(MARSHALL, Texas) – Texas State Technical College’s Marshall campus recently expanded its Diesel Equipment Technology program by opening the 21,720-square-foot Diesel Power Technologies Center, which has a capacity of 130 students each semester.
“I believe with the new building and having more space come resources, more technology and more training aids,” Joe Razza, a regional recruiter for Crown Lift Trucks, said. “I can’t say enough how happy our hiring managers are with the quality of people that we’re getting out of the (TSTC) programs.”
According to onetonline.org, the number of jobs for bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists in the state of Texas was expected to grow by 13% from 2022 to 2032, averaging 2,620 job openings annually.
Timothy Winchester, a Diesel Equipment Technology instructor at TSTC’s Marshall campus, said such opportunities have resulted in industry partners hiring the program’s students as early as when they are in their second semester.
“Someone off the street may not have any education at all, which means the employer would have to train them from scratch,” Winchester said. “They would have to teach them all of the basic stuff on how the equipment works and what it runs off of. Instead of them having to start from scratch, they get a student from us and that student has already been taught that.”
Mike Johnson, a technical and military school recruiter for Patterson-UTI Energy Inc., said the company’s need for diesel technicians is always high and called TSTC’s hands-on approach to education “astronomical.”
“It’s going to supply another avenue for more well-versed and well-trained candidates coming into our workforce,” Johnson said. “With changing markets, things can happen very rapidly, so having that program at the Marshall campus with the new building … really helps us to know right where to go if we need more.”
Kiewit recently began partnering with TSTC’s Marshall campus due to its need for diesel equipment technicians. Gabriel Cambrelen, a workforce development manager for the construction and engineering company, said the Marshall campus’s recent expansion will increase opportunities for Kiewit just as much as it will for the students.
“As the economy of Texas grows, we grow as well, and the need for diesel mechanics grows,” Cambrelen said. “I think we’re doing the right thing by moving ahead and building partnerships with schools like TSTC.”
Diesel Equipment Technology is available at the Abilene, Fort Bend County, Harlingen, Marshall, North Texas, Sweetwater and Waco campuses. Several Associate of Applied Science degrees and certificates of completion are offered, depending on location.
Registration for TSTC’s fall semester is underway. For more information, go to tstc.edu.