PEREZ, SCHWINGLE WIN GRANT TO ATTEND WORKSHOP
A professor at Illinois Valley Community College and an instructor at LaSalle-Peru High School have received an award to participate in a workshop as a team.
Dorene Perez, program director of computer-aided design at IVCC, and Shawn Schwingle, industrial education instructor at L-P, are receiving $1,100 each to attend the American Society for Engineering Education conference in Chicago where the workshop is being held.
The instructors will be working on plans for high school students to participate in the college’s award-winning Making Industry Meaningful In College (MIMIC) project. In MIMIC, IVCC students in engineering design, electronics and business work in teams to design, prototype, produce, market and sell products. After the workshop, engineering graphics students at the high school will be creating original designs of products for the college teams.
"We have been discussing plans for our students to work together," Perez said. "This workshop is allowing us to bring these plans to life."
Schwingle said, "I’m excited about the opportunities this workshop opens up to my students."
Perez and Schwingle were accepted through an application process described by organizers as "very competitive." Only ten teams of instructors, nationwide, were selected.
The June 18 workshop is being offered by the New York State Professional Development Collaborative with support from a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. The MIMIC project is also supported by an NSF grant which Perez directs.
Perez, and her grant co-directors Jim Gibson and Rose Marie Lynch, will be giving two presentations about MIMIC at the ASEE conference where the workshop is being held.
Perez, who served five years as a CAD manager in industry, is an originator of the MIMIC project. She has given numerous presentations on the MIMIC project at national and international conferences. A co-leader of the Tech Prep team, she has taught at IVCC since 1987. She holds an associate degree from IVCC.
Schwingle holds a B.S. from Eastern Illinois University and an M.S. from Illinois State University. He taught at Tonica High School for three years and has taught at L-P for 18.
June 2006