Professor Sam Colton, head of the welding department at AWC, has often joked that his tenure at the college has been like Charlton Heston rowing in the bowels of a Roman galley in the film, Ben-Hur. Now, he'll be piloting a state-of-the-art cruise ship.
After many years of working in an outdated welding facility, Professor Colton's dreams are coming to fruition. The AWC welding facility is getting a major facelift that has begun even earlier than originally anticipated.
"This is a great opportunity for the faculty, but more importantly, the students. This is going to be tremendous for the college moving forward", said Colton. "This facility is going to be phenomenal and the students are going to reap the benefits."
Paul Neuman, director of the STEM pipeline grant program, has overseen the initial stages of the remodel, as well as the recently completed renovation of the automotive lab. The welding renovation wasn't slated to begin until sometime in late 2014 or early 2015, but Neuman was able to get a substantial head-start on the project. "It's the first major improvements to that building in 50 years", said Neuman.
"We realized there was a desperate need for classrooms, storage space, restrooms and offices. Instead of waiting until the end of year three, we started that portion of the remodel last August", said Neuman. "Phase one is complete and now those new facilities are joined to the rest of the building and students will be able to use them a year and a half ahead of time."
This is welcome news to the faculty and the students who used to cram classes into a broom closet masquerading as classroom. "What Prof. Colton did not have, was a classroom. Now he's got two of them", said Neuman, adding that, "The new welding classroom is three times larger than the old one."
The department also received a new metallurgy classroom and lab to go along with new restrooms and a large storage area. The renovation of the welding lab and equipment will begin next spring.
"Now that we've completed this first phase, we have to wait about a year and a half to receive the grant money to renovate the old lab. That will take place beginning in about May of 2015", said Neuman.
Awarded to the college in 2011, the STEM pipeline grant has enabled the college to renovate the automotive and welding labs, but also has created a transfer program with NAU-Yuma to allow students to receive a bachelor's degree in certain technology fields.
The college used about $630,000 of the $4 million STEM grant towards the welding renovation. Another $200,000 came from the college for expenses not covered by the grant.
"There were some limitations with the grant, so the college was able to cover some of the expenses like the restrooms, two faculty offices and sorely needed improvements to the infrastructure", explained Neuman. "We've basically plucked this program out of the 1960's and set it down in modern times, with great lighting, room for growth and high-tech connectivity."
Walking around the welding and automotive labs on campus, it's easy to see the difference this renovation will make. Students will have a facility they can be proud of and equipment they can train on that will give them a sizeable advantage when entering the work-force.
Photos by: Paul Neuman
