innovate arkansas

Mid-South Community College has been awarded $3.4 million by the U.S. Department of Labor to establish an aviation technology program in West Memphis.

The grant is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Key partners in the program include Arkansas Northeastern College in Blytheville (which will receive $851,136 of the grant), the Arkansas Delta Training and Education Consortium (ADTEC), the Workforce Investment Board of Eastern Arkansas, FedEx Express, and Aviation Repair Technologies.

"We are excited, challenged, and humbled by this latest show of faith in our ability to make a difference in our state, region, and country," Dr. Glen Fenter, MSCC president, said in a news release. "Mid-South Community College is honored to be given an opportunity of this magnitude to create a model for training workers for the growing aviation technology field.

"Our goal continues to be the creation of a workforce that will be second to none in the nation, and we believe this grant will give us the resources needed to accomplish great things in our region. We expect nothing short of a tremendous economic outcome as a result of this grant."

In addition to participating in the internship program, FedEx Express is donating an operating aircraft, tooling and test equipment to MSCC for student training.

Projects funded through the DOL grants will be conducted in partnership with the public workforce system, businesses, and other organizations to guarantee that the training leads to jobs.

MSCC will use its funding to develop an integrated, FAA-certified training program for airframe and powerplant technicians. The model program will then be replicated at training facilities in major metropolitan areas.

Emphasizing internships and on-the-job training, the MSCC program will give students the skills and experience needed to meet the demands of the aviation maintenance industry.

"Employment in the field is expected to grow from 122,000 to 135,000 by 2016, and many current workers are expected to retire in the next decade," said Dr. Gibson "Sunny" Morris, Executive Director of the Arkansas Delta Workforce Innovations in Regional Economic Development (ADWIRED) initiative at MSCC.

"Concerns about the global need for technicians prompted discussions about an industry/college partnership to establish a training and education program to provide a pipeline of workers for the future."

Promotion of the aviation industry in Arkansas is listed as one of the eight priorities in Gov. Mike Beebe's current Workforce Investment Act State Plan. The creation of High Growth Career Educational Pathways is the first priority in the plan, and the MSCC program will support both objectives.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to train unemployed, dislocated, and incumbent workers, and it will create a new training paradigm for the entire nation," said Dr. Barbara Baxter, MSCC Executive Vice President. "It will also give us the opportunity to introduce our younger students to aviation technology and give them an additional career option."