Southeast grad, Republic Airways executive, to announce SEMO partnership

A former Southeast Missouri State University student and employee will usher in the school's partnership with her current employer, Republic Airways, today.

Lauren McNamara Gaudion, director of corporate communications and public relations for Indianapolis-based Republic, who earned two degrees at Southeast, will be at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport for a 10:30 a.m. news conference inside Commander Hangar to sign an employment partnership agreement with airport officials and the university.

Gaudion, a Breese, Illinois, native and co-winner of the 2011 Trombetta Award from Southeast in recognition of academic excellence by student athletes, has much experience with the university as a student and an employee.

She earned a bachelor's degree from Southeast with a double major of mass communication and Spanish in 2011, later earning a master's in public administration in 2014.

During pursuit of the master's degree, Gaudion worked three years as an admissions counselor for the university.

"(The Republic partnership) is an example of how we're building out the program," said Kathy Harper, Southeast's communications director, on Monday — referring to the new four-year professional pilot degree announced in December.

Jobs outlook

Prospects for employment after graduation is a particular focus of Texas-based U.S. Aviation Group (USAG), which has instructional responsibility for the Southeast program and will operate out of rented office space in Hangar 71 at the Cape Girardeau airport.

In January, USAG's executive vice president Mark Taylor told the Southeast Missourian his company has hired some its own graduates and said the company has employment connections with United and Southeast Airlines, plus Envoy Air, a regional carrier formerly known as American Eagle.

Hands-on instruction at the city-owned airport in Scott County and classroom work on Southeast's Cape Girardeau campus will begin in the upcoming fall semester.

Registration recently opened for Fall 2021 at the university and Taylor said he is hopeful of 20 to 25 students in the inaugural class, permitting USAG to keep a low eight-to-one ratio of students to aircraft.

The company, which said it has been training pilots for 13 years, plans to keep three Cessna 172 planes at the airport for instructional purposes, Taylor said.

Southeast has hired Ken Jackson, former Dexter, Missouri, school superintendent and a private pilot, as the university's first director of aviation operations.

Post-pandemic hopes

After COVID, the aviation technology firm CAE, suggested in its 2020-2029 "Pilot Demand Outlook" report, the future is bright in the industry — stating a "short-term need for approximately 27,000 new professional pilots beginning in late 2021 with demand continuing throughout the decade."

CAE's report also said the industry expects to need more than 260,000 new pilots before 2030.