FORT WORTH, Texas (Sept. 17, 2014) Tarrant County College officially opened the doors to its new TCC Northwest Campus Center of Excellence for Aviation, Transportation and Logistics (CEATL) on Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, complete with greetings and speeches from industry leaders.
The newly renovated 163,500-square-foot facility at Alliance Airport allows TCC to provide expanded training opportunities available in top industries that support the economy of the northern region of Texas. TCC’s investment of about $20 million to create CEATL includes the purchase, design and renovation of the building, along with the cost of furnishing and moving programs from Northwest Campus.
“It was important for us to establish a center for aviation, transportation and logistics excellence in the Tarrant County College District because the need for transportation workers is continuing to grow,” said TCC Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley. “As the only public institution that offers these critical programs, we needed to be prepared to meet that growing need that undergirds the economic development in this region.”
As a result of the facility, TCC was able to bring the Aviation programs under one roof along with the Logistics and Supply Chain Management Program, which includes warehouse and transportation management classes. Aviation programs relocating to CEATL include Avionics Technology, Airframe Maintenance, Advanced Composite Technology and Professional Pilot Training. In addition to offering technical training, CEATL also offers classes in core academic areas to support degree-seeking students. Many of these courses have filled quickly, a sure sign of the demand for higher education offerings in the Alliance area.
“There is not another pilot training program at a public institution in the D-FW area. This facility opens up as an answer to the growing needs of students who want to become a pilot at an affordable cost,” Hadley said. “It also provides more opportunity for students to get into the field of logistics and we are able to train more people in close proximity to other transportation programs.”
