Dixie State Automotive Technology Program Receives Vehicle Donation from Nissan and Stephen Wade Dealership
























Students in Dixie State College of Utah’s automotive technology program will have five new top-of-the-line vehicles to train on thanks to generous donations made by Nissan North America and the St. George Stephen Wade Nissan dealership.

The five vehicles donated by Nissan North America include a 2003 Infiniti FX45, 2004 Nissan Titan truck, a 2005 Nissan Frontier truck, a 2006 Infiniti M45 and a 2007 Nissan Sentra. All five vehicles have an approximate value of $135,000.

Program instructor Bill Schouten, who himself is retired from the Nissan Corporation, said that DSC’s automotive department approached Nissan about the possibility of receiving vehicles the company was preparing to move out of its corporate fleet. The department then received word last March that the vehicles would be made available to the College.

“We discussed our need for vehicle donations to keep our fleet of school-owned shop vehicles up-to-date with the latest technological advances in the industry,” Schouten said. “By incorporating these vehicles into our fleet, we will now have current, state-of-the-art automobiles on which to train our students.”

According to Schouten and assistant professor Mel Jensen, the donated vehicles are for student training only and cannot be licensed or operated on public streets, which left the department staff wondering how they would get the automobiles from Pleasanton, Calif., to the DSC campus. However, that problem would be solved thanks to the generosity of Stephen Wade and his son C.J. Wade, who arranged and paid for the expensive transportation of the vehicles from California to St. George.

In addition, C.J. Wade, who is a member of the DSC automotive department’s advisory council, took on the added expense of detailing the vehicles before delivering them to the Dixie campus.

“Our sincere thanks go to Stephen and C.J. Wade and the entire Stephen Wade Nissan dealership for their generosity, we would not have these vehicles here without their help,” Schouten said. “They recognize the need for properly trained technicians for the auto industry and our department is fortunate to have local industry partners like Stephen and C.J. Wade support our program and students.”

For more information on DSC’s automotive technology program, please contact Bill Schouten at 435-652-7859 or at schouten@dixie.edu, or Mel Jensen at 435-652-7853 or at jensenm@dixie.edu.