| Stan Martineau shows students some of the intricacies of automobile technology in his shop at CEU. |
The College of Eastern Utah’s star shines brightly in the world of automotive technology.
In late September, program director and instructor Stan Martineau, was notified that the CEU automotive program has been ranked third in the nation for overall excellence.
The ranking agency is the Automotive Industry Planning Council. The National Automotive Technical Education Foundation presents the awards at an annual convention. The 2005 awards ceremony will be in Kansas City, Mo. in December. Martineau has been invited to attend the three-day event to receive the honor before a national gathering of his peers.
A native of Blanding, Martineau spent most of his professional career as a technician and businessman in the automotive industry. He taught at Mesa College in Grand Junction, Colo., for a few years and then worked for a dealership and ran his own business for many years.
In 2001, Martineau came to CEU to resume teaching and to take over the automotive department. In just four years he has made some remarkable achievements.
Within a year of his arrival, the CEU program was certified as a national test site and a regional training center for the automotive industry.
CEU offers four classes per year to train automotive instructors and provide technical training to industry professionals.
Before the college was certified, professional mechanics had to travel to Grand Junction or Orem to receive the same instruction and certifications.
In 2004, the CEU automotive program under Martineau received two major awards. The program was ranked first in the state by the National Industry Planning Council, beating out Southern Utah University, Utah Valley State College and the Utah College of Applied Technology.
In the same year, CEU received the national Automotive Program of Excellence award fromSnap-On Tools. It was only the second time in 15 years that Snap-On had recognized a school in Utah. A $1000 dollar donation in tools was made to the CEU program by Snap-On.
Students from the CEU program have been receiving top honors at state and national competitions in the past two years.
In 2004, the Salt Lake Community College hosted a job skills demonstration competition judged by Skills USA, a national competency testing organization.
Students from CEU’s college and high school programs received top honors in the state. And two of the three students who qualified to attend the national competition in Kansas City placed in the top 10.
In 2005, CEU is receiving national attention by being ranked third in the nation for non-automotive manufacturer sponsored programs.
The first ranked school is Southern Illinois University. The SIU automotive program boasts 15 instructors and four clerical staff. The physical facilities span 40,000 square feet of floor space.
The second ranked program is a school called the Automotive Training Center, which is headquartered near Philadelphia. The ATC school began in 1917 and has been an industry leading automotive training center ever since. Currently the program has 70,000 square-feet of floor space in multiple buildings on a ten-acre site with hundreds of students.
And then, ranked number three in the nation is our own College of Eastern Utah. The CEU program has one instructor, Stan Martineau, about 5000 feet of floor space, and a very limited budget compared to the competition. Currently, there are only 22 students in the program. This is sure to change once word of the national ranking gets around.
The college shares the automotive facilities with Carbon High School but the programs are separate and distinct. Instructor Stanley Willson teaches the high school classes.
The national ranking is based on a multi-category assessment of the programs, instruction, and competency testing of students. CEU and instructor Martineau ranked first in the nation in the category of Curriculum and Instruction – not bad for a program with only one teacher. Martineau prepares his own class curriculum and lesson plans. Because of his abilities, he was recently invited to write an article for the journal of the North American Council of Automotive Teachers, which has an international circulation.
Matineau has received many letters of congratulations since the national ranking was posted, one of them from Congressman Jim Matheson. The national ranking is also paying physical dividends to the school. In just the past month, Honda has donated $2000 dollars worth of service manuals to the school and Chrysler has notified Martineau that due to the national ranking, the company is donating to the college a brand new Dodge, quad-cab, diesel pickup truck for use in the automotive program. There are sure to be other benefits.