The Clackamas print., November 23, 2016, Page 4, Image 4

Instructor lights up welding department
CLACKAMAS TEACHER CREATES COOL THINGS ACROSS WORLD
BY DEBBIE FOX
Paris, St. Petersburg, Philadelphia, San
Francisco , and fin a lly O regon - Bruce
M ulligan’ s knack for art and welding has
followed h im from France to Clackam as
Com m unity College.
He has been teaching since 1994, and
began at the college this fall.
M u lligan has also been a m em ber o f
Am orphic Robot Works since 1994- ARW
is a co m p an y th at d esign s large scale
kinetic art. W hen he firs? started working
w ith the com pany, he was a volunteer.
“ I am the oldest surviving m em ber o f
the group,” said M ulligan.
ARW was contracted to build a kinetic
statue in San Francisco. He worked on
the first outdoor kinetic statue, "Urge to
Stan d ,” w hich is still functioning today
above the San Francisco Convention Center.
"It is still m y favorite,” said M ulligan.
ARW bu ilt a transform er car that was
a replica o f the Citroen DS19. M ulligan
is called upon for any repairs th at are
needed on it. He is the only person that
the owner o f the com pany trusts to work
on the 21-foot long car w ith num erous
. m oving parts.
Mulligan brings this strong background
o f w eld in g and a rtistic ta le n ts to h is
students.
"I have seen students improve after h e
has spent tim e working,with th em ,” said
Jo h n Phelps, a w elding instructor.
M ulligan is assisting w ith fabrication
an d will be th e in stru cto r startin g in
w in te r te rm . F a b ricatio n is b u ild in g
w ith m etal and m ach in in g techniques;
it involves form ing and w elding m etal.
H e is c u rre n tly te a c h in g W e ld in g
Inspector Exam , a self-stu d y course.
“ H e is a ls o a. c e r tifie d w e ld in g
inspector,” said Gordon Rickard, welding
4 Clackamas Print NOVEMBER 23,2016 theclackamasprintcom
pho to