The Tennessee Board of Regents is seeking state appropriations this year to help expand industry-focused workforce training at TCAT schools across the state.
TBR Communications Director Rick Locker said TBR is requesting an estimated $9.8 million in recurring funding and an estimated $14.9 million in non-recurring funding for this training expansion. Locker said if funding, TCAT would focus on industry training prioritized by state officials, including aviation, artificial intelligence, and nuclear energy industries. Locker said TBR also wants to expand ceramic tile workforce training, as it is a popular industry in the Upper Cumberland.
“The ceramic tile industry actually came to the state and said we need more,” Locker said. “Our workforce is retiring, and we really need this. The pay is good, and we need more people who specialize in this training.”
TCAT has had a recent campaign trying to attract students into the nuclear energy industry. Locker said expanding TCAT’s nuclear energy workforce training programs would help meet the high demand the industry is seeing right now.
“We may think that when you talk about training for the nuclear industry, it’s a highly specialized, just focused on nuclear engineering, it’s not,” Locker said. “It’s a broad array of things like welding, machine tool technology, industrial electricity, and industrial machine maintenance, and just a whole range, including building construction, because a lot of new industries have announced projects in Tennessee. Making more training opportunities available across a broad array of careers that the industry needs to operate.”
Locker said for every one nuclear engineer, the nuclear industry needs about ten other specialized professions to work with. Locker said the aviation industry in Tennessee needs aircraft maintenance personnel.