GCPTA MEETING MINUTES

Nassau Bay Hilton

Date:  Friday, August 11, 2000

Time:  9:00 am - 1:00 pm

 

Steve Ames, President opened the meeting.  The participants introduced themselves.  There were 52 members and visitors in attendance.

 

Steve welcomed all of the Special Guests and College Deans in attendance.

 

Approval of Last Meeting Minutes – Minutes of the June 2, 2000 meeting were approved August 11,  2000.

Subcommittee on Rules/By-Laws – Merv Treigle

The following members and changes were approved by the steering committee:

 

1.       Voting – No new members

2.       Associate – Brent Childress – Frank Phillips College – Borger, Texas

                         Mark Stoebner – Shell Chemicals Learning & Development – Houston, Texas

                         Jack Makarczyk – San Jacinto College Central – Pasadena, Texas

 

Special Note –Merv Treigle

Merv informed everyone about the passing of Frank Mancuso of Shell.  Our condolences go out to his family and friends.

Subcommittee - Funding – Steve Ames

§         Instructor Manuals – Steve gave a synopsis of the number of book orders for the year.  He also advised that orders would be sent direct to the printer who would print and ship orders as they are received.  This eliminates the need to maintain a costly inventory of manuals and we can better serve our members and those who order manuals.  Steve also asked that orders not be sent to him; but that they should be sent to the appropriate person or place as directed on the order forms, which are available on the web site.

 

Subcommittee - Public Relations – Karen Baird

§         Career Fair

Karen reported that there would be a Career Fair/Expo coming in February of 2001.  She remarked that not all the colleges were as well represented as certain colleges and asked that all colleges in the future encourage their students to attend and take advantage of the opportunities presented at the Expo.

 

§         Newsletter

Karen noted that the new edition of the GCPTA Newsletter was published.  She solicited articles from those members who wished to contribute to future publications. They are to be forwarded to either herself or the GCPTA at atgcpta@msn.com. She also asked for additional volunteers for the Public Relations Subcommittee.

 

§         Brochure

Karen noted that the new GCPTA Brochure had been printed and was available to all.  She thanked all that had participated in the rewrite and thanked Ann Treigle our Administrative Assistant for putting both the new brochure and the newsletter together.

 

Texas Skills Standards Board – Cathy-Williams Foster

Cathy reported that she had met with Lee Rector of the Texas Skills Standards Board who recently has been promoted to Deputy Director of the Economic Work Force Development Board. She also said that she, Karen Baird and Bob Kosar would be meeting to formulate future plans with regards to the Texas Skills Standards. Cathy pointed out there were a great deal of similarities between the Texas Skills Standard key language and areas, and the previous Job Map and DACUM which was done by the GCPTA in 1996.  The revision of the Job Map and DACUM performance objectives and competencies to match the Texas Skills Standards language should be fairly straightforward.

 

Subcommittee on Education – Gary Hicks & Rick Guzman

§         NSF Grant Update – Joanna Kile

Joanna reported the NSF team (Leslie Hunt and Suzanne Kolodzy) were not in attendance because they were developing test banks for the curriculum that had been developed under the NSF Grant.  She reported that all courses were complete with the exception of PT I which would be finished before the end of August 2000. She reported that all Train-the-Trainer sessions, for those piloting the 4 new NSF developed courses in the fall, were complete, with the exception of Quality, which would be conducted next week on August 16th.

 

Joanna reviewed the timeline for the development of the 4 courses throughout the NSF year showing they were right on schedule.

