Marshall Magazine Autumn 2022

aviation. It’s ultimately about jobs for students — whether they oper ate, build or maintain aircraft or manage those who do. Curating a specialized workforce takes time. As Noe says, “You do have to crawl before you walk.” Noe’s most meaningful involve ment in the program begins as students are preparing to leave it. He wants his students to have jobs before they graduate, he said. “That’s when I go to work creat ing paths to guaranteed employment, guaranteed opportunity, guaranteed fulfillment for our students just about anywhere they want to go. That’s what we are starting to see happen already with these aviation companies,” Noe said.

Overall, Marshall’s aviation program has received a number of gifts from the likes of Delta Airlines TechOps and the Embraer Foundation, among others, in sup port of its nascent program; and at least one company, Thoroughbred Av i a t i on , ha s e xpanded t o Huntington Tri-State Airport in part due to Marshall’s program. Monica Newman McCluney, head of the Embraer Foundation, said, “Aviation is a robust, high-growth industry; and the incoming students at Marshall University have the op portunity to greatly contribute to the future of flight. We celebrate the university, as well as the stu dents, and are proud to be part of this journey.” There’s no need for instruments to gauge what those kinds of strong industry investments mean for Marshall’s climb in the world of

before 2041. Current licensed AMTs? Not enough to fill every job. Coming attrition? 30% of the existing AMT workforce will retire, creating thou sands of positions for new techni cians. These are not great statistics for the industry, but they are great for students. Smith is seeking perfect candidates for 2023 to fill 30 spaces for the spring semester and 50 for the fall semester. The FAA sets the ratio of instructors to students at 25:1 to ensure quality instruction. “The aviation industry is hurting for technicians; and if you look at the way a lot of companies invest in their infrastructure, they tend to invest in facilities where they have a direct pipeline of workforce,” Smith said. “My goal for the Aviation Maintenance Technology program is to inspire companies to come to Huntington that can employ our students and help grow our airport.”

Lalena Price is a freelance writer living in Kenna, West Virginia.

15

A U T U M N 2 0 2 2