Ratzenberger to Keynote NJIT Opening Ceremony
Emmy-nominated actor and entrepreneur John Ratzenberger of Cheers and John Ratzenberger’s Made in America television series fame will be the keynote speaker at the free Opening Ceremony for ManufactureNJ Week on Sept. 29, 2014, starting at 8:30 a.m. in the Campus Center Atrium at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). John Ratzenberger’s Made in America, an original series broadcast on cable television’s Travel Channel, follows Ratzenberger as he treks across the country in a camper to learn the inner workings of American manufacturing companies including Fender Electric Guitars and the Wilson football factory. Ratzenberger is a senior fellow with Center for America, which focuses on social justice with an emphasis on employment. As a National Manufacturing Spokesperson he has had the opportunity to speak to citizens around the country about the importance of manufacturing. To register for the event, contact Raymond Vaccari. Gale Tenen Spak, Ph.D., Associate Vice President Continuing and Distance Education and Ray Vaccari, Director of the ManufactureNJ Talent Network, both at NJIT, encourage all to attend. “You don’t want to miss what is surely to be a fascinating presentation on a new educational initiative uniquely designed to provide the labor force with the proper skill sets and innovative mind sets to assure the strength of this vital economic sector.” The Opening Ceremony on Sept. 29 will also feature a free screening of American Made Movie, a documentary that illustrates the positive impact of domestic manufacturing jobs on national and local economies in the face of great challenges. The screening will take place at 12:45 p.m. in the Campus Center Ballroom. On Friday, Oct. 3, ManufactureNJ Week will culminate with a celebration of National Manufacturing Day. The day’s events are designed to introduce as many people as possible to the important role played by manufacturing both in local communities and for the nation. The event, which will take place at The Palace at Somerset Park in Somerset, NJ, will feature networking opportunities, keynote speeches and panel discussions on topics including workforce development, recruiting and retention, innovation and growth and supply chain and logistics. The Inaugural Manufacturing Awards to honor New Jersey manufacturers in a variety of categories will also be held. Full article: NJIT to Host Third Annual ManufactureNJ Week, Sept. 29-Oct. 3: Emmy-Nominated Actor and National Manufacturing Spokesperson John Ratzenberger to Keynote Opening Ceremony Click here to read online...
Ratzenberger is Fan-Favorite at DragonCon
John Ratzenberger highlighted on Sunday, August 31st at DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia. According at AccessAtlanta.com reporter Melissa Ruggieri: “John Ratzenberger began his hour-long interaction with fans by stating how impressed he is as the growth of the Atlanta film industry (he was in Peachtree City a couple of years ago to appear in “Drop Dead Diva”). “What a beautiful part of the world…and all of these film studios,” he said. “You’re not going to be able to swing a cat without hitting an actor.” The impeccably dressed Ratzenberger – a part of Dragon Con mostly because of his voice work in numerous Pixar films – told one fan he couldn’t divulge the funniest scene he shot on “Cheers” (“That’s still classified,” he said with perfect Cliff Claven inflection). But he did have plenty of kind words about his employers at Pixar (Ratzenberger voiced Hamm the Piggy Bank in the “Toy Story” films and Mack the Truck in the “Cars” series, among others). “They do things the old-fashioned way. They work as hard now as they did on ‘Toy Story.’ They’ll work three years just on the story. Here’s the standard,” he said, holding his hand several feet in the air, “and your job is to reach it.” Not long after his panel, Ratzenberger was spotted in the Walk of Fame autograph room, strolling unaccompanied and stopping to shake hands with a military veteran and waving to fans on his way to his autograph corral.” Click here to read the full article on AccessAtlanta.com...
