Western Technology Center
Western Technology Center is a public career and technology education center founded in 1970 with its main campus located in Burns Flat, Oklahoma. Branch campuses are located in Hobart, Sayre and Weatherford. Western Technology Center is part of the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education system.
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 Oklahoma 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 1991, WTC purchased property in Weatherford along I-40. Renovations to an existing building were soon completed and classes began in 1992. August 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 also hosts 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 became home to a regional branch of the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics.