Holiday Inn Express, Sulphur, LA
Date: Friday,
March 22, 2002
Time: 9:00
am – 1:00 pm
Steve Ames, President, opened the meeting and
welcomed everyone in attendance.
The participants introduced themselves.
There were 35 members and guests in attendance.
The
following members were approved by the steering committee.
Voting
– Stacey
Chiasson (LA P-Tech Coordinator), Career Builders, Baton Rouge, LA
Non-Voting
–
Pamela Rogers (Director), Texas Skills Standards Board,
Austin, TX
Paul
Swaile, Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science & Technology,
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
John
Cook, Keyano College, Ft. McMurray, Alberta, Canada
Executive
Director Report – Merv Treigle
– Merv welcomed Stacey Chiasson as the new Louisiana PTech
Coordinator and as the newest member of the GCPTA Executive
Committee.
Merv stated
that the Job Expo held at San Jacinto College-Central Campus on
February 22, 2002, was a success.
There were 17 companies with 33 representatives who
participated. It was
evident in discussing with the company representatives that the
students participating were high quality and there are many good
potential employees in the pipeline.
One hundred and ninety seven students from 11 colleges
attended the Job Expo.
Merv reported
that Val Hill from HOVENSA had related to him that the University of
the Virgin Islands PTech Program had been approved and will start in
the fall. They are
searching for a Program Director.
When the criteria for the job are developed, it will be put
on the GCPTA web site.
Merv stated
that payments for GCPTA curriculum materials have been slow in some
instances and that some institutions have requested refunds on
materials that were over-ordered.
Merv explained that the GCPTA paid for the printing of the
materials as they were ordered and there are no provisions for
returning these materials. He
related that the new order forms for curriculum materials have been
posted on the website and asked that all new orders use these new
forms. He also stressed
that it was important that those ordering materials pay for them in
a timely manner.
Special
Note – ACS – Mike Kukuk –
Mike reported that he had been invited to attend a meeting of the
American Chemical Society National Visiting Committee.
He reported they were a very active committee that has
established a number of grant objectives for the ACS NSF Grant.
Mike also reported that he had been asked to join the group
as a member of the National Visiting Committee.
He stated that this would give us an excellent opportunity to
collaborate between the GCPTA/CAPT Grant Application and the ACS
Grant.
Mike brought
copies of a new “Guide to Classroom Instruction for Adjunct
Faculty” which has been developed by the ACS and written by Dr.
John Reed. He provided each college with a complimentary copy
and related that if more were needed they could be purchased through
the American Chemical Society.
Mike also stressed that this classroom guide would be good
for all who teach in the classroom.
Joanna Kile,
CAPT Director, offered that the Center for Advancement of Process
Technology would be willing to conduct a workshop based on the
principles outlined in the guide.
Subcommittee
– Funding – John Payne
– John reported that we had taken in approximately $22,500 thus
for this year in subscriptions.
He related that our budget for the year was $59,500.
He emphasized the importance of the membership subscription
process to the continued success of the GCPTA.
He asked that each college and its industry advisory members
make every effort to get his or her company or organization to
contribute.
Gary reported that the Education Subcommittee was
developing Lab Activities at low cost for colleges.
He said criteria have been developed for what each lab should
contain. He asked that
colleges share what they are doing in their courses in order that
they might be shared with all GCPTA member colleges.
Gary stated that attendance at the Subcommittee
meetings by industry has been less than desired.
He requested that more volunteers from industry attend the
committee meetings.
Gary reminded everyone that the meeting on April 19th
would be an all day meeting to discuss the objectives to the
Exploration and Production Course that will be developed.
Another all day session will be held on May 31st
to discuss Industry Internship Guidelines.
He stated that the committee needs SME volunteers from both
colleges and industries who have had internships in the past.
Lou Caserta reported that they were working on
Instrumentation I & II and that they will be revisiting the
curriculum for changes. Lou
stated that additional information on the Education Subcommittee
will be added to the GCPTA web site.
Joanna reported that CAPT is willing to pay for a
limited number of scholarships ($200) for instructors to attend a
faculty workshop on Exploration and Production at Ocean Star in
Galveston, TX, on July 12, 2002.
For information and registration contact Cindy Washington at
409-938-1211, Ext. 103, E-mail:
Cwashington@com.edu.
Leslie Hunt
discussed four courses that will be piloted this Fall.
She defined and explained the responsibilities of both
classroom instructors and web-based facilitators.
She distributed several handouts from CAPT, including
memoranda of understanding for piloting the classroom and web-based
courses, and a registration for CAPT/GCPTA Online Course
Facilitation Workshops. Leslie’s
presentation
is being made a part of these minutes.
Kathy
reported that the GCPTA has received $19,363.47 in subscriptions and
other income for 2002. GCPTA expenses year-to-date are $11,746.61.
The Bank Balance at the end of January 2002 was $47,029.41.
Anyone wishing to see the subscriptions and/or expenses
should contact her. Kathy
asked that everyone consider giving of their time in addition to
their financial contributions.
§
Louisiana Technical College-Sowela –
Linton Lecompte reported
they have started up their A, B, and C pilot plants and are doing
HAZOPS on them now. Their
first 18-20 graduates will graduate in May.
§
College of the Mainland reported
they have 230 students in the program.
They currently have 85 students enrolled in 5 Internet
courses. They have
identified there are problems with basic skills for those students
enrolled in Internet courses. The
Internet courses will not be offered in the summer and they are
working on a solution for the lack of basic skills.
They have developed an Applied Chemistry Course, which will
be offered for the first time in the Fall.
There are 2 student interns at BP in Texas City.
The Glycol/Water separation Pilot Plant is now working well.
BP in Texas City donated a Glass Distillation model to the
college thanks to Dennis Link and Dow James.
§
McNeese State University – Carol Schulte reported
that they have 125 students in their program and they will graduate
24 in May. Eight
students are enrolled in the 4-year technology degree program.
§
Brazosport College – Gary Hicks reported
they would have 40 graduates in May.
They are also holding courses for high schoolers at Sweeney
High School. They will
be holding a workshop in June for high school and college
instructors in PTech sponsored by the American Chemical Society.
§
Baton Rouge Community College – Richard
Cox, Joe Wild & Stacey Chiasson reported they would have 18 graduates in
May. They have 15
internships available, which are more internships than they have
takers. Many companies
are looking for interns in their labs.
Their Glass Labs are in place and they are working to get
them up and running by the first of June.
It was reported that 67% of BRCC PTech students passed the
ExxonMobil pre-employment test.
Stacey Chiasson reported
on a PTech Academy, which is a 2-hour workshop being held in
surrounding parishes. Fifty-eight
educators have participated with 84% of them wanting examples of
what to take back to the classroom relating to Math, Science, and
English. Stacey and Joe Wild stated they had been holding
meetings with student focus groups to make them aware of what is
available in Process Technology education.
Stacey also reported that 10 new scholarships in the amount
of $45,000 have been made available by local industries in Ascension
Parish for Ascension Parish students.
§
ITI Technical College – Lewis Babin reported
that they are currently considering adopting some of the GCPTA
materials for use in their own courses.
He reported that they are building a new distillation plant
for their technology degree program.
He also reported that they had brought in 60 student
counselors from around the area last year to answer their questions
about technology degrees. They
plan to do this again this year.
§
Louisiana Technical College-River Parishes
– George Foret reported they currently have 56 students enrolled.
About half of their students receive job offers before
graduation. Starting in
the Fall, they will begin busing groups of high school students to
the campus for PTech courses.
§
San Jacinto College – Ed Stiles reported
that they are working to increase industry membership on their PTech
Advisory Committee. They
are considering the use of Louisiana’s auditing tool for internal
auditing of their courses.
§
Houston Community College, NE Campus– John
Payne reported
they have 160 students enrolled in the program. They have set a goal to put Intro to PTech in at
the other 13 campuses. He
reported that Crown had donated a full-scale model of a Cat Cracker
to the college. The
Hampden Engineering Corporation Skid Mounted Distillation Unit is in
place and working. They are working with the University of Houston to
articulate the Process Technology AAS Degree into a 4-year degree. They have also tied in with a school in Saigon to
teach PTech courses there.
§
Steve stated that the 2002 IPTA meeting would be
held in early October at a date and Houston-area location to be
announced.
§
Kathy Trahan mentioned that a group from the
Executive Committee is established to develop guidelines to begin a
GCPTA PTech student competition.
They will be attending a Skills USA competition on April 11
to get more ideas.
§
Steve asked that everyone attending the GCPTA
meetings bring back the information to their Advisory Committees and
provide them an up-date as to what is taking place in Process
Technology Education. We
need to publicize this both at the colleges and at all the company
sites represented on the Advisory Committees.
§
Sandra Mourton-Short and Misty Yarotsky with
Offshore Energy Center explained what the OEC was all about.
They showed a display box containing information about the
oil industry that travels to schools in the Galveston and Houston
area. The American
Association of Drilling Engineers funds the materials and
information contained in the box.
The Center conducts workshops to provide information to
teachers about the Oil and Gas Industry.
They are currently looking to fund this type of information
in others area like Lake Charles and New Orleans.
If you have information regarding the oil and gas industry
that would be appropriate to include in this traveling box, contact
Misty Yarotsky at the Ocean Star Museum at E-mail: oeceducate@aol.com.
§
Website www.processtech.org
is fully active and maintained by Bob Kosar of Grand Isle Group
Information Delivery Specialists.
If your school or company has a website and it is not
accessible by just a click, contact the Webmaster by e-mail bobkosar@hal-pc.org.
§
Center for the Advancement of Process Technology
(CAPT) website www.captech.org.
§
Contact the GCPTA at atgcpta@msn.com.
Nassau Bay, TX
Friday, May 17, 2002
Sulphur, LA
Friday, August 2, 2002
***Other Events***
Meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Ed Stiles, Secretary
Gulf Coast Process Technology Alliance
ES/at