Roane State's mechatronics facility and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology Knoxville at Anderson County are moving, thanks to the generosity of a prominent manufacturer.
County and Clinton officials gathered in late October at the new Anderson County Higher Education Center to thank SL Tennessee. That auto parts maker in the Clinton/I-75 Industrial Park donated seven acres in the park for the new center.
Both Roane State and TCAT classes in the new 48,000-square-foot facility, located at 220 Frank L. Diggs Drive, are slated to begin in earnest this January. More than 200 students are expected to take classes there.
Roane State's mechatronics campus will be relocated from a former National Guard Armory off of Charles Seivers Boulevard that's owned by Clinton and is now being eyed for use in the future by the Clinton Boys and Girls Club. Official opening and closing dates for each facility have not yet been finalized.
Along with mechatronics, the community college intends to add dedicated labs for the study of robotics and injection molding at the new campus.
The TCAT Knoxville facility in Anderson County, which has been housed for six years in a former grocery store on Andersonville Highway, will have programs in welding, diesel powered equipment technology, auto tech, industrial maintenance, building trades and a host of customized workforce development training to meet the skilled labor needs of employers in Anderson County.
"You have no idea what this means for our students," said Kelli Chaney, president of TCAT Knoxville. "They are going to flourish."
Gordon Williams, who oversees Roane State's rapidly expanding mechatronics program, said the Tennessee Board of Regents approved the $11 million center for the two higher education institutions. "It was cost-efficient to put them together," he said.
The real star of the recent ceremony was SL Tennessee, a major manufacturer with its corporate headquarters in South Korea that located in the Clinton/I-75 Industrial Park in 2003.
SL Tennessee now has 1,000 employees in three buildings with 840,000 square feet under roof.
Local officials said the company has for years been an exemplary corporate citizen. It paid for a new fire engine for the city of Clinton, created an injection molding program now used by 10 regional employers, and donated more than $425,000 in material and equipment to support Roane State's injection molding and mechatronics programs.
Ten framed proclamations from cities and counties, local economic development groups, TBR, Roane State, and TCAT, all paying tribute to SL Tennessee, were prominently displayed in the new center.
"You are an incredible addition and asset," Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said of SL Tennessee. "It's a great partnership that we have," Clinton Mayor Scott Burton added.
"Roane State is so grateful for the opportunity to serve our industry partners in Anderson County with in-demand courses, including mechatronics and injection molding," Roane State President Dr. Chris Whaley said in a statement. "We are honored to share the new Anderson County Higher Education Center with TCAT Knoxville, which has been made possible by generous donations from SL Tennessee. The new facility will allow us to expand and serve even more students and supply more job-ready graduates into the workforce."
Before the ceremony, SL Tennessee Manager Scott Laska and several high-level executives from the company's corporate headquarters toured the current mechatronics facility and then explored the new center with local officials.
Clinton High School senior at forefront of pioneering apprenticeship program
A Clinton High School student is at the forefront of a pioneering effort to enable those under the age of 18 to become apprentices in manufacturing facilities.
Since September, Chyann Wilson, 17, has been working at SL Tennessee, a company that makes vehicle parts in the Clinton/Interstate 75 Industrial Park.
She’s a Middle College student at Roane State in her second year of the mechatronics program. Mechatronics is the combination of mechanical engineering, computing and electronics.
“Chyann is the only girl in her class, but she’s proof that mechatronics doesn’t have to be a male-dominated field,” said Kim Harris, the college’s director of workforce training and placement. “STEM-focused education and programs like this one are helping make these careers more visible and accessible to everyone.”
In the fall of 2019, Chyann was in her first semester of the mechatronics program and had expressed an interest in being an SL Tennessee apprentice. The community college teamed up with the state of Tennessee and SL Tennessee to make that happen.
At the time, apprenticeships weren’t available to those less than 18 years of age. Harris said she worked with Tyra Copas, the state Department of Labor’s apprenticeship director, on the issue, and Copas investigated job tasks at SL Tennessee suitable for a 17-year-old.
