MHCC Renovating Cosmetology Lab into Mechatronics Lab

The salon space that was previously used by the discontinued MHCC Cosmetology program has now been physically removed. The renovation project began during Spring term after a May 7th meeting of the MHCC Board of Education approved the renovations of the space to build an “advanced manufacturing lab” to be used by the Mechatronics program.

The room had gone unused after the then Board of Education voted in the fall of 2019 to end the Cosmetology program along with several other programs.

According to Daniel Wenger (Dean of Healthcare, Applied Technology and Business) the space will be used for instruction on a wide variety of topics including: “semiconductors, automation, artificial intelligence, data analytics, virtual, augmented and mixed realities, human-machine collaboration, and post-humanism” Wenger said that this new space will engage learners of all levels and ages “from elementary school students to retirees.”

The renovations were made possible by a $1.6 million grant approved by the Oregon Legislature and managed by the Higher Education Coordinating Commission for the purpose of training workers for the semi-conductor industry.

The momentum for this increased emphasis on the Mechatronics program and training a workforce for semi-conductor producers seems to go back to February 2022 when, the then Governor, Kate Brown and both of Oregon’s US senators announced a working group with the Oregon Business Plan to develop strategies to increase semi-conductor production in Oregon. MHCC President, Lisa Skari was one of the co-chairs for the part of the report that focused on developing Oregon’s semi-conductor workforce. The report was released shortly after the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act and called its passage “a significant opportunity” for Oregon.

Over the next two years the Mechatronics program would receive funding from the Higher Education Coordinating Commission’s Workforce Ready grant program for the creation of a mobile teaching lab for use at the worksites of local semi-conductor companies Microchip Technology and onsemi.

In January of 2024, the Biden Administration celebrated a potential $162 million grant to Microchip Technology ($72 million was estimated to be invested in the Microchip’s Gresham plant.) According to Bloomberg, by the end of the year Microchip were not actively seeking a grant under the CHIPS and Science Act and as of a June 2, 2025 oversight.gov report had not received an award.

In a March 4, 2025 address to Congress, Trump said that the CHIPS and Science Act should be repealed and “whatever is left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt or any other reason you want to.”

As recently as June 4, when asked by Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley if the Department of Commerce was dispersing CHIPS Act grants, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the grants were being renegotiated to increase the amount the companies would invest. Lutnick said, “we are planning to distribute money only if we get much more building in America.”

Both President Biden and President Trump have claimed to have increased investment in the US by large amounts based on corporate announcements of planned investments. Politifact explains that such announcements do not necessarily lead to actual investment.

As it stands, these changes on the national level leave the investments made by the State of Oregon and Mt. Hood Community College to take advantage of the federal funding promised by the CHIPS Act to a more uncertain future.