- 2005 OCEA Awards Winners
- 2006 OCEA Awards Winners
- 2008 OCEA Awards Winners

2005 OCEA Award and Scholarship Winners!

OCEA High School Scholarship Winner

Karen Dernar of North Royalton, Ohio has been selected as the 2005 OCEA High School Scholarship Winner. Karen will graduate from Padua Franciscan High School with a 3.92 GPA and plans to pursue a degree in engineering at Kettering University.

Karen has been involved in school activities, worked part-time jobs and participated in two university “Women in Engineering” summer programs. In addition she has volunteered at Fieldstone Farm, a therapeutic horseback-riding center where children will all types of disabilities can ride horses for therapy. With no previous experience with children or horses, this volunteer experience provided Karen the opportunity to learn many new skills. Karen writes “the children showed me how equal everyone really is, and that everyone is loveable exactly the way they are. I learned to truly appreciate all of my blessings and gifts, and to use them for those less fortunate than I. Above all, this experience has humbled me, and taught me compassion towards all of God’s children.”

Karen has given a great deal of consideration to pursuing cooperative education during her college career. “By taking part in a cooperative education program, I will be able to gain the experience involved in my career field and learn how to tackle actual existing situations. Experience is the key, and a co-op will prepare me for my future by getting me involved right away and introducing me to my career and its environment. I am eagerly looking forward to working at a major corporation where I can become part of the team, and make significant contributions to their organization by bringing fresh ideas and having an open mind approach to situations.”

OCEA Co-op of the Year
2-Year Scholarship Winner

Thomas Schuetz is a construction management student at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. He is a co-op student with Ben Hur Construction in Fairfield, Ohio and has completed two co-op terms.

Tom’s long-term goal is to own and operate his own construction company. His co-op experience has reinforced his desire to work in the construction industry. The experience has allowed him to work at different companies where he has been able to learn and see the construction industry from several vantage points. Tom has found the real life experience has also given him a much better understanding of class material and made the subject matter very real. His instructor also comments “his answers to questions and the questions he asks, indicate that he is processing the classroom material through his co-op experiences. This is a great example of how co-op is supposed to work. He applies himself and all available resources to achieve excellent academic work. He is motivated, dependable and mature.”

Tom has done very well academically, earning Dean’s List status every school term. He is a member of Phi Theta Kappa and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers where he helped in the building of a concrete canoe. Tom is a member of the Boy Scouts and America, is an assistant Scoutmaster and achieved the highest rank of Eagle Scout participating in many community service projects. He is a Crew Leader in the Tri-State Search and Rescue and is in the Guinness Book of World Record Holders for “Most Candles on a Cake.”

OCEA Co-op of the Year
4-Year Scholarship Winner

Samuel Henderson is a Mechanical Engineering student at The University of Akron. He has earned a 3.7 GPA into his junior year. He is currently completing his second co-op semester with Diebold in North Canton, Ohio.

In describing how his co-op experience contributed to his academic achievement, Sam writes, “I have learned no matter how much you learn in a classroom, nothing can compare to hands-on experience. During my first semester I was given several opportunities to design a part. After I was done with the first part, I discussed with another engineer and we went over the kinds of stresses the part would go through and possible failure points. I went back and redesigned it, making necessary improvements. The following semester at school I took a class that dealt with such things as compressive and tensile forces as well as fatigue limits. Had I not had that co-op experience I think this class would have been much more challenging for me. I thought I would be using what I learned in the classroom for my co-op, but in actuality it was the other way around. I used my co-op knowledge to reinforce the class material.”

In addition to being on the Dean’s List for three semesters, Sam has been involved in many extra curricular activities including American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Society of Automotive Engineers, University Formula One race term, Habitat for Humanity, and Boys Scouts of America in which he has earned Eagle Scout status and is an Assistant Scoutmaster. Sam also helped his university in getting a used 3-axis CNC milling machine operational by using some of the skills learned from his co-op. The machine is now used to produce parts for the race team and parts needed for university research projects.