“Students under the age of 18 can thrive in apprenticeship programs,” Harris said. “SL Tennessee and the Tennessee Department of Labor have been wonderful in working with us.”
Paperwork was completed and Chyann was ready to start, but the pandemic put those plans on hold at first, Harris said. Chyann started at SL Tennessee in September 2020.
SL Tennessee Business Development Manager Scott Laska said the company has hired about 10 graduates of Roane State’s mechatronics program over the past three years, but Chyann is the company’s first apprentice still attending high school.
“She’s an engaging young lady and full of energy,” Laska said. “We hope to make her a contributing member of our team in the future.”
He said Chyann is teamed up with a maintenance technician at SL Tennessee, which has about 770 employees and some 900,000 square feet under roof. She’s getting an overview of the plant’s equipment and how it functions.
Laska said SL Tennessee intends to continue the apprenticeship program for Roane State mechatronics students under 18 years of age.
Chyann’s mechatronics instructor, Guilherme Garcia, said the apprenticeship program is “a great opportunity for her to see what an engineer does on the job. She’s very dedicated and has a passion for engineering.”
“The mechatronics program has been very educational and an experience that I have enjoyed going through and being a part of,” Chyann said. She’s the daughter of Juliean and Lester Mann.
She says she’s worked on the assembly line and learned how to repair machines at SL Tennessee. “I like the people there,” she said. “They’re quite nice and I enjoy learning about the robots.”
Chyann will graduate in May with a Roane State associate’s degree and her high school diploma, thanks to the Middle College program. She says she plans to continue working at SL Tennessee and may seek a university degree in electrical engineering.
Roane State and SL Tennessee join forces for apprenticeship program
Roane State Community College is joining the state’s growing movement to better train new workers by sponsoring apprenticeship programs with area businesses and industries. The college is currently working with one of Anderson County’s biggest employers.
“We will be working with SL Tennessee and our Middle College students in mechatronics to develop programs of study and identify specific apprenticeship tasks,” said Kim Harris, the college’s director of workforce training and placement.
“We look forward to working closely with Roane State in starting the apprenticeship program,” said SL Tennessee Director Scott Laska. “We believe that this program will help solve our skills gap in our operation and provide meaningful career opportunities for the community.”
SL Tennessee, located in the Clinton Interstate 75 Industrial Park, manufactures automotive parts and is near Roane State’s Clinton Higher Education and Workforce Training Facility. The college’s classes in mechatronics – the engineering of electrical and mechanical systems – are offered there.
Those classes are also available to students in Roane State’s Middle College program – where high school students can take college courses and graduate from both Roane State and their high school at the same time.
Area educators and employers learned about various apprenticeship programs and opportunities during a recent meeting in the college’s Clinton facility.
Two state experts in the field – Tennessee Department of Labor’s State Apprenticeship Director Tyra Copas and Tennessee Board of Regents’ Assistant Vice Chancellor of Community and Economic Development Nathan Garrett – answered questions about apprenticeship opportunities.
Garrett said the TBR’s venture into the initiative kicked off last August, and 12 Tennessee Colleges are now sponsors of registered apprenticeship programs.
An apprenticeship is a proven training program for recruiting, training and retaining talented workers. They are supervised, full-time positions with on-the-job training and job-related education.
Harris said officials want to offer apprenticeship opportunities to traditional students along with 16- and 17-year-old candidates. “We want to grow skilled workers,” Copas said.
Harris said Roane State’s sponsored apprenticeship program should be up and running within the next two months.
Sponsors have administrative duties for apprenticeship programs and track the participants’ progress. This allows the employer time to focus on training the new employee. For more information on how Roane State can partner with your business on apprenticeships, contact Kim Harris at (865) 882-4695.
Roane State is a two-year college providing transfer programs, career-preparation programs and continuing education. Founded in 1971, the college has locations in Crossville, Harriman, Huntsville, Jamestown, Knoxville, LaFollette, Lenoir City, Oak Ridge, Wartburg and Clinton.
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