Construction
Overview
Lamar State College Port Arthur was founded in 1909 by John Warne Gates, one of the founders of the Texas Company. The College was founded to deal with the workforce training needs created by the Spindletop Gusher. Since its earliest classes, the College has been a leader in workplace safety. The Department of Workforce & Continuing Education continues this tradition to this day and is an active training partner to every major industrial construction project in the area.
The Department partners with the local Associated Builders and Contractors to offer craft training created by the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER).
The LSCPA Department of Workforce & Continuing Education is unique in that it does not offer its courses on a continual basis. Only courses which have the potential to lead to immediate employment are offered. For example, even though the Department has several gifted welding instructors, we only offer welding courses when the shipyards or local construction projects are actively seeking welders’ helpers. If there are not active job postings for welders’ helpers, then we will encourage students to pursue one of the crafts which are actively hiring.
