Nassau Bay Hilton, Houston TX
Date: Thursday,
October 25, 2001
Time: 9:00
am – 1:00 pm
Steve Ames, President, opened the meeting and
welcomed everyone in attendance.
Steve explained the order of business for the next day and a
half for the GCPTA and IPTA meetings.
Steve also explained the voting structure of the GCPTA for
those attending for the first time.
The participants introduced themselves.
There were 59 members and guests in attendance.
Merv Treigle led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.
The
following members were approved by the steering committee.
Non-Voting –
Johnny Arevalos, Valero Refining Company, Corpus Christi,
TX
Charles
“Chuck” Carter, Lee College NSF Fieldbus Center Grant, Baytown,
TX
Tommy
Edgar, Texas State Technical College, Marshall, TX
Cathy
Gardner, Futron Corporation, Houston, TX
Valdemar
Hill, HOVENSA, L.L.C., Christiansted, Virgin Islands
Gina
Jones, Westlake Group, Sulphur, LA
Fran
S. Parent, Lee College NSF Fieldbus Center Grant, Baytown, TX
Michael
Stickney, Lee College NSF Fieldbus Center Grant, Baytown, TX
J.
D. Taliaferro, Lamar State College, Port Arthur, TX
Executive
Director Report – Merv Treigle
Merv spoke of
his communications with Dr. Lewitt with the College of the Virgin
Islands in St. Croix. Dr.
Lewitt requested that Merv and the executives of the GCPTA look at
the outline of the proposed curriculum and asked for an opinion on
their proposed AAS degree program.
They are developing a new PTech Program with the intent to
use the GCPTA core curriculum.
As a result of this communication, the College and their
industry HOVENSA are planning to join the GCPTA.
Merv stated that this was further evidence of GCPTA’s
influence in PTech education.
Merv spoke of
meeting with ITI Technical College in Baton Rouge, LA, and being
asked to serve on their Industry Advisory Committee.
This college is interested in becoming a member of the GCPTA.
They are a well respected for profit provider of process
technicians. Their
graduates are hired throughout the Baton Rouge area and other areas
of the United States. Although
they are not a community college, Merv explained that they will be a
valuable partner in supplying process technicians to the industry as
the existing pipeline of PTech graduates is projected to be
insufficient to fulfill the current and future needs of the industry
at this time.
Subcommittee – Funding – Steve Ames
Steve spoke about the need to send in any
outstanding subscriptions for the year 2001.
He explained that although we had a nice balance in the bank,
that these monies are needed to fund GCPTA activities and
administration costs through the first quarter of 2002.
He reminded everyone that 2002 subscriptions would be sent
out in January and asked that everyone be prompt in responding.
Plans are to revisit and revise SHE and Intro to Process
Technology and funds will be needed to accomplish this.
Steve reported that some monies had been received from
Primedia and a portion would be paid to TDS for their development
efforts early on with the SHE and Intro to Process Technology
student workbooks for which they funded the majority of the cost.
Steve also explained that from now on the SHE and Intro
workbooks would be ordered through TDS and not Primedia.
A new book called Glossary of Terms is now available
for a $10.00 charge. This book is a collection of terms and definitions
used throughout the chemical, petrochemical and refining industries.
All colleges and instructors should encourage their students
to buy and use this book, as it is appropriate for use with all
8-core courses. This
book can be ordered through TDS.
Steve asked that the colleges consider making this valuable
book a requirement for all PTech students.
Steve reminded everyone to look for the new order form for
SHE, Intro and Glossary student workbooks and the SHE, Intro, and
Instrumentation Instructor Guides on the GCPTA website.
Troubleshooting is available from Troubleshooting Resources
on the GCPTA website. The other core courses, i.e. PTI, PTII, PTIII,
Quality are available on the CAPT website.
Steve explained that the Public Relations committee
now had 1 Chairperson and 1 Co-Chairperson.
The Chairperson being Bill Raley with the College of the
Mainland and the Co-Chairperson being Mike Gragg with Dow Chemical
Company in Freeport, TX.