Sam’s co-op coordinator comments that he “portrays business maturity, accepts responsibility and authority and exemplifies strong leadership skills with great enthusiasm. He gets along extremely well with his classmates not to mention it is a pleasure when he comes to our office. He is always upbeat and positive.”

2005 E. Sam Sovilla Award for Excellence

Procter & Gamble- The Procter & Gamble SuccessWay Program is an innovative co-op program providing students real-world work experience. Students in a wide variety of majors are given immediate responsibilities and the chance to make an impact from their first day of employment. P&G believes in giving Co-ops career opportunities that will both challenge and match their interests.

The SuccessWay Co-op Program was established in 1995 with Cincinnati State Technical & Community College and Northern Kentucky University being the first Colleges/Universities incorporated into the program. Since then they have partnered with various other colleges: College of Mt. St. Joseph, Thomas Moore, Gateway Community & Technical College, Ivy Tech College and University of Cincinnati Raymond Walters. The program averages 50 co-op hires and 15 full-time hires annually. Currently, there are 22 co-op positions in various disciplines throughout the company. 100% of our top performers are offered full-time employment with competitive compensation packages immediately after graduation. 90% of SuccessWay alumni are still with Procter & Gamble today.

Nominators identify the P & G team as an extraordinary group of people who facilitate the training and development of co-op students. Their commitment and passion for cooperative education is evident in their visits to campus, presentations, financial support, and overall dedication to student growth through experiential learning.

2005 OCEA Employer Member of the Year

Lynda Gallant, SPHR, is a 33 year employee of Cooper Tire & Rubber Company of Findlay, mostly in Human Resources, working along with Cooperative Education students from day one in the engineering departments. A graduate of The University of Findlay, she achieved the status of Senior Professional in Human Resources certification.

Her current professional affiliations include Findlay Area Human Resource Association, where she serves as President, Vice President and Board of Control; the Workforce Investment Board and American Red Cross Blood Services Board.

Lynda most enjoys meeting and selecting young people and assisting them to become mature adults with bright careers. Co-operative education has provided a pipeline to train and hire Engineering, Information Technology and Accounting/Auditing employees to the business which, in many ways, is unique. These students have gone on to fill positions such as Vice President and Senior Manager.

Lynda has been a member of OCEA for a number of years. More recently, she has helped with several committees including conference planning and awards. Her input to the committees is always logical and well thought out and, often times; something innovative (for example, she was instrumental in obtaining information from SHRM and assisting in getting last year’s OCEA conference approved for continuing education credits through them.)

Lynda accepts the Employer of the Year award tonight on the behalf of the many Cooper people who mentor students every day. She applauds members of OCEA in all they do in preparing and presenting students to the employers.

2005 OCEA Educator Member of the Year

Cheryl Cates, Division of Professional Practice Associate Director of Pedagogic Development, at the University of Cincinnati, has a long and distinguished record of contributions to the field of cooperative education and its advancement. She excels in professional activities, research, scholarly and grant writing and presentations, student and employer involvement. Her nominators say they know of no one who is as passionate about co-op as she.
She has served in OCEA, MCEA, and CEIA, the Cooperative Education Division of the American Society for Engineering Education, and the Accreditation Council for Cooperative Education, as Executive Board / Officer, Conference Presenter, Research Award Winner, and Research Chair.
Cheryl is a Board of Trustees member of the Accreditation Council for Cooperative Education, and is on the review team. She serves as Trainer for the National Academy for Work Integrated Learning.
Well known in Cooperative Education circles for her research, Cheryl has presented the results of the MCEA Research Awards, and received OCEA’s first annual research award.
She has authored the following: Learning Outcomes: The Educational Value of Cooperative Education, a CEIA sponsored book; a division-created textbook, Introduction to Professional Practice, Centennial Edition, A Student Text/Workbook; and co-author of chapter entitled “Theories of Learning in Cooperative Education” published in the International Handbook for Cooperative Education; co-authored a chapter entitled “Learning Outcomes, A Focused Approach. Implementation of an Assessment Program at the University of Cincinnati” published in Handbook for Research on Cooperative Education and Internships.
As a result of her concern for low-achieving and career indecisive students, Cheryl is responsible for a $60,000 grant for Co-op Plus. She secured an Ohio Learning Network Grant of $28,000 for social responsibility and/or civic engagement, and a US Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) grant for $555,000 for “Developing a Corporate Feedback Loop for Use in Curricular Reform”.