 

Joanna offered the following colleges are Pilot Sites:

§         Alvin Community College

§         Baton Rouge Community College

§         Brazosport College

§         College of the Mainland

§         Lamar State College – Orange

§         Lamar State College – Port Arthur

§         Lee College

§         Louisiana Technical College – Ascension Campus

§         Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College

§         Northern Oklahoma College

§         San Jacinto College

§         Texas State Technical College – Marshall

§         Wharton County Junior College

 

The following colleges are participating in the Return to Industry Externship:

§         Alvin Community College – Chemistry and Physics

§         Brazosport College – Math and Physics

§         College of the Mainland – Math

§         Lamar Institute of Technology – Chemistry and Physics

§         Lamar State College, Port Arthur – Math and Physics

§         Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College – Chemistry, Physics

§         Southwestern Illinois College – Chemistry

§         Texas State Technical College – Marshall – Chemistry and Physics

§         Victoria College – Chemistry

§         Wharton County Junior College – Chemistry

 

The following Industries are participating in the Return to Industry Externship:

§         BASF

§         BP

§         Celanese

§         Dow Chemicals

§         Dupont

§         Eastman Chemical

§         Equistar

§         ExxonMobil

§         Morton

§         Phillips

§         Sigma Chemical

§         Sterling Chemicals

 

Joanna offered that the colleges which were unable to participate in the Externship this year would be afforded the opportunity next year.  She also informed everyone that the Chemistry, Math and Physics modules that are developed will be piloted, revised and disseminated.

Special Note NSF – Merv Treigle

Merv Treigle reported that the NSF National Advisory Board had met on July 17 & 18 and found the NSF Grant team to be outstanding in their performance and delivery of very excellent material.  He also thanked Joanna and her team for their contribution and dedication. The entire group applauded their efforts.

Subcommittee on Distance Education – Duncan Welder

Duncan was unable to attend.  Joanna Kile reported that a meeting of the instructors who will pilot the Distance Learning Course-Introduction to Process Technology had taken place on July 21st.  The instructors who are piloting the course are Ron Calvert from Wharton College, David Bourque from San Jacinto College-Central, and Mike Kukuk, College of the Mainland.  This course is being piloted for incumbents from industry.  Industry members are asked to provide the incumbent operators/technicians to pilot this course.  It was reported that the Executive, Distance Education and Education Subcommittees had all agreed on the 4 courses that will be converted for distance delivery by the NSF & LAAP grants.

 

The courses are:

q       SH&E & Quality – will be developed by the NSF grant team by August 31, 2001.

q       PT II & PT III – will be developed by the LAAP grant team and Training and Development Systems (TDS) by August 31, 2001.

q       Instrumentation 1&2 – will be revised by the NSF grant team and will be developed for delivery by August 31, 2002.

 

§         LAAP Grant Update – Joanna Kile and Scott Bruno

Scott Bruno presented an update of the LAAP grant project.  He also reported that the Introduction to Process Technology Course had been presented to the Education Subcommittee.  The committee members toured and critiqued the modules and provided feedback to Scott.

 

Joanna reported that Futron Corporation of Houston and had been given the contract to develop a Virtual World module of the Timtene Unit, developed by Lou Caserta and Jim Widergren.  The target date for completion of Phase 1, the conversion of the Timtene Unit to the Virtual World, is January 31, 2001.  Infusion of interactive exercises will be addressed during Phase 2. These are capabilities that can be used in Distance Learning.  Cathy Gardner and Steve Taylor of Futron demonstrated a Virtual World Module developed for NASA, by Futron, to teach 5th graders about the space module and science.  The module they demonstrated can soon be accessed on the web at http://virtualastronaut.jsc.nasa.gov.

 

Special Awards and Recognition – Joanna Kile & Bill Raley

The following colleges and their representatives were recognized with a Special Plaque for their outstanding support and contribution in the development of the NSF grant curriculum and their representatives on the Education Subcommittee were recognized and presented a shirt bearing the Center for Advancement of Process Technology (CAPT) logo:

v      Alvin Community College

Accepting for the college – Mahrez Rezgui

Industry Representative to Education Subcommittee – Steve Erickson, BP

College Representative to Education Subcommittee – Lou Caserta, Alvin CC

v      Baton Rouge Community College

      Accepting for the college – Ronnie Hotard, Dow Chemicals - Plaquemine, LA

v      Brazosport College

      Accepting for the college – John Ray

      College Representative to Education Subcommittee – Gary Hicks

v      College of the Mainland

      Accepting for the college – James Templer

Industry Representatives to Education Subcommittee – Mike Kukuk, Sterling Chemicals; Phillip Oliver, Valero; Duncan Welder, Marathon Ashland Petroleum

