GCPTA MEETING MINUTES

Holiday Inn Express, Sulphur, LA

Date:  Friday, April 25, 2003

Time:  9:00 am – 1:00 pm

 

Mike Gragg, Treasurer, opened the meeting and welcomed everyone in attendance.  The participants introduced themselves.  There were 31 members and guests in attendance.

 

Approval of Last Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the January 31, 2003 meeting were distributed, read, and approved April 25, 2003. 

 

Subcommittee on Rules/By-Laws – Steve Erickson

The following members were approved by the steering committee.

 

Non-Voting Kirk Hunter, Texas State Technical College, Waco, TX 

                      Tammy Terrell, Chevron Phillips, Baytown, TX 

                      John Borecki, Dow Chemical Company, Texas City, TX

 

Executive Directors Report – Steve Erickson – reported that the Summer Institute for High School Females had been awarded to Baton Rouge Community College at the Executive Committee Meeting following the January GCPTA meeting.  Steve iterated that this (non-traditional female jobs) is something the GCPTA needs to address.  Along this same line, Steve stated that the GCPTA is partnering with the IICTA on a Perkins Grant to build a Tool Kit to market technology jobs for Women.  He thanked the IICTA for allowing us to partner with them.  The GCPTA should be hearing something on this in the near future.

 

Ed Stiles took the GCPTA financial records to Stan Fortson and he has filed the necessary forms to the IRS on behalf of the GCPTA.

 

The SME’s who worked on the Instrumentation Modules have been paid by the GCPTA.  Steve thanked Oran Sonnier for working on the Oil & Gas modules.

 

The GCPTA sent a letter to Governor Rick Perry about the community colleges’ cuts in finances outlining our position about this.  Gary Hicks, Mike Gragg and Steve Erickson composed this letter, which was outstanding.  Steve encouraged industry members to send letters to government officials on their letterhead on issues that affect education.

 

Steve reported that because of scheduling problems and lower costs, we could possibly be moving the next meetings to the Holiday Inn on Nassau Road One just down from the Hilton in Nassau Bay, TX.  The Executive Committee is to rule on this.

 

Steve reported that the Education and Career Expo held in February was a tremendous success.  There were 200 students who attended with 14 companies represented.  There was great dialogue between the students and the companies.  This was a great opportunity for the students to meet and talk with those who are their potential employers.  Steve also mentioned that the GCPTA is looking into having another Career Fair at night this fall.

 

Subcommittee – Funding – John Payne – gave a power point presentation on the progress of the Funding Committee.  John explained to everyone that he was the Chairman of this committee and that this allowed him a seat on the Executive Committee.  He encouraged everyone to participate by attending meetings and joining and participating in the subcommittees where the majority of the work for the GCPTA gets done. 

 

John explained the Mission and Vision of the Funding Committee:

·         Mission

The funding sub-committee exists to provide assurance that the GCPTA revenue meets or exceeds forecast demand.

 

·         Vision

The GCPTA will develop and implement strategies, employ personnel, and foster activities that will enable the supply of Process Technology graduates to meet forecasted industry needs.

 

·         Vision Elements

Ø       Strategies are developed for each GCPTA goal along with implementation plans

Ø       Staff will be employed that will enable the plans to be carried out

Ø       Funds will be available to enable staff to complete their requirements

Ø       Committee activities will be funded as required to assure the vision

 

John explained the Funding Subcommittee Objectives:

·         Objective I:  Sponsor and fund the development of strategies and plans for each stated goal and implementation

Goals:

§         Assure that all committee goals are measurable and realistic

§         Acquire/allocate needed funding for any assistance needed for development of goals

§         Acquire/allocate funding needed for implementation plans

§         Develop plan to assure adequate funding for current and future efforts

 

·         Objective 2:  Provide staffing to meet objectives

Goals:

§         Prioritize work activities

§         Develop staff work scope to meet objectives

§         Determine staff expertise, availability and staff the office accordingly

§         Develop plan to provide funding

 

·         Objective 3:  Provide for facilities

Goals:

§         Itemize list of needed facilities according to staff needs

§         Develop plan/budget to assure funding

 

John explained the financial situation of the GCPTA as follows:

·         Balances as of 4/25/03

§         Bank Balance as of 2/28/03      $42,538.22 

§         2003 Total Budget      $55,835.00

§         33% Income Should Be      $18,425.00

§         Actual YTD Income      $13,994.80

§         Over/Under  -4,488.55 

§         YTD Expenses      $13,936.45 

§         Income is running 24.4% below target.

