About the TCAT //

The College

Mission Statement

The Tennessee College of Applied Technology Hohenwald serves as the premier supplier of workforce development throughout the South Central area of the State of Tennessee.

TCAT Hohenwald fulfills its mission by:

Providing competency-based training through superior quality, traditional and distance learning instruction methods that qualify completers for employment and job advancement; Contributing to the economic and community development of the communities served by training and retraining employed workers; Ensuring that programs and services are economical and accessible to all residents of Tennessee; and Building relationships of trust with the community, business, and industry leaders to supply highly skilled workers in areas of need.

TCAT Hohenwald’s Mission is synonymous with the TCAT System-wide mission; however identifies the service area of TCAT Hohenwald.

 

TCAT - Hohenwald Vision

The Tennessee College of Applied Technology Hohenwald’s vision is to be an innovative leader in providing technical education in career occupations that meet the needs of our businesses and industries in the south central Tennessee area and enhance the quality of life of our individual citizens, families, and community.  TCAT Hohenwald continues to be the premier supplier of workforce development by providing competency-based training through superior quality instructional methods that qualify graduates for employment and job advancement professionally and personally.

 

TCAT - State Wide Vision

To enhance the quality of life of:

• The individual Tennessee citizen
• The Tennessee family
• The local community

 

TCAT Purpose and Objective

The goal of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Hohenwald is to provide technical training to students to meet the occupational needs of employers in our community.  Recognizing that all people do not have the same background, abilities, or desires and cannot  be fitted into the same mold, the objective of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Hohenwald is that each student be treated as an individual.  Individualized instruction is utilized to the maximum in most programs.  Our school policy provides that a student may enter a program when a vacancy occurs, start training at his/her own level, and progress at his/her own rate to the level desired within the limitations of the school.  Individualized instruction provides the student with the highest quality instruction possible in the occupational area of his/her choosing.

The objective is further subscribed to that the mere development of specific skills and knowledge in an individual is not sufficient.  Desirable worker characteristics are emphasized to instill character development, good work habits, reliability, honesty, and respect for authority needed for a productive society.

The primary purpose of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Hohenwald is to more adequately meet the occupational and technical training needs of citizens and residents of this geographic area including employees of existing or prospective industries and businesses of the State.

The college fulfills this mission by providing instructional programs to train or retrain persons for employment. Programs are designed to update existing skills and increase knowledge of workers already employed.

 

History:
 

Construction of the Hohenwald State Area Vocational-Technical School began in the Fall of 1965. The school opened classes February 14, 1967, with offerings in four instructional areas.  The College currently offers full-time preparatory training in thirteen instructional areas and
part-time, secondary, or supplementary training.

The Tennessee Technology Center system, statewide, was part of a plan and commitment of the 1993 Ninety-ninth General Assembly to improve institutions of higher education. Appropriations for the renovation and construction projects for each of the Technology College’s campuses passed the Tennessee Legislature by a unanimous vote. The Tennessee Technology Center at Hohenwald received approximately two million dollars for the renovation of existing facilities, additional construction of 13,000 square feet of space and acquisition of the latest state of the art technology and equipment for each training program. The Tennessee Technology Center held Groundbreaking Ceremonies on April 30, 1997; the project was completed approximately two years later. TCAT Hohenwald held Open House on June 14, 1999 in celebration of the newly renovated and constructed campus.

Additionally, in response to demand and the changing workforce, the Tennessee Technology Center added the training programs of Computer Operations Technology and Surgical Technology to the training opportunities available at the school. Computer Operations Technology admitted the first students on August 31, 1998; the inception of Surgical Technology students began January 4, 1999. In October 2000, the Tennessee Technology Center added the Electro-Mechanical Program to its venue of offering.

Effective January 1, 2005, the Tennessee Board of Regents approved the change of the Tennessee Technology system from quarters to trimesters. The system chose to continue the earning of clock hours as a means of academic credits. The Tennessee Technology Center added Early Childhood Education as an educational program on the main campus in October of 2006.

Due to the growing demand for technical training, in September 2006, the Tennessee Board of Regents authorized the expansion of the Tennessee Technology Center to the Maury County area to offer the programs of Automotive Technology, Cosmetology, and Machine Tool Technology. The expansion effort is a partnership between TTC Hohenwald and the Maury County School System. The off-campus sites opened January 29, 2007, as an Instructional Service Center.

In early 2007, the local GM/Saturn plant announced a mass lay-off of employees and suppliers alike. From that mass lay-off, Tennessee College of Applied Technology gained Tennessee Board of Regents approval in October of 2007 and opened two Industrial Service Centers. The South Central Career Center Instructional Service Center offered Practical Nursing and Business Systems Technology and the Spring Hill Instructional Service Center offered Electronics Technology and Computer Operations Technology. The accrediting body, Council on Occupational Education, granted initial approval of both sites. After much recruitment for all programs, only Practical Nursing materialized, and only for a period of one year. The Spring Hill Instructional Service Center was closed in early 2008, and shortly followed thereafter with the closing of the Career Center Instructional Service Center.

Another county within the Tennessee Technology Center service area began to experience drastic plant closures in 2008, which was Perry County. Perry County made national news with an alarming unemployment rate of almost 35%. In reaction to the area plant closings, Tennessee Technology Center proposed the following programs, which were approved by the Tennessee
Board of Regents: Practical Nursing, Industrial Maintenance, Electronics Technology, CNA, and Business Systems Technology. The demand of education for the training and retraining of the workers became very evident; however, the only program which actually sustained the necessary number of students for implementation was Practical Nursing. The Tennessee Technology Center began the equivalent of two classes of Practical Nursing education in the fall of 2008. The site gained initial approval as an Instructional Service Center shortly thereafter and sustained final approval in 2009. The Practical Nursing class continued to be offered at the Perry County site in the fall of 2009.

