LEWISTON, Idaho – The DeVlieg Foundation is the latest to make a significant contribution to Lewis-Clark State College’s new Schweitzer Career & Technical Education Center with a $25,500 donation, LC State and DeVlieg Foundation officials have announced.
The donation is part of LC State’s $10 million fundraising campaign for the new center, which is currently under construction in the Lewiston Orchards. The college is required to raise $10 million for the project and with the help of donations like this one from the DeVlieg Foundation, the college has been able to generate more than $7 million towards that goal.
The DeVlieg Foundation’s donation includes the naming rights to one of the classrooms in the CTE center.
“We are incredibly appreciative of the DeVlieg Foundation and Janet DeVlieg Pope’s generous support,” LC President Dr. Cynthia Pemberton said. “The multiuse/flex classroom naming, directly across from the CNC machine shop areas, is especially appropriate given the DeVlieg Machine Company’s deep roots and commitment to the development of not only high quality precision tooling, but people.”
The DeVlieg Foundation was formed from the success of the DeVlieg Machine Company, a manufacturer of precision machine tools in the Detroit area. The company was started in a small machine shop in 1945 by people with limited formal education, and grew to over 400 employees worldwide until it was closed in 2000. The company’s founder, Charles DeVlieg, believed in giving others a chance at education to promote interest in engineering and open career paths for students.
The DeVlieg Foundation has been a major contributor to engineering education in colleges and universities in the area for years. Janet DeVlieg Pope, president of the DeVlieg Foundation, moved to Idaho in the 1990s after purchasing a ranch in Idaho County. She has previously served on the LC State Foundation Board.
“The new Lewis-Clark State College CTE program building is an excellent example of what our founders hoped for young people today,” Pope said. “The new facility will bring the LCSC campus to the new Lewiston education center, ‘connecting education to college to career,’ giving students easy access and encouragement to find skills that interest them, and to put themselves into the workforce faster with the basic education they need. This area is quite lucky to have such a fantastic educational facility. We are proud to be able to assist, promote, and support education with LCSC.”
The Schweitzer Career & Technical Education Center will be a regional CTE center, serving the needs of students from LC State, neighboring Lewiston High School, and others throughout the region. The facility will house most of LC State’s Technical & Industrial Division programs, including auto mechanics, CNC machining, programs in information, engineering and industrial electronics technology, and heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC-R) technology.
Construction on the CTE center began last spring and is expected to be wrapped up in time for the start of the 2020 fall semester.
In 2017, the Idaho Legislature approved the CTE building project and appropriated $10 million with the requirement that LC State match the funds. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories donated $2 million to the project, while SEL founder Edmund O. Schweitzer, III, and his wife Beatriz donated another $1 million.
To become a corporate partner, make a donation, or learn more about naming opportunities for the Schweitzer CTE Center visit www.lcsc.edu/giving, or call the LC State Advancement Office at 208-792-2458.