The Western Equipment Dealers Association and the Gas Compressors Association continue to support OSUIT programs with recent donations to help those programs further grow and excel.

Members of the WEDA Foundation presented OSUIT’s Western Equipment Dealers Association Training Program with a $16,000 check in November. The funds are raised every year at the foundation’s annual golf tournament in Kansas City.

The Western Equipment Dealers Association is a member-organization composed of industrial and farm equipment dealers from five states in the U.S. and four provinces in Canada.

The donation will be used for consumables and training aides within the Western program, said Terryl Lindsey, dean of the School of Diesel & Heavy Equipment.

“The dealers and the advisory board members are the driving force behind the WEDA program. This monetary commitment from WEDA proves the loyalty they have for OSUIT and its program,” Lindsey said. “The students see their employers giving of their time and money. This plants the seed of future involvement with their alma mater as advisory board members or alumni association members.”

That relationship between the Western Equipment Dealers Association and its members, and the WEDA program and its students is one that is unique in higher education, said David Martin, instructor in the Western program.

“The support of the association only reinforces to the dealers that the association is there for them. For the students, they see this support which lets them know they are at the right place for their education,” he said. “Very few places have the support from the manufacturers like we have, and no one has the added support of the Western Equipment Dealers Association and their dealers like we do. That is the key to our ability to give students a great education that will follow them the rest of their lives.”

That same month, GCA donated $14,000 to the Natural Gas Compression program.

Misty Ingle is the GCA education committee liaison for OSUIT and presented the check to School of Engineering Technologies Dean Abul Hasan, Assistant Dean Mike Pierce and the Natural Gas Compression instructors.

Each year, the education committee evaluates programs offered by schools and universities and determines the amounts awarded.

Pierce said the donation from GCA will help offset the cost of tools, equipment and software in the Natural Gas Compression program.

“Without donations like this, it is much more difficult to provide the type of technical training we do here at OSUIT,” he said. “Having the financial support from our industry partners not only gives us confidence in what we are doing, but allows us to take the training to the next level. It allows us to give back to industry a more well-trained and well-rounded employee better equipped to handle the challenges of the future.”

The donations also benefit the companies and businesses in the gas compression industry, Ingle said.

“GCA thinks it’s incredibly important to support programs like OSUIT’s. The industry has a quickly retiring workforce. It’s all that much more important for young people to fill those gaps,” she said.

Ingle, inside sales manager at Alfa Laval Inc., volunteered to be part of the education committee.

“It’s very rewarding. You really get to see what it’s all for. You get to meet the students; you get to meet the prospective students. You get to see the programs grow; you get to see the equipment they teach with,” she said.