EvCC Receives $1.5 Million for Aerospace Training, Equipment

Press Release

Release Date: June 10, 2014

Contact: John Bonner, Executive Director of Corporate & Continuing Education and EvCC Aerospace Industry Liaison, 425-267-9520; jbonner@everettcc.edu

Everett Community College Receives $1.5 Million for Aerospace Training, Equipment

EVERETT, Wash. – Everett Community College and the Center of Excellence for Aerospace & Advanced Manufacturing at EvCC will receive more than $1.5 million in new state funding to train students for aerospace jobs. 

The Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges awarded $1,577,703 to EvCC to pay for faculty, curriculum design, equipment and staffing to support aerospace programs as part of a statewide effort to increase training opportunities for aerospace jobs.

“This investment will help Washington state continue to provide employers with the best-trained aerospace workforce in the world,” EvCC President David Beyer said. “We are thankful for Gov. Inslee and the Legislature’s support for aerospace education and training.” 

EvCC is one of 21 community and technical colleges receiving funding to increase their student capacity in high-demand aerospace programs. An important element of the state Legislature’s package to guarantee the Boeing 777X would be built in the state, the $8 million in funding will create positions for more than 1,000 students across the state. The college programs will support a wide variety of specialties like machining and composite materials manufacturing.

A subcommittee of the Washington Aerospace & Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Pipeline Advisory Committee worked with SBCTC staff to review and select the winning proposals. In all, 40 proposals were submitted from 24 colleges.

The programs will begin in the 2014-2015 school year. Outcomes will be monitored and future funding will be dependent on the institutions meeting their stated program capacity. 

For EvCC, funding includes $276,080 for 35 additional FTEs (full-time equivalent students) in engineering, resulting in more math, physics and engineering classes, plus a new engineering lab and updates to a computer lab. 

The college also received $851,904 for 108 additional FTEs in precision machining, funding instruction, curriculum design and equipment for the new precision machining lab at EvCC's Advanced Manufacturing Training & Education Center (AMTEC), which opens this fall.

In addition, EvCC received $310,994 for a router, vacuum system, waterjet table and staffing. The equipment is for EvCC's new composites lab at AMTEC and will allow EvCC students to learn post-cure machining of composites.

The Washington State Center of Excellence for Aerospace & Advanced Manufacturing, located at EvCC, received $138,725 to coordinate and build a standard composites curriculum for Composite WA, a consortium of 10 colleges providing composites training.

Funding for 1,000 Aerospace High Demand FTEs statewide was appropriated by Engrossed House Bill 2088 during the special aerospace legislative session in November 2013. This funding is allocated by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and provided solely for increasing high demand aerospace enrollments by an additional 1,000 FTEs in Washington state.

EvCC’s funding request was supported by employers, including Janicki, Primus, Giddens, Onamac, Jamco and Hexcel. Additionally, Boeing worked closely with the Center of Excellence for Aerospace & Advanced Manufacturing to support the development of a standard composites curriculum for Composites Washington.