We are devoting a large portion of this issue of Welding Design & Fabrication to address education for welders.

In a survey we did last year, you told us that education is important to you, and this welding school directory is one way in which we are responding. In the survey, 72 percent of our readers said that the shortage of skilled workers is a major issue for their operations, and 50 percent said employee training is a major issue. This month, we are publishing a list of public and private institutions that train welders. Our list covers high schools, technical training and trade schools, community colleges, colleges and universities, and privately sponsored schools. These institutions offer both training for new welders and training designed to upgrade or increase the skills of working welders.

As we point out in a feature story on one school in eastern North Carolina, these institutions are the homes to experienced welding professionals who help bring along the next generation of welders. You can read the profile of Roy Lanier and the welding program at Pitt Community College on page 12 for one look at one program. There are hundreds of teachers like Lanier, and some may be in your own backyard.

Oftentimes those teachers are valuable resources in and of themselves, and can provide advice or direction for when you have a tough challenge in your shop.

While we have listed at least one training institution in each state, we readily acknowledge that our printed list is limited and has only a representative sample of the schools throughout the nation. If your school—or any school that you know about—isn't on our printed list, it's because of the limitations of print.

However, you will discover a more extensive list on our web site (www.weldingdesign.com), and we will add information there as the year progresses so that we provide you with the most up-to-date information on training that we can find.

If you know of additional schools or any type of training facilities for welders, call me and let me know about them. I'll check them out and have them posted on our website list.

In addition, to get more up-to-date information for you, we are planning to survey welding schools and training facilities that we find in order to assemble a comprehensive list of the skills that they specialize in and the technologies that they have available, but that will take some additional time. In the meanwhile, we intend to update our list online on a regular basis, and we will post what we know.

In publishing this list, we want to provide you with tools that make your job easier by giving you:

• A better understanding of training resources in your area.
• A list of resources that you can use to recruit new welders or to find training for experienced welders.
• A directory that will give you a place to go when you have a challenging welding problem. Welding shops in every state are facing the responsibility of developing an educated workforce, and each state has at least one place where welding skills are taught. We hope this list helps you to find what you need.