OTC to receive federal loan for Lebanon center

Ozarks Technical Community College has been approved to receive a $500,000 federal loan to fund the expansion of its education center in Lebanon.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant program funding is being presented to Laclede Electric Cooperative, which applied for the loan, and then passed to OTC, according to a news release.

The USDA program provides no-interest loans to utility companies, and they pass on the funds to local businesses to fuel projects creating and retaining employment in rural areas, according to its Web site.

OTC plans to use the loan to add six general education classrooms - one of which that can be used as a science laboratory - to Casey Hall at the OTC Lebanon Center. The additional classrooms would help accommodate anticipated enrollment increases during the next five years, according to the release.

Casey Hall is named after Reuben and Mary Lou Casey, of San Clemente, Calif., who provided two buildings and 13 acres of land valued at $2.6 million - the largest gift in school history, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.