When it comes to air conditioning and heating technology, Carter Stanfield wrote the book — literally. The second edition of his textbook, “Fundamentals of HVAC/R,” just came out.
Sales of the textbook have increased every year since Stanfield wrote it in 2009 with David Skaves, a faculty member at the Maine Maritime Academy. Not bad for a man who never intended to work in the industry.
“My father started an air conditioning business, so I grew up in it,” said Stanfield, program director for air conditioning technology at Athens Technical College.
He began working for his father at 14, but enrolled in the University of Georgia to pursue a bachelor’s degree in music.
Partway through college, Stanfield applied to become a heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HAVC/R) instructor at Athens Tech, and to his surprise, he was hired. He’s been there since 1976.
“I spent the first year learning what an instructor does, and discovered that I really liked teaching,” he said.
Stanfield never finished his music degree, but he did go back and earn a bachelor’s degree in education, with a concentration in technical education, in 1995.
“If you’re someone who gets anxious solving problems, this isn’t the field for you, because you never know what you’ll need to do in any given day,” Stanfield said. “It takes a self-starter who doesn’t mind facing challenges.”
Many of his students are retraining for a second career and are attracted by the freedom of not being chained to a desk job.
“The problems change on a daily basis and that can be satisfying. When you solve it, there’s a feeling of accomplishment. You don’t get that in every job,” he said.
Other advantages include a true career ladder, with supervisory, management, sales and marketing positions available, as well as company ownership. Air conditioning, heating and refrigeration installation, maintenance and repair skills are needed by homeowners, contractors, businesses and industries. And the work can’t be outsourced.
Although hiring in the construction industry is still slow, Stanfield has had no trouble placing his graduates with companies that service existing or new systems. Starting pay in Athens averages $30,000 to $35,000 a year, but technicians often make more due to overtime.
Athens Technical College offers two certificates of credit: air conditioning maintenance technician and air conditioning/electrical technician. Each certificate takes a semester to complete and offers entry into the field or greater theoretical grounding for working technicians. The diploma program takes from 18 months to two years to complete.
Students may enroll during any semester. They can choose to take lectures online or in the classroom, but labs must be completed on campus.
The program includes courses in basic electricity, refrigeration fundamentals, and soldering and braising. Students then learn to install and maintain various kinds of air conditioning, heating and refrigeration systems.
In-state tuition for the programs is $1,255, plus lab fees, for a 15-credit-hour semester.
For information, call 706-355-5099 or go to www.athenstech.edu. Prospective students can email Stanfield at cstanfield@athenstech.edu.
To find other technical colleges in Georgia with HVAC/R programs, go to https://tcsg.edu.
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