Board visits Western Technical College in La Crosse
The Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) Board re-elected its officers at the July 13 Board meeting hosted by Western Technical College in La Crosse.
Dr. Rodney Pasch was re-elected to serve as Board President. Rodney grew up on a dairy farm near Kendall, Wisconsin and graduated from Royall High School. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Industrial Technology from UW-Platteville and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from UW-Madison. His teaching experience includes carpentry trades at Southwest Tech in Fennimore, graduate courses in architectural design and industrial materials at UW Platteville, and graduate courses in Educational Leadership and Public Sector Labor Law at Marian University in Fond du Lac.
Mark Tyler was re-elected to serve as Board Vice President. Mark is founder and chairman of OEM Fabricators, Inc., a growing contract manufacturer in Western Wisconsin. Mark has been a lifelong advocate of Technical Education and began his career with a Design Technology Degree from St. Paul Technical Vocational Institute in Minnesota. He served as a National Officer for VICA (now SkillsUSA) and served on Minnesota’s Vocational Teacher Certification Standards Committee. In 2005, he completed the Minnesota Executive Program through the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. In 2011, he received his MBA from the University of St. Thomas.
Douglas A. Holten, Sr. was re-elected to serve as the Board Secretary. Born and raised in Milwaukee as one of nine children, Holton graduated from Marquette University High School and UW-Milwaukee, holding a bachelor’s in criminal justice and a master’s degree in urban studies. He served a 25-year career advancing through the Milwaukee Fire Department, eventually serving as Milwaukee’s 15th Fire Chief. He also served a number of roles at Madison College including Associate Dean for the School of Human and Protective Services.
The meeting at Western Technical College also included the WTCS Board’s Futuremaker Partner award honoring LAB Midwest, the Mequon-based distributor of curriculum, training equipment, and eLearning for both educational and industrial applications. Western Technical College also celebrated being awarded a $194,000 grant from the Wisconsin Technical College System to help expand their Fire and EMS efforts in rural communities.
