Soon, the Hemlock Semiconductor building will don a new name. The decision was made months after the tanked company presented this option to the university and offered to help repurpose the building.
In 2014, the Hemlock Semiconductor plant in Clarksville closed its doors.
“As difficult as this is, the continued market adversity and complex political conditions have left no economically viable options for Hemlock Semiconductor to operate the site,” Hemlock’s president, Denise Beachy, said. “It is unfortunate for both the company and the community that these conditions have forced us to take this action.”
Hemlock was built to house APSU’s chemical engineering technology program and provide more classrooms to support the growing capacity of the university.
Housing the special chemical engineering lab and extra class space, the project cost Tennessee approximately $2 million. It was named after the company because it was the largest gift the university has received.
When the building opened, it was utilized mostly for the extra office and class space. There were misconceptions about the building itself and the program it housed.
“There was a lot of confusion about the program over the years, and its affiliation with Hemlock,” Bill Persinger, APSU’s executive director of public relations and marketing, said. “Many people thought the program was a direct path to work for Hemlock, despite our best efforts to convey that it was not. The name of the building only made this more confusing.”
Hemlock has begun to help APSU repurpose the materials and found potential buyers for the equipment.
APSU plans to change the space to help accommodate the growing engineering technology program with a concentration in mechatronics.
A new name will be in place once the Tennessee Board of Regents approves it.