The year 2010 brought further expansion of the Tennessee Technology Center campus in the Maury County area once again. In the latter part of 2009 the GM/Saturn plant began talks of permanent closure. This closing hit the Tennessee Technology Service area hard, as the GM/Saturn plant employed approximately 1800 people. On January 19, 2010, the Tennessee Technology Center sought Tennessee Board of Regents approval for the implementation of Green Jobs Technology, Automotive Technology, Electronics Technology, Industrial Maintenance and Practical Nursing programs to be located at the GM Northfield Training Center. In February 2010, the institution submitted to the Council on Occupational Education an application for the site designation of Northfield Instructional Service Center. The initial approval was granted and the site became operational with the offerings of Automotive Technology and Practical Nursing. The other programs did not sustain adequate numbers for commencement and have been placed on inactive status at present. Green Jobs Technology was the first operational program beginning on February 16, 2010 and Practical Nursing began on March 1, 2010. Automotive Technology was added to the site offerings in summer of 2011.

As the campus experienced continued growth, full utilization of the off-campus classroom sites of the Practical Nursing programs at Maury Regional Medical Center and Wayne Medical Center became necessary; thus, the off-campus sites are designated asInstructional Service Centers with initial Council on Occupational Education approval in May and June of 2010, with final approval granted immediately thereafter. 

The Tennessee College of Applied Technology – Hohenwald serves Lewis and the surrounding area counties of Maury, Hickman, Lawrence, Perry and Wayne. The college provides state-of-the art technical training programs in areas of Administrative Office Technology, Automotive Technology, Computer Information Systems, Cosmetology, Digital Graphics Design, Drafting & CAD Technology, Electronics Technology, Electro-Mechanical Technology, Industrial Maintenance, Machine Tool Technology, Practical Nursing and Surgical Technology. Most of the programs are twelve to twenty months in length and are all lottery scholarship eligible and exceptionally affordable. The main campus is located centrally in Hohenwald, with additional campuses in Spring Hill (Northfield), and Waynesboro.

On July 1, 2013 the Tennessee Technology Centers System was renamed state-wide to the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology. The Tennessee Technology Center at Hohenwald was renamed specifically, Tennessee College of Applied Technology – Hohenwald. While the name changed, the mission of the institution remained the same. The new name more accurately reflected the level of post-secondary training provided, as evidenced in 2010, 2011 and 2012 by a Bill and Melinda Gates Study, a Harvard Study and the Complete College Act, as well as disclosed by media coverage in the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Wall Street Journal. The Technology Colleges, formerly, the Technology Centers, were highlighted and received the recognition for continuous and exceptional completion, placement and licensure rates of graduates. The name change marked the progression of a truly advancing technical education system and came to realization as a work of State Representative Harry Brooks and Senator Jim Tracy, who co-sponsored the bill to change the name of the schools. “The Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology” was introduced as the best naming option to meet the needs of students and the expectations of employers and industry leaders. The bill received unanimous support from the General Assembly, and was signed by Governor Bill Haslam. Both, the Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor, John Morgan, and Tennessee College Vice Chancellor, James King, were in full support of the renaming of the schools. The Tennessee Colleges are being referred to with a new acronym, the TCATs, due to the name change. The TCATS are charged with continuing the schools’ mission to aid in recruiting industry and furthering economic development initiatives, while assisting students in choosing public institutions and lessening the debt burden of college attendance.

At the June 2014 Tennessee Board of Regents Meeting, the Tennessee College of Applied Technology was approved to add a Digital Graphics Design Program to the technical offerings. The Digital Design Program will be offered in conjunction with Drafting: CAD Technology – opens Summer 2014. In July 2015, the College added another program of study, Welding Technology, as a result of industry demands.

Due to the changing demands of working adults, the Tennessee College of Applied Technology explored the benefits of affording an evening Practical Nursing Program. Given the results, the college proposed the offering to the Tennessee Board of Regents at the September 2014 meeting. The program is anticipated to begin in January 2015, as the college’s newest offering.

 

NON-DISCRIMINATION STATEMENT

The Tennessee Board of Regents does not discriminate against student, employees, or applicants for admission or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or status as a protected veteran, genetic information, or any other legally protected class with respect to all employment, programs and activities sponsored by the Board.


TITLE VI OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964

The Tennessee Board of Regents provides equal opportunity in all programs receiving Federal Financial Assistance.  Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance.  Examples of the types of discrimination prohibited by Title VI include racial harassment, school segregation, and denial of language services to students who are limited in their English.


The following person has been designated to handle inquires regarding non-discrimination policies and complaints under Title VI:

System Office Equity Officer
lynn.goodman@tbr.edu
1 Bridgestone Park, Nashville, TN 37214
615-366-4473

The TBR policy on non-discrimination can be found at https://policies.tbr.edu/guidelines/discrimination-harassment-complaint-investigation-procedure

If you want to learn more about your rights, or if you believe that a school, district, college or university is violating Federal law, you may also contact:

U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, at 800-421-3481 or ocr@ed.gov

Tennessee Human Rights Commission at 800-251-3589 or tn.gov/humanrights