Midland College issued the following announcement on Jan. 6.
On Monday and Tuesday, January 11-12, the Midland College (MC) Petroleum Professional Development Center (PPDC) will provide its continuing education course “Introduction to the Natural Gas Industry” to 28 women from Kosovo who are currently attending Des Moines Area Community College through a scholarship provided by the Millennium Foundation Kosovo.
Since many of these women will be placed in occupations to develop the gas sector in Kosovo, officials at Des Moines Area Community College contacted Erin Van Evera-Welch, director of the Midland College PPDC, to fill the information gap. The course provides an opportunity for the women to gain a basic knowledge of the gas sector. It will be taught by PPDC instructor Yogashri Pradhan, who is a senior reservoir engineer for Endeavor Energy Resources in Midland and is an active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
“The Midland College PPDC has earned an excellent reputation that is far-reaching because of the wonderful courses and instructors that are provided to the oil and gas industry,” said Dale Beikirch, MC dean of Adult and Continuing Education. “The PPDC has a long history of providing high-quality training, demonstrated through this collaboration.”
The women are all studying various energy-related fields, such as applied engineering technology, renewable energy technology and others. They will obtain their associate degrees from Des Moines Area Community College at the end of the spring 2021 term. The women are between 18-26 years of age. Some already have college degrees in other areas; however, all are pursuing careers in the energy industry. They will be returning to Kosovo in May as experts and pioneers in their respected fields.
“We are very excited for the opportunity to share petroleum knowledge with others outside of the Permian Basin, and even outside the United States,” Van Evera-Welch said. “To be able to impact such individuals globally is very gratifying in that the Midland College PPDC is having an impact on continuing education and the petroleum industry without geographical limitations. We look forward to assisting Des Moines Area Community College with other such programs in the future.”
Original source can be found here.