      College Representative to Education Subcommittee – Bill Raley

v      Del Mar College

Accepting for the college – Lee Sloan

College Representative to Education Subcommittee – Terry Smith (retired)

v      Lamar Institute of Technology                  

Accepting for the college – Bob Krienke, President

      College Representative to Education Subcommittee – Jim Hebert

v      Lamar State College – Orange

      Accepting for the college – Sam Tobias

v      Lamar State College – Port Arthur

      Industry Representative to Education Subcommittee – Randy Jones, Huntsman (resigned)

      College Representative to Education Subcommittee – Larry Neff

v      Lee College

      Accepting for the college – Paul Bolmanskie

      Industry Representatives to Education Subcommittee – Rick Guzman, Celanese and Leonard Clark, ExxonMobil

      College Representative to Education Subcommittee – Paul Bolmanskie

v      Louisiana Technical College – Ascension Campus

      Accepting for the college – Cleveland Marchand

v      Louisiana Technical College – Sowela Campus

      Accepting for the college– Clarence Hughes

v      McNeese State University

      Industry Representative to Education Subcommittee – Katherine Trahan

v      Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College

      Accepting for the college – Johnny Tynes

v      San Jacinto College – Central Campus

      Accepting for the college – Clay Kelley

Industry Representatives to Education Subcommittee – Merv Treigle, Albemarle and Judy  Wright, Celanese

College Representative to Education Subcommittee – Mike Varnell

v      Texas State Technical College - Marshall

      Accepting for the college – Joe Green, President

      Industry Representative to Education Subcommittee – Martha McKinley, Eastman Chemical

v      The Victoria College

      Accepting for the college – Anne Isaac

v      Wharton County Junior College

      Accepting for the college – Ron Calvert

      College Representative to Education Subcommittee – Ron Calvert

 

The GCPTA Executive Committee: Steve Ames, Merv Treigle, Ed Stiles, Rick Guzman, Gary Hicks, Bill Raley and John Reed; were presented shirts with the CAPT logo and web site on them.  Joanna thanked the Executive Committee for the guidance and support they had provided to the NSF Team during the past year.

Financial Report – Ed Stiles

Ed Stiles, Treasurer gave the financial report. He reported that expenses to-date are $18,657.05.  Income from subscriptions received thus far is $28,250.  Ed also gave an explanation of the major expenses for the year.  Those in attendance who had not yet forwarded their subscriptions were encouraged to do so as the GCPTA is funded only through these voluntary subscriptions.

 

College Advisory Committees

§         Del Mar – Lee Sloan announced that Terry Smith had resigned and they are looking for a full time instructor.  The college has been awarded a $1.5 million NSF grant to develop web based instructional modules for the incumbent workforce.  They will partner with Texas A&M Corpus Christi in the development.  Koch will pilot the test modules.

 

§         Brazosport – Gary Hicks reported they had conducted industry classes and had trained over 350 students for industry in addition to the regularly enrolled students during the past school year.  Dow Chemical will now require all hirees to have a two-year degree or finish within 3 years of their hire date.  Working with Dow to provide a schedule to allow shift workers to attend college and get an AAS in Process Technology.  Their advisory committee is looking at how to drop the PE requirement for a PTAC degree.  Wants to know if others are considering doing the same in their program.

§          

§         College of the Mainland – Bill Raley reported he is currently looking to hire first fulltime Process Technology Instructor. Pilot plant is about complete; it should be in full use this fall.

 

§         Alvin – Mahrez Rezgui reported students are being employed before graduating.  They have a program to help students to prepare for industry testing and interviewing.  Working at starting up an internship program with industry.

 

§         Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College – Johnny Tynes reported they had invited 20 plus production managers and superintendents from industry to their Advisory Committee Meeting.  He gave a summation of a 2 year effort to get the program off the ground and how the GCPTA had helped get State approval for the program.  Members come from a number of different industries such as chemical, pulp and paper, power and plastics. The program will begin this fall with 4 courses being offered at night.  The industry managers committed to pay expenses for the courses if they don’t make College’s required enrollment. Hope is that a fulltime instructor will be hired by spring 2001. 

