar takes us to the groundbreaking ceremony in Scranton.
Shovels were in the ground in downtown Scranton.
Lackawanna College is set to build a 17,000-square-foot facility that will serve as the new center for technology innovation.
“We’re always looking for ways. What does the workforce actually need? What jobs need to be filled? What training is required to fill those jobs, and we’re providing it here at Lackawanna College; it’s exciting,” said Marc Gonzalez, director, Cyber Security Program.
Lackawanna’s cybersecurity program is currently remote and asynchronous. When the building is completed next year, Gonzalez says he will finally have his own office for students to meet in person.
According to Gonzalez, industry statistics indicate there are three million unfilled cybersecurity jobs. That number is expected to grow by the end of the decade.
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“What we’re doing is helping to prepare students for those jobs ranging anywhere from entry-level, help desk, and SOC operations jobs all the way to senior jobs like penetration testing, risk management, and vulnerability management,” explained Gonzalez.
In early September, Lackawanna College also announced it is expanding to locations in Bethlehem, Chambersburg, and Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
The college’s ongoing expansion is not something many would expect.
In the words of the college’s president, Dr. Jill Murray, you will have to see what happens next with Lackawanna College.
“It’s about keeping up with the latest, you know, the job markets, trends, and making sure that we’re focused on helping people into the workforce in a meaningful way that they’re not just sustaining wage jobs, career-minded jobs,” said Dr. Jill Murray, president of Lackawanna College.
Dr. Murray says they’re always keeping the workforce of northeast Pennsylvania in mind. As the falcon’s nest continues to grow, affordability remains a top priority for the administration.
“We’re gonna make investments from our community in our community partners to help us afford to build these projects to build these technologies to make sure that the students are learning in the best environment possible without putting the cost of that building on their backs,” voiced Dr. Murray.
Lackawanna College’s Center for Technology Innovation Building is expected to open next summer.
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