The Dan River Region’s precision machining programs not only brought Virginia’s top elected official to Danville on Tuesday, it attracted another state’s governor as well.

Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam and Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson toured the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research and other facilities to provide an example to Hutchinson and his delegation of community investment in workforce training.

“After seeing it, I’m glad that I came,” Hutchinson told the Danville Register & Bee following a tour of the Institute and its Gene Haas Center for Integrated Machining. “It’s an amazing investment in the community and its future.”

Local officials and Kyocera SGS Tech Hub LLC — which announced in September it was bringing 35 jobs and $9.5 million in investment to the Dan River Region — broke ground Monday morning for its planned facility at the Cyber Park.

Company President Jason Wells — speaking to attendees at the event — called the groundbreaking a “monumental milestone” and a representation of progress and opportunity for the region.

Business leaders, Kyocera representatives and elected officials from Danville and Pittsylvania County attended the ceremony across from the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe came to Danville on Friday to honor the more than $1 million — and a nearly equal amount of hopes — invested into the freshly completed Gene Haas Center for Integrated Machining at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.

The ribbon cutting gathered together a long list of politicians, funders, donors and educators to remark upon and honor the milestone achievement that is the Gene Haas Center. The center, part of the Capstone Integrated Machining Technology project, is a partnership between Danville Community College and the Institute.

With a $1 million Gene Haas Foundation endowment, a $1.9 million Danville Regional Foundation grant and an additional $650,000 worth of Haas Automation equipment, the center is state-of-the-art workflow cell training lab. Funding has come from numerous private sector donors with the majority coming from the Gene Haas Foundation.

$1 Million Endowment Creates One-of-a-Kind Workflow Cell Learning Environment

Governor Terry McAuliffe will provide remarks and participate in the ribbon cutting to officially open the Gene Haas Center for Integrated Machining at The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR). A number of globally recognized partners and Gene Haas, founder and president of Haas Automation, will also be in attendance at a special ribbon cutting in Danville, Virginia on Friday, May 15 at 10:00 a.m. The event will be available via a live webcast stream on IALR's webpage, www.ialr.org.

The Gene Haas Center will include a workflow cell training lab that will provide authentic learning experiences to students who have completed the Integrated Machining Technology Program at Danville Community College (DCC). Not only is the program unique, but it is a game changer for preparing the future workforce. The program will provide a third-year level of learning for students.