Skip to main content

Westpointe Receives $400K Donation from Kenworth Sales


Kenworth Sales Company President Kyle Treadway was on a tour of Salt Lake Community College’s new Westpointe Workforce Training & Education Center when he decided his company needed to invest in the students who will soon be training within the Westpointe diesel technician program.

“I saw their commitment and said, ‘I can get behind that. I can commit when I see that there are others going in the same direction,’” Treadway said. He announced at the Kenworth Sales facility in West Valley City that he is donating $400,000 to Westpointe. “I could see that it was a serious facility geared toward current technology – and that’s what we are lacking.”

SLCC President Deneece G. Huftalin and Kenworth Sales Company President Kyle Treadway

Treadway said there is a national shortage of diesel technicians, citing U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that show 67,000 Baby Boomers retiring from the industry on top of a projected 12 percent growth within the next decade that is creating a need for 75,000 new diesel technicians. “We are in a crisis, and this is an investment to try and solve that,” he added. “I could hire 45 technicians right now, today.” Within three or four years of attaining a one-year diesel technician certificate from SLCC, Treadway noted, the best technicians can be earning an annual salary in excess of $100,000.

SLCC President Deneece G. Huftalin echoed Treadway’s call for other industry leaders in Utah to partner with programs at Westpointe that are also engaged in workforce development. “I have to say thank you, from the bottom of our heart at Salt Lake Community College,” Huftalin told Treadway. “A $400,000 gift. That is not a small step – that is a gigantic leap in terms of an industry coming to the table and saying, ‘We are investing in the future.’” The funds could be earmarked for additional equipment or scholarships for students attending classes at Westpointe, a $43 million, 121,000-square-foot facility that will open this fall and provide career and technical education programs to meet the future needs of vital industry partners.

Kenworth officials gave a tour of their facility in West Valley City

Treadway and Huftalin said the donation is part of a larger statewide effort to address a lack of skilled labor in Utah that includes investing in the Utah Diesel Technician Pathways program, which began in 2016. Today SLCC, several school districts, the State of Utah and industry partners in the Pathways program have been educating and training students who are still in high school to prepare for relatively high-paying jobs upon graduation or soon after. Treadway said the donation to Westpointe will not solve Utah’s or Kenworth’s needs in “one fell swoop,” and that it marks the continuation of a relationship with SLCC.

“It’s fantastic. Anytime you invest in students, you invest in the future,” said Rick Bouillon, SLCC associate vice president over Workforce & Economic Development. “We’re excited. It’s going to help students not only from a scholarship standpoint, it will help us round out the incredible facility at Westpointe. Ultimately, if we help a student, it helps their family, and it helps the whole community.”



Popular posts from this blog

SLCC's Undergraduate Annual Research Conference Registration Deadline

Salt Lake Community College’s annual Undergraduate Projects, Performances, Presentations, and Research Conference (UP3RC) is set to take place on April 2, at the Taylorsville Redwood Campus, offering students a chance to showcase their academic achievements, fostering a culture of intellectual exchange.  The UP3RC is an annual event designed to celebrate and highlight the academic accomplishments of undergraduate students. It provides a supportive environment for students to share their work, hone their presentations skills, receive constructive feedback, and engage in meaningful discussions with their peers and faculty. All SLCC departments and programs, including faculty and staff, are encouraged to support and visit the day of the event. Students with their poster from last year's UPRC event “The goal of this event is to make sure every school and student is given the opportunity to participate,” says Dr. Kamal Bewar, interim director of the STEM Learning Center, who is chairin

SLCC Business School is Utah’s First to be Named Exclusively After a Woman

Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) proudly announces a partnership with the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation to modernize its Business Building and transform its School of Business. The improvements are made possible through a generous $10 million gift from the Miller Family Foundation and Gail Miller, the largest-ever single cash donation received by the college.  SLCC is renaming its Business Building the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Business Building in honor of the Miller family’s legacy and contributions to the community. The business school will be named the Gail Miller School of Business in recognition of the strong business acumen Gail Miller displays as a community leader and as the owner and immediate past chair of the Larry H. Miller Company. This name change will make SLCC home to the only business school in Utah and one of only a few in the country to be named exclusively after a woman.  “We are deeply humbled by the generosity of Gail and the Miller fam

You’re Invited to A Party! Open House Kicks off New Herriman Campus

  Complimentary food truck fare, live music, and family activities spotlight new campus.   There’s something for everyone at the upcoming Herriman Campus Community Open House on Friday, August 4 (3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.). See schedule below.   The public is invited to celebrate the opening of this new campus with festivities that include free local food truck fare, live music, and a Mocktail Mixer, where you can mingle with others, including Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) and University of Utah (U of U) faculty.   Families with kids can engage in face painting and a craft station, see the Super Mario Brothers movie, and high-five mascots Brutus, Swoop and Yeti.   This is an opportunity to have some summer fun for all ages and to check out the Juniper building on the new 88-acre SLCC Herriman campus.    At the open house, prospective students and their families can meet SLCC and U of U faculty and staff, take a tour the building, or even check out the Application & Transfer Lab a