![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260820_FWChamber-10-1024x683.jpg\")
Tamara Brown, UTA\u2019s provost and chief academic officer, speaks during a Fort Worth Chamber event panel Aug. 20, 2026, at the Kimbell Art Museum. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\nEvery school day, an industrial refrigeration engineer spends an hour teaching Azle ISD students about the systems that keep warehouses and food processing plants cold.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Federal Aviation Administration is already shaping what Tarrant County College\u2019s air traffic control graduates will learn \u2014 before potentially hiring them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the University of Texas at Arlington, hospitality companies helped build two bachelor\u2019s degrees, then supported students through scholarships, speakers, mentors and internships.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Across Tarrant County, employers are moving closer to the classroom by shaping curricula, supplying equipment and sometimes teaching courses themselves \u2014 rather than waiting to assess graduates. Leaders from TCC, UTA and Azle ISD described that shift during a Fort Worth Chamber panel Aug. 20 on preparing the future workforce.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have absolutely no interest in UTA just being a university in this community and in this region,\u201d said Tamara Brown, UTA\u2019s provost and chief academic officer. \u201cI want us to be a university for this community, for this region.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tamara Brown, UTA\u2019s provost and chief academic officer, speaks during a Fort Worth Chamber event panel Aug. 20, 2026, at the Kimbell Art Museum. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
Chamber research suggests the problem isn\u2019t simply that Fort Worth lacks job candidates. In a July survey of 34 Fort Worth businesses<\/a>, 47% cited hiring skilled workers as a challenge. Respondents described available workers as technically capable but unprepared to work with colleagues and clients.<\/p>\n A broader chamber survey<\/a>, which drew more than 300 responses from people at more than 100 Tarrant County organizations, saw employers rating communication, critical thinking, adaptability, emotional intelligence and reliability as more important to organizational success than technical credentials.<\/p>\n TCC is incorporating feedback from employers and regulators into its planned air traffic control program before students enroll.<\/p>\n Trustees authorized development<\/a> of the associate degree in April. TCC Northwest President Zarina Blankenbaker said the college has since received approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and is working through accreditation and FAA requirements.<\/p>\n The program is in the \u201cmiddle stages\u201d of development, Blankenbaker said, and an agreement with the FAA allows TCC to align its curriculum with the agency\u2019s training. TCC also works closely with supporting partners, such as American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Bombardier and Gulfstream.<\/p>\n No air traffic control program exists within 50 miles of Dallas-Fort Worth, according to TCC.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a gap to be filled in the aviation capital of Texas, right?\u201d Blankenbaker said. \u201cAnd so, how could we not step up to fill that gap?\u201d<\/p>\n The TCC program could launch as early as spring 2027<\/a> and would help address a strained federal workforce pipeline. The FAA reported about 11,000 fully certified controllers in April, below its target of 12,563, with another 4,000 in training. The agency plans to hire at least 2,300 controllers in fiscal 2027<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n UTA also looked to employers after identifying a gap in regional hospital education.\u00a0<\/p>\n The university launched Bachelor of Business Administration<\/a> and Bachelor of Science<\/a> degrees in hospitality management in fall 2025 after conversations with business leaders. Employers helped shape the curricula through an advisory board representing 25 companies<\/a>.<\/p>\n UTA is also developing a doctoral pathway for Dallas Fort Worth International Airport employees with master\u2019s degrees who said they sometimes had to leave their jobs to attain a higher degree. The university is exploring whether workplace research could become part of students\u2019 dissertations \u2014 allowing them to stay on the job while working toward higher degrees.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have ideas. You have ideas. Let\u2019s put them together and create something that\u2019s going to work so that the folks that we\u2019re educating \u2014 they\u2019re exactly the folks that you want to hire,\u201d Brown said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Azle ISD offers the clearest example of what can happen when an employer moves from advising a school to teaching its students.<\/p>\n When the district lacked an industrial refrigeration instructor as it began developing the program, Superintendent Todd Smith said engineer Marcos Braz stepped in and committed to teaching the class daily.\u00a0<\/p>\n The partnership began during the 2017-18 school year. Six of the first eight students who took the Certified Assistant Refrigeration Operator exam passed, according to an industry account<\/a> of the program. Azle now describes it as the country\u2019s \u201conly commercial refrigeration certification program.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Braz has offered jobs to students who pass the exam and want the work, Smith said, estimating that a newly certified graduate could start at $35 to $40 an hour right after high school.<\/p>\n The district\u2019s crane program developed similarly. Nick Webb, apprenticeship director for International Union of Operating Engineers Local 178, approached Azle because the industry needed workers, Smith said.<\/p>\n Webb now teaches two or three days a week. Smith said Webb also provided a roughly $100,000 crane simulator, a spider crane and access to union equipment. Students can earn rigging and signaling certifications while beginning work toward a commercial driver\u2019s license.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were willing to commit their time when they came in,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThat\u2019s when we knew, \u2018This is going to work.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Dang Le is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at dang.le@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.<\/p>\n The Report\u2019s higher education coverage is supported in part by major higher education institutions in Tarrant County, including Tarleton State University, Tarrant County College, Texas A&M-Fort Worth Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Texas at Arlington and UNT Health Fort Worth.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260820_FWChamber-9-1024x683.jpg\")
TCC Northwest President Zarina Blankenbaker speaks during a Fort Worth Chamber event panel Aug. 20, 2026, at the Kimbell Art Museum. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260820_FWChamber-14-1024x683.jpg\")
Azle ISD Superintendent Todd Smith speaks during a Fort Worth Chamber event panel Aug. 20, 2026, at the Kimbell Art Museum. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n