The State System of Higher Education today opened a new facility in the historic Alcoa building in downtown Pittsburgh, marking another step in the transformation of the site into the Regional Resource Center (RRC), which will help support economic development in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The new State System University Center for Southwest Pennsylvania will link businesses and industries in the 13-county region with the resources of all 14 state-owned universities in order to help the companies identify and meet their education and training needs.

The larger resource center grew out of the recommendations of a task force of the region’s higher education institutions that was convened last summer by the Working Together Consortium. That group sought “to place the region’s higher education assets and strengths in the service of economic development in southwestern Pennsylvania” through the creation of the center at 425 Sixth Ave.

The new University Center within the RRC signifies the System’s commitment to contribute to that overall effort. It will be utilized to develop a variety of programs and services in such areas as executive education, policy and planning, technology transfer and workforce development.

“This is yet another tool in our portfolio of capabilities we can offer to businesses who are already here or who are interested in coming to the region,” said John Thornburgh, president of Penn Southwest Association and a member of the State System’s Board of Governors who chaired the effort to establish the new University Center.

The System universities will work with other higher education institutions in the region in the development of needed programs.

“We are excited to be part of this collaborative effort,” said State System Chancellor James H. McCormick. “This facility will enable all of our universities to become actively involved in the region’s growth, and we look forward to working with businesses throughout southwestern Pennsylvania to help them meet the educational and training needs of their workforce.”

Patrick E. Gerity, who since 1986 has served as director of workforce training and development in the continuing education division of the Community College of Allegheny County, will serve as director of the new University Center.

Gerity will be the liaison between System universities and businesses in the region. He will help companies to identify the types of education and training programs that could best serve their needs. The System universities then will be asked to develop and offer the appropriate programming.

“Mr. Gerity brings a unique strength in workforce development to the State System,” said Charles Clevenger, executive dean of the System’s Dixon University Center in Harrisburg, who will oversee the new facility. “His reputation is growing statewide, and, increasingly, nationwide.”

The Dixon University Center already provides System universities and several private institutions, including Duquesne University, a location to offer graduate-level and career-enhancement programs in the state capital. The University Center for Southwest Pennsylvania will serve as both an educational and training hub as well as a site where System universities can hold regional conferences and meetings and showcase unique programs.

The facility also could serve as a career development and internship center for the some 23,500 current students from the region who are attending the 14 state-owned universities, as well as for the more than 85,000 System alumni who live there. It could host career development seminars and share placement files with new and existing businesses in the region.

A more formal opening and tours of the new facility will be scheduled later.

Programs to be offered through the center will be customized to meet specific educational and training needs that are not currently being met by other post-secondary institutions in the region. It will be Gerity’s task to help identify those needs.

Gerity has spent more than a decade creating, marketing and administering customized training courses and workshops for more than 200 Pittsburgh area businesses and industries. Among the companies for whom he has designed training programs are U.S. Steel Corp., General Motors, Westinghouse, Clark Candy, Pittsburgh Brewing, Anchor Hocking and Traco Inc.

Gerity has both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Pennsylvania State University and currently is a doctoral candidate at Penn State, where he is working on a Ph.D. in workforce education and development, with an emphasis on training and human resources.

He has received numerous awards for his work and has served on a variety of advisory panels. He is the state liaison to the American Association of Community Colleges and serves on the American Association of Community Colleges’ commission for community and workforce development.

The State System of Higher Education comprises 14 universities throughout the Commonwealth, and is the largest provider of higher education in the state. One of every 29 Pennsylvanians is attending or is a graduate of a System university. The State System is the 17^th largest employer in the state, with more than 11,700 employees.

The 14 state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. The System also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Kittanning, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers.