Bios

Degrees

Associate Degree, Northwood Technical College

Biography

My background and work experience have prepared me well for my position at Northwood Technical College. I began my education at Northwood Tech with a technical diploma from the course I am now teaching. I worked several years in the field practicing my skills before taking a job in engine manufacturing. I spent many more years as a Quality Manager in that factory, leading an inspection team, dynamometer testing engines, and developing higher performance engines to meet new customer demands. I attended Northwood Tech a second time to get my Associate degree in business management, and spent a year after graduation working in an engine re-manufacturing company. I then accepted a job at a large company as a Quality Engineer, and worked for several more years on engine optimization projects and new product development. I was part of a development team in which I constructed and implemented automated tests equipment useful in measuring performance and life-cycles of products. It was part of my job description to instruct mechanical engineering interns on the use of the test equipment and auditing processes. I also wrote the Troubleshooting Guides associated with the company products and helped to train the Customer Service representatives on proper diagnosis and repair strategies. 

In the Power Sports program, students will learn not only how to properly diagnose and repair systems related to machines, but gain an understanding of how the machines actually work. Students will also learn what characteristics make an engine run the way that it does, and learn how to enhance the efficiency of them through proper assembly and tuning. I tell my students not to be confined by the scope of their technical diploma, but realize that it provides a new direction, full of open doors. 

Students in the Power Sports program are a hands-on group. They are passionate about the machines they work on and want to learn all that they can. These students learn best through practice; working with their hands. I find it most effective to present the theory, practice what we have learned, access what we have retained and evaluate my effectiveness as their instructor; to make positive change.

I enjoy the outdoors and motor sports. I enjoy riding motorcycles in the summer and racing snowmobiles in the winter. I also enjoy fly fishing and ice fishing.