In this issue:

Ongoing Activities

Pharmaceutical process technician skill standards

Events:

WDI Conference

Get Energy Conference

ACT Conference

CAEL meeting

CRD Regional Conference

Gas Processors Association

NSF ATE PI Conference

Articles and Broadcasts

"Professionals gather to identify best practices for work force needs"
BIC Alliance, October 2005

"Who's going to pay?"
BIC Alliance, November 2005

"Touting vo-tech can be tough"
Kansas City Star, 8 December 2005

"Process Technician Internships Alter Corporate Hiring Strategies"
TECHcitement, Advances in Technological Education, April 2006

"College hosting open house for process-tech"
The Facts (Brazosport), 25 May 2006

Publications

Safety, Health, and Environment textbook

Graduating students can take the PTEX-CR exam now

CAPT has delivered two national certification exams for students who have graduated or are scheduled to graduate with an Associate Degree in Process Technology: the Process Technology Examination for Chemical/Refining (PTEX-CR) and the Process Technology Examination for Oil and Gas Production (PTEX-OG). The PTEX-CR is now available online through the ACT Testing Center. This exam is designed to test the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by an entry-level process technician as defined by the national partnership.

Companies sponsor recent hires to take the PTEX-CR exam

Special thanks to the BP Refinery in Texas City; ConocoPhillips Bayway Refinery in Linden, New Jersey; and The Dow Chemical Company in Freeport, Texas for sponsoring recent hires/graduates to take the newly available PTEX-CR exam. Many May 2006 graduates had already accepted job offers before the exam was available. Citing the importance of collecting baseline data for local college program improvement, the three partner companies are sponsoring recent hires to sit for the exam this summer.

Graduates from College of the Mainland in Texas City, Texas; Middlesex County College in Edison, New Jersey; and Brazosport College in Lake Jackson, Texas also will be taking the exam. More information is located on the CAPT website at www.captech.org/ptex/.

Post job openings to the CAPT Job Bank

The CAPT Job Bank aims to match qualified job seekers with companies in a wide range of process industries. This is a free service, offered by CAPT. The Job Bank allows:

Mark your calendars for the 2006 conference

Save the Date for October 4 - 6, 2006

PTEC™ educators, trainers, industry and business leaders will come together to discover and share how to establish or improve their PTEC program, recruit and retain students, increase the employability of their graduates, save training time and resources by hiring degreed graduates, and identify ways to impact the workforce of the future.

The Training and Development Pre-Conference will be on Wednesday, October 4 and the Critical Issues and Best Practice Conference will be on October 5-6. Both events will be held at the South Shore Harbour Resort again this year.

Call for Proposals

Best Practice sessions are a critical component of the conference. Most feature a successful practice, program, or key issue related to process technology. Proposals are being solicited now for these Best Practice sessions and applications may be submitted in electronic or written form. Instructions for submission are available at www.captech.org. The deadline for submission is July 10, 2006. Please contact Melissa Collins at mcollins@com.edu or (409) 938-1211, ext.107 if questions arise.

Safety, Health and Environment textbook available for Fall 2006

ISBN #: 0-536-25843-0 (for US citizen use)

This 24-chapter textbook covers a wide range of topics relating to safety, health and the environment, including:

• hazard recognition (chemical, physical, ergonomic and biological)

• physical threats (acts of violence)

• cyber security

• engineering controls

• administrative controls

• personal protective equipment

• safety-related equipment

• first aid

• governmental regulations

This text is intended for use in high schools, community colleges, technical colleges, and universities that offer SHE courses. However, educators in many disciplines will find these materials a complete reference for both theory and practical application. This textbook, as well as Instrumentation and Introduction to Process Technology, are available from Pearson Custom Publishing.

Student scholarship information

Student PTEC scholarships have been awarded for 2006. BP Exploration and Production, Inc., The Dow Chemical Company, The Producer's Assistance Corporation (PAC), and Shell Oil are offering up to $2,000 for each individual scholarship awarded.

2006 Scholarship Awards

Announcing the 2006 STeP institutes

The CAPT Science and Technology Preview (STeP) Summer Institutes have been a popular recruitment tool for high school females during the past three summers. The STeP Summer Institutes for 2006 are scheduled and partners are recruiting students now. CAPT will fund 11 STeP Institutes this summer, and BP has donated funds for 2 Institutes:

New workshops for middle school teachers and counselors

Five Career Awareness Workshops are being held again this year and will be offered to middle school teachers and counselors. CAPT is funding two workshops and Shell Oil has provided funding for three workshops. These workshops will exhibit various ways for educators to incorporate career awareness regarding process technicians into their everyday curriculum.

Trends in PTEC Education short survey results are in

CAPT conducts a nationwide survey every year to accurately monitor the changing needs and characteristics of Process Technology programs as they develop and mature. The collected data includes information about the students, graduates, faculty, employers, curriculum, instructional resources, and institutions offering process technology programs.

Thirty-five of CAPT's community college and university partners volunteered to participate in the 2005 “short” survey. Altogether, 17 states and the Virgin Islands were represented, compared with 15 in the 2004 survey.

NEED project underway

CAPT and the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project have developed a hands-on curriculum unit for middle school teachers, students and parents. The curriculum booklet and hands-on activities will be piloted at NEED workshops this summer and will be ready for classroom use in Fall 2006.

The four industry sectors of oil and gas exploration, production, refining, and chemical manufacturing will be included in the curriculum and activities — with special focus on careers in the process industries. In addition, the curriculum unit will be interdisciplinary, designed to meet standards of learning in science, math, language arts, social studies, and technology.

NEED and CAPT will also work together to modify and package industry-specific pieces of the curriculum unit into short, hands-on presentations for industry representatives to use in speakers bureau format for classroom visits or, potentially, community groups.

Student Success Stories

A second Student Success Stories in Process Technology publication is underway. In this publication, program graduates who have been hired by and are productive contributors to 20 different companies, are featured. Thirty educational institutions from 12 states and the Virgin Islands are each represented by a success story.

Internship Guides

The Internship Guide for PTEC Students and the PTEC Internship Guide for Supervisors can be downloaded from the CAPT website. With the student guide, the summer internship process is explained, from applying for an internship to the formal review near the internship's completion. In the supervisor guide, the typical responsibilities involved in preparing for an intern's arrival, managing the progress, and appraising the performance of the intern throughout the experience is described. These guides can assist both educational institutions and industry as they work with existing programs and provide insight to those planning to implement an internship program. It is recommended that students planning to apply for an internship and supervisors who have never mentored an intern read their respective guides before beginning an internship.

Recognition received from the Texas Skill Standards Board

The Texas Skill Standards Board (TSSB) in their Annual Report has recognized the Chemical/Refining Process Technician skill standards. Specifically, the commendations were “for developing rigorous and comprehensive skill standards for the occupation of Chemical/Refining Process Technician.”

The TSSB plans to explore, with community and technical colleges, the possibility of indicating on a college credential that an individual has graduated from a TSSB-Recognized Program. Finally, strategies will be implemented to enhance the portability of skills to other states. This plan will evolve and be enhanced over time as the TSSB consults with its state skill standards partners.