WKCTC’s Inland Logistics and Marine Institute Open House Held August 10

More than 100 city officials, community members, college faculty and staff and representatives from the river industry attended West Kentucky Community and Technical College’s open house and ribbon cutting for its Inland Logistics and Marine Institute (ILMI) August 10.
 
Visitors toured the 8,000-square-foot facility that will provide training and education for the logistics and marine industries, and is conveniently located near the river businesses at 631 Marine Way in downtown Paducah.
 
“WKCTC’s Inland Logistics and Marine Institute will allow students the opportunity to train using the latest technology as well as providing a training venue to serve the local maritime and transportation industry,” said Troy Courtney, WKCTC’s ILMI director. “The goal of the ILMI is to provide the training needed to make our students successful, and ensure that the training our students are receiving meets the needs of business and industry.”
 
The construction of the Institute was approved by the MRTDL (Mississippi River Transportation Distribution and Logistics) grant, a consortium of nine colleges in eight states along the Mississippi River.

The Institute also houses WKCTC’s Logistics & Operations Management and Marine Technology programs. Students can earn an Associate in Applied Science degree in these programs, completely online.

Since the U.S. Department of Labor awarded the $2.7 million dollar grant to WKCTC in October 2013, Troy said, “the lives of more than 700 students have been touched, and we are just getting started.”

Registration for the fall semester at WKCTC is currently underway. Classes begin August 17.

(L to R) front row - Paducah ambassador, Capt. Steven Hearn, ILMI manager of external education programs; Melissa Allcock, ILMI administrative assistant; Mayor Gayle Kaler, City of Paducah; Troy Courtney, ILMI director; Andrew Gates, AEP River Operations training specialist; Barbara Veazey, WKCTC president; Ken Wheeler, Paducah Junior College, Inc. board of trustees member; Stanley Wallace, ILMI Marine Technology program coordinator; Tena Payne, WKCTC vice president of academic affairs; Sandra Wilson, Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce president; and Paducah ambassador

(L to R) back row - Jon Walker, ILMI instructional designer; Jim Pape, WKCTC vice president of workforce and economic development; Bill Miller, Paducah-McCracken County Riverport Authority executive director; Steve Freeman, WKCTC’s Skilled Craft Training Center director; and Scott Darnell, Paducah Economic Development president