MSU-Northern Announces New Plumbing Degree
Winter 2004

The Montana Board of Regents approved a new plumbing degree for Montana State University Northern. This program is one of the ways that Northern is trying to meet the economic needs of Montana by developing a program that will allow plumbing students to stay in the state.

In past years, plumbing apprentices have had to get their formal education through North Dakota educational system since there were no post secondary accredited plumbing programs in Montana. The program at Northern will be a two year Associate of Applied Science Degree in Plumbing Technology and will be the only one of its 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 out reach correspondence course work so that Montana apprentices will no longer have to utilize the North Dakota system.

Mark Maki, Supervisor of Montana's Apprenticeship Program with the Department of Labor and Industry commented that, "Last year, an estimated 400 Montana apprentices ordered and received over 990 courses from North Dakota because those courses were not available in Montana. We need to do everything we can to meet those students' academic needs. The proposed plan by MSU-Northern will keep Montana resources in Montana. Northern has been very helpful and responsive in meeting that need. We hope this will be the first of many programs that will link higher education with industry. Canada and the United Kingdom have been using this style of education for years and we will be patterning our efforts after their highly successful model."

Bob Nault, a Master Plumber with 42 years experience in the plumbing business states, "For far too long the plumbing industry here in Montana has failed to face its critical manpower and training needs. Many workers have not had access to quality continuing education training. The plumbing industry has been changing, becoming more high tech, but our workforce has not kept up. The plumbing industry needs to train more workers to master their craft and become professional members of their industry. In this way we can uplift our image and the industry."

An advisory board has been developed to advise the faculty and staff of the program. They will provide public relations for the program and will help sustain it by securing equipment, keeping in contact with the Department of Labor and networking with industry. The board will also help recruit new students for the program. Greg Kegel, Dean of Northern's College of Technical Sciences explained that "The startup costs for this program will be very minimal to the University because the plumbing industry has made some significant contributions and the plumbing warehouses are donating equipment."

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