MATC and its industry partners cut the ribbon on a state-of-the-art, hands-on automotive lab on the Downtown Milwaukee Campus October 22, 2019.
The new Al Hurvis/PEAK Transportation Center is dedicated to career awareness and training in the increasingly high-tech automotive service sector. It serves as the home base for MATC automotive and transportation servicing, the college’s program to expand awareness and offerings in transportation careers. Private funds also have expanded the college’s capacity to hire specialized advisors, called success and skills coaches, who work alongside program faculty to support students in their career and academic goals.
MATC offers auto technician, auto body, diesel technician and truck driving technical diploma programs at its Oak Creek Campus and a comprehensive associate degree in automotive technology at its Mequon Campus.
The new center allows MATC to expand training opportunities for students of all ages at a central location, with programs designed to give high school and middle school students early exposure to careers in the field.
Located on Sixth Street and Highland Avenue, across from the Fiserv Forum, it is strategically located to be accessible to students from low-income households who do not have access to automotive programs in their high schools. A primary goal is to help more students prepare for family-sustaining automotive service careers with support and mentoring.
MATC invested $1.4 million in creating the 7,400-square-foot auto lab, which includes seven auto repair bays, one analyzer bay and one wash-detailing bay. The college also renovated additional adjacent classroom space. The center stands in repurposed space that had been an underutilized auditorium.
Programming support is funded by gifts from private businesses; individuals; and a challenge grant from Tom Hurvis, chairman and co-founder of Old World Industries, in memory of his father Al Hurvis. By early 2020, donors had pledged $3.23 million in gifts to expand automotive and transportation servicing programs.