SEDCO grant backs Austin College engineering equipment

SHERMAN, Texas — The Sherman Economic Development Corporation approved a $500,000 grant for Austin College on March 23 to help buy equipment for the college’s planned Harris Engineering Center. The approval is a March announcement, not a new July award. The grant is intended to support equipment purchases for the planned center, according to reporting republished by SEDCO and the original KXII report. Austin College said the investment is meant to help its engineering program build partnerships with the local semiconductor industry. SEDCO President and CEO Kent Sharp said demand for skilled engineers has increased as advanced manufacturing and semiconductor industries grow in the community. The grant links an economic-development organization’s funding to equipment for a planned college facility. The sources describe the funding purpose as training equipment and a talent pipeline connecting students and local employers; they do not give a construction timetable for the Harris Engineering Center or list the equipment to be purchased. For businesses and students, the immediate public detail is the $500,000 commitment and its stated use. The center is planned, and the reporting frames the grant as support for equipment rather than a completed facility. The announcement also places Austin College’s engineering program within Sherman’s manufacturing workforce discussion. SEDCO said its support for training equipment is intended to help meet current workforce needs while building a longer-term regional talent pipeline. No opening date, enrollment target, job count or additional funding amount was included in the sources reviewed. The reports also do not identify a contractor, equipment vendor or separate capital campaign for the planned center. Those details would need to come from Austin College or SEDCO as the project moves forward. The public announcement identifies a specific use for the grant: equipment, not general operating support. That distinction matters because the grant is tied to the planned Harris Engineering Center and its workforce-training purpose. It does not establish that the facility is open or that the program has received the equipment.