Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

WMU Aviation Center Expansion Nears Completion

  • By Matt Jones
  • 04/08/21

Upgrades to the College of Aviation at Western Michigan University’s campus in Battle Creek, Mich., are almost complete. The $20-million renovation project includes new classrooms, labs, a simulator bay, and a research center, and it takes the education aviation center from about 16,000 square feet to more than 60,000 square feet. The new facility is slated to open in early May.

State funding is covering the majority of the project’s costs, with the university filling in the remainder. Other new amenities to the college, located at Battle Creek Executive Airport at Kellogg Field, include briefing rooms, a plane paint lab, faculty office space, a café, and upgrades to technology and other labs.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires pilots to retire when they turn 65. College of Aviation Dean Dave Powell said that in the next 10 years, half of all pilots from the three biggest commercial airlines—United Airlines, Delta Airlines, and American Airlines—are scheduled to retire. United Airlines alone says it will have to hire 10,000 pilots over the coming decade, as well as ground crew positions like technicians and flight operations professionals.

“The demand in aviation is significant,” said Tom Thinnes, recruitment manager for the College of Aviation. “The jobs out there are tremendous. Once we get through the COVID craziness, the airline industry will recover. It is already recovering.”

According to the expansion project’s website, the need to upgrade facilities became clear during a master plan study for the College of Aviation in 2008 and resulting Campus Physical Development Plan released in 2009. “New classrooms and labs are necessary to continue to accept students at the College that will match the quality of instruction and research to the standards of practice needed to meet the needs of the aviation and aerospace industries,” the website says.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • URI Cuts Underwater Ribbon on New Ocean Robotics Laboratory

    The University of Rhode Island recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new Ocean Robotics Laboratory at its Narragansett Bay Campus, according to a news release. Two students used a remotely operated vehicle to cut an underwater ribbon in a 30-by-20-foot test tank.

  • University of Pennsylvania Releases Design of Future Physical Sciences Building

    The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in Philadelphia, Penn., recently released renderings of an upcoming 350,000-square-foot Physical Sciences Building, according to news release. The facility was designed by CO Architects and will unite the university’s departments of Physics and Astronomy, Mathematics, and Earth and Environmental Science.

  • Barbara Vick Western Branch

    Barbara Vick Western Branch

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The Barbara Vick Western Branch has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Grand Prize award in the category of Renovation.

  • Deferred Maintenance Issues Growing at Universities, Gordian Reports

    U.S. colleges and universities are falling increasingly behind on facilities maintenance and repair, according to Gordian’s 13th annual State of Facilities in Higher Education report. The deferred capital renewal burden has reached $156 per gross square foot, an 8% increase over the previous year.