William Jellison Hired as Coordinator of Plumbing and
Apprenticeship Training for MSU-Northern
Winter 2004

In January, MSU-Northern announced William Jellison as the Coordinator of Plumbing and Apprenticeship Training for the new Plumbing Technology Program. Jellison was the Bureau Chief/Building Official for the Building Codes Bureau, Business Standards Division of the Department of Labor and Industry for the State of Montana. Jellison assumed his position on February 2nd and is now working to develop the new curriculum and labs needed for the courses starting in the fall.

Jellison came to Northern from Helena, where he worked for the Department of Labor and Industry for the State of Montana, previously known as the Department of Commerce. Jellison had been a Bureau Chief since 1997 for the Building Codes Division, and previously, was Supervisor of the Plumbing/Mechanical/Electrical and Boiler Program from 1990 1997. Before working for the Department of Commerce, Jellison was a Pipe Trades Instructor for the Joint Apprenticeship Training at UA Trades School Local 41.

Bob Nault shows off a hydronic boiler, which is similar to the units that students will work on in the plumbing program.

Jellison received his Master Plumber License in 1985 after serving in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from Eastern Montana College in Billings. Jellison continued his education at Purdue University and graduated the UA Training Program as a Certified Pipe Trades Instructor. He is also a Certified Installer/Instructor of Medical Gas and Vacuum Systems and a Certified Instructor of Backflow Prevention Devices and Assemblies. In 2002, he received a Medical Gas Installer Endorsement from the State of Montana Board of Plumbers. "We are really excited to have Jellison joining our program," says Greg Kegel, Dean of Northern's College of Technical Sciences. "He represents a new direction for how we are working with industry."

Northern's program will be a two year Associates of Applied Science degree in Plumbing Technology and will be the only one of it's kind in the state. In addition, the students will complete a set of core courses in plumbing. An apprentice must serve five years as an apprentice under a Journeyman. Northern is also looking into the possibility of administering outreach correspondence course work so that Montana apprentices will no longer have to utilize the North Dakota System.

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