By Troy Turner
AUBURN – Auburn basketball will feature more than new players making a first appearance to the Neville Arena hardwood when play resumes, as another recruiter will be making a pitch: the U.S. Navy.
The Navy needs ships, and the shipbuilders need trained workers. Thus the U.S. government’s interest in not only Auburn’s highly qualified future engineers and technicians, but also with trained specialists in a wide variety of other skillsets, ranging from welders to electricians to painters.
And while south Alabama’s shipyards in the Mobile region are working on seagoing vessels, the same competition for a dependable workforce exists in north Alabama in the Huntsville region as U.S. Space Command’s headquarters is joining NASA and other military commands in operating from the Tennessee Valley.
Monday, Auburn University announced it is expanding its partnership with the U.S. Navy’s Submarine Industrial Base Program Office “to help connect people across Alabama with the careers and opportunities needed to build and sustain America’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet.”
No financial details were released regarding the agreement.
The multiyear partnership brings together the reach of Auburn Athletics, the expertise of Auburn University’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and BuildSubmarines.com, the national workforce outreach and attraction platform supporting the submarine industrial base, a press statement said.
(Photo via BuildSubmarines.com)
“As part of the expanded partnership, Auburn fans will see BuildSubmarines.com prominently featured on the Neville Arena court, alongside additional in-venue, digital and athletics media integrations designed to increase awareness of submarine industrial base careers,” the university stated.
CASTING A WIDE NET
The deal comes following a similar announcement made in April involving the Alabama Community College System, which received a $30 million investment funded by the Navy to modernize and expand maritime workforce training at four Alabama community colleges.
The funding will enable the colleges to expand their submarine manufacturing and shipbuilding training programs and assist the Navy in building one Columbia-class and two Virginia-class submarines each year, working with companies such as Mobile-based Austal USA, college officials said.
“Achieving this production target requires a dramatic expansion of America’s maritime industrial workforce, and Alabama’s community colleges are now positioned to play a central role in delivering that talent pipeline,” the college system reported.
The funding will directly benefit four Alabama community colleges:
- Bishop State Community College (Mobile)
- Coastal Alabama Community College (Bay Minette)
- Reid State Community College (Evergreen)
- Lurleen B. Wallace Community College (Opp)
Last year, the University of Alabama participated in a contracted agreement similar to that of Auburn’s this season. Both universities have remained in partnership at some level with the Navy’s workforce recruitment efforts over at least the past two years, as have other academic institutions in the state.
AUBURN’S ENGINEERS GET NOTICED
“Auburn Athletics is thrilled to join forces with the U.S. Navy in this collaboration,” Athletics Director John Cohen said in Monday’s press statement. “When Athletics can support Auburn engineers who are using their expertise to strengthen our country’s capability to build next-generation submarines while promoting workforce development in our state and region, everyone benefits.”
(Photo/Cat Wofford, Auburn Athletics)
Mario Eden, Auburn’s dean of engineering, shared similar comments.
“Auburn University’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering places more engineers into the American workforce than any other engineering college in the state, and we are excited to partner with the U.S. Navy on this ambitious effort to transform our nation’s submarine fleet,” Eden said “With our thriving Nuclear Power Generation Systems Program, coupled with our rigorous curriculum across all disciplines, we are uniquely positioned to fill the needs of this next generation effort.”
Auburn continues a steady growth of involvement with national security, ranging from cybersecurity programs to a wide variety of engineering sectors. Other university schools, such as agriculture and aviation, also have working agreements with the U.S. Army, Space Force and other military branches and federal agencies.
Troy Turner is the editor and senior consultant for AlaDefense.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. His bio can be found here.
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