News Releases

For Immediate Release

March 27, 2014
For additional information:
Chato Hazelbaker
Chief Communications Officer
Telephone: 360-992-2921
Email: chazelbaker@clark.edu

 

Clark College's Automotive Technology Program
Rates a Perfect T-TEN

Clark is the first college in its region to be accredited for Toyota's prestigious new training program


VANCOUVER, Wash. – Clark College's Automotive Technology program recently became one of just 15 colleges in the country to receive accreditation from Toyota as part of the auto company's newly developed and highly rigorous training program.

Clark College's Automotive Technology program was already one of three colleges in Washington certified as a Toyota Technician Training and Education Network (T-TEN) program. However, it is the first college in the Pacific Northwest to have met Toyota's tough new T-TEN requirements announced in 2010.

“This has been a two-year process for us,” said Automotive Technology Department Chair Michael Godson. “We've developed a whole new curriculum with all new courses and new vehicles.”

The accreditation is good news for the students in Clark's T-TEN program, which will eventually enroll as many as 20 students per quarter. The program will not only give them an edge when entering the workforce, it will connect all students with an internship at a local Toyota dealership before they graduate, which is part of the new T-TEN requirements.

“Most programs, you come in and get trained, and then they tell you, 'OK, go find yourself a job now,'” said Godson. “But with T-TEN, basically, our students have a job as soon as they're enrolled.”

“Clark’s new program is cutting-edge,” said Rick Lester, technician development manager for Toyota who participated in Clark's accreditation visit. “There is no better program currently available in the state of Washington for students serious about a career as a Toyota or Lexus Service Technician.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, automotive service technician employment is expected to grow by more than 60,000 positions between 2012 and 2022.

About Clark College

Located in Vancouver’s Central Park and serving up to 14,000 students per quarter, Clark College is Washington state’s largest single-campus, for-credit community college. The college currently offers classes at two satellite locations, one on the Washington State University Vancouver campus and one in the Columbia Tech Center in East Vancouver. Additionally, its Corporate & Continuing Education program is housed in the West Coast Bank building in downtown Vancouver.

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM), the world's top automaker and creator of the Prius, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through its Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands. Over the past 50 years, Toyota has built more than 25 million cars and trucks in North America, where it operates 14 manufacturing plants and directly employs more than 40,000 people. The company’s 1,800 North American dealerships sold more than 2.5 million cars and trucks in 2013 – and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.  For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.

 

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