 

·         Objective 4:  All committee requirements are funded so that their missions are carried out

Goals:

§         Communicate with committees to determine needs and itemize

§         In conjunction with committees, estimate funding necessary to enable success for each committee

§         Identify and recommend activities that will generate short and long-term funding

§         Assist in coordinating such activities to generate funds as needed

 

 

Financial Report – Mike Gragg – reported that to date in 2003, Expenses were $13,936.45 and Income was $13,994.80.  The bank balance at the end of February 2003 was $42,538.22.  Anyone wishing to review these figures should contact Steve Erickson or Ann Treigle.

 

Subcommittee on Public Relations – Mike Gragg – Mike reported they have several projects they want to work on, but have money constraints.  They have spent time with Debbie Shoots with CAPT to make sure there is no duplication in projects in order to make wise use of funds.  (Learn from state of LA)

 

Subcommittee on Education – Martha McKinley Martha reported they had been meeting every month, but that they hadn’t met since January.  Their work on the Skills Standards is on hold.  They will be working with CAPT on the development of an Instrumentation textbook.  She reported that the ESC’s model for internship is on the Website.  Mike Kukuk reported that examples of documents for internships are on the CAPT Website www.captech.org under Additional Resources.  Mike also reported that work on the role of each person involved in internships should be ready by December.  This will help with standardization and enable people and companies to get started with co-ops and internships.

 

The Education Subcommittee needs more industry representatives to participate.  One of the ways that they can participate is by reviewing materials, which requires no travel.  If you would like to participate in this way, please contact Gary Hicks or Martha McKinley. 

 

The Glossary of Terms has been revised.  The Executive Committee will decide on the next step for its dissemination.   

 

NSF Update – Merv TreigleMerv informed everyone that Joanna Kile was meeting with our APICC partners in Alaska.  He reported that he, Joanna Kile and Mike Kukuk had made a trip to New Jersey to meet with our partners in the Greater New Jersey Process Technology Alliance.  They attended the advisory committee meeting held at Elizabeth High School.  This high school is the largest high school in the state of New Jersey and the only one with a process technology program.  Charles Gaffen has built an excellent process technology program at the high school.   It can serve as a model for programs throughout the country.  Merv also reported that they had visited several partner colleges, namely Delaware Technical and Community College-Stanton Campus, and Salem Community College.  They also visited with Middlesex County College and will be providing mentorship to them to help them establish a process technology program.  Mike Kukuk will be serving as the mentor to Middlesex and the Greater New Jersey Process Technology Alliance. 

 

Merv gave the following NSF presentation updating CAPT’s progress:

 

Curriculum Activities:

·         Piloting Oil and Gas Production I

(Being piloted at Lamar Institute of Technology, Alvin Community College and in Alaska)

 

·         Developing Oil and Gas Production II

(Will be piloted this fall.)

 

A discussion ensued about an exit option in oil and gas production and exploration for students in the various process technology programs.  Several strategies were discussed among the participants.  They were as follows:  Allowing students to take the E&P courses in lieu of other technical electives; allowing students to take additional hours; or adding additional hours if possible to process technology programs which do not allow for E&P to be an elective.

 

·         In the early Phases of Instrumentation Textbook Development

ü       The Education Subcommittees provided input for content emphasis using a tool defining Difficulty, Impact, and Frequency (DIF)

 

ü       The DIF tool was provided to ESC members on 2/3/03 and returned by 2/28/03 and has now been compiled.  This was a 43-page questionnaire, which required a great deal of work for those providing the input.

 

Professional Development Activities:

·         Critical Issues and Best Practices will beheld at South Shore Harbour Resort and Convention Center on October 9th and 10th, 2003.

