Bios

Degrees

Bachelor of Science, UW-Stout

Technical Diploma, Fox Valley Technical College

Biography

As a High School educator I really learned how to adapt my teaching style and methods to meet the demands of my students. This is a constant challenge in the trades because most of what our students do cannot be learned in the traditional classroom environment that they were accustomed to in High School or a Four year college. Learning a skill like machining is very outcome based where students have to demonstrate mastery of a skill before moving on. This directly reflects the performance based evaluations that employers use to measure the success of our students in the workplace.

The labs and classes at Northwood Tech are top of the line taught by instructors with many years of experience in not just the Tool and Die industry but in general machining, repair, and welding shops. The equipment we have matches directly to much of what is used in shops around the area so students can walk in and feel comfortable running most of the machines they will see. We also use the latest version of Solidworks and Mastercam for our CAD and CAM classes. These are often standard in any machine shop or engineering lab industry wide. 

Some students are not sure about the toolmaking component of our program. I look at it this way.  Building a working injection mold is just the vehicle we use as a capstone project to bring together all the design, programming, heat treat, CNC and manual machining skills learned along the way. Even if tooling is not a career goal for our students what we will teach will make them better machinists and a more valuable asset to any potential employer.

I have to be able to meet my students where they are at skills wise and build up from there.  As I work with my students I see some that come in with a year or two of machining experience already and are looking to get a formal degree to advance their career and build more skills. I also have some students that before starting our program have little to no manufacturing experience whatsoever. I find myself constantly adapting my lessons to build up the students that need the most guidance while finding innovative ways to challenge the students that already have some skills. 

In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my kids at home.  I also help run a small farm with my wife.  When we are not at home you will often find us on the road in our camper exploring northern Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the U.P.