Gateway Technical College Seeks $950,000 For AI Apprenticeship Program; 'Decision Timeline TBD,' Says Chancellor

WAUKESHA — Gateway Technical College has submitted a 142-page application for a $950,000 state workforce grant that would fund an 18-month artificial intelligence apprenticeship program, the hiring of three new instructors, and the conversion of a tech lab currently used for storing folding chairs.

The grant, administered through the state's new worker-training initiative, is competitive, meaning Gateway is one of several technical colleges statewide asking for a slice of the same pool of money. College officials describe themselves as cautiously optimistic, a phrase that appeared four times in the grant's cover letter alone.

"We're hopeful but realistic about the approval process," said a Gateway spokesperson, Darlene Oskowski, reading from a printed statement she kept folded in thirds. "Realistic meaning we have not budgeted for a yes, and we have not budgeted for a no. We have budgeted for a maybe, which is its own line item."

A lab full of chairs

The proposed site of the AI lab, Room 114B, currently holds 61 stackable chairs left over from a 2019 graduation ceremony and a drill press that has not been plugged in since the Obama administration. Facilities staff estimate the room could be cleared in two business days, though Oskowski said the chairs themselves present "a secondary logistics question" not addressed in the grant narrative.

Under the proposal, the 18-month curriculum would train 24 students per cohort in what the application describes as "applied AI systems maintenance and advanced manufacturing integration," a phrase Oskowski admitted required three internal meetings to finalize. The first cohort would begin no earlier than fall 2027, assuming funding arrives, instructors are hired, and the chairs find a new home.

Gateway has tentatively identified three instructor positions it hopes to fill, though postings have not gone up and the college has not named candidates. Oskowski said the college is "not pre-selecting anyone," a line she repeated twice.

Waiting on a timeline

Asked when a decision might come, Oskowski said the state agency reviewing applications had not provided one. "We've asked. We've asked more than once," she said. "The answer so far has been 'the committee is still convening,' which is a phrase that can mean anything from three weeks to a full fiscal year."

"We filled out the budget narrative three times because the font kept resetting to Times New Roman, which the instructions said was unacceptable. That took longer than the actual budget math."

— Darlene Oskowski, Gateway spokesperson

The grant application lists 3 instructors, 1 converted lab, 24 students per cohort, and a total project cost of $950,000, of which $612,000 is earmarked for equipment the college declined to itemize publicly, citing "competitive sensitivity." The remaining funds cover salaries, software licensing, and what the narrative calls "contingency," set at $38,000.

Until then, the drill press stays

For now, Room 114B remains unchanged. The chairs are stacked eight high along the east wall, and the drill press sits under a tarp near the door, unplugged and, according to one maintenance worker who asked not to be named, "not going anywhere until somebody tells it to."

Oskowski said the college will update the public "as soon as there is something to update," and that in the meantime, prospective students interested in the program should check Gateway's website, which currently lists the AI apprenticeship as "pending."

"We didn't want to promise a start date and then move it," she said. "Better to just say TBD and mean it."