Joshua Dineen, chef specialist, wrote today’s Epicuriosity 101 column in the State Journal-Register, “Sunday pot roast brings loved ones together.”
Category Archives: Workforce Institute
U.S. Sen. Durbin visits campus
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin visited campus Friday, Nov. 4, to learn about the impact of a $5 million federal grant on our EMS, truck driver training and diesel technologies programs. LLCC will expand these programs with larger facilities and state-of-the-art equipment to produce more trained workers ready to fill local jobs in these critical fields.
LLCC Board of Trustees Secretary Samantha Raymond, Board of Trustees Vice Chair Gordon Gates, Senator Dick Durbin, Truck Driver Training Director Curt Robinson, President Charlotte Warren, Diesel Technologies Program Director Jeff Gardner, Vice President of Academic Services Vern Lindquist, Emergency Services Program Director Nick Ferreira.
Congratulations to Aidan Tierney
Aidan Tierney, welding instructor, obtained his Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) certification through the American Welding Society in September. To take this challenging exam requires a minimum of five years industry experience and an associate degree in welding or manufacturing. A 72% pass rate is required in all parts of the exam, which include welding fundamentals, practical welding code, and a welding code book exam. This examination has, on average, a 30% pass rate, and Aidan passed on his first try. With his position as an instructor, in combination with his previous industry experience and pass rates on his exam, he was also able to become a Certified Welding Educator (CWE). Congratulations!
LLCC Aviation fall activities
This fall, LLCC Aviation students have been busy! Starting back in August, the program hosted the WWII B-25 Mitchel Bomber and also participated in a community event to test the readiness of Springfield first responders in the event of an airline crash. Students had makeup applied to simulate injuries.
In September, students visited Flightstar Aviation at the Champaign airport. LLCC Aviation hosted the Young Eagle’s rally on two weekends. During this event, school-aged students were given free airplane rides. Later in the month, the Basic Electricity class helped employers out at the Workforce Institute’s Career Expo on campus, and LLCC Aviation set up a display booth at Havana’s Octoberfest.
On Oct. 2, representatives from GE Aviation’s jet engine facility in Indiana came to speak about career opportunities.
In the community
Jeff Martin, Sierra Peterson and Kim Wilson represented LLCC at the 4th Annual Central Illinois HBCU and State College Fair on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at Union Baptist Church in Springfield. They talked with students and shared information about college and Workforce Institute programs as well as opportunities through the Open Door Workforce Equity Initiative.
In the news
LLCC Aviation is mentioned in The Source article “Planes, education and family bonds” about John Oakes and his son Charley who both graduated from LLCC’s aviation program. Charley started the program at 16 and John at 71. John shares that LLCC’s “Airplane Mechanics course is outstanding” and that the instructors have “lifetime experience in aviation.”
In the news
Dr. Bailey Shaw, professor of English, has a chapter “‘I’d have my life unbe’: Undoing Experience in Tess of the d’Urbervilles” in the forthcoming book #MeToo and Modernism (Clemson UP, February 2023). Using several canonical authors and texts alongside some lesser-known but nonetheless important writers, the collection combines chapters of literary criticism regarding the foreshadowing implications of the ongoing #MeToo movement during the Modernist era. Professor Shaw’s chapter examines the vexed publication history of Tess and Thomas Hardy’s recurrent alterations to the text in the context of the #MeToo movement. Through the novel’s growing attention to representing Tess’s subjectivity, the “ache of modernism” is painfully revealed through Tess, a “Pure Woman” who is made to suffer in a world without justice.
Sheridan Lane, director, culinary program and operations, wrote this week’s Epicuriosity 101 column on “Modern day tacos.”
Laurel Bretz and Nancy Sweet earn doctoral degrees
Laurel Bretz, assistant vice president of continuing, corporate and professional education, and Nancy Sweet, dean of the Workforce Institute, recently earned the degrees of Doctor of Education with a focus on higher education administration from Bradley University. Their research methodology employed action research on the LLCC campus to complete their doctoral projects. Laurel’s research work was titled “Older Adult Learning: Persistence, Barriers and Value,” which examined organizational effectiveness by identifying factors contributing to third age learners’ persistence, preferences and satisfaction with the Academy of Lifelong Learning. Her degree was conferred May 14, 2022. Nancy’s research work was titled “Improving Career and Technical Education Through Early Support Programs” and focused on how to minimize community college career and technical education students’ motivational barriers to help increase persistence and completion rates. Her degree was conferred Aug. 15, 2022.
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Matt Blomquist!
Matt Blomquist, LLCC adjunct and dual credit instructor of construction and Taylorville High School building trades teacher, recently won a national teaching award — the 2022 Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence. The 2022 prize had a record 768 applications and included three rounds of judging. The prize includes a $15,000 award for Blomquist and $35,000 for his program at the high school. Read more from NPR Illinois.
Last day for Bistro To Go this semester
LLCC’s student-led café is open as Bistro To Go yet today, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. It offers a counter service concept with soups, salads, sandwiches, baked goods, coffees and drinks. Place order.
Additional information is available at www.llcc.edu/bistro-verde. Bistro Verde is located inside the east entrance of the Workforce Careers Center on the LLCC Springfield campus.
From Oct. 25-Nov. 17 (closed Nov. 1), the café will transform into Bistro Verde, a casual, dine-in restaurant experience.