#1363 |  May 22, 2013

SAVANNAH – Savannah Technical College has selected Dr. Vic Burke as its Vice President of Operations and Technology. He is responsible for planning, administering and evaluating institutional services, which include facilities management, building and grounds maintenance, campus police and security, and information technology services.

Burke will also formulate, develop, and implement program services, policies, standards, and activities in compliance with all applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations, policies and procedures.

Before being named Vice President of Operations and Technology, he was the Division Chair of STC’s Criminal Justice and Fire Science programs. Also, he has worked as Savannah Tech’s Department Chair of the Law Enforcement Degree Program and the Director of Public Safety and Facilities for Savannah Technical College. He has successfully overseen the implementation or restructuring of three administrative divisions and four postsecondary academic programs.

Burke holds a doctorate of public administration from Valdosta State University and a master’s in public administration from Georgia Southern University.

 

 

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Media Contact:
Amy Shaffer, APR 912.443.5512 or  ashaffer@savannahtech.edu

Fourteen candidates are now qualified to be POST-certified peace officers in Georgia

 SAVANNAH – Fourteen students from the Savannah Technical College Peace Officer Academy celebrated graduating from the program with a completion ceremony today.

These students have completed coursework containing the entire Georgia Peace Officer Standards & Training (P.O.S.T.) Basic Law Enforcement Training Course. Their successful completion of the program qualifies them to be state-certified peace officers.

This is the twelfth group of students to complete the program since its inception in 2009. To date, the program has graduated more than 150 P.O.S.T.-certified officers. Many candidates are in various stages of the application process with statewide agencies. Savannah Tech’s Peace Officer Academy has a 98% placement rate.

Each cohort selects a fallen officer for whom the graduating class will be named. The cohorts have a tradition of giving the family of the fallen officer a challenge coin dedicated to the officer. A challenge coin is a symbol of an unbreakable bond of dedication and allegiance among military personnel and law enforcement officers. The challenge coin tradition started as a military tradition in World War I and was later adopted by law enforcement.

This cohort elected to honor Sgt. Robert Warren “Bobby” Crapse, of the Bryan County Sheriff’s Department. His watch ended on Friday, June 15, 2012, when a driver traveling the wrong way on I-95, near mile mark 97 in Chatham County, at approximately 2:15 a.m., struck his patrol vehicle head-on. Crapse had served with the Bryan County Sheriff’s Office for 13 years and was posthumously promoted to Sergeant. His wife and three children survive him.

The Basic Law Enforcement Technical Certificate of Credit provides students with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to become competent law enforcement officers. The 18-week cohort program utilizes classroom instruction pertaining to criminal justice theory and the prevailing principles of modern law enforcement, as well as practical application of pertinent enforcement skills. College coursework contains the entire Georgia Peace Officers Standards & Training (P.O.S.T.) Basic Law Enforcement Training Course so that successful completion of the program will qualify the student to be a state-certified peace officer.

For more information about the Peace Officer Academy, please contact Claire Pimentel at 912.443.5191 or cpimentel@savannahtech.edu.

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Peace Officer Academy Contact:
Claire Pimente:l 912.443.5191 or cpimentel@savannahtech.edu.

Media contact:
Amy Shaffer, APR: 912.443.5512 or ashaffer@savannahtech.edu

#1360 | May 2, 2013

SAVANNAH – Savannah Technical College Historic Preservation students recently completed 35 cast metal finials for the Smithsonian Institution.

Students in the College’s Advanced Preservation Skills class created finials or spear point replacements for damaged window grilles, originally installed in 1881 at the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

To create the spear points the students made 14 sand molds, mixing sand with resins to harden the mold. Students used a template made by Enberg Mold and Tool in Kingsland, Ga. The class poured the steel into molds at Carolina Metal Casting in Hardeeville, S.C. Then, students removed extra metal, known as gating, from the pieces. Finally students filed them down and painted them with a rust inhibiting primer.

The College was invited to assist with this project by a Smithsonian representative, who visited the Savannah campus last year for the Association for Preservation Technology International (APT) Stained Glass window workshop. Sharon C. Park, the Smithsonian Institution’s associate director for architectural history and historic preservation, was impressed with Savannah Tech’s students’ metalwork for fencing.

“The historic preservation profession needs programs such as the one at Savannah Technical College that can train the next generation of crafts persons,” said Park. “The Smithsonian was pleased to have the metal spear points made by the students to help us restore our 1881 National Historic Landmark Arts & Industries Building.”

This was one of the three projects for the Advanced Preservation Skills class this semester. Students also built a dry-stone wall on campus and created stained glass ornaments and metal hooks for a College fundraising event.

Savannah Tech has the only public hands-on preservation program in the state. The program has gained international recognition and has contributed to a number of community-based preservation projects in the surrounding communities. The program is the cornerstone of new instructional programs in Green Building Technology, which focuses on a comprehensive view of systems and efficiencies in construction.

For information about Historic Preservation at Savannah Technical College, contact Steve Hartley at shartley@savannahtech.edu or 912.443.5864.

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Historic Preservation Department Head: Stephen Hartley
shartley@savannahtech.edu or 912.443.5864
www.facebook.com/STCHistoricPreservation

Media Contact: Amy Shaffer, APR

912.443.5512 or ashaffer@savannahtech.edu