PRESQUE ISLE – As a new academic year begins, the Northern Maine Community College campus is welcoming five new faculty and staff members. The two new instructors fill positions left vacant by retirements in the arts and sciences and trade and technical occupations departments.
Eric Pelkey of Presque Isle has been selected to serve as a new English/communications instructor. Since 2005, Pelkey has been an adjunct instructor at the University of Maine at Presque Isle where he taught English and philosophy courses. As part of his duties at UMPI, he also created course curricula and held student conferences.
In 2007, Pelkey served as a volunteer with the U.S. Peace Corps in Bilasuvar, Azerbaijan in the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) program. In the southeastern European country, he observed and co-taught English language classes to students in grades 6, 7, 9 and 10, as well as took part in local cultural events.
Pelkey has also previously held positions as a residential adviser at the Loring Job Corps Center in Limestone and as an English instructor at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics, also in Limestone. He earned a master of arts in English from the University of Rhode Island in Kingston in 2003 and a bachelor of arts in English literature from UMPI in 2001.
Joining the trade and technical occupations faculty at NMCC is Richard Taggett of Woodland. Taggett has been hired as a welding instructor to replace long-time NMCC instructor Sonny Michaud, who retired in May after 35 years of service to the college.
Taggett is no stranger to the NMCC campus community. He worked as a welding instructor for the college’s continuing education division in 2007-2008, training employees on-site at both Pattison Sign in Limestone and Louisiana Pacific in New Limerick.
Since 2000, he has worked as the welding instructor at the St. John Valley Technology Center in Frenchville. In that role, he was responsible for developing a welding curriculum for secondary level students and training entry level welders in shielded metal arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding, gas metal arc welding, metal fabrication and equipment repair.
Taggett was awarded Welding Educator of the Year by the American Welding Society in 2004. He also prepared four first-place and five second-place competitors in the SkillsUSA statewide welding competitions in his decade at the technology center.
Prior to joining the teaching staff at the St. John Valley Technology Center, Taggett served as the maintenance director for the Caribou Parks and Recreation Department and worked as a welder and fabricator for a number of different private enterprises. He is currently enrolled in a baccalaureate degree program in education through the University of Maine and holds a welding and fabrication certificate from Technical Careers Institute.
In addition to the two new faculty members, new staff members have been hired to fill vacancies in the admissions office, financial aid office and facilities management area.
Robbie Krul of Caribou, a familiar face on the NMCC campus who has served as the college’s head men’s soccer coach, will assume a new position as assistant director of admissions. Krul, who owns and serves as the director of coaching for the Dutch Soccer Academy, which enrolls over 1,500 students age four through 19 annually, has also worked as a physical therapy aide at County Physical Therapy since 1997.
He earned a master of science in business degree from Husson University in 2009. Krul also earned a bachelor of science in sport and leisure management from Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, N.H. in 1997, and the equivalent of a bachelor of science degree in architecture from Tinbergen Techniek in The Hague, Netherlands in 1993.
Heidi Graham of Mapleton joins the NMCC financial aid office as a financial aid representative. She came to the college from Advantage Payroll Service, which closed its Presque Isle branch in October of 2009. Graham began at Advantage in 1984 upon graduating from Northern Maine Technical College, a forerunner of NMCC. She began as a customer service representative and worked her way up to vice president and part owner of the branch over the course of 25 years with the company.
Graham earned an associate’s degree in executive secretarial science in 1984 from NMTC. She currently sits on the NMCC Alumni Board, serving as vice president, and is part of the Daughters of Isabella at St. Mary’s Catholic Church of Presque Isle, where she also volunteers with their local youth ministries.
Terri Thibodeau of Presque Isle has filled a vacant custodial position. Thibodeau most recently worked in housekeeping at both Cary Medical Center and for the Maine Veterans Home in Caribou.
