WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s first visit to the Knoxville area as president will take him to the campus of Pellissippi State Community College and to a Clinton manufacturer that makes additives and colors for plastics.

Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Biden’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden, will travel to Pellissippi State in Knoxville on Friday, where Obama will discuss new initiatives he will propose to help Americans go to college and get the skills they need to succeed, a White House official said Monday.

It’s rare for both a president and vice president to appear together in East Tennessee. In 1996, President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore Jr. made an appearance together in Knoxville.

The Tennessee trip is part of a week-long trek across the country to tout presidential policies on housing, economic development and education. It will also mark the president’s second trek to the Volunteer State in a few weeks — he visited Nashville in December to deliver a speech on immigration reform.

Afterward, all three will head to Clinton where they will visit Techmer PM to highlight the administration’s efforts to create new, good-paying manufacturing jobs, the White House official said.