Western Technology Center
Western Technology Center
621 Sooner Drive
Burns Flat, OK 73624
580-562-3181
Fax: 580-562-4476
1000 Northeast Highway 66
Sayre, OK 73661
580-928-2097
Fax: 580-928-9827
Mission
Educating People for Success
Vision
To develop an innovative and highly skilled workforce in Western Oklahoma by providing workplace skills
History
On December 7, 1965, the U.S. Department of Defense announced the closing of Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base in Burns Flat, Oklahoma. In June of the next year, The State Department of Vocational and Technical Education completed a feasibility study to determine if a local district could form an area district around the former base. January 27, 1970, was the beginning of Western Technology Center when several school districts unanimously voted to become a part of the area district and the election of board members was held for Zones 1 through 5. In 1987, the new 350-seat seminar center and cafeteria were completed at the Burns Flat campus.
In May of 1991, WTC purchased property in Weatherford along I-40 located on Historic Route 66. Renovations to an existing building were soon completed and classes began in 1992. August of 1995 construction was completed at the Sayre campus and both full-time and part-time classes began. In 2003, WTC opened a fourth campus in Hobart, The Kiowa County Adult Education Center. This campus offers an adult education and training facility, which annually hosts a number of group meetings in the Kiowa County area and offers patrons conference facilities.
The next year WTC began renovating the east wing of the Weatherford campus to house a partnership program with the University of Oklahoma's School of Dental Hygiene, which opened in 2005. The state-of-art Dental Lab and high-tech classrooms include WTC's Dental Assisting program along with the WTC/OU Dental Hygiene baccalaureate program.
In 2005, WTC became the home of the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority at Burns Flat. Teamwork between WTC, OSIDA, and NASA continues to develop fields of study in the aerospace industry. In 2009, the Burns Flat campus will become home to a branch of the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics.
WTC provides western Oklahoma with workforce training for adult and high school students along with customized training programs, expert assistance and training facilities for business and industry services. It has the only vocational meat processing training program west of the Mississippi River. WTC has more than 90 employees, who train hundreds of students and clients each year. Additionally, it has 15 partner schools: Arapaho-Butler, Burns Flat-Dill City, Canute, Clinton, Cordell, Elk City, Hammon, Hobart, Lone Wolf, Merritt, Sayre, Sentinel, Sweetwater, and Weatherford.
Please visit the website for more information.
Votes:24