ü       Rooms are available through September 9th at a rate of $99

ü       A Call for Proposal was mailed out on 3/24/03

ü       Scholarships for Faculty will again be available to those who wish to attend the CIBP

o         15 Full Scholarships will be available that will cover the cost of registration, 2 night stay at the hotel and up to $450 in travel costs

o         20 Partial Scholarships will be available that will cover cost of registration and 2 night stay at the hotel

 

·         Two One-Week Faculty Summer Institutes at Brazosport College

ü       Being sponsored by CAPT & ACS

ü       Flyers were sent out to all CAPT, GCPTA & ACS mailing lists

ü       The Introductory Institute will be held June 9th through June 13th

ü       The Advanced Institute will be held July 14th through July 18th

ü       Registration can be made with Steven Iwanowski at the ACS, Phone 202-872-6124 or Email S_Iwanowski@acs.org

 

Professional Development Activities:

·         Student Internships

ü       CAPT received and compiled 69 applications for BP

John Payne reported that 42 of the applicants met minimum criteria.  BP conducted interviews with the 42 applicants, who were from SOWELA, Baton Rouge, LA, Texas City, TX and Farmington, NM.  BP will have a total of 19 internships this summer, 8 in the lower 48 states and 11 in Alaska.  John offered that BP would share entire program with those who want to put together internships.

ü       CAPT is willing to help companies interested in providing internships to a diverse number of students throughout the United States.  This includes helping develop a brochure for advertising and receiving and compiling the applications for the companies.

 

·         Scholarships

ü       Deadline has been extended to May 1 for the Dow and BP Scholarships

Colleges were encouraged to promote the scholarships to their students and to encourage the students to make applications for scholarships.

 

·         Faculty Short Workshops

ü       APICC will be conducting one in August on Auditing the PT program with Kathy Trahan

 

Capacity Building Activities:

·         Mentor Program

ü       Bellingham Technical College in Washington State

Steve Ames will be making a site visit on May 14th.  Satpal Sidhu, the Program Chair at Bellingham, related that the May 14th advisory committee meeting might have as many as 60 representatives in attendance.

ü       Calhoun Community College in Alabama

Mike Cobb and Jerry Duncan with COM are working with Jim Swindell, the Program Chair at Calhoun CC, establishing a PT program.

ü       Los Angels Trade Technical College in California

Mike Kukuk is working with the California Alliance and hopes to help get the program started in 2004.

ü       Middlesex County College in New Jersey

Mike Kukuk will be working with the college in their efforts to establish a PT program.

·         Industrial Technology Summer Institute for High School Females

ü       Will be held this summer at Baton Rouge Community College

 

·         Partner Forms

ü       Have received 38 Community College partner forms

ü       Developing associate and international partner forms

 

Dissemination Activities:

·         Trends in Process Technology Education Report is now available on website or for purchase 

·         Student Success Stories Publication is now available on the website or for purchase 

·         ROI Baseline Survey Complete will be available for purchase, contact CAPT for pricing 

·         A new CAPT website architecture is being created

 

Evaluation and Assessment:

·         Level 3 Evaluation

ü       10 to 12 Chemical and Refining companies and 6 to 8 Oil and Gas Exploration & Production companies are wanted to participate in establishing an evaluation tool for skills, knowledge and attitude for hires out of the process technology programs. 

ü       The companies will be asked to meet at the 2003 Critical Issues and Best Practices Conference to help establish these criteria

ü       They will be asked to evaluate their next new class of hires using the established criteria as follows:

o         During their new hire training

o         During their OJT after their first job posting

o         After 6 months to a year

 

·         Assessment

ü       Gary Hicks is chairing a national advisory subcommittee

ü       CAPT will be developing a national assessment tool broad in scope with its national partners.  More information will be made available at a later date.

 

For further information on CAPT activities, contact:

Joanna Kile or Merv Treigle

CAPT at College of the Mainland

1200 Amburn Road

Texas City, Texas 77591

(409) 938-1211, Ext. 101 or 107

jkile@com.edu

mtreigle@com.edu

www.captech.org

 

Subcommittee on Standards & Quality – Ed Stiles reported that the Executive Committee would be having a meeting the following Friday and that more projects for this committee would be coming.  Ed gave a power point presentation updating the status of this committee.