John Ratzenberger is Featured Speaker at Distinguished Leaders Award Reception
PORTSMOUTH — Great Bay Community College will host its third annual Distinguished Leaders award reception on Thursday, Oct. 2, at the Wentworth by the Sea Hotel in New Castle. This year’s event, themed, “Advanced Manufacturing’s Night Out” will serve as a fundraiser with donations going toward student scholarships and support services. At the same event in 2013, more than $250,000 was raised providing scholarships for students enrolled in both associate degree programs and short-term certificate programs including ACM (Advanced Composites Manufacturing), CNC (Computerized Numerical Control) training, welding, and an insurance industry certificate program. “Through programs such as the Distinguished Leaders Award,” said GBCC President Will Arvelo. “Great Bay and the Community College System of New Hampshire are working to make higher education more accessible and affordable to New Hampshire residents.” This year’s Distinguished Leaders Award event will feature guest speaker John Ratzenberger. He is best known for his role as “Cliff Clavin” on Cheers, lending his voice to Pixar movies and most recently as the host of “Made in America.” Ratzenberger is currently on tour speaking about the importance of advanced manufacturing around the country. “In today’s world, we have this clean manufacturing that the general public is not aware of,” said Ratzenberger, “and institutions like Great Bay are bringing programs, such as their Advanced Composites Manufacturing certificate program, to the forefront. With their help, we are seeing the workforce in that industry expand to fill in the gaps that need skilled and well-trained workers. If you have a program like their ACM program that has had 17 of its 20 students already hired only one year after the beginning of the program, then you know they are doing something right.” “The Distinguished Leaders event serves as a way to celebrate our connection to the community, our students, and the surrounding business and industry in New Hampshire,” Arvelo said. “We continue to do this kind of work because we know that our students, their families and local industry all benefit. We are connecting the outside community to what goes on inside of Great Bay by allowing relationships with companies to flourish and by directing our students to the pathways they need once they finish their time here.” For more information on the Distinguished Leaders Award event or sponsorship opportunities, please visit http://www.greatbay.edu/DLA or contact Bryan Godduhn, assistant to the president, at...
Christmas arrives early in Fairfield as crew films holiday movie
Published on CTpost.com by Gretchen Webster. Christmas has come early to Fairfield. Or at least the illusion of the wintertime holiday as a film crew last week transformed a stretch of Noyes Road for scenes in a Christmas-themed movie. Neighborhood residents said they’ve been told the movie features actress Melissa Joan Hart, who has a home in Westport and is known for roles in the television series “Clarissa Explains It All” and “Sabrina the Teen Witch,” as well as former Bridgeport resident John Ratzenberger, best known for his role as Cliff on the TV comedy “Cheers,” and Scott Grimes, featured on the series “ER” and other television programs. Click here to read the full article...
Foundation for America and HCC Bring Makership Back to America
Well-known actor and U.S. manufacturing advocate John Ratzenberger met with young people at Housatonic Community College (HCC) in Bridgeport. The visit by Ratzenberger, a Bridgeport native, is part of the launch of the American Manufacturing Hall of Fame at HCC. John also appeared upstairs at the Hampshire House above the Cheers bar on Beacon Street in Boston, with hopes to build support for training young people in skilled jobs like carpentry and manufacturing, a movement he described as “nothing less than the second American revolution. The former TV sitcom star said he’s hoping his non-partisan foundation will be able to raise money to support school districts and non-profit organizations around the country to teach kids trade skills that are disappearing from the workforce, and hopes to gain enough publicity to catapult the issue into the national spotlight during the 2016 presidential election. For more information, read this article on MassLive.com and this article from the Shelton...
Variety’s “Purpose Family Entertainment + Faith-based Summit”
Recently, Hollywood’s elite gathered for Variety’s “Purpose Family Entertainment + Faith-based Summit” at the Four Seasons Los Angeles Hotel at Beverly Hills. “Every film that came out of Hollywood before 1962 was a faith-based film,” John Ratzenberger told me as the June 12 summit wound down, summing up with a succinctness reminiscent of his character Cliff in Cheers. Pixar Animation Studios, devoting itself solely to family entertainment, led the way. The reason is simple. Pixar’s producers started having kids and wanted them to ingest healthy entertainment, said Ratzenberger, who has had a voice part in every Pixar animated film including The Incredibles (2004), the Toy Story series (1995, 1999, 2010), the Finding Nemo series (2003, 2016) and Ratatouille (2007). This article was written by Mary Claire Kendall and was published on breitbart.com. Click here to read the full article...