Mike Douglas has been selected as College of Western Idaho's (CWI) Faculty of Distinction for March. He is the chair of the Advanced Mechatronics Engineering Technology Program (formerly Electronics Technology). He worked as an electronics tech for many years before he began teaching at Boise State University in 1995. While at Boise State, Douglas had the opportunity to volunteer for the football team maintaining their communication equipment. His last game was the team's first Fiesta Bowl win, and he had the incredible experience of being on the sidelines for the game.
Douglas' contributions to CWI have been extensive. His classes are exciting for students and he has ensured that his program constantly evolves to keep up with the demands of the electronics industry. He spends a lot of additional time putting together courses for CWI's Workforce Development division and working with industry contacts both to assemble a grant proposal and to ensure that his classes are relevant for students and beneficial to the current workforce. Douglas recently visited and toured a local company that was having trouble finding qualified technicians to learn their needs, then invited representatives from the company to visit with his class about what they were looking for in technicians. Following the visit, one of the CWI electronics students was hired by the company.
Douglas says: “I have really bought in to what CWI can do for our community and our program has many successful graduate stories to prove it. It makes us all in the program proud.”