Steve reported that marketing would be this
committee’s immediate main focus.
Educating the public that along with being teachers, firemen,
etc., manufacturing, i.e. process technicians, process operators,
etc. are also career choices. To
help do this, a PTech pamphlet or handbook that would inform
students and parents about what process technology is all about will
be developed by this committee.
Kathy reported that the GCPTA had thus far received
$45,758.75 in subscriptions and other income. GCPTA expenses
year-to-date are $31,109.00. Anyone
wishing to see the subscriptions and/or expenses should contact her.
Gary Hicks reported they, Brazosport College, the
Center, and all associated colleges were piloting distance delivery
of Process Tech I, Tech II, and SHE this semester.
These courses will be available to the other colleges next
semester. Plans are to
develop two more web delivered courses, Quality and Instrumentation,
for a total of six web delivered courses.
Joanna
presented the following on the NSF and LAAP Grant Updates:
Curriculum
Products:
§
Currently
Available:
-
Process
Technology I – Equipment
-
Process
Technology II – Systems
-
Process
Technology III – Operations
-
Quality
§
First Half
of Instrumentation is Being Piloted
§
Second Half
Available Summer 2002
Web-Based
Courses
§
Currently
Available:
Introduction
to Process Technology
§
In Pilot
(Available Spring 2002 with Facilitator Guides):
-
Safety,
Health & Environment
-
Process
Technology I – Equipment
-
Process
Technology II – Systems
§
Being
Developed
-
Quality
(Piloted Spring 2002)
-
Instrumentation
Applied
Modules
§
15 Available
in Original Format
§
9 Available
in Mission Impossible Format
§
Link on the
Home Page (www.captech.org)
Virtual
World
§
Activities
are being piloted this semester
§
Link on
CAPTECH Home page
Texas
Skill Standards
§
Still
Aggregating the Work-Oriented Information
§
Last Two
Critical Work Functions and their Key Activities
§
NEXT STEP is
Validation
Baseline
Survey to Capture ROI Data
§
Hiring
Practices
§
Training
Program
§
Capturing
Hiring Costs
§
Capturing
Training Costs
§
Capturing
Benefits (Including Safety Incidents, Qualification Time,
Absenteeism)
For further
information on grant activity, contact Joanna Kile at:
Center for
the Advancement of Process Technology
1200 Amburn
Road
Texas City,
Texas 77591
(409)
938-1211, ext. 103
Steve
explained that the Educational Subcommittee (the backbone of the
GCPTA) meets once a month for about 8 hours.
They validate all materials that come in from around the
country, come to an agreement about what meets the objectives on the
original DACUM and submit the material out for approval.
If anyone is interested in joining this committee, see Gary
Hicks or Martha McKinley. They
are always looking for new members.
§
College of the Mainland—Evan Starke—Evan
is a student in his second semester of PTech and is the president of
the PTech Student Organization.
He reported there were 250 students enrolled in 25 sections
of PTech, including the distance learning courses.
He also reported that BP and Sterling Chemicals in Texas City
would be instituting a 300-hour mentoring internship program.
The glycol/H2O distillation unit is slated for startup in the
spring of 2002. This
will provide hands on opportunity to those students who are unable
to participate in the internship program.
§
Louisiana Technical College, Sowela—Clarence
Hughes
reported that they had received their A, B, & C Glass Labs and
were expecting the delivery of the D Lab in several weeks.
He also reported that Georgia Gulf had donated a skid unit
that needed assembling. The
area industries will provide the manpower and expertise to assemble
the unit.
Clarence was privileged
to go to Baton Rouge Community College and River Parishes with one
of his instructors to be a part of the audit team for those schools.
In turn, some of their staff went to Louisiana Technical
College, Sowela and were a part of the auditing for that school. The next day, Clarence and his instructor went to
McNeese State University for their audit.
Clarence said they gained a great deal by being a part of the
audits—not just in networking, but also in hearing from other
students and other faculties concerning what they are doing.
