College plays role in helping veterans achieve career success

The College has enrolled two participants of a new program that supports veterans who want to pursue a bachelor’s degree in engineering. Both are scheduled to begin fall semester.

The America’s Veterans to Tennessee Engineers program, developed by the Babcock & Wilcox Company and the U.S. Department of Energy, is an opportunity for newly discharged military service members to pursue a four-year degree to become nuclear, chemical, mechanical, electrical or civil engineers. Eight veterans have been accepted into Veterans to Engineers to date, and several applications are pending.

Participants are responsible for tuition and living expenses, but the program typically offers them part-time job opportunities with participating employers, academic help and assistance relocating to the area.

The College offers several two-year associate’s degree options for students who want to continue on for a four-year degree in engineering. Once participants in Veterans to Tennessee Engineers complete their studies, they then transfer to one of the program’s partner institutions, Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville or the University of Tennessee at either Knoxville or Chattanooga.

Upon completion of the bachelor’s degree, participants are guaranteed of an engineering position.

“The guaranteed job takes a lot of the uncertainty out of it for the veteran,” said Kevin Smith, chair of the interim steering committee for America’s Veterans to Tennessee Engineers. “They have a community that has opened up a path to reach a better future.”

Smith is deputy federal manager at the Y-12 National Security Complex, which is operated by Babcock & Wilcox, an international provider of energy products and services. The idea of America’s Veterans to Tennessee Engineers, he says, grew out of meetings of the Tennessee Valley Corridor, a nonprofit organization that promotes the Tennessee Valley corridor of Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and Virginia as a science and technology hub.

Several major regional employers have committed to Veterans to Tennessee Engineers and will offer engineering positions.