Calhoun breaks ground on automotive technology building

Published 6:15 am Thursday, September 28, 2017

Calhoun Community College was set to break ground on the site of a new Automotive Technology Training Center 10 a.m. today at the Decatur campus.

The 23,400-square-foot building will be built to accommodate the specific needs of the automotive technology curriculum, which includes technical repair training for automobiles and heavy diesel machinery. Construction of the building will take place in two phases and is projected to cost $6.9 million.

The building was designed by Latchan Associates, an architectural firm out of Hoover. The college is currently taking bids but has not chosen a builder for the project yet.

According to Janet Kirchelow-Martin, executive assistant to the president for Public Affairs, Community Relations and Institutional Advancement, the first phase of the project should be complete by the fall of 2018, when the college will be prepared to enroll up to 200 students into the program.

Graduates of the two-year program will receive an associates degree in applied sciences and will be qualified for entry-level positions in the automotive service industry.

“Calhoun has been without an automotive technology program for many years, and we are extremely excited about bringing the program back,” Calhoun President Dr. James Klaubersaid. “The automotive industry has a shortage of workers with these skills, and this program will equip our future students with the necessary training to fill these industry gaps.”

Crystal Brown, vice president of Business and Investor Development for the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce, said she often fields complaints that there aren’t enough automotive technicians in her area. Brown also serves as a member of the Alabama Community College System Board of Trustees for District 5.

“One of the things the community college system does is to meet workforce training needs,” Brown said. “The new automotive program at Calhoun is a great example of that.”

According to Margaret Gunter, spokeswoman for Governmental Relations at the Alabama Commission of Higher Education, there are only nine two-year automotive technician programs in the state similar to the one that will be offered at Calhoun next fall.

“Our goal is to prepare students for the jobs of the 21st century, and we applaud Calhoun for recognizing the automotive industry niche,” Gunter said.

Alabama Sen. Arthur Orr was set to speak at the groundbreaking ceremony. Orr said the automotive technician program at Calhoun will be a big boon to the Greater Tennessee Valley.

“We are going to be using vehicles for the foreseeable future so a program like the one at Calhoun will provide the community with skilled professionals who are trained to service their vehicles and, at the same time, raise the personal incomes and improve the lives of those who complete it,” Orr said.

The program will fall under the college’s technology division and will be chaired by John Holley, the interim Assistant to the Dean of Technologies. The school has yet to hire an instructor.

During the first year, the program plans to become a Master Automobile Service Technician-accredited program and will seek accreditation from the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation.