Lincoln Tech in Nashville, Tennessee’s Response to COVID-19

Bob Martin: Today’s guests on Imagine America Radio is Bob Butterworth, campus president of Lincoln Tech in Nashville, Tennessee. Today’s topic on Imagine America Radio is a current coronavirus epidemic. More specifically, Bob, we want to see—can you answer the question—how has Lincoln Tech in Nashville responded to this nationwide epidemic?

Bob Butterworth: Well, Bob, thanks for having me. I appreciate this, an opportunity to kind of speak to your listeners. Our school is also known, by the way, as NADC, which stands for Nashville Auto Diesel College—as well as Lincoln College of Technology. Many people in the area would know us as NADC. We have been graduating professionals into these fields for over 100 years, and we have a very rich history here in Nashville.

So with that said, yeah, the coronavirus has been very challenging for everyone. But I can honestly tell you that we have responded, both here in Nashville and across our company, by moving to distance learning. And we’re teaching our students online since the middle of March, and we are obviously complying with all the government orders that have been put before us. Our staff has also been successfully transitioned to remote offices from home, and they’re still able to support our students. So again, we are currently running all of our courses online. Each one of them with an interactive program that the instructors lead, and where they actually set up threaded discussions and their lesson plans for the students to participate in. It is working extremely well, at this point, as the students continue their education and are looking forward to coming back to campus.

Lee Doubleday: This is Lee Doubleday. I’m talking to Bob Butterworth, campus president of Lincoln Tech—or Nashville Auto Diesel College—in Nashville, Tennessee. Now, Bob, I think I heard you say that your campuses are currently teaching completely online, but are your campuses open for tours or is that something that can be done online as well?

Butterworth: Well, unfortunately, no. We’re not on campus. So we are complying, again, with all the government orders that are in place. And we are currently not on campus at this time. All of our student interviews and tours are being conducted by our admissions reps online. There are no face-to-face interviews.

However, we do have virtual tours, which highlight our facilities and the campus. And those have been pretty successful, as well, for educating our students—our applicants—that are looking to come to our school. We also have YouTube videos for every program that show our equipment and our shops. So basically, our students can get, at least, a sense for who we are and what their shops will look like when they come back on campus.

Doubleday: That’s great. And this question sort of piggybacks off of the original question that I had, but if I’m a student and I’m interested in maybe attending your school, can I still enroll for a future class? And is there a website, maybe, I could go to learn more about your upcoming starts, or how would I go about contacting an admissions rep?

Butterworth: Well, of course. We are continuing to enroll. Our admissions reps, again, are working from home, remotely. So anyone can enroll for future classes through that admissions rep. Besides diesel and heavy equipment, we also offer welding, collision, and automotive technology. Now, we will be starting classes remotely through distance learning here in April for all programs. And applicants can enroll for any month in the future, since we start most classes every month. So hopefully, we’ll be back on campus sooner than later. But at this point, I would encourage people to reach out to, first our website, which would be lincolntech.edu and certainly someone would return that call, and you can dialogue around what the possibilities are about coming to school and getting that great career.

Doubleday: Thank you. Yeah, all right. And Bob—This is Lee again, talking to Bob Butterworth, campus president of Nashville Auto Diesel College or Lincoln Tech in Nashville, Tennessee. So my question is, if I am going to be attending your school at an upcoming start date, and the campuses are still closed because of this virus, what will happen? Will I start class online?

Butterworth: Well, the answer to that is yes. The mode of delivery at this point of our education is distance learning online. And we do expect to be able to provide IT support, as well as educational support, for those students to make sure that they’re able to not just get online, but able to access all the necessary websites that they need in order to participate in class and to continue their school work. But once we’re allowed back on campus, Lee, schools will return to the traditional delivery method, meaning on-ground—classroom on-ground—shops.

Martin: Hey Bob, this is Bob Martin. Real quickly, put the hat on, if you would, of the student—particularly a high school student, because I know you have a very robust high school recruitment program. You’re no longer going to school, meaning the high school student. You no longer have access to the counselors. You no longer have access to their resources, etc. I think I know the answer to this because I think you covered it a minute ago, but I just want to hear you say it again. What is the best course for that particular individual if they want to know more about Lincoln Tech Nashville?

Butterworth: Well, Bob, I would say, you’re right—first about NADC Lincoln Tech here in Nashville. About 2/3 of our students, 66% of our student population, are high school students. So, this is something that we face, obviously, is how do we educate and transition high school students right into college? But the best way to do it is, like I referenced before, is the website. I would start there, lincolntech.edu, to obtain information about our school. Also at that website, you’ll see a school catalog. And our school catalogs will be able to be accessed online. And a student would be able to see the actual curriculum, mod by mod, month by month—what they would be studying and be expected to complete in each one of those. In the diesel program, it’s a 13-month program. So, a lot of it is housed there online. It’s a tremendous resource. It gives the history of the schools, the history of the company. But also gives you pretty much how to really succeed at a technical school. So that would be my advice.

Martin: We’re talking to our guest, Bob Butterworth, campus president of Lincoln Tech Nashville, Tennessee. And we’re talking about the coronavirus and how they’re accommodating and trying to make accommodations for students and faculty, etc. Here’s my three takeaways that I’ve got. And you can tell me, Bob, if I missed something.

First takeaway that I’m leaving this conversation with is: Lincoln Tech in Nashville, Tennessee, Lincoln Auto Diesel, is open for business and is working with currently enrolled students. It may be a different modality. It may be heavily or almost all online. But nonetheless, you’re still fulfilling your commitment and you’re still providing quality education to those individuals that have already been enrolled.

Second, what I think I hear you say, is that you are enrolling. And, in fact, I think I heard you say that you would go to the Lincoln Tech website and that will have a continual listing of admission procedures, etc. That’s what I heard you say.

And then, finally, I’m going to enlist you if I can, Bob, to take any questions. And Bob, what we’d like to do is give your email address out to any of the listeners that may have any questions related to any part of this particular episode. How are they handling the coronavirus? How are they handling instruction, etc.? If you go to bbutterworth@lincolntech.edu; that’s bbutterworth@lincolntech.edu.

You’ve been listening to Imagine America Radio. And our guest has been Bob Butterworth, campus president, Lincoln Tech in Nashville. The topic has been the coronavirus and what adaptations they’ve taken to accommodate this epidemic. I want to thank our guest, Bob Butterworth, for joining us, giving us some of his time and insight into what they’re doing on their particular campus. I’d also like to thank the audience that has taken time out of their very busy and hectic days now to listen to this podcast. And I would encourage you to download the episode, send it to a friend. In closing, allow me to say, we want everyone to be safe. Thank you for listening and be safe.