Tennessee technical colleges getting $1.5 billion facelift
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Construction underway at Nashville's technical college campus. Photo: courtesy of TCAT Nashville
A new building taking shape on White Bridge Road is part of a massive effort to revitalize Tennessee's technical colleges.
Why it matters: Technical colleges educate nurses, mechanics and electricians. But classes often take place in outdated buildings that were built in the 1960s and 1970s.
- Administrators say upgrades underway now will boost capacity and weave in technology that better prepares students for the workplace.
State of play: A 2023 state report outlined the dire need across the state's network of 27 Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCATs).
- Gov. Bill Lee and state lawmakers doled out more than $1.5 billion over a few years to fund dozens of projects.
The big picture: Tennessee doesn't have enough workers to fill its open jobs, and state leaders see TCATs as pivotal training grounds for new professionals.
- The statewide upgrades will make room to train thousands of additional students per year, according to state estimates.
Zoom in: The scope of the changes are obvious at TCAT Nashville on White Bridge Road, where new buildings have been taking shape for months.
Driving the news: A $28 million allied health building visible from the street will give the campus a new front door.
- TCAT Nashville president Nathan Garrett tells Axios the building will allow the college to add new programs for EMT training and patient care.
- Other upgrades include a "healthcare simulation lab" where students can prepare for work in hospitals while their instructors watch and provide feedback through a system of cameras and microphones.
Between the lines: The construction will also increase capacity for existing programs in nursing, dental assistance and phlebotomy.
What he's saying: "We have more students that would like to get into the program than we have space for," Garrett says. "This will help alleviate some of those problems."
Zoom out: The rest of TCAT Nashville is getting a facelift too. A $54 million project is adding academic buildings and a replacement aviation campus.
- That construction will make way for new programs for industrial maintenance and electricians as well as expanding the footprint of existing courses.
The bottom line: "When we talk about what we do every single day, and really all of our programs ... we're talking very stable, well-paying careers for for individuals, and then the businesses that hire them expanding," Garrett says.
- "Being able to staff your folks, your hospital, is very important."