Facilities
Tennessee College of Applied Technology McKenzie is one of 46 institutions in the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) system, the seventh largest system of higher education in the nation. The TBR is the governing board for this system, which is comprised of six universities, fourteen community colleges, and twenty-seven Colleges of Applied Technology. The TBR system enrolls more than 80 percent of all Tennessee students attending public institutions of higher education.
Tennessee College of Applied Technology McKenzie
16940 Highland Drive
McKenzie, Tn 38201
For more information about Tennessee College of Applied Technology McKenzie please contact: jan.latimer@tcatmckenzie.edu
Campus History
The Tennessee Technology Center at McKenzie, formerly named the McKenzie State
Area Vocational School, is one of 27 Technology Centers in the State of Tennessee and
is located on Highway 79 and 22, within the city limits of McKenzie.
The construction of the McKenzie School began in the spring of 1964 and was
completed in 1965. It began operation under the local direction of Guy R. Kirk, who was
appointed to the position of Superintendent of the School by then Assistant
Commissioner of Vocational Education in Tennessee, Charlie Dunn. The School
enrolled its first students in July of 1965 in Automotive Mechanics, Drafting and Office
Occupations. The first students to graduate from the Center did so in 1966. Courses in
Industrial Electricity/Electronics, Machine Shop and Refrigeration were implemented in
August of the same year. The Center has undergone several expansions, renovations
and additions of programs since it was first built. The first expansion in Industrial
Programs came in July of 1966, with the employment of a second Office Occupations
Instructor and the addition of a Welding Program. In 1974 a 2,172 square foot Drafting
Shop and in 1981 a 3,475 foot Masonry Shop were added.
In 1999 the Center underwent a two million dollar renovation project. This project
included building new shop classrooms, installing a new heat and air system, and an
electrical system in the industrial building, renovating the administrative building and
connecting the two shop buildings to the administrative by adding two new classrooms.
In January of 1972, the Masonry Program began. A leased building off campus housed
the program until 1978, when funds were made available to erect a building on campus.
The School was the prime contractor for the building project, with construction being
completed as much as possible by the students. The building construction project was
used for student training. The remaining construction of the building not related to
training was subcontracted. The program closed in 1985 as a result of low enrollment.
The Livestock Production Program, operated by the Weakley County Board of
Education, was taken over by the McKenzie School in August of 1972. The program
was located off Campus at a facility in Dresden, Tennessee. The program closed in
1982 due to lack of student enrollment. An Industrial Maintenance Program was added
to the Center’s offering in 1999 and the HVAC Program was re-opened and began
enrolling students in the Spring of 2002.
Governance
The Tennessee Board of Regents State University and Community College System of
Tennessee is the legally constituted governing board for the Tennessee Technology
Center at McKenzie. The Tennessee Board of Regents was established under Chapter
838 of the Public Acts of 1972.
In May 1963, the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee enacted legislation
(House Bill 633) that provided for the operation of the State Area Vocational-Technical
School System and placed in the system under the governance of the State Board of
Vocational Education. They system remained under the State Board of Vocational
Education until June 30, 1983 at which time it was legislatively moved to the Tennessee
Board of Regents. Chapter 181 of the Public Acts of 1983 transferred the State
Technical Institutes and State Area Vocational from the State Board for Vocational
Education, to the Tennessee Board of Regents. The names of the State Area
Vocational Technical Schools were legislatively changed to the Tennessee Technology
Centers July 1, 1994.