Refinery Gives BTC $50,000 Grant

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ConocoPhillips Ferndale Refinery gave Bellingham Technical College a big boost Tuesday — a $50,000 grant to increase interest in the process technology degree program.

Most of the grant will be used to fund four full-ride scholarships for Lummi Nation students interested in the two-year degree program. The scholarships are the college’s first fullride scholarships and will be awarded to two students in each of the next two school years.

The scholarships will cover the $1,300-per-quarter tuition, plus book and equipment costs.

Several ConocoPhillips refineries have created scholarships to attract more employees who live near plants.

“Because we’re basically adjacent to the Lummi Reservation, we’d love to attract more people for ConocoPhillips,” said Jeffrey Callender, regional director of public affairs and communication for the refinery.

About $10,000 of the grant money will be added to a previous donation of $25,000 from ConocoPhillips to create a glycol separation unit pilot plant at BTC. The plant will be a scaled-down version of a distillation tower, like those used to separate the parts of crude oil. The college’s plant will distill a mixture of water and antifreeze, giving students a real-life hands-on experience.

College officials are designing the plant now and hope to start construction in the fall, said Anne Bowen, college spokeswoman.

Any remaining funds from the grant will be used to create advertising and informational videos for the process technology program and the Center of Excellence for Process and Control Technology.

By increasing awareness of the degree program, college and refinery officials hope to attract enough young new employees to offset the increasing number of baby boomers who are retiring after decades of employment.

“We’re also trying to increase awareness of process technology,” Callender said. “When we go out and talk to high school students, it’s hard for them to envision what it looks like.”  

WHAT IS PROCESS TECHNOLOGY?
Process technology is converting a raw material into a product through continuous changes from heat, pressure, distillation, flow or by adding chemicals. This technology is used in the preparation and preservation of food, the production of fuels and the manufacture of medicines and cosmetics. The people who monitor the continuous processing and control and maintain the machines are called process technicians. For more information, go to Bellingham Technical College’s Center of Excellence for Process and Control Technology’s Web site at www.btc.ctc.edu/COE.