Lake Area Technical Institute
LATI Student Center entrance, May 2017
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| Motto | "It's Your World" |
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| Established | 1965 |
| President | Col. Michael Cartney (USAF, Ret.) |
| Location | Watertown, South Dakota |
| Campus | Rural |
| Nickname | LATI |
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Coordinates: 44°54′04″N 97°05′43″W / 44.901127°N 97.095269°W
Lake Area Technical Institute is a technical school located in Watertown, South Dakota. The campus covers 40 acres and serves an area of 18,000 square miles. Founded in 1965, Lake Area Tech was the first technical school to be established in South Dakota, followed by schools in Mitchell, Sioux Falls and Rapid City.
Lake Area Technical Institute is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission.
President Barack Obama delivered the commencement address on May 8, 2015.
The fall of 2016 marked 13 consecutive years of enrollment growth for Lake Area Technical Institute. Due to the increasing number of students, the school began a four-phase campus expansion project in the fall of 2008. The project included a new Diesel, Energy, and Welding facility, a new Automotive and Health Science Facility, a centralized Student Center, and a new Agriculture facility. The school has developed new programs including High Performance Engine Machining, Heavy Equipment Operator, and Law Enforcement.
Lake Area Tech has 29 programs, 12 e-degrees and serves more than 2,400 full-time, part-time and online students enrolled in the previous school year. Some of the school's longstanding programs include Agriculture, Welding, Cosmetology, Diesel, Aviation Maintenance, and Nursing. The school has a 16:1 student/faculty ratio and a 98.56% graduate placement rate.
Lake Area Tech's programs rely on advisory boards of industry owners and professionals, who also supply training equipment and internships. For example, Diesel, Auto, HPEM, and Agriculture students have access to a truck chassis dynamometer for hands-on training. LATI also has a cadaver lab. Examples of LATI business partners include Butler CAT Corporation, Prairie Lakes Health Care System, Titan Machinery, South Dakota Wheatgrowers, Cenex/Harvest States, Building Products Inc, Missouri River Energy, Ottertail Power, Watertown Municipal Utilities, Valley Queen Cheese, Horton Manufacturing, First Bank and Trust, and the Watertown Community Foundation.
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