Kirk Cromer’s Degree Offered Great Opportunities During his 30-plus Year Career in Industry
PRESS RELEASE
Date: April 22, 2026
Contact: Lisa Garrett, lgarrett@tctc.edu
Kirk Cromer’s Degree Offered Great Opportunities During his 30-plus Year Career in Industry
PENDLETON, SC – Kirk Cromer’s Electronics Engineering Technology (EET) degree from TCTC offered him great opportunities during his 30-plus year career in industry.
Cromer spent 32 years at General Electric (GE) in a variety of roles in the Greenville Gas Turbine test center, including lead operator, operations leader, quality leader and manufacturing engineer.
“GE offered a great quality of life for my family,” said Cromer.
When he retired in 2020, he and his wife spent two years traveling across the United States in their RV. But Cromer, a self-described lifelong learner, returned from traveling and began to look for something new to tackle. He saw a TSS project developer job opening at TCTC and applied. The job appealed to him on many different levels, but specifically because he would assist in developing training materials and the curriculum for local industries and apprentices, one of which is BASF’s North American Apprenticeship Development Program in Seneca. The program is in partnership with Apprenticeship Carolina and TCTC and enables BASF ECMS to hire talented individuals who might not have been considered otherwise due to their lack of manufacturing experience.
He also helped to develop curricula for TCTC’s Plastic Injection Molding (PIM) initiative, an industry-driven workforce development program designed to support the career and technical advancement of plastics workers throughout Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens counties.
Since joining TCTC, Cromer expanded his role and began teaching OSHA classes for the College’s I-BEST program and the BASF apprentices.
In 2025, he joined the Mechatronics program as an adjunct instructor for TCTC Mechatronics majors.
“I discovered that I really enjoy teaching. I remember being a student at TCTC in the 1980s. It was a good experience because my instructors invested in me,” said Cromer, an Anderson County resident.
“I enjoy showing students the internship and apprentice opportunities available to them today through GE and other companies all over the Upstate,” he said, adding that today’s technical opportunities are far broader than when he was a student at TCTC.
Cromer enrolled at TCTC after graduating from T.L. Hanna High School. His father, Sidney Cromer, earned an Industrial Electronics Technology degree in the 1970s. He chose TCTC for the same reason as his father – it was close to home, and it was affordable. He enrolled in the Associate in Science program in 1982.
Cromer graduated with little debt. “I worked at a restaurant while a student and paid my own way,” he said.
“When I graduated in 1984, I thought about transferring to a four-year college, but instead I chose EET. It was challenging and could quickly lead to a career in a technical field. I loved working with discrete components and computer electronics,” he said.
His first job was at Goodman Conveyor in the lab making repairs and design changes to belt scales for the mining industry. He stayed a couple of years before moving to GE.
While working at GE, he earned a business degree in computer information technology in 2000 from Anderson University, which GE paid for through its tuition reimbursement program. “I always urge students to take advantage of this if their company offers it.”
Cromer said his bachelor’s degree increased his opportunities to grow and opened up even more avenues, like teaching in retirement.
“The students are a great bunch. They are engaged and come in prepared. I want to be a positive influence. Mechatronics is a great program, and I will do what I can to make it even better.”
“Kirk has been an absolute delight to have as part of the Mechatronics team,” said Michael Oates, TCTC Mechatronics program director. “Kirk’s ability to engage the students is top notch as he brings in so many great life and professional experiences. We are honored to have Kirk on the Mechatronics team.”
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About Tri-County Technical College
Tri-County Technical College, a public two-year community and technical college serving Anderson, Oconee and Pickens Counties in South Carolina, enrolls more than 9,000 students annually and offers more than 70 major fields of study, including computer technology, business administration, mechatronics, nursing, and university transfer programs. Tri-County boasts the highest student success rate among two-year colleges in the state and ranks in the top one percent nationally for successful student transfers to four-year colleges and universities. To learn more, visit tctc.edu.
