Newsletter Spring 2009

Department of Automotive Technology
Newsletter Spring 2009
Spring 2009 Edition
Pittsburg State University
Thank You for Your Financial Support
The Pittsburg State University Automotive Alumni are well known for their advocacy in their alma mater by their generous support in many forms including financial contributions. For many years the success of the automotive program has
been underwritten by the financial support received during the annual Phone A Thon. This year has been one of the
most difficult years in the history of our alumni. The automotive and diesel equipment industry has impacted many of
our alums. In recent years, alumni have made pledges totaling more than $30,000 annually. This past February, in spite
one of the most difficult years for our industry, PSU automotive and diesel alumni made pledges that totaled more than
$20,000. To everyone who pledged this year we sincerely appreciate it. And everyone who pledged in the past but was
unable to this year due to the economic climate, we certainly understand and want to sincerely thank you for helping us
succeed as well. Our operating budget has remained flat over the past 10 to 15 years, even though the program has doubled its size. In addition to a flat budget, due to the state of Kansas budget cuts, we had to give back a portion of our
budget to the state of Kansas. This coming academic year's budget cut will be even more drastic. In addition, some of
our corporate partners have had to eliminate some of their giving in terms of grants and scholarships. Please know that
your generosity in recent years, especially this year, has been a life-line to our program helping us continue our strong
tradition of building leaders for the automotive and diesel industry. The faculty enjoy catching up with alumni by phone
and email learning what is new in the lives of our alumni and their families. Thank you from all of the automotive faculty, we simply could not make it without all you.
Professor Gordon Retirement Reception
April 24, 2009 the College of Technology hosted a retirement party for Professor Ken
Gordon. Numerous alumni made a special trip to Pittsburg to congratulate Professor
Gordon. Some alumni traveled from as far away as Peoria, IL, Grand Island, NE, Kansas City,
KS and Dodge City, KS. Ken shared remarks with the guests reflecting on some of the experiences that had occurred during his time at PSU. Professor Gordon was delighted to introduce
his family members. The highlight of family introductions was meeting Anna Thompson. Daughter Debbie Thompson and son in-law John Thompson adopted Anna soon after the
passing of Ken's wife Joyace. Ken thoroughly enjoys spending his free time with his family and
working with his utility tractor. Professor Gordon received a plaque during the reception. Mr.
Gordon officially retires from Pittsburg State University May 16th, 2009. However, the department has the great fortune of keeping Mr. Gordon part time as a Professorial Lecturer to teach one fuels class in the fall
and two fuels classes in the spring for the next two academic years.
PSU Baja
PSU takes 10th place in the endurance with a 14th place overall finish in Auburn, Alabama. This year PSU had several
returning team members with nine new freshmen members. This is exciting for those new members who will hopefully
return next year to help lead the organization another year. The team decided to split into two smaller teams and attend
two events and compete with two different cars. Due to the fact that the first event was in April, the team decided to
modify a car from last year for the first event and build a
new car for the event in Wisconsin this June. This provided a good starter vehicle for some of the incoming
freshmen and allowed them to have a car built several
weeks before the event. This time also allowed for extensive testing which proved valuable throughout the competition. The team did very well throughout the entire
event, placing in the top 3 in the cost report, placing well
in the dynamic events, and finishing the endurance event
in 10th place with two flat tires. We will be traveling with
the second team to Wisconsin on June 10th to compete
with the second car. We have high hopes that we will do
as well in this event as we did in Alabama.
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Spring 2009 Edition
CAM (Christian Auto Majors)
CAM, which stands for Christian Auto Majors, was started this
past fall semester (2008) by automotive students - Chad
Friesen, Nathan Cooper, and Mason Stout with the help of Dr.
Frisbee and several other faculty members. CAM’s purpose is
to bring together Christians who share common interests and
the same major. The group consisted of more than 10 members
who met bi-monthly. One week a month the group met for Bible Study, and the other monthly meeting included visiting and
eating at several faculty members’ homes and shops, going to
MoKan drag strip for Friday Night Fun Drags, and participating in the SAE spring car show.
