ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Ann Arbor’s Washtenaw Community College is steering more than $630,000 in state job-training dollars into a marine welding certificate focused on ship repair built for shipyard and factory floors.
Michigan’s labor and economic opportunity workforce office cut the check so the college can buy robotic welding gear and expand shop practice. Classes are eyed for fall 2027, with capacity planned for roughly 60 to 100 students each year.
President Rose B. Bellanca cast the move as a way to feed high-demand trades. Industry helpers named in the announcement include ND Defense, American Tooling Center, a boat-industry association, Michigan Works Southeast and a maritime employer collaborative that will shape curriculum and placements.
State officials cited Navy workforce forecasts that call for well over 140,000 skilled maritime and advanced manufacturing hires across the coming decade. Pipe work and robot welding sit at the heart of the new certificate.
WCC already markets Michigan’s biggest welding lab and recently celebrated student Mikala Sposito’s bronze medal at WorldSkills in Shanghai. Welding headcount on campus is up 37 percent across the last two school years, and the college serves about 11,000 students as Washtenaw County’s primary two-year public campus.
