PR2005 Sep 13

On May 5, 2005, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao visited the campus of Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa on a tour of West Alabama to highlight the importance of worker training programs. While at Shelton State, Secretary Chao remarked, ““The highlight of today has been this wonderful tour of Shelton State Community College's electronics and robotics lab. The robotic and electronics lab is among the most impressive that I've seen and I've seen a lot of very impressive institutions.” Chao, along with U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions and Shelton State President Rick Rogers toured Shelton's Workforce Center and later joined Gov. Bob Riley at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Tuscaloosa Area Career Center.

The 2005 season was a phenomenal one for the Shelton State Buccaneers. The men’s basketball team finished eighth in eighth in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas on March 27. Two student athletes, Tarrance Crump and Kiana Robinson, were named to the third All American Team by the NJCAA and Crump was also awarded the Bud Obee Small Player Award. Coaches Barry Mohun and Madonna Thompson were named the Alabama Community College Athletic Association Coaches of the Year for the northern division.

Community partnerships continued to expand at Shelton State during the past year. The Industrial Electronics program teamed with Phifer Wire Products, the world's largest producer of aluminum and fiberglass insect screening products, to develop a new training model. Using four Programmable Logic Controller Trainers and a mixture of networking equipment allows trainers to be linked to a computer at the factory site. Through the use of this technology, Shelton State provides students with a training experience in a real time setting allowing student to interact with Phifer Wire engineers to solve problems and develop PLC programs.