Automotive Technology Receives Grant
from Chrysler
The PSU Automotive Technology program received the following grant from Chrysler for the 2008-2009 academic year:
2008 Aid to Higher Education Program: Automotive Programs.
This money was used for laboratory upgrades and new equipment, to support faculty development, and to provide for judging at the Kansas State and National SkillsUSA competitions.
The grant was also used to support faculty participation in the
National SkillsUSA Automotive Technical Committee. PSU
Automotive Technology wants to recognize and thank Chrysler
for their support!
From left: Dan Richard, Chad Friesen, and Dr. Tim Dell in John
Thompson’s collision shop for CAM meeting.
SkillsUSA Update
The SkillsUSA team did very well at the state contest
this year. Senior Devin West received a silver medal in
automotive written, senior Jeff Meyers received a bronze
medal in automotive written, junior Matt Brown received a gold medal in job interview and senior Greg
Finke received a silver medal in job interview. Professors Ron Downing and Scott Norman are busy coaching
senior Jack Frederick, who will be representing PSU and
the United States at World Skills this fall. Professor
Downing will be on sabbatical this fall to help Jack with
his training.
Industrial Tour, Spring 2009
A group of 3 faculty, Dr. Adams, Dr. Dell, & Mr. Schroer along with 28 students enjoyed a spring industrial tour. This year’s
tour focused upon diesel & heavy equipment. The first tour was John Deere Harvester Works combine plant in East Moline, IL.
The highlight of the tour was viewing the main structure of the combine being dipped into 50,000 gallon tanks of electrostatically applied paint. The next facility toured
was John Deere’s Davenport Works where they
manufacture timber products, articulated dump
trucks, motor graders, and wheel loaders. The
group traveled next door to the John Deere Davenport training center where they ate lunch and then
rotated through 3 stations: “Service Advisor Diagnostics,” “Construction Equipment Simulators,” &
“AMS/GPS.” The students also toured the John
Deere Pavilion. The group then traveled to Peoria
and ate dinner with Caterpillar.
The next morning the group toured Caterpillar’s
Edwards Demonstration Facility. This facility has
both outside and inside demonstration areas. The
students were treated to an hour long demonstration of many different types of Caterpillar equipment, from small compact equipment to a 777 mining haul truck and D11T dozer. Caterpillar provided the students with lunch as well. Then it was
off to Decatur, IL to Caterpillar’s facility that
manufactures mining haul trucks, motor graders,
and scrapers. After completion of the tour it was
Spring 2009 Edition
Page 3
Eugene V. Gardner Award
Chad Friesen was named the recipient of the Eugene V. Gardner Outstanding Senior Award for 2009. Chad graduated from Berean Academy,
which is near Newton, Kansas, in 2005. While in High School he attended
an automotive class at nearby Newton High where he first learned about
the program at Pittsburg State. He chose to attend Pittsburg State to pursue a career in the automotive industry and was impressed with the placement of PSU graduates. While at PSU, Chad has had the pleasure of working during the school year as a student assistant for the Provost and Vice
President of Academic Affairs Dr. Steve Scott (who has recently been named
the next President of PSU). During his first two summers, he worked at
Hinz Motors in Newton, Kansas, where he started as a tire and lube technician and worked his way into a Service Writer position. In the summer of
2008, Chad was chosen to be a summer intern at General Motors in Warren,
Michigan. He interned in the Brand Quality group and investigated the
origins and extent of several engineering and manufacturing issues. Chad
has also been heavily involved in two campus organizations. He has been
part of Cross Quest for all four years and has been on its leadership team
for three years where he led Bible studies and went on a four week mission
trip to Kazakhstan in the summer of 2007. Chad recently helped start and
organize CAM (Christian Auto Majors) with the help of Dr. Frisbee and several other faculty members. In May, Chad will graduate with a BST in
Automotive Technology and a minor in Business Administration. Upon
graduation he looks forward to begin working full time as a District Manager for Chrysler in the Denver Business Center.
