Major employers in the Amarillo area identified a need for a new industrial training program to fulfill a need for workers skilled in non-destructive testing and evaluation. Amarillo College expressed a desire to implement such a program and sought authorization to establish one from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, but ongoing funding for the program would not be available for the first two years. The Amarillo EDC provided a grant of up to $432,000 for the purchase of equipment, facility improvements, and faculty and operational expenses for the first two years of the program’s operation. The NDTE program was established in the Fall 2004 semester and graduated the first class of 16 students in May 2006.
