The new Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) at Stanton campus is officially open and will welcome its first class of students later this summer.
TCAT at Stanton, located at the West Tennessee Megasite industrial complex where Ford’s BlueOval City is currently being built, was announced in September 2021.
Construction of the campus finished three weeks ahead of schedule.
In 2021, we launched a strategic partnership with @Ford & @BlueOval_SK to deliver TN's future workforce.
Now, we're proud to celebrate the new TCAT Stanton, located on-site at BlueOval City to align Tennesseans with tailor-made skills to secure a good job & greater opportunity. pic.twitter.com/SweCmgDmCA
— Gov. Bill Lee (@GovBillLee) June 18, 2024
The new campus, an extension of TCAT Jackson and a 120,000-square-foot facility will serve as a “workforce training center for regional business and industry and an open-access institution for anyone interested in its career, technical and academic programs.”
The $60 million in funding to construct the new campus was approved by the Tennessee General Assembly.
State officials and legislators who attended last week’s grand opening of the new TCAT campus include Governor Bill Lee, U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents Dr. Flora W. Tydings, State Representative Johnny Shaw (D-Bolivar), State Senator Page Walley (R-Savannah), Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter, and TCAT Jackson President Heath McMillian.
“The opening of this beautiful educational facility represents so much of what my hope for the future of Tennessee is,” Lee said in a statement.
“We should all be celebrating this in a major way and recognizing how important this is to the entire state. This is a model: you showed America what it looks like when we invest in the right things, when we consider the right things, when we set aside the things that don’t matter and we focus on the things that do,” he added.
Starting this summer, TCAT at Stanton will offer Automotive Technology, Electric Vehicle Production Technology, Industrial Maintenance Technology with Integrated Automation, Tool and Die Machining Technology, and Welding Technology as the campus’ initial career and technical education programs.
Dyersburg State Community College also plans to offer several general academic core courses at TCAT at Stanton later this fall.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “TCAT Opening” by BlueOval SK.
