Editor\u2019s note: Welcome to On Campus: A roundup of what\u2019s new and notable across Tarrant County\u2019s colleges and universities.<\/p>\n
The University of Texas at Arlington is the recipient of an $86 million contract from the United States Navy to conduct research on powering ships.<\/p>\n
The university also launched its Power and Energy Innovative Research Laboratory, or PEIR Lab, last week. The research will be led by electrical engineering professor David Wetz, who is also the lab\u2019s director.<\/p>\n
\u201cUTA is proud to contribute our expertise, facilities and talent to support next generation innovation while helping prepare the engineers who will continue to advance these technologies and the service members who will depend on them,\u201d Wetz said in a news release<\/a>.<\/p>\n The university held a ribbon cutting for the lab last week. Attendees included Arlington Mayor Jim Ross and UTA President Jennifer Cowley.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re honored that the Navy chose UT Arlington for this work,\u201d Cowley said in the release. \u201cAt our core, we have always been a practical\u2011minded institution dedicated to making an impact. At the same time, we are a top\u2011tier R\u20111 research university committed to exploring the world\u2019s most pressing challenges. This lab reflects both of those truths.\u201d<\/p>\n The PEIR Lab will be administered by UTA\u2019s Pulsed Power and Energy Laboratory.<\/p>\n TCC to open Alliance Employer Hub at airport<\/p>\n Tarrant County College trustees approved a collaboration with Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County at their April meeting to allow the employment resource organization to set up shop at the Erma C. Johnson Hadley Northwest Center of Excellence for Aviation, Transportation and Logistics at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport.<\/p>\n Through the Alliance Employer Hub, Workforce Solutions will connect students with local internships, apprenticeships and jobs in high-wage, in-demand fields.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis partnership establishes a centralized on campus presence that strengthens alignment between education and workforce systems,\u201d TCC Northwest President Zarina Blankenbaker said at the April work session.<\/p>\n The renewable collaboration will begin May 1 and last one year.<\/p>\n UTA names new College of Business dean<\/p>\n Brian Klaas, dean of the management school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, will be the new dean of UTA\u2019s College of Business, the university announced in a news release<\/a> Monday.<\/p>\n He previously led the Riegel & Emory Human Resource Center at the University of South Carolina. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Illinois State University, and his research interests include dispute resolution and labor relations.<\/p>\n Klaas will replace Harry Dombroski, who is retiring. Klaas begins on July 1.<\/p>\n \u201cDr. Klaas is an experienced dean who will advance the College of Business\u2019s strategic initiatives through curriculum innovation, research excellence, community engagement and fundraising,\u201d Provost Tamara Brown said in the release. \u201cHis energy and forward focused perspective will build on the college\u2019s remarkable foundation, strengthen our student success initiatives and inspire new opportunities for growth and community impact.\u201d<\/p>\n TCC South Campus president to depart for Pennsylvania<\/p>\n Dan Lufkin is departing Tarrant County College\u2019s South Campus at the end of this school year to become president of the Harrisburg Area Community College, as first reported by The Collegian<\/a>, TCC\u2019s student newspaper.<\/p>\n Lufkin first came to TCC in 2021 from Paul D. Camp Community College in Virginia, where he served as president. Located in central Pennsylvania, Harrisburg Area Community College is the largest in the state.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an exciting new chapter for my family and me, and we are truly looking forward to becoming part of the community,\u201d Lufkin wrote in a LinkedIn post. \u201cI also want to express my sincere gratitude to my friends and colleagues at TCC South Campus and across the District. I will miss you tremendously.\u201d<\/p>\n McKinnon Rice is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.<\/p>\n The Report\u2019s higher education coverage is supported in part by major higher education institutions in Tarrant County, including Tarleton State University, Tarrant County College, Texas A&M-Fort Worth, Texas Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Texas at Arlington and UNT Health Science Center. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/04\/22\/on-campus-uta-receives-86m-navy-contract-for-shipbuilding-research\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&quality=80&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n <img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/?republication-pixel=true&post=503667&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/04\/22\/on-campus-uta-receives-86m-navy-contract-for-shipbuilding-research\/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } <\/script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/fortworthreport.org\/p.js”><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by McKinnon Rice, Fort Worth Report April 22, 2026 Editor\u2019s note: Welcome to On Campus: A roundup of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151,116,352,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-264920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arlington","8":"tag-arlington","9":"tag-arlington-headlines","10":"tag-arlington-news","11":"tag-fort-worth","12":"tag-higher-ed","13":"tag-tarrant-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}