Our Blog
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WATR Center Offers New Manufacturing Core Classes
Begin your journey in aerospace and manufacturing with the WATR Center’s 4-week, online-only Manufacturing Core Certificate training program. Learn the fundamentals of aerospace manufacturing, and once you’ve successfully completed, select one of four 8-week certificate programs, including Manufacturing Assembly, Electrical Assembly, Tooling Mechanic, or Manufacturing Composites. The 8-week certificates qualify successful graduates to apply through
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Chelsea Mason-Placek Elected As New State Board Chair
Chelsea Mason-Placek, Workforce Development Director for the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, has been elected to chair the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. The nine-member, governor-appointed State Board oversees Washington’s community and technical college system. No matter how old you are, where you’re from, or what your past experience has been, you can
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What We’re Reading
Is College Enrollment Falling? 4-year college enrollment is up slightly since 2019, while 2-year enrollment is down about 5 percentage points. Also, it doesn’t really seem like a pandemic-induced change: this is a long-run decline in 2-year college enrollment of about 12 percentage points since the peak in 2012. The Story of Titanium Titanium is
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Women In Aviation Scholarships Available Now
The 2024 Women in Aviation International (WAI) scholarship program is officially open, and members can review scholarships at www.WAI.org/scholarships. With over 105 scholarships valued at more than $1,000,000 total, scholarships are offered for flight training, engineering, maintenance, dispatch, drones, and professional development for individuals in all stages of life. This 2024 scholarship cycle includes nearly
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Round 11 of Career Connect Program Builders Announced
Congratulations go out to Manufacturing-focused Career Connect Washington Program Builders. Announced last week, round 11 winners include Skills, Inc., the Machinists Institute, Educational Service District 105, Boys & Girls Club of Snohomish County and Washington State University. The manufacturing-focused Program Builder grantees represent the breadth of good work happening across the state. Skills Inc. will
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ATEC Visits Seattle
On Tuesday the Center of Excellence was pleased to welcome leadership from ATEC, the Aviation Technician Education Council, to South Seattle College for a day of outreach, conversation and national insight. ATEC’s Executive Director Crystal Maguire led off the day with a run-down of what ATEC does and who makes up their membership, from airlines
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Boeing Pilot and Technician Outlook 2023-2042 Out Now
The Boeing Company has released its 20 year pilot and technician outlook, and the company sees air travel demand outpacing economic growth while the industry faces continued challenges in meeting workforce demand. Boeing projects a worldwide need for 649,000 new pilots and 690,000 new technicians over the next 20 years, both increases from last year’s
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COE Grant Tracking: Strengthening Community Colleges, Recompete and Domestic Manufacturing Conversion Grants
Across Federal agencies, grant funding continues to flow to educational institutions, states and local areas and local non-profits with dollars dedicated to advancing the clean manufacturing goals of the Biden administration. A few recent grants the Center of Excellence is tracking: Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration > The
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FAA Announces Aviation Workforce Development Grants
On Monday, the FAA released Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for Round 3 (2023) of the Aviation Workforce Development (AWD) grants for Aircraft Pilots and Aviation Maintenance Technical Workers. The program, created by Congress in the 2018 FAA reauthorization bill, authorized $10 million in funding annually for pilot and maintenance workforce development programs. The NOFOs
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Exploring Clover Park Technical College’s CAMT
At 63,000 square feet and a cost of $33 million, the John W. Walstrum Center for Advanced Manufacturing Technology (CAMT) at Clover Park Technical College stands out among the impressive educational facilities across the state’s 34 community and technical colleges. The LEED Silver facility provides training for the area’s aerospace, aviation and manufacturing industries, and
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FAA Set To Host Drone Symposium And AAM Summit
Coming to the Baltimore Convention Center August 1-3 and hosted by the FAA and the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), the 8th annual Drone Symposium and the first-ever Advanced Air Mobility Summit are not to be missed. The back-to-back conferences will focus on how the FAA continues to safely integrate drones into the
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What We’re Reading
ZeroAvia announces expansion of electric propulsion R&D facility at Paine Field This additional investment from Washington State’s Economic Development Strategic Reserve Fund will assist improvements at research and development facilities that support both the company’s electric propulsion R&D and the Dash 8 testbed retrofit program. Seattle-area Space Summit features NASA leader and hints at new