AEDC hosts Tennessee Tech University alumni luncheon

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn. --  More than 190 people, mostly Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) employees, attended a Tennessee Tech University (TTU) alumni luncheon held at AEDC's Arnold Lakeside Club May 13. 
Britt Covington, AEDC's executive director, said the impact the two organizations have had on each other is both enduring and encouraging. 
"Tennessee Tech [University] is probably the 'feeder' university for AEDC and obviously we have a mutually beneficial relationship," he said. "I'm impressed with the turnout, the loyalty to their school and the camaraderie that I'm seeing here." 
Covington, an Auburn University graduate, said largely because TTU is a highly technically-oriented and centrally-located school, it only makes sense that many graduates would tend to gravitate toward employment at AEDC. 
"You can get a technical degree from Tennessee Tech and can come back to your own stomping grounds to perform our great mission here at AEDC," he said. "In terms of the test mission we perform, it makes for a good match up.
" Covington said, "I was told, just having been introduced to some of the leadership of Tennessee Tech and by our own folks, that we have right at 275 Tennessee Tech graduates working here at AEDC, both on the government side and on the contractor side." 
TTU President Robert Bell, who was the guest speaker for the alumni luncheon, had high praise for TTU graduates in the audience. He also paid tribute to the many generations of TTU graduates who have contributed their academically honed skills to AEDC, NASA and other technically oriented organizations. 
At one point during his presentation, Bell addressed a few TTU graduates by name, including Clem Reese, (TTU Class of 1960), a mechanical engineer who worked at AEDC from 1965 until he retired in 1994. 
Like Covington, Reese said TTU and Arnold have been mutual beneficiaries. He emphasized that AEDC has not only helped provide employment for the university's graduates, but TTU has also helped to maintain the brain trust allowing succeeding generations of engineers at AEDC to accomplish a critical mission of national importance. 
"[I] started out in J-4 test cell, worked in APTU [Aeropropulsion Test Unit] and later on in the investments, I&R [Improvement and Modernization] and M&R [Maintenance and Repair] projects," he explained. "So many people who have graduated from Tennessee Tech have come to work here and been a large part of the work force; it's been a good thing for both places." 
Tom Best, AEDC's technical director of the plans and programs directorate, said TTU is well represented at Arnold, including instances where more than one generation of TTU graduates from a family is currently working at AEDC. 
"Dr. Milt Davis, Jr., and his son Chris Davis both work at the center," he said. "They [TTU graduates] have been an important part of making AEDC as successful as it is." 
Chris, a computer programmer in Aerospace Testing Alliance's (ATA) technology department, said, "I graduated [from TTU] in 2000 and my wife graduated with her master's instructional leadership [from TTU] in 2000 and [earned] a bachelor's in education in 1998. My wife works over in our [ATA] resource provisioning department." 
He said his father graduated from TTU in 1972 and his mother graduated with a master's degree in education from TTU that year.
 "I'm involved in university programs for ATA," Chris continued, explaining that he visits TTU's campus during the year to recruit engineering students for a university internship program at AEDC. "This summer we have nine summer internship or cooperative education students from TTU as well." 
According to ATA Deputy Director of the Project and Design Engineering Department Sharon Carter (TTU Class of 1986), who coordinated the event with TTU officials, AEDC currently has 270 contractor and government employees who are graduates of the university. 
"In attendance, were alumni that graduated in December 2008 all the way back to John Jouett who graduated in 1953 and is still an employee at AEDC," she said. "The luncheon was a great success. TTU has offered to make this an annual event."