Johnson County Community College in Kansas, has received a gift of $750,000 from The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Foundation, the college announced on Wednesday.

The gift will be used to help construct the Regnier Center for Business and Technology on the east side of the JCCC campus.

"We are honored to receive one of the largest gifts the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Foundation has ever given," said Charles Carlsen, JCCC president. "This is a testimony to their support of JCCC and education in the community."

The gift will apply toward the $5 million challenge gift given in June 2003 by the Victor and Helen Regnier Foundation to support construction of the Regnier Center. Along with donations from Jerome, Margaret and Lewis Nerman of Leawood, and the M.R. and Evelyn Hudson Foundation, Dallas, the college has now raised $2.75 million of the $5 million challenge.

"BNSF is proud of its long association with JCCC, and the partnership has proven to be one of our best investments," said Greg Stegem, vice president, Safety, Training and Operations Support.

The college first entered into discussions about a partnership with BNSF in 1986, when the National Academy of Railroad Sciences, the largest railroad training facility in the country, was founded on the college campus. Originally intended to train only Burlington Northern employees, the academy has over the years come to serve other railroads as well.

JCCC built the Industrial Technical Center on campus, opened in 1988, to house BNSF's training programs and provide additional office and classroom space for the college. An expansion to the ITC was opened in 1993.

The college was awarded a presidential citation by Vice President George Bush in 1987, recognizing the partnership as a successful model of cooperation between education and industry.

The economic impact on the community and the city of Overland Park created by 145,000 students who come to the campus every year for training and who need to book hotel rooms, take their meals in restaurants and shop at local stores as a result of the BNSF partnership is about $60 million a year.

BNSF recently announced that it will need 6,000 to 7,000 new trained employees in the next five years, and JCCC is preparing to meet the challenge.

Bill Brown, JCCC assistant dean, industrial technology programs, said welders are needed as railroads face maintenance on existing track and lose older employees to retirement.
"BNSF, for example, will need 160 to 180 new welders this year," said Jeffrey Abbott, general director of Railroad Training Services.

The JCCC board of trustees is expected next Thursday to approve $350,000 to construct a new welding shed with eight new bays and remodeling of the two existing sheds to accommodate another eight bays for a total of 16 bays. The money is included in the 2004-05 budget but will be returned by BNSF, said Jerry Baird, administrative vice president. The project, targeted for completion in the next 90 days, could generate $1 million a year in tuition for the college.

A new railroad welders training program began at the college in January, a second class began in March and a third will begin in June. The program consists of eight weeks of classroom and laboratory training, followed by 120 days of paid on-the-job training. This is the first time that railroad welding classes have been offered to people who are not already railroad employees.

Major railroads are expected to recruit on campus, offering employment opportunities throughout their systems. Railroad welders are responsible for all weldable track components. Their salaries are among the highest entry-level salaries in any industry, ranging from $40,000 to $60,000 a year.

Eligible students must be 18 years old or older and have finished high school or the GED. Students who complete the program earn a welder training vocational certificate and can apply 21 credit hours toward the 65 credit-hour associate degree in railroad operations.
Abbott said that other NARS railroad training programs have a 99 percent job placement rate for graduates, and he expects the same placement rate for the welders.

"The railroad is going to recruit all over the country and the program will be a model," JCCC President Carlsen said.