Lake Land College Presents Business Partnership Award to EJ Water

(Lake Land College presented the 2023 Business Partnership Award to EJ Water Cooperative of Dieterich. Pictured (L to R) are Lake Land College Division Chair Math & Science and Geography/Earth Science Instructor Mike Rudibaugh, Lake Land College Board of Trustees Chair Mike Sullivan, EJ Water CEO Bill Teichmiller and EJ Water GIS Analyst Bill Carr)

Lake Land College presented the 2023 Business Partnership Award to EJ Water Cooperative of Dieterich at the regular board of trustees meeting April 10.

Lake Land College and EJ Water have enjoyed a long-standing relationship by partnering on a number of curriculum, economic and community development projects since 2008.

EJ Water’s CEO Bill Teichmiller has been a key partner in assisting Lake Land College with developing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) through volunteering staff to participate in DACUMS to improve curriculum, sponsoring a paid internship program and regularly hosting site visits for students and other community organizations developing GIS technology.

These projects and innovations have created jobs and millions of dollars of economic development projects with expansion of water services across the state of Illinois.

In 2012, Teichmiller secured and developed a GIS internship program with Lake Land College. These interns would later become employees of the EJ Water GIS Department. This model not only produced an active model for interns within the district, but as well developed and built a multimillion-dollar GIS database for a water utility that has been replicated both regionally and nationally through
his work and partnership with Lake Land College.

As a result of this success, Teichmiller has produced and created multiple full-time positions for GIS managers, analysts and technicians from Lake Land College. His
current manager, Bill Carr, was a graduate from Lake Land College and was a veteran of multiple tours with U.S. Army in the Airborne Infantry Unit.

To date, Techmiller has sponsored more than eight paid internships and created
three full-time jobs filled by Lake Land College GIS Certificate graduates. At all levels of curriculum development, such as hosting conferences for related technologies like drones or Unmanned Aerial Systems as well as donating staff and equipment resources, the partnership with EJ Water has been critical to establishing Lake Land College’s GIS Program.

Community colleges work with businesses, industries and economic development entities throughout the state to recruit and train workers, retain existing businesses, and bring new businesses and jobs to Illinois.

The ICCTA’s Business/Industry Partnership Award was established to recognize these successful workforce-training alliances. The ICCTA congratulated all of their 2023 Outstanding Business/Industry Partnership nominees, in which Lake Land College’s nomination of EJ Water Cooperative was included.

The recipient of the ICCTA 2023 Business/Industry Partnership Award will be announced at the ICCTA's June 2 awards banquet in Normal.