The Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) at Chattanooga State Community College was the recipient of two awards during the 2018 ATEA National Conference, held recently in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

With a goal of promoting high-quality education, sharing trends and best practices in technical education, and building partnerships to enhance workforce development strategies, the American Technical Education Association (ATEA) is dedicated to quality of postsecondary technical education excellence emphasizing professional development.

Byrd’s Automotive of Chattanooga received the Silver Star Award for their partnership with Chattanooga State’s Collision Repair program. Accepting the award were Darrel Bult, AkzoNobel district sales manager, with Tamara and Clark Presley, co-owners of Byrd’s Automotive. Present at the ceremony were associate instructor Tim Chastain and Dr. Jim Barrott, executive vice president of technical college.

In addition, ATEA awarded the 2018 Outstanding Technical Program of the Year to Chattanooga State’s HVAC/R Technician Program. This one-year diploma program provides learning experiences to students training to find career opportunities as air conditioning/refrigeration technicians; sales, retail, and wholesale representatives; installers; maintenance and service; engineer helper; or operator. Instructor Houston Graham and associate instructor Kyle Lee accepted the award with Dr. Jim Barrott, executive vice president of technical college.

The Tennessee College of Applied Technology has a 96 percent average graduate placement rate. During the recent state SkillsUSA competition last week, Collision Repair Program students earned gold and bronze medals, while a silver medal was awarded to a student in HVAC/R. For more information on available programs, call 423.697.4433.