2005 OCEA Distinguished Employer Award

Shepherd Chemical Company was selected to receive an OCEA Distinguished Employer Award for 2005. Their nominator explained that Shepherd Chemical is relatively small Cincinnati- based company that makes specialty chemicals for a variety of end use products. They have provided outstanding co-op experiences for engineering and a few business students for over 10 years. They normally employ chemical, mechanical and electrical engineering students and typically have 8 to 10 students employed each year. They have often hired co-op students to permanent jobs after graduation. The co-op students generally stay their entire 6 quarters of co-op at Shepherd Chemical because they provide very good student mentoring by their engineering staff and are given increasing responsibility to lead their own engineering projects as they progress through their co-op career. Therefore they get both excellent technical training but also get very good exposure to leadership and project management skills which is so important to prepare them for their engineering career.

Shepherd Chemical is diligent in preparing a good student evaluation for each co-op quarter and helping the student accomplish 5 Learning Modules which are assigned for each student to work on their first 5 co-op quarters. The principle co-op coordinator, Mark Scott, has participated in several on campus seminars for freshman students to help the students get prepared for their co-op career.

2005 OCEA Distinguished Employer Award

Krista Strider,Chief of Collection Management and Joanne Powers, Chief of Management Support were on hand to receive the 2005 OCEA Distinguished Employer Award for the The National Museum of the United States Air Force. The National Museum of the United States Air Force has been involved with co-op since 2000. Currently, the museum has ten co-op students on staff. Of these ten, five are on an authorized position, which means they will be offered a permanent position upon graduation. The other co-op students will be considered for permanent employment if positions become available. Since the creation of their program, the National Museum of the USAF has had a total of sixteen co-op students; six of those were hired upon graduation.

Students who have participated in the museum’s co-op program include Liberal Arts candidates who have pursued degrees in history, film, or a Masters of Public History. Many several of these students began their co-op during their undergraduate program and continued through graduate school.

The students participate in all aspects of museum work. Some students are involved in educational programming with school groups; computer programming and support; website development and maintenance. Others are involved in Public Affairs and Media Relations, including writing press releases; working with film and TV crews; and marketing the museum to outside groups. Several are in Special Events and help plan and coordinate meetings, exhibit openings, VIP tours, special dinners and high profile events. Those in the research division help answer requests for information work on exhibit text and find documentary materials to be incorporated into an exhibit. They also process archival collections. Those assigned to the collection management division process and catalog donations, help to manage the loan program of objects with other organizations, locate/turnover items for exhibit or loan, and are involved in the inventory, rehousing and bar-coding of collection artifacts. Those who work in Exhibits have been involved with the installation and lighting design, label and text creation, audiovisual requirements and exhibit construction/installation.

As you may be able to tell from the assignments, a lot is expected from the museum co-op students. They are presented with an opportunity for hands on museum work and are exposed to a variety of tasks. The co-op program is viewed as a learning experience to utilize and improve skills and to allow students a chance to apply theories and methodologies they learned in the classroom. Students work alongside experienced professional staff that trains them in museum practices, principles, and procedures. They interact not only with the museum staff but also with military and civilian personnel, visitors, donors, volunteers, veterans, students, researchers, contractors, media, and other professionals in the museum community. As they progress through the program, they are given work where they are responsible for the outcome and success of a project. They are viewed and treated as a vital member of the team.

2005 OCEA Research Awards

Cheryl Cates
University of Cincinnati

Kendra Wilburn
Cincinnati State Technical &
Community College