All About the Mission - March 22

One of the most important institutions in our region for delivering a pipeline of trained workers is Augusta Technical College.  The Chamber is very fortunate to have President Dr. Jermaine Whirl on its board to keep the business community informed about its strategic objectives.  At its March Board meeting, Dr. Whirl presented an informative update on how Augusta Technical College is helping to meet workforce demands across six schools within the College and its plans for campus expansions that will continue to make the college state-of-the-art for training in high-demand careers.

There were plenty of takeaways from his presentation and here are a few important nuggets everyone should know.  Enrollment at Augusta Tech is currently at 4,237 students enrolled across 130+ programs of study.  The average student age is 26 and women make up the majority of students at 58%.  The economic impact of Augusta Tech is $263.6MM which represents 1.3% of the region’s GRP.  Both WalletHub and Niche give Augusta Tech very high marks for increases in income realized by students and the College has an 87% placement rate in field of study.

Also of interest are new programs being introduced to ensure students have options in emerging and growing sectors and industries such as Cloud Computing, Film, Solar Panel Installation, Aviation and Automotive Hybrid.  The college is also continuing to work on transfer pathways from Augusta Tech to Augusta University.

The Chamber has been a strong advocate for ensuring Augusta Tech has the appropriate capital funding it needs for continuing to build out its campus including an expanded facility in Thomson which will be the Supply Chain/Logistics Innovation Campus, a proposed new campus for an Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering Facility along the I-20 corridor and the fulfillment of an agreement with Piedmont Hospital to transform its former Summerville campus into a school of nursing. 

We encourage everyone in our region to be an advocate for Augusta Tech in fulfilling its mission which is more important than ever.  We urge all of our members to get engaged!