Gina Jones with Westlake
Group reported that she had the opportunity to audit the program at
Sowela and McNeese. This
was two full days of auditing.
The auditing provides for consistency in Process Technology
education in the state of Louisiana.
The audit tool used was developed by Ronnie Madere from Dow
and it makes the process very simple. The audit tool is beneficial for the audit team and
the schools as it provides opportunities to point out the positives
and the opportunities for improvement.
This audit tool is posted on the website www.processtech.org.
Gina stated that this was an invaluable experience and
encouraged everyone to participate in an audit of their schools
program.
Steve Ames spoke on the
audit process stressing that this was one of the issues the GCPTA
Executive Committee has been discussing.
Industry is very much interested in how we insure the
endorsed colleges are using and meeting the objectives of the GCPTA
program. Steve
suggested that one way to insure the endorsed colleges are producing
quality students is by having their advisory committee and other
educators audit their program.
The Executive Committee will be looking at this issue again
in the next couple of days.
§
Texas State Technical College-Marshall—Tommy
Edgar
reported that they have 4 students in the PTech program. Therefore he is spending a lot of time marketing
and recruiting. Spends
a lot of time in high schools planting the seed.
Tommy says he is teaching one PTech course, however is
looking forward to the time when he can teach nothing but PTech.
He said the college is getting excellent help from Eastman
Chemicals and has a great advisory committee just formed.
Tommy is looking forward to the future, and if anybody has
any ideas about how to market and recruit, he would love to have
them. He said he was
concerned about the curriculum when he took the job, however, he
learned that the GCPTA curriculum was great and that anybody could
teach it.
§
Brazosport College—Gary Hicks
reported that a new and first fulltime instructor for PTech, Mark
Stoltenberg, who previously worked for Dow, has been hired.
He reported the program was now up to an enrollment of 500
students due mainly to Dow Chemical requiring the AAS degree in
order to be employed. Gary
said they are working with the Tech Prep Program with Sweeney ISD
and Phillips and that they would be teaching Intro to Process
Technology next spring in the high schools possibly both at the high
schools and through distance learning. Gary Hicks also reported that they had installed a
Fieldbus system on the distillation training unit.
§
San Jacinto College, Central—Mike Varnell
reported they were looking for new leadership in the program because
Jack Makarczyk is retiring after the fall semester.
Mike reported that there were 371 students in 20 sections
last fall. He said that
enrollment for this fall semester was currently at 543 in 29
sections. San Jacinto
College has been offering the Distance Learning Courses and is
pleased with the enrollment—there were 20 last semester and there
are 30 this semester. In
addition, there are 20 students in the pilot program being offered.
§
Houston Community College, NE Campus—John
Payne
reported that 200 students had declared their major in PTech. A new instructor, Mike Speegle has been hired.
The college is working on a new brochure to attract new
students to the HCC PTech program.
John also reported that the new training distillation unit
purchased from Hampden Engineering for Process Technology is in
place and operating. He
reported that Chevron is very pleased with the interns they had this
summer and will interview 15 students for 6 intern jobs and will
then train them further at the Chevron training facility in
Lafayette, Louisiana. John
reported that HCC was continuing to work with the University of
Houston downtown on a 2 plus 2 agreement in Process Technology.
§
Lamar Institute of Technology, Beaumont—Dr.
Bob Krienke reported that they had a one plus one program with
Lamar Port Arthur and Orange and they had an enrollment of 650
students in PTech. There
are 12 instructors in the program.
Last year, the college graduated 140 PTech students.
Dr. Krienke feels that
industry must start requiring the AAS degree.
He reported that they were delivering web-based courses in
PTech.
Harry Wood reported that
the distillation unit rivaling a small plant is being designed by
Tentengeer and hopefully will be operational by next fall.
They are currently trying to find an instructor to deliver
PTech to 12 Tech Prep high school students.
Harry also stated that Chevron, in the Beaumont area, wanted
to participate in the GCPTA.
§
Del Mar College—Denise
Rector reported that the advisory committee was currently being
revised due to retirements and people moving to different
assignments. There are
52 students in the program. They
are currently working under an NSF grant to develop computer modules
to enhance the GCPTA curriculum.
