by Tammy Taylor
Staff Writer
Professor Tom Pease has made a career of the automotive industry. Now he will lead a new generation of automotive technicians at Florida Community College at Jacksonville’s new Collision and Refinishing Training Center.
In 1965, Pease, an automotive instructional program manager at FCCJ’s downtown campus, attended Greer Technical Institute in Chicago where he studied automotive and diesel engineering. After graduating, he spent 26 years in the automotive service industry, working his way from associate sales manager to service director.
“My job (as a service director) was overseeing the service, body and parts,” said Pease. “It’s what we call the fixed operation of a dealership.”
Pease began his tenure at FCCJ 13 years ago as a professor of automotive technicians. He is now overseeing the new $9 million Collision and Refinishing Training Center made possible by the partnerships between DuPont Performance Coatings, Southeast Toyota Distributors, the State of Florida and FCCJ.
“Because I had so many years in the industry,” said Pease, “it was natural to know who to call to make these partnerships happen. These partnerships are critical, because without them, we would not be able to do what we do.”
And what FCCJ is doing is providing a “world-class training facility” to the men and women looking to go into the automotive service industry.
Students gain product knowledge in the classroom that will have a 10-to-1 student to teacher ratio. They will also receive hands-on training in the repair and paint shops.
Pease emphasized the importance of partnerships when it comes to hands-on training.
“Partnerships are critical when you have a car that is 10 years old versus a car that is two years old; you need someone to donate vehicles.”
The new facility will not only teach students how to become qualified technicians, but will allow them to gain real life training while in school.
“All students have to have an internship,” said Pease “and possibly in the future, we will have a repair shop run by students and management staff.”
Pease says the repair shop will benefit the economically disadvantaged.
“We will not be in competition with anyone,” he said. “We will just be able to recondition donated cars and give them to charity-based organizations.”
Being able to help the community is just one of the satisfactions Pease has with his current position at FCCJ.
“When I started teaching, I was bored,” he said. “ I have the honor of being a professor and I get new challenges. I like people to tell me it can’t be done, and then I make it happen.”
Pease also enjoys the fact he is sending students into a prosperous field.
“The automotive industry is not going away,” he said. “I was never unemployed and I have never known (a knowledgeable) technician that was.”
Pease adds the automotive career is also great for women.
“Female technicians learn quicker, they follow diagnostic directions better, they are more organized and they are better communicators,” he said.
He believes more women should be in the industry because of the treatment they generally receive.
“Women have most of the say when it comes to automobiles within the family unit, but we treat them terrible,” said Pease.
He thinks the key, besides having more women in the field, is education. Pease plans to offer seminars at the center to enable drivers to make intelligent decisions when it comes to their vehicles.
“Public education,”said Pease, “that needs to go on.”