Customized Training Wins State Honors
By KARA GAE NEAL
Superintendent
SERVICING BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY: From left are Tulsa Tech’s Lanny Gibbs (Technical Trainer), Barbara Roberts (Project Coordinator) and Richard Cotner (Technical Trainer).
In addition to many exciting high school classes, full-time and part-time adult classes, Tulsa Technology Center offers excellent customized training for business and industry. By providing the resources and training which companies need to compete cost-effectively, Tulsa Tech’s Business and Industry Services have had a significant economic impact and formed lasting relationships with many Tulsa area companies.
Organizations of all sizes have used Tulsa Tech’s Business and Industry Services, including American Airlines, The Bama Companies, Inc., Kimberly-Clark Corp., Ameristar Fence Co., St. Francis Health System and Centrilift/Baker Hughes.
Each year the professional organization, CBITS (Customized Business and Industry Training) recognizes unique and innovative industry training with the State Innovative Project of the Year award. Tulsa Tech captured this year’s top honors by developing customized basic electrical and electrical safety training for Centrilift/Baker Hughes employees to use worldwide.
The project was developed by one of Tulsa Tech’s industrial coordinators, two technical trainers, along with several adjunct instructors and curriculum consultants working with training staff from Centrilift/Baker Hughes, and included interactive curriculum modules, instructor guides, exams and student handbooks.
Barbara Roberts, one of Tulsa Tech’s industrial coordinators with over 20 years of experience, takes pride in the fact that the training was presented and delivered internationally.
“This training was presented to a group in Dubai,” Roberts said. “And there were 11 different countries represented among the people who were there to receive the training.”
Richard Cotner, a technical trainer with almost 30 years of experience, feels that projects like this demonstrate the strength of customized training offered by Business and Industry Services at Tulsa Tech.
“Companies of all sizes can see that we offer more than just a standardized or canned approach,” Cotner said. “We’re very innovative and extremely capable of adapting to an organization’s specific training needs.”
In fact, the initial request from Centrilift/Baker Hughes for basic electrical training was much smaller in scope, but the size of the project grew quickly and the Business and Industry Services group responded accordingly. Lanny Gibbs, a technical trainer and former electrical systems instructor with over 25 years of experience thinks that although this was probably one of the biggest challenges, it also provided an opportunity to show just what the group could accomplish.
“Ideally, when we start to put a training project together, we like to have a good idea of everything the project may include.” Gibbs said. “However, our main goal is to quickly adapt to the needs of the client, and customize the training to meet their goals.”
Tulsa Tech’s Business and Industry Services offers all types of training which can be customized and delivered in many different ways. Employees may attend classes at our Training Center, your company facility, or virtually any location with the use of tools like our Mobile Computer Lab.
If your company’s training needs involve just a few employees, or a few thousand employees, we invite you to visit Tulsa Tech to discover what our award-winning Business and Industry Services can offer. For more information please call 828-5200 or visit us on the web at www.tulsatech.edu.
Updated 07-27-2009
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