Facilities
The Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Ripley (TCAT Ripley) is located at 127 Industrial Drive on 25 acres of land donated by the City of Ripley. The nearly 40,000 square ft. building houses classrooms and labs for the following programs: Barbering, Cosmetology, Computer Information Technology, Health Information Management Technology, Industrial Electricity, Manufacturing Technology, and Practical Nursing. The facility also has a large multi-purpose room with a two-way moveable wall for local educational/community use, a large student commons study area, practical nursing classrooms with a state of the art clinical lab and various other rooms also available for training purposes.
TCAT Ripley also has an Instructional Service Center in Bells, TN, located at 6514 Hwy 412 South located in the Crockett County Higher Education Center. The following programs are offered: Practical Nursing and Patient Care Technology/Medical Assisting.
Campus History
The Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology were originally established as a statewide system by the enactment of the Tennessee Legislature during the 1963 General Assembly as State Area Vocational -Technical Schools. This system operated under the supervision of the Tennessee State Board of Education until June 20, 1983. The State Area Vocational-Technical Schools came under the jurisdiction of the Tennessee State Board of Regents July 1, 1983. Further legislation changed the State Area Vocational-Technical Schools to Tennessee Technology Centers effective July 1, 1994. On July 1, 2013, through an act of the legislature, Tennessee Technology Centers became the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology.
The Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Ripley (TCAT Ripley) had its beginning in November, 1967 as a State Area Vocational Technical School. As of July 1, 1994, the school became known as the Tennessee Technology Center at Ripley (TTCR). In March 1997, TCAT Ripley was opened at its current location.
In 2001, TCAT Ripley, with the approval of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Jackson, took over the Practical Nursing Program at the Alamo campus in Crockett County. A Business Systems Technology Program, now known as Administrative Office Technology Program, was added in 2003, followed by a Patient Care Technician Program later that same year. In January 2011, a move was made to relocate students from the Alamo facility to the Crockett County Higher Education Center in Bells, TN. The ribbon cutting was held on February 11, 2011. In Spring 2014, the Administrative Office Technology Program was replaced with a (Dual Enrollment) Introduction to Computer Technology Course.
In July of 2013, Tennessee Technology Centers were renamed Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology. The name change more accurately reflected the post-secondary training provided at the 27 campuses and many satellite locations across the state. The name change also supported the state’s effort to encourage more Tennesseans to continue their education and earn post-secondary professional training and technical skills.
The Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Ripley is one of 46 institutions in the Tennessee Board of Regents system (TBR), the seventh largest system of higher education in the nation. The Tennessee Board of Regents is the governing board for this system that is comprised of six universities, thirteen community colleges, and twenty-seven colleges of applied technology. The TBR system enrolls more than 80 percent of all Tennessee college students attending public institutions of higher education.