Pete J. Holman Outstanding Diesel Senior Award
Mackenzie McDaniel was awarded the Pete J. Holman award
for the outstanding senior in the diesel program for the 2009
graduating class. After graduating from Camdenton High
School in Camdenton, MO, Mackenzie attended Linn State
Technical College in Linn, MO. He graduated from the Caterpillar Dealer Service Technician program with a 4.0 GPA and
with the diesel outstanding senior award. He worked at
Fabick Caterpillar in Springfield, MO throughout his education at Linn and continues to do so now. After attending Linn
State, he made the move to Pittsburg State University to continue his Caterpillar degree. He will graduate Pitt State with
a BAS in Technology with a Caterpillar Diesel and Heavy
Equipment emphasis and a minor in Business Administration.
While attending Pitt State, he carried a 3.7 GPA and achieved
Cum Laude status. With the excellent education received at
Pitt State from the automotive department, Mackenzie has
been able to secure a job with Fabick in Springfield, MO.
Exceptional Seniors
Distinguished Senior Award
Victor Herrero Ferrario
Paraguay
Samuel Schafer
Kyle Mann
Kevin Mundy
Danvers, IL
Kevin Peak
Nicholas Walker
Richard Weidman
Clearwater, KS
Ross Graham
Andrew Tye
Darrin Weaver
Mulberry, KS
Deron Lundgren
Joshua Ingold
Thomas Osborne
Julio Sebastiani
Zachary Chalupsky
Joshua Pope
Department of Automotive Technology
Pittsburg State University
1701 S. Broadway
Pittsburg, KS 66762-7566
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http://www.pittstate.edu/department/auto/
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Department of
Tim Dell,620
Chairman
Dr. Tim Dell,Dr.
Chairman
235-4182
620
235-4182
[email protected]
[email protected]
Mrs. Kindra O’Connor
Administrative Assistant
620O’Connor
235-6189 [email protected]
Mrs. Kindra
Administrative Assistant
620 235-6189
Automotive/Diesel
Technology (4 Year)
[email protected]
Dr. Roger Adams, Professor
235-4386
[email protected]
Automotive/Diesel620
Technology
(4 Year)
Dr. Robert Frisbee, Professor
620 235-4380
Dr. Roger
Adams, Professor
(Automotive
Coordinator)
[email protected]
Mr. Ron Downing, Asst. Professor
[email protected]
620 235-4386
[email protected]
620 235-4825
Dr. Robert Frisbee, Professor
620 235-4380
Mr. Ken Gordon, Professor
620 235-4378
[email protected]
[email protected]
(Automotive Coordinator)
Mr. Bob Schroer, Asst. Professor
620 235-6126
[email protected]
Mr. RonInstructor
Downing, Asst. Professor
620 235-4825
Mr. John Thompson,
620 235-6516
[email protected]
[email protected]
Mr. Matthew Keller, Instructor
620 325-6515
[email protected]
Mr. Ken Gordon, Professor
620 235-4378
Mr. Scott Norman, Asst. Professor
620 235-4826
[email protected]
[email protected]
Automotive Service (2 Year)
Mr. Bob Schroer, Asst. Professor
620 235-6126
620 235-4827
[email protected]@pittsate.edu
Mr. Perry Cummins, Professor
(Program Coordinator)
Mr. JohnAsst.
Thompson,
Mr. Trent Lindbloom,
Professor Instructor
620 235-4198
[email protected]
Fax: 620 235-6190
Mr. Matthew Keller, Instructor
620 235-6516
[email protected]
620 325-6515
May 15 Spring Semester ends
May 16 Commencement for COT & COE
June 9 Summer semester begins
June 11-14 SAE Baja competition, Wisconsin
June 21-26 National SkillsUSA competition,
Kansas City link http://www.skillsusa.org/
events/nlsc.shtml
July 17-19 Four-State Farm Show
July 31 Summer semester ends
August 20 Fall semester begins
August 28 Automotive Tool Show, 8:00amNoon, 2-Year Automotive Laboratory
September 7 Labor Day
September 19 Rumble in the Jungle #1
(Student Center)
September 23 Company Day
September 24 Fall PSU Career Fair
October 10 Rumble in the Jungle #2 (Student
Center)
October 15-16 Fall Break
October 22 Automotive Advisory Board
November 12-13 Four States Regional
Technology Conference