 

§         Wharton County Junior College– Joe Rowland reported that students were leaving the program and getting hired.  Working on getting skid unit hooked-up.  The Process Technology program will move to a new location in the spring 2001.

 

§         TSTC Marshall – Currently converting from a quarter to a semester system.  Next Advisory Board meeting is August 25th.  Will change description of courses from Chemical Operator to Process Technician.  Currently working to start a co-op program.  Has a company willing to pilot the program.

 

§         Baton Rouge Community College – Ronnie Hotard reported that Dow is working with the college to get students who are working to finish their degree.  They had one who finished and they are planning to do a video on how he managed to work and finish school.  He, Brian Keating and Bruce Waguespack met with others at the Governor’s mansion to show how industry and education are partnering to make Process Technology education a success.

§         San Jacinto College Central – Mike Varnell reported that Jack Makarcyzk would be taking over the duties of Department Chairman for Process Technology.  Mike thanked the Advisory Committee co-chairs, Donna Cochran, Rohm & Haas and Merv Treigle, Albemarle for their contributions and for helping to make the San Jacinto program a success.  All of the core courses will be taught.  They are piloting the Intro to Process Technology distance courses this fall.  Flyers have been sent out advertising the course.

§         Lee College – Paul Bolmanskie reported they had a new glass distillation unit.

 

New Business

Steve reminded all that GCPTA officer elections would be held at the November 17, 2000 meeting.  Anyone wishing to nominate or run for an officer position should contact Merv Treigle who is chair of the Rules and Bylaws Committee responsible for the election nominations.  Bill Raley asked to speak to the membership and proposed that the members consider the contributions of the current officers to the success of the GCPTA and that the membership might be wise to continue with the current officers because of all that is going on with the GCPTA.  The officers thanked Bill for his comments.

 

Steve proposed that a new Subcommittee for Tech Prep be formed and asked for volunteers.  Steve stressed the need to have communication with high schools and students because this is where we will be getting our future students and workers.

 

The following persons volunteered for the Tech Prep Subcommittee:

Eileen Booher

Paul Bolmanskie

Renea Campbell

Donna Cochran

Elaine Frazier

      Gary Hicks

 

Everyone was reminded about the upcoming IPTA Meeting in New Orleans on September 12, 2000 and were asked to register early if they were planning to attend to help the GCPTA better plan the meeting.

 

Mike Kukuk reported that a fluid mechanics course was being developed in Louisiana and is scheduled for completion by August 31st.  Ray Fox, Georgia Gulf; Carol Schulte, McNeese College; Phillip Oliver, Valero; Bill Richardson, McNeese and Wayne Huckeba, Citgo are the SMEs.  Cathy Williams-Foster and Phillip Oliver are completing the objectives and content.  Mike offered that this course would offer a lot of the basic physics that a process Technician needs on the job.

Alliance Web Site

§         Web site www.processtech.org is fully active and maintained by Bob Kosar of Grand Isle Group.  If your school or company has a web site and it is not accessible by just a click, contact the webmaster by e-mail bobkosar@hal-pc.org.  College of the Mainland is providing the host server.

 

§         Center for the Advancement of Process Technology (CAPT) web site www.captech.org.

 

§         Contact the GCPTA at atgcpta@msn.com.

Future GCPTA Meetings

Friday, November 17, 2000

9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Nassau Bay Hilton

 

***Other Events***

IPTA Conference

Tuesday, September 12, 2000

Fairmont Hotel – New Orleans

Registration (has been extended to September 6th) information and final agenda are on the web site www.processtech.org

 

API National Training & Development Conference

September 13-15, 2000

Fairmont Hotel – New Orleans

 

Meeting Adjourned at 1:00 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Merv Treigle, Secretary

Gulf Coast Process Technology Alliance

 

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