As a result of a survey conducted for the US Department of Labor, Oak Ridge Associated Universities facilitated development of the Training and Technology project in 1966. The venture combined the facilities of ORNL, Union Carbide’s industrial training capacity, and UT’s Industrial Education Program to provide effective training for both vocational-technical teachers and workers. This project was the first time a major university and a highly developed industrial complex joined together to provide a vocational-technical program of this scope.
In Phase I (completed in 1968), nearly seven hundred unemployed and underemployed persons completed experimental and demonstration worker training programs, and 99 percent were placed in jobs well above minimum wage. In Phase II, which began in summer 1968, a pilot program targeted educationally deprived persons, training them for entry-level industrial jobs in the Oak Ridge area. In 1971 the program began the transition to becoming an Industrial Training Center for AEC contractors in the eastern United States, and participation was expanded to include veterans. The program closed in 1984 after new job training legislation reduced funding opportunities for the program. More than 6,500 persons were trained for industrial-type jobs through TAT during its 18-year existence.