MORTON GROVE, Ill. - Bell & Gossett has announced that its Little Red Schoolhouse® training center is now celebrating its 50th anniversary. Since it opened its doors in 1954, the educational facility has trained more than 50,000 students in Morton Grove and over 125,000 worldwide through its "traveling classroom" program, says the company.

To celebrate the anniversary, a variety of special events are planned for 2004. A special reception will be held in late August at the Schoolhouse. Events will include recognition of past graduates from around the world.

"This is a very special occasion for all Fluid Handling employees and the entire HVACR industry," said Roy Ahlgren, director of Training and Education at ITT Industries' Fluid Handling Division. "We hope to reconnect with many of our past Little Red Schoolhouse graduates, including some from the very first Class of '54."

Although the methods of training have changed from a blackboard to computers and electronic projection, educational principles remain the same. Today, seven 3-day courses ranging from Hydronics Basics to Design of Large Chilled Water Systems are offered.

According to Ahlgren, many of the graduates continue to use the materials and manuals they received in class years ago to train others in their organizations. "We estimate that our graduates have used our material to formally or informally train and educate over a million HVACR professionals."

For more information on the Little Red Schoolhouse, call 847-966-3700 or visit www.bellgossett.com.

Publication date: 06/21/2004