Odessa College Chair of the Industrial Technology Department Syed Muhammad Naqvi is the recipient of the LEEPS Instructor of the Year Award from Lincoln Electric.
The Lincoln Electric Education Partner Schools (LEEPS) program was formed in partnership with the National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3) to provide schools with instructional materials and resources to help the next generation of welders.
In 2010, Syed Muhammad Naqvi started on a career path that would take him to accomplishments that he never imagined, including winning the 2024 LEEPS Instructor of the Year Award from Lincoln Electric.
Having come to the U.S. in 2008 from Pakistan to be with his wife and his family, Naqvi worked in the family businesses in the local mall in Midland until he decided he wanted to do something more, a news release said.
In 2010, a chance meeting in the grocery store started Naqvi on a road that would lead him to what he says is true happiness in his career. A stranger that he met in the store was a welding instructor at a community college in New Mexico, and he encouraged Naqvi to take welding classes.
Naqvi knew nothing about welding, but he decided to investigate the program. He and his wife visited Odessa College to check It out, and he was impressed with the welcoming attitude of the OC staff and the welding faculty. After a tour of the welding facility with Jim Mosman, the welding department chair at that time, Naqvi enrolled and started his academic career at OC.
“I knew nothing about welding or the equipment! When I first started my classes, Mosman said, ‘Hey, you can do this,’ and that’s what I needed to hear, because I was doubting myself,” Naqvi said in the release. “I applied myself, and when others might take a break in class, I would keep practicing or studying. I worked hard to improve my skills, and after one year, I earned my Level 1 Certificate in Welding, and I got a job with Bellows Systems, Inc. where I could apply what I had learned in my classes, continue to improve my skills, and learn additional skills. I continued going to OC so that I could complete my associate degree. That would enable me to work in higher levels of the industry such as being a Certified Welding Inspector or being a welding instructor. I worked full time while I continued my classes at OC, and I earned my associate degree in the spring of 2014. It took me four years to complete my degree, but it was worth it.”
Mosman watched Naqvi grow from when he first entered the program as a student in 2010 to becoming an adjunct instructor in the fall of 2014. Then in 2015, Naqvi became a full-time instructor, and in the fall of 2019, he assumed the position as the new chair of the Industrial Technology Department, when Mosman retired to become a Senior Customer Training Instructor of Lincoln Electric.
“When I left OC, I asked myself, ‘Who is the best person to take the LEEPS program to the next level?’” Mosman said.
The program was running 200 to 250 students per semester at that time. Today, under the direction of Naqvi, the department is teaching almost 900 students a semester.
Naqvi said when he took over the department, his goals were to increase enrollment and to serve 1,000 students per semester. Today, that goal is within reach in the near future. In addition, OC is now a hosting facility for NC3 trainings, where other schools’ instructors from across the nation come to Odessa College to train.
Upon receiving his award recently at the National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3) Summit, Naqvi said, “This award is not just about me. It is all about the entire Odessa College community. They provided me with a lot of opportunities. My job was to make sure that I was available to take the opportunities and make the best of them. I am successful because of OC. My life is changed. I’m now affecting other people’s lives because I stayed with my education.”
