By Greg Grisolano
Globe Staff Writer
NEOSHO, Mo. —
When Dan Eberle steps down as director of Crowder College’s alternative energy programs, his one regret will be not seeing the completion of a $5 million building to house those programs.
“I anticipate by the end of August we should have a green light to start on the MARET Center, (but) unfortunately I’m not going to be here,” Eberle said Wednesday. “The thing that (retired professor) Art Boyt started and I’ve been a part of for the last 20 years is going to come to fruition under someone else’s guidance. That’s bittersweet.”
Crowder’s trustees are expected to receive Eberle’s resignation at a meeting today.
The college received word earlier this week that a long-awaited environmental assessment report on the Missouri Alternative and Renewable Energy Technology Center from the U.S. Department of Energy has reached the stage for public comment. The building has been on hold since 2005, amid what Crowder officials have termed a series of bureaucratic impediments to releasing $5 million in federal funding for the construction.
“The good news is, the building is all designed and ready to go,” Eberle said. “We are shovel-ready. As soon as we get clearance from the DOE funders, we’ll start.
“The snag has been an environmental assessment we had to do on our site. It should clear its last hurdle on Aug. 20.”
In a letter to the college’s trustees, Eberle said he has accepted a teaching job at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kan., to be closer to his family.
Crowder President Alan Marble said Monday that Eberle’s decision “certainly has nothing to do with dissatisfaction” on either party’s part.
“Family and work have to dovetail, and you’ve got to do things for your family,” Marble said. “That’s what Dan’s doing.”
In addition to his role as director of the MARET Center, Eberle has been an alternative energy instructor, and a proponent of the college’s solar racing and construction programs. His association with Crowder started in 1971 as a student, and continued off and on for four decades.
He became head of the MARET Center in 2008, when Boyt, longtime director and alternative energy instructor, retired.
“In the last year, the national interest on energy from the Obama administration has put grants and incentives out there to really formalize what Art had been doing here for years,” Eberle said. “I don’t claim any credit for that. The only thing I did in the last year is herd all the work that Art did for the last 30 years into formal degree programs and certificates. That has happened in the last two years.”
Marble said that once Eberle’s resignation becomes official, the college probably will form a search committee and open up the MARET Center director’s post to candidates on and off campus.
“We typically open jobs inside and outside (the campus community),” he said. “It will be open soon. I don’t know how long it will take to fill it. Just until we find the right person.”
Trustees meet
The Crowder College Board of Trustees will have its regular meeting at 10 a.m. today in the Fireside Room at the Student Center.
