GE, Northern continue alliance with million dollar donation

General Electric senior site leader Jason Greenwood speaks at a presentation at the Montana State University-Northern farm mechanics building this morning. General Electric donated a tier II/III diesel locomotive training engine and specialized tooling equipment to the diesel technology program.

Havre's university and General Electric Corp. are ramping up their partnership, with GE making a million-dollar donation in specialized equipment to Montana State University-Northern's Diesel Technology Program.

Northern this morning unveiled GE's donation, a diesel locomotive training engine and special tooling to help train diesel students in modern technology.

Jason Greenwood, a Northern graduate and GE-Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Havre diesel shop manager, said in a press release about the donation that both sides benefit.

"MSU-Northern gets the latest up-to-date technology in locomotive emission engine design and the advanced tooling for its students. This allows industry to do our part in preparing the students for what they will see out in the work environment," he said in the release. "Industry receives highly trained and qualified employees."

Northern has a close relationship with GE, as it does with many major companies, with the company hiring many of the university's students as interns and full-time employees.

Since 1996 GE has hired 85 Northern graduates as full-time employees, with 81 percent of those with GE in upper management positions.

The donation comes as Northern also works to improve its facilities, with a proposed new building to house the diesel and automotive technology programs included in the state bonding bill proposed to fund construction of new buildings.

The new engine and tooling, for which GE will help train faculty and design curriculum, supplements a previous donation the company made to Northern. That engine cut-away is used in the program to give students real-life work experience on GE's big-bore engines. The new donation will help bridge the gap between the older and the newer technology used in modern locomotive engines, the release said.

Northern's Dean of the College of Technical Sciences Greg Kegel said the donation will help the university in continuing to improve its program.

"This partnership is the result of high expectations and coordinated planning between MSU-Northern's faculty and the management team at GE," Kegel said in the release. "Every student in our program will benefit from this effort. We sincerely thank General Electric for making it happen."