The Tennessee College of Applied Technology Hohenwald is one of 24 TCATs and 37 total institutions in the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) system that are located across the state, serving the citizens of Tennessee. The TBR and the Board of Trustees of the University of Tennessee System are coordinated by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC). THEC was created by the General Assembly in 1967 to achieve coordination and unity in the programs of public higher education in Tennessee. The TBR system was created by legislation enacted by the 1963 General Assembly of Tennessee, Chapter 229 of House Bill 633. Chapter 181, Senate Bill 746-House Bill 697, of the Public Act of 1983 transferred the governance of the state technical institutes and area vocational-technical schools from the State Board of Education to the Tennessee Board of Regents. The transfer became effective on July 1, 1983. By action of the Tennessee Legislature in 1994, the school name changed from Hohenwald State Area Vocational Technical School to Tennessee Technology Center at Hohenwald. In 2013, the Legislature unanimously approved changing the name of the state’s technology centers to the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology.

The Tennessee Board of Regents, the governing body for TCAT Hohenwald, underwent a major shift in 2017 because of the FOCUS Act of 2016 and the appointment of a new Chancellor, Dr. Flora Tydings. The FOCUS Act seeks to ensure the state’s Community Colleges and TCATs are organized, supported, and empowered in efforts to increase the percentage of Tennesseans with a postsecondary credential. Largely this involved the development of local governing boards for each of the six universities thus allowing TBR a greater focus on the 13 community Colleges and 24 TCATs. Additional TBR efforts under the leadership of Dr. Tydings included the retitling of the chief administrative officers of the TCATs from Director to President; the movement towards all 37 campuses in the TBR system operating with shared services; and, the restructuring of the TBR organization uniting the community and TCATs through common offices and services.

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.

In 1994, the Tennessee Legislature, realizing the Vo-Tech schools were becoming more technical, passed legislation changing our school’s name to the Tennessee Technology Center to better reflect the school’s mission.

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 Tennessee College of Applied Technology 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 an 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 as Instructional Service Centers with initial Council on Occupational Education approval in May and June of 2010, with final approval granted immediately thereafter.

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 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 and opened in 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.

In the fall of 2016, the Tennessee College of Applied completed a LEAP 2.0 (Labor Education Alignment Program) Grant and, as a result, was the recipient of a $951,000 award. TCAT Hohenwald had worked with local county governments, officials, and industry to determine the immediate needs of the area workforce. All of the partners voiced a similar need of “maintenance technicians.”  In response to the industry assessment work, in 2017, the LEAP Grant was utilized to implement four off-campus Industrial Maintenance sites in Mt. Pleasant, Lawrenceburg, Linden, and Waynesboro. 

In 2018, the Northfield Instructional Service Center was purchased by the City of Spring Hill.  Unlike the previous facility administrator, the South Central Workforce Board (WIA), the City of Spring Hill determined a rental/lease fee per square foot of occupied space. Unfortunately, the rental/lease would amount to over $80,000 per year for rent.  With the partnerships established with Maury County Schools, TCAT Hohenwald partnered to move the programs at Northfield to locations inside Maury County Schools.  Automotive Technology moved to Columbia Central High Schools and Practical Nursing to Spring Hill High School. The Industrial Maintenance Program was located in connection with the existing Industrial Maintenance Site in Mt. Pleasant. Also, in the summer of 2018, TCAT began the process of exploring new programs for the main campus offerings, particularly Cosmetology and Practical Nursing, due to extensive waiting lists.

TCAT Hohenwald determined an alternative offering of Aesthetics Technology and Patient Care Technology would complement both offerings and would benefit the campus greatly. Shortly thereafter, proposals were presented to the Tennessee Board of Regents in the Fall of 2018 to open Patient Care Technology in the Spring Term of 2019.

In the spring of 2019, the Maury County CTE Director began discussing an opportunity for TCAT Hohenwald to assume administration of their Building Construction Program at Columbia Central High School with equipment and space provided to begin the Fall of 2019.  TCAT Hohenwald presented a proposal to TBR at the June 2019 Board Meeting to begin operations in the Fall. The Aesthetics Technology proposal was presented over the 2019 Summer to add to the main campus programs in the Fall of 2019. Consideration was given to other off-campus locations as well, given continued workforce needs and requests of secondary partners to expand technical offerings. As a result, main campus and off-campus offerings expanded to include Welding Technology, added at the request of Perry County High School at the Perry County Instructional Service Center location in Linden, with Perry County assuming much of the cost of the instructor.

In the late fall of 2019, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission released a similar grant opportunity to the former LEAP Initiative, with Governor Bill Lee renaming the initiative to GIVE (Governor’s Investment in Vocational Education). TCAT Hohenwald developed the grant application, again with industry, community, and secondary partnership input.  The application was approved in late fall with a beginning date of mid-October to November to finalize contracting for a true January 2020 start. Governor Lee came to the TCAT Hohenwald Campus to announce a $1,000,000 award and investment in the south-central area. The TCAT Hohenwald GIVE Grant included the two distressed counties of Perry and Wayne. Once funded, TCAT Hohenwald began working toward the timeline of grant activities, which included assisting the secondary schools of Perry and Wayne with opening Business Entrepreneur Centers by furnishing new computers, computer stations, software, interactive multi-media boards, and industry certification (MOS). The grant also included provisions for adding lathes and mills to the machining area of study of the Industrial Maintenance sites, as well as introducing an Emergency Medical Technology Program to the TCAT offerings, specifically to address an industry need in Perry County.  The EMT Proposal was submitted to TBR in the Spring of 2020 at the March Meeting.  Just days following, the entire initiative was affected by the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, which delayed the possibility of any new program start.  Once submitted to the Council on Occupational Education, TCAT Hohenwald was required to open the program within 180 days of initial approval.  With the Summer Term of 2021 returning to a more normal schedule, the TCAT was able to fully open the EMT Program and host a successful virtual program visit to sustain final approval. Also, occurring in the fall of 2019, TCAT was approached by the Lawrence County School System about offering a Welding Program at Summertown High School.  The program would begin as a secondary program and would provide dual enrollment for high school juniors and seniors.  As a result, TCAT Hohenwald implemented a secondary Welding program with Lawrence County in August of 2020, with the secondary system paying for the majority of the instructor's salary. Since COVID had somewhat been alleviated, Lawrence County requested the Welding Program be made available as a full-time offering.  The Welding Technology Program was submitted as a proposal for the Tennessee Board of Regents Meeting in June 2021 to be offered as a full-time program in the Fall of 2021.            

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 Aesthetics Technology, Administrative Office Technology, Automotive Technology, Building Construction Technology, Information Systems, Cosmetology, Digital Graphics Design, CAD Technology, Electronics Systems, Electro-Mechanical Technology, Industrial Maintenance, Machine Tool Technology, Patient Care Technology, Practical Nursing, Surgical Technology, Telecommunications Technology, Truck Driving, and Welding 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 Columbia, Lawrenceburg, Linden, Mt. Pleasant, and Waynesboro.