• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Ga. State Aviation Students Fight to Keep Program Out of Mothballs

Posted on: Sunday, 29 January 2006, 15:00 CST

By Kirsten Tagami, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Jan. 28--They can fly planes, and they're learning how to run airlines and airports.

Now a group of Georgia State University students have given themselves an even tougher assignment: saving their 30-year-old aviation program from closing. They have some influential supporters, including executives at the Atlanta airport, and hope to present a plan to the university in the next few weeks.

After the program lost its dynamic director to Utah State University last year, Georgia State announced it would be phased out at the end of this year. The program is an unusual mix of academic and vocational classes and no longer fits the university's mission, said Greg Streib, chairman of the department of public administration and urban studies, which oversees aviation.

Lack of student interest is not the problem. In 2004, the program had about 150 students, and it's up to about 180 this year. Subjects include aviation safety management, airline marketing and aviation law. Students also receive credit for flying lessons taken from independent instructors.

"We're so sad about it because the aviation program is fantastic," said Lara Scatamacchia, a fourth-year student who is a marketing and business development intern at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. She also is an instrument-rated private pilot.

Scatamacchia said she and some of her fellow students have been loading up on classes, and she added that she doesn't know of anyone who won't finish in time. Students earn an urban policy studies degree with a specialization in aviation.

The students are not giving up on the program's future. They're working with Warren Jones, Hartsfield-Jackson's aviation development manager, on a proposal to continue with a scaled-back version of the program, which is already one of the smallest at Georgia State.

The group will show Georgia State officials its plan, which would keep the aviation management specialization but drop the requirement that the students learn to fly, Jones said. It also would eliminate the professional pilot training program, which Jones estimates accounts for about 20 percent of students.

While many students are attracted by the program's pilot-training requirement, that's the aspect the university is least interested in keeping, said Streib.

Jones, who also teaches part time in the program, said the proposal will come with a letter of support from airport General Manager Ben DeCosta and others.

That's fine, said Streib, but a better solution would be to come up with an endowed chair, a $1 million-plus investment.

Under Federal Aviation Administration regulations, however, the airport can't spend any of its funds for non-airport purposes. Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, flying under bankruptcy protection, also is in no position to give any money for the program. Jones said he is looking for other businesses that might provide funds.

Another suggestion, said Streib, is for the airport to beef up its internship program, allowing any urban policy student to get hands-on training. "If they want to train future leaders in airport management, they can offer good-quality internships" for two years with a good salary, he said.

Winter interns currently work about eight hours a week on a volunteer basis, but Jones said he will propose the airport hire paid interns.

The program, started at the request of Delta's CEO in 1976, has been threatened with closure more than once over the years, said its former director Rick Charles, who now heads the aviation program at Utah State .

"When I took it over eight years ago, it was down to five students," he said.

When Charles left, he still was the only faculty member. The vast majority of classes are taught by professionals from the airport, airlines and cargo carriers.

Charles thinks the program could work within the college of business, or perhaps as an independent program.

"There's a very strong market in the state of Georgia for that type of program," he said. "There are a lot of high school graduates who want to study aviation."

If the students' efforts fail, an alternative may be on the horizon. Middle Georgia College in Cochran, as part of its application for state college status, hopes to offer a bachelor of science degree in aviation management.

-----

To see more of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ajc.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

More News in this Category