 

Ed explained that there were two requirements for GCPTA Member Schools, which were, announced at the November 1, 2002 GCPTA meeting and 1/31/03 business meetings and were also emailed to member schools on 11/9/02.  These requirements are as follows:

1.       Establish and Maintain a Viable Advisory Committee

2.       Conduct P-Tech Program Audits

 

Requirement for:

1.       Establish and Maintain a Viable Advisory Committee is as follows:

 

All affiliated colleges (Endorsed and Recommended) will submit the following to the Standards and Quality Committee (Via Kathy Trahan or Ed Stiles):

 

a)       Minutes of each of their Advisory Committee meetings

 

b)       Advisory Committee member names and their contact information (contact info optional)

 

Status:

Schools, which have submitted adequate documentation of an active advisory committee, are as follows:

 

Ascension, BRCC, Brazosport, COM, Del Mar, HCC, LIT, McNeese, River Parishes, San Jacinto, Sowela, TSTC and Victoria. 

 

Requirement for:

2.       Conduct P-Tech Program Audits

 

a)       All affiliated colleges will begin implementation of an auditing process by no later than the beginning of the Spring Semester of 2003

 

b)       Colleges will submit the guidelines of their audit process by no later than the end of the Spring Semester of 2003

 

(NOTE:  An audit does not have to have been conducted at this time)

 

c)       Colleges will provide this Committee with abbreviated status reports on their auditing efforts as they occur

 

Status:

Schools, which have submitted adequate documentation of their audit process guidelines, are as follows:

BRCC, COM, HCC, McNeese, River Parishes, San Jacinto & Sowela

 

What Happens Next?

 

If a college fails to show evidence of both a viable Advisory Committee and an auditing process, the Standards and Quality Committee will recommend to the GCPTA Executive Committee that that school’s Endorsed or Recommended status be reviewed for possible revocation.

 

Ed explained that industry wants a standardized program and this process is a way of standardizing.  This is a tender nudge in the back.

 

Ed also explained that once a school’s audit process kicks in, it wouldn’t have to submit minutes anymore.  As for the audit process, he and Kathy want to know where you stand now.  If you haven’t done an audit, call Kathy Trahan, they are doing one in July and invite you to see how they do it.

 

Ed and Kathy will be contacting the schools that have not submitted the information requested will be contacted in the next week and a half.

 

For further information contact:

Ed Stiles, Co-Chair at eddie.stiles@lyondell-citgo.com

Kathy Trahan, Co-Chair at trahank@mybr.cc

 

College Advisory Committees

·         Baton Rouge Community College – Ronnie Hotard & Kathy Trahan – reported the following:

BRCC will be hosting the Summer Institute for High School Females from June 23-27, 2003.  Stacey Chiasson, LCA/Career Builders is assisting with recruiting the 20 students that will be participating along with industry members and the BRCC faculty and staff.

 

Currently six students are finishing up their internships in the Baton Rouge area with six more preparing for the summer sessions.

 

One Hundred and eighteen (118) students signed up for BRCC’s PTEC club.  Larry Rabalais will be addressing club members on May 1st regarding SkillsUSA chapter development and PTEC competition development.

 

New Best Practices:  Kirkwood Community College invited BRCC to participate in a student recruiting practice that supports between 35% and 70% of their enrollment.  BRCC held their first high school recruiting event in April attracting 28 students.  The second event drew 156 students from three area high schools.  BRCC decided a cap of 50 participants for future events would be more manageable.  ExxonMobil bought pizza for all of the participants.

 

BRCC staff, faculty and students are using plant directories, maps and CDs for the Houston Ship Channel and the Lower Mississippi corridor provided by the Homesite Company out of Baton Rouge.  These reference materials are used by staff to recruit industry support and obtain industry specific process for use in chemistry classes.  Students use them to job hunt, prepare for interviews, and complete assignments.  Flyers from the vendor were given to interested members.

 

·         Lamar Institute of Technology – Ronnie Baker – reported Lamar Institute of Technology’s process operating program continues to turn out graduates.  It will graduate 50 students May 9.  LIT has awarded 105 Associate Degrees in Process Technology since last August.  Port Arthur Refining and Chemical Plants have established 20 $8,000 for graduates of the Port Arthur Independent School District to obtain an Associate Degree in Process Operating Technology or Instrumentation from Lamar State College in Port Arthur or from LIT in Beaumont.  ExxonMobil in Beaumont is awarding more than $18,000 in scholarships and summer employment to four students entering process technology at LIT.