§
Baton Rouge Community College—Freddie
Blanchard
reported they were currently engineering a process plant donated by
Placid to separate Glycol and water.
He stated that the state, industry and the college are
committed to growing the PTech program.
Three Glass Labs have been delivered.
The advisory board and industry are going out to the parishes
and informing teachers about what’s going on in the PTech
education field and the opportunities available to students.
§
Northern Oklahoma College—Roger Stacy
reported they have 60 students in the program.
There are 4 instructors from industry.
They are receiving $125,000 a year form the state to support
the program.
§
University of the Virgin Islands—Valdemar
Hill,
with Hovensa, reported the AAS program in PTech had been approved 2
weeks ago. He said the
curriculum committee was meeting that day to approve the curriculum.
It is their intent to implement the program in the fall of
2002. They are looking
to hire a full time instructor to move the program forward and that
Hovensa is willing to underwrite the program for 3 years to help get
it off the ground. They
will be using the GCPTA curriculum materials.
§
Alvin Community College—Mark Demark
reported they have 12 classes—half during the day and half at
night. He said they
have 100 students in the program and that 12 would graduate this
spring. They are exploring the idea of sharing instructors
with other colleges.
§
Frank Phillips College—Brent Childers
reported they had kicked off the program this semester with one
course and 6 students. The
advisory board is pushing to have engineers teach the program.
GCPTA was to provide some ideas as to what instructor
qualifications might be required to teach in the PTech programs. Brent reported they would be moving into a new
technology building in December.
§
College of Technology, Billings, Montana—Dr.
Bob Robertus reported Conoco helped put the PTech program
together. There are 4
refineries in the area. At
this time, there are 28 students in the program and the desired
number is 40 students. There
is a need for funding for equipment.
§
Delaware Technical Community College—Bob
Weis
reported they were in their 3rd year and they have 50
students of which 18 will finish the core technical courses and will
receive a certificate of completion.
They have a certificate program as well as an AAS degree
program. PTII &
PTIII are approved for use in the spring.
They are equipping 4 new labs, and would like to learn more
about marketing the program.
§
Victoria College—Lamar Garrett
reported that they had 150 students.
They are currently working with industry on changing their
hiring practices to AAS degree students and hopefully Dow in the
area will help change some things.
They have a distillation lab up and running.
They are working with Tech Prep in Victoria to get commitment
to implementing SHE and Intro in the high school.
§
Steve stated that a new Instrumentation Alliance
had been formed at Lee College with John Payne as the Chairperson.
Anyone interested in joining this Alliance should contact
John Payne.
§
Proposed By-Laws’ Changes
Merv Treigle proposed,
with the concurrence of the Executive Committee, that the By-Laws be
amended to allow the GCPTA officers to serve for terms of 2 years.
Commencing with the terms of office for the year 2002, the President
and Treasurer will be elected for a term of two (2) years and the
Secretary will be elected for one (1) year.
Subsequently, thereafter, all officers will stand for
election every two (2) years beginning in 2003.
These changes in the By-Laws will be sent to all Steering
Committee members. This
motion passed without dissent.
§
Officers Election
Merv Treigle, after the
changes in the By-Laws, opened the floor for nominations for the
three offices of the GCPTA. None
being received, a motion was made to cease all nominations and it
passed. The three present officers were then elected by
acclamation without dissent. The
new officers of the GCPTA are Steve Ames, President, serving 2
years, Kathy Trahan, Treasurer, serving 2 years, and Ed Stiles,
Secretary, serving 1 year.
§
Website www.processtech.org
is fully active and maintained by Bob Kosar of Grand Isle Group.
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.
College of the Mainland is providing the host server.
§
Center for the Advancement of Process Technology
(CAPT) website www.captech.org.
§
Contact the GCPTA at atgcpta@msn.com.
Nassau Bay, TX
Friday, January 18, 2002
Sulphur, LA
Friday, March 22, 2002
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
MT/at