The DACC Welding program was informed of the successful completion of their third year on-site audit by the American Welding Society (AWS).
The program was re-accredited as an AWS Accredited Test Facility (ATF). By achieving a successful audit, the welding program can continue to offer certified testing for individuals hoping to achieve national credentialing in welding. The Doña Ana Community College (DACC) welding technology program has been an ATF since 2013.
To be considered for accreditation the faculty must be highly qualified. The DACC welding technology faculty are very accomplished as evidenced by more than 74 years of cumulative teaching experience. Together the faculty has achieved 190 welding certifications using five processes. The instructors have more than 150 years of cumulative experience in the aerospace, pressure vessel, nuclear component, and general fabrication industries.
“This department has always focused on national credentials, quality and providing our students a very comprehensive education in welding technology,” said professor and senior instructor David Twitty. “This re-accreditation also means that we will be able to help welding professionals throughout the Southwest.”
Welding is the most widely used and important process for the construction of various structures such as ships, bridges and buildings. It can also be applied to the creation of functional objects as well as works of art, such as sculpture.
At DACC, the program is accredited by AWS and taught by nationally qualified instructors. The program is competency and performance based, consisting of lectures and hands-on laboratory exercises. Students learn to weld steels, stainless steels, chrome-moly steel and aluminum alloy plate and pipe with different processes.
DACC students also learn basic metallurgy, heat treatment of steels, fabrication skills, welding symbols, blueprint reading, oxy-fuel cutting, plasma cutting, and aircarbon arc cutting. This program is one of a handful nationwide that has an orbital tungsten inert gas (TIG) unit that allows students to join tubing as small as one-quarter inch in diameter.
