(HUTTO) – The Welding Technology program at Texas State Technical College in Williamson County has received its largest donation ever.
Dayton Superior Corp.’s manufacturing plant in New Braunfels recently donated a welding robot used for manufacturing and repetitive processes made by FANUC America Corp. The robot is valued at $176,000 and will be used by students taking the Welding Automation course for the Associate of Applied Science degree in Welding Technology.
Brooke Williams, chair of the Welding Technology program, said the robot represents the real world for students. Students have not seen the robot yet but will once the fall semester begins.
“The donation means people know we are here,” Williams said.
Williams said she and faculty members did not see the robot until it was delivered in late May to the East Williamson County Higher Education Center in Hutto.
“We were thinking, ‘Now that’s pretty big,’” she said. “It’s solid metal.”
TSTC in Williamson County Provost Edgar Padilla said the robot will allow for more advanced instruction for welding students.
“This will ultimately prepare them even better for their careers in welding,” Padilla said. “We’re thankful to Dayton Superior for their generous donation and recognition of TSTC as the premier welding training institution in the state of Texas. It’s through industry partnerships like this that TSTC will succeed in our mission to ‘Place More Texans’.”
The donation came about during a conversation last fall between Reagan S. Hill, a manufacturing engineer at Dayton Superior Corp., and Jonathan Davis, an area manager for Lincoln Electric in San Antonio, which is a supplier for the Welding Technology program.
“I mentioned we were trying to sell robots and he asked if we would consider donating them to a welding school,” Hill said. “Being as I am a great proponent of education and needing to move these machines out, I decided it was our best course of action. Jonathan provided me with a list of schools, of which TSTC was at the top of the list. Having some background with TSTC as a program advisor in past years, TSTC was the first school I contacted.”
For more information on how to make a cash or equipment donation to TSTC, contact The TSTC Foundation at 254-867-3900.
Registration continues for the fall semester at TSTC. For more information log on to tstc.edu.
The Welding Technology program will have a Welding Pro-Am and Shine & Show from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 11, at the East Williamson County Higher Education Center on Innovation Boulevard in Hutto. For more information contact Brooke Williams or Keith Armentrout at 512-759-5632.
