Ellington

By Merrell McGinness

At any given moment, a UTC student might be doing your taxes, checking your blood pressure or building your next SUV. If that makes you nervous, it shouldn’t. That’s because in addition to providing an unmatched learning experience for students, the symbiotic relationship between UTC and the Chattanooga community also translates to better results for the consumer.

For example, patients in a Designated Educational Unit (DEU) at Erlanger Hospital have a professional nurse, a UTC senior baccalaureate nursing student and a UTC faculty member all managing their care.

The progressive DEU program was launched this spring and, based on its success, will expand to T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital and Memorial Health Care System later this year.

“The situation is ideal, both from a teaching perspective but also for the patient,” explains Kay Lindgren, director of the UTC school of nursing. “Instead of one nurse, you have several people conferring about the best treatment option, as well as applying evidence-based research.”

In the business world, Chattanooga firms look to the UTC College of Business for interns. Rated as one of the nation’s top programs by BusinessWeek five years in a row, undergraduate business majors are strongly encouraged to pursue internships for experiences that can’t be found in a book. Fifty firms including Volkswagen, TVA , Chickfil-A and Enterprise Rent-a-Car all benefit from the program, often finding their next best employees after the experience.

“Our students embrace and often initiate change, which is crucial in today’s economic climate,” says Anne Wilkins, director of internships for accounting and finance.

Local companies including Volkswagen are also helping to train tomorrow’s engineers by sponsoring student competitions, such as the recent Society of Automotive Engineers Baja design competition in

Bellingham, Washington. Attracting teams from all over the world, students were judged on their ability to build, test, promote and ultimately race an all-terrain vehicle — preparing them for careers in vehicle design. By placing in the top 20, UTC beat every team in the Southeastern, Big 10 and Big 12 athletic conferences. But the competition is just one of the many ways UTC engineering students gain real-world experience. In the Center for Energy, Transportation and the Environment, students are assisting CARTA ’s bus system with their research on battery-and hydrogen-powered vehicles.

While this experiential learning better prepares UTC students for future careers, Chattanooga is reaping the benefits in the here and now.