AUTOMOTIVE ADVISORY COUNCIL MINUTES

NOVEMBER 12, 2002

The Automotive Advisory Council met on November 12, 2002 at 6:00 P.M. at Ryan’s Family Steakhouse.  The following members were in attendance:  Jamey Abercrombie, Jim Currence, and Kathy Kerwan from York Tech, Clint Boyd and Danny Clinton from Clover High School, Billy Hinson and Claude Lawson from Clinton Ford, Mark Abercrombie from Hendrick Honda, and Steve Leake from the Floyd D. Johnson Vocational Center.  This was the first of two meetings scheduled for this academic school year.

Dinner was served while the members reviewed the minutes from the previous meeting held on April 11, 2002.  The minutes were approved as written by all members in attendance.

 Old Business:  Members were shown the progress made on the remaining courses that were to be converted to a modular format that met NATEF standards.  The committee was pleased with the progress made to date, and felt confident that the courses would be completed on schedule. 

 New Business:  The Advisory Committee was informed that Jim Currence had retired from York Tech but would continue to work for the Automotive Department under the TERI plan.  Jamey Abercrombie was appointed the Department Manager.

 The Automotive Department’s NATEF certification was discussed by the Advisory Committee. It was the opinion of this committee that a NATEF approved course curriculum be purchased from The University of Missouri.  This is a compact disc that contains an outline of the course requirements, task sheets, tests, and other information needed to complete our certification.  However, the committee did not want the Automotive Department to be dependant on this compact disc for all of the course information.  It was strongly recommended that textbooks and all current resources continue to be used.

Members of the committee were asked if the instructors from the Automotive Department would be able to participate in Return to Industry during the summer semester again this year.  Mark Abercrombie and Billy Hinson agreed to allow the instructors to work with them at the dealerships in order to keep up with current technology.  It was also suggested that the instructors work at independent garages and machine shops to increase their exposure to the types of environments that their students would be exposed to.

The Automotive Department asked the members of the committee if they would continue to participate in the co-op program and job placement of York Tech Automotive students. The dealership committee members agreed to allow students to co-op at their place of business and get credit for Aut 156 and Aut 158 if the students met the requirements.  This would give the students a chance to work in this environment, and the dealership a chance to recruit the students for future employment.  The committee also stated that they were pleased with the entry-level technicians that were coming to them from this program.

The Advisory Committee was asked to do a self-evaluation of their effectiveness to guide the Automotive Program.  The committee concluded that they have a positive impact on the program, and the diversity of the committee was is strongest asset.  It was also suggested that the standards for a NATEF approved Advisory Committee be looked at, to see if more members, or different members, need to be added.

The lab equipment evaluation was not done at this meeting because the meeting was held off campus. The next meeting was scheduled for March of 2003 in the York Tech Automotive Shop and would consist of a lab equipment evaluation.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Jamey Abercrombie

Automotive Department Manager