 

LIT’s Advisory Board met a week and a half ago.  One of ExxonMobil’s scholarship students competed Skill’s USA and won a gold metal.

 

·         Louisiana Technical College – Linton LeCompte – reported the current postsecondary enrollment is 150 with the current secondary enrollment at 35.  They anticipate 14 graduates in May 2003.  Plane “E” P-Tech Lab is 90% complete. 

 

SOWELA is offering Introduction to PTech at three area high schools with an enrollment of 35 students.  After a meeting with area school principals last month, two more schools in Calcasieu Parish and four schools in Jeff Davis Parish are requesting a P-Tech course for their students.  Enrollment has doubled and the administrators love it.

 

During this time of reduced employment for graduates, they have initiated a training program for P-Tech students in forklift and man-lift operations.  Each student successfully completing the training will receive certification.

 

They are also attempting to find an avenue to get HAZWOPER certification for their students.

 

SOWELA will have a summer program beginning June 9th for 2 weeks for those who have not yet defined what they want to doing following high school.

     

·         College of the Mainland – Mike Kukuk – reported that Mike Cobb and Jerry Duncan were unable to attend the meeting because they were running 24-hour hands on workshop for Marathon Ashland in Texas City.  Four other industries are interested in doing this.

 

P-Tech has entered into a mentoring program with Calhoun College.  Initial contact has been made and goals have been set.

 

P-Tech’s training plant (Glycol Separation Unit) has had its feed and product tankfield revamped recently.  The original setup utilized 55-gallon drums for feed and product storage.  As the drums were emptied and refilled during operation, it created compositional changes that placed the unit in an upset condition.  The new installation consists of a 500-gallon stainless tank that is used for both feed and product.  The unit can now operate indefinitely without severe compositional upsets.

 

They are conducting classroom workshops on trouble shooting.  And, they are running this Glycol unit more and more to satisfy industry needs.

 

The second week in May, Mike Cobb and Jerry Duncan will have 2 classes split into 2 shifts for 40 hours to run a plant.  They will start-up the plant, keep it running and shut it down.  Students will experience what it is like to actually run a plant.

 

The Female Institute was awarded to Baton Rouge Community College this year by the GCPTA. COM has decided have a Female Institute next summer whether or not they are awarded it from GCPTA. In order to do this, they will need money from industry.  They will be recruiting approximately 20 students for this institute. 

 

·         McNeese State University – Bernie Newman – reported there are 97 students enrolled in the Process Plant Technology program this semester.  Twelve of these students are in the B.S. program.  They expect their first bachelor’s degree in the Process Plant Concentration to be awarded this semester.  The bachelor’s degree is SACS-accredited.  Plans are to obtain ABET accreditation for the bachelor’s degree by Fall 2005.

 

Everything is looking good for final ABET accreditation for the 2-year associate’s degree this summer.  Sixteen students are scheduled to graduate next month with A.S. degrees in Process Plant Technology.  The 2-year degree is SACS accredited.

 

Process plant technology students have started up a student organization.  So far, they have participated in several activities.  They demonstrated several working process models for high school students during Engineering Week.  Over 200 high school students visited McNeese during this open house.  The students were also invited out to ABC during the Mechanical Skills Competition for high school students from the five-parish area.  The McNeese students gave demonstrations and ran the ABC skid unit using the Honeywell TDC3000 DCS unit to promote process technology to the high school students and local industry.

 

·         Louisiana Technical College-River Parishes – Ronnie Madere & George Foret – reported they have 106 students enrolled inn Process Technology this Spring 2003.  They have 49 evening students, 23-day students, 13 ESJ High School students, 8 St. James/Lutcher High School students and 13 Destrehan/Hahnville High School students.

