Mountwest Community and Technical College Story Archives

FAA Certifies New Aviation Technician School In Wayne County

Students are preparing for a new aviation maintenance technician, or AMT, school in Wayne County.

Thirty students are preparing for a new aviation maintenance technician (AMT) program through Mountwest Community and Technical College and Marshall University in the Fall 2022 semester.

The program has been certified by the Federal Aviation Administration and is now the first AMT school for the region and the 189th in the country. The school will be located at the Huntington Tri-State Airport.

Students enroll into the program through Mountwest and are counted as transient students with Marshall University.

“Mountwest could deliver the associate degree; in the state of West Virginia there are limitations on what a four year school can do in terms of a two year degree,” program director James Smith said.

Upon graduation from the 18-month program, students will receive an Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree under the names of both institutions.

Students who complete the program will also be eligible to take FAA Airframe and Powerplant certification exams.

Applications for the program opened in May, but the program was unable to process them until now.

“They’ve just been kind of in limbo until we could get the FAA to give us that final approval,” Smith said. “With the final approval, we were able to flip that switch and work on the formal processing of their applications.”

According to Smith, a quarter of the students who come out of aviation programs go to work in industries such as oil and gas, maritime, or automotive.

“The skills we teach in this program have direct impacts on other manufacturing and trade skills industries,” Smith said. “It’s not aviation centric specifically.”

Applicants on the waiting list will be considered for an additional 30 students for the Spring 2022 semester.

Delta Airlines Endorses New WV Aviation Maintenance Program

The new Aviation Maintenance Technology partnership program between Marshall University and Mountwest Community & Technical College got a big boost recently. Delta Air Lines Technical Operations designated the program as a partner educational institution.

The West Virginia program will join 45 other aviation maintenance schools across the country that have received the endorsement of Delta Technical Operations. It is the first program in the region to receive the designation.

Existing aviation maintenance schools only have the capacity to produce about 65 percent of the aviation mechanics and technicians the industry needs, according to William Smith, Delta’s director of learning and development for Technical Operations.

The new program will offer a dual associate of applied science degree from both institutions and provide students the opportunity to earn FAA certifications as well as specialized credentials. It will launch in spring 2022 pending FAA approval.

Community College System to Hold Open House for ITT Tech Students

The ITT Technical Institute in Huntington recently closed after a crack-down on federal financial aid for for-profit institutions. The West Virginia Community and Technical College System is hosting an open house to show students ITT Tech students more options Tuesday.

The open house will be at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington.

BridgeValley Community and Technical College, Mountwest Community and Technical College and Huntington Junior College will be on-site to present options to the ITT Tech students.

ITT Technical Institute, one of the country’s largest for-profit institutions, announced this week it was permanently closing all campuses nationwide. The Department of Education recently banned ITT students from receiving federal aid as part of a crackdown on for-profit colleges. The Company has operated 130 campuses in 38 states. The location in Huntington is the states only location.

Students are asked to obtain their transcript from the ITT portal online and bring any information they have about their loans.

The open house will run from 10-1 on Tuesday.

Marshall, Mountwest CTC Make Transfer Agreements

Marshall University is partnering with Mountwest Community and Technical College to help students who earn an associate degree in graphic design to obtain a four-year degree in visual arts.

Officials also say Mountwest students who complete two-year degrees in animation and game development can earn bachelor’s degrees in computer and information technology at Marshall.

Huntington-based Mountwest has about 2,500 students and offers more than 60 associate degree options and 15-one-year certificates.

Three W.Va. CTCs Awarded Workforce Training Funding

Three West Virginia community and technical colleges have been awarded more than $9 million in federal funding for a workforce training initiative.

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and Rep. Nick Rahall announced the grant on Monday in a news release. The funding is part of a nationwide effort to assist military members and veterans.

The initiative will be led by Mountwest Community and Technical College, in collaboration with Blue Ridge Community and Technical College in Martinsburg and Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College in Shamrock.

The funding will be used to hire or train new instructors to offer in-demand courses and certifications, develop online learning and other programs.

Community Colleges and Universities See Advantages of Working Together

Community Colleges around the state are joining forces with universities and 4-year colleges to form bonds that will help students continue their education past an associate’s degree.

Last week Mountwest Community and Technical College in Huntington signed an articulation agreement with the College of Arts and Media at Marshall. More specifically the agreement pertains to students in journalism fields such as advertising, public relations, online journalism and radio/television production and management. The 2+2 agreement allows students in those fields at Mountwest to transfer their associate’s degree credits directly to the Marshall school of journalism where they can then work toward their bachelor’s degree.

The idea isn’t new for schools throughout the state. Agreements like West Virginia Northern Community and Technical Colleges 2+2 agreement in Social work with West Virginia University, or Southern West Virginia Community and Technical Colleges agreement with Concord University in Elementary Education are becoming the norm. Jim Skidmore is the Chancellor for West Virginia Community and Technical Colleges.

“I don’t think there should be any doors closed for students to pursue additional higher education, so these types of agreements just make it possible to do that,” Skidmore said.

Skidmore said these agreements are paramount to the success of the students who have a need to start at Community and Technical colleges around the state.

"It promotes the relationships and partnerships with them and when they work out these partnerships it's a win-win for everybody," Skidmore said.

“It promotes the relationships and partnerships with them and when they work out these partnerships it’s a win-win for everybody,” Skidmore said.

Marshall University President Stephen Kopp understands the need for these agreements.

“We have three of them right now in the college of business, this adds another one and we’re looking at adding others as we go along, they’re a good partner,” Kopp said.

Keith Cotroneo is President of Mountwest Community and Technical College. He said agreements like these are key for their ability to help students continue their education past Mountwest.

“These program specific pathways arm them with the information that they need to take the right courses and not stumble around and get confused as they move forward during the degree program,” Cotroneo said.

According to the official agreement, the deans of both programs will continually monitor the curriculum at both institutions to ensure consistency and program quality.