 

Placements for recent graduates and students include:

Dallas Stratton, Scott Bass            S. F. Industries

Russ Landry, Scott Waggenspack                        Shell Geismar

Jay Stiles          Laitrum Corporation

 

Internships:

Donna Watkins, Sean Gasper                 Shell Geismar

Morris McMurray        Entergy

 

Job offer after graduation:

Tim Carmouche           Shell Geismar

 

Testing for Chevron Phillips:

Ben For, Andy Kliebert, Darren Gaubert, and Jason Hayes

 

They have three high school programs in place.  They will be running a 30 second recruiting spot in May because their campus is under capacity.  

 

·         Del Mar College – Denise Rector & Dee Salmon – reported they are beginning their early registration for the summer session.  The number of students signing up for Process Technology classes looks strong for those already in the program, but they are hoping for a number of new students to enroll because many telephone calls have been received requesting information about Process Technology and Del Mar College in general.

 

Their Advisory Committee will meet again on Wednesday, April 23, 2003, to discuss information gathered on how local companies hire new employees.  The idea was developed to approach each company in the area to get a sense of hiring criteria industry wide.  A “generic” model of this criteria will be produced from information obtained from each company.

 

Dupont Fluoroproducts donated 13 tabletop models of various processes to the program and Valero Refining-Texas L.P. donated two Honeywell TDC 2000 simulator consoles with the instructor’s station.  They are in the process of getting these donations ready for student use.

 

·         San Juan College – Tony Otero – reported they have 58 students enrolled.  They have placed five students at Four Corners Power Plant-Arizona Public Service Company, and have placed two students at Arkansas Loop Gas Process Plant-Red Cedar Gathering.  Modules A, B, C, D, E, F are operating using Wonderware Control System and BTG operating using Bailey Control System.  They will have their first graduating group in May 2003.  They will be instructing three groups this summer, and starting another group Fall 2003.

 

·         Victoria College – Anita Riley – reported Victoria College would hold a summer institute for 11th and 12th grade young women to introduce them to careers in process technology.  The institute will be held June 9-13.  Initial interest from schools has been good.  They hope to get 20 young women to attend.  Locally, the institute is being sponsored by Dow, DuPont, BP and Equistar.  Many thanks to Joanna Perkins for sharing all her materials.

 

They have submitted two grants to The Victoria College Foundation for grant money to develop an Industrial Processes course and to complete their laboratory manual, which encompasses exercises for all their lab courses.

 

Their on-line course is progressing well.  This has been a learning experience for them as well as their students.

 

They took their Intro students on a tour of local DuPont plant.  Some of the on-line students were able to attend as well.

 

·         Alvin Community College – Mark Demark – reported the Alvin Community College Advisory Committee for Process Technology met at the college March 18, 2003 and developed a Mission Statement and Goals for 2003.  The committee heard presentations by individuals representing the Center for Workforce Development and Continuing Education on current and prospective programs.  Eight industry and five college representatives were present at this quarterly meeting.  After the meeting, each members was mailed a copy of the ACC developed Handbook for Technical Advisory Committees.  The meeting is scheduled for May 7 and the committee plans to tour the Process Technology facilities and review the academic program.

 

ACC is completing the piloting process for the first CAPT developed Oil & Gas Production Course PTRT 1407.  As a capstone to this process, the ACC students and instructor Mr. Jimmie Stewart were invited to tour an operating oil and gas lease followed by several presentations at the college made by the Production Superintendent, the Senior Production Engineer, and the Environmental, Health and Safety Manager from Calpine, the lease operator.  Copies of the presentations and photos taken during the tour were forwarded to CAPT for inclusion into the course.

 

ACC has scheduled a full slate of PTAC courses for both day and night students for the Summer Semester 2003.

 

New Business – Steve Erickson

·         Next GCPTA meeting at Holiday Inn, NASA Road One, Nassau Bay, TX, Friday, July 25, 2003

 

·         Critical Issues & Best Practices Conference October 9 & 10, 2003 at South Shore Harbour Resort and Conference Center

 

Alliance Website

§         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.

Future GCPTA Meetings

Nassau Bay, TX      Friday, July 25, 2003

Nassau Bay, TX      Friday, November 21,2003

 

***Other Events***

 

Critical Issues & Best Practices Conference (CAPT)

South Shore Harbour Resort and Conference Center

October 9 & 10, 2003                      

                                                                                             

Meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Lisa Arnold, Secretary

Gulf Coast Process Technology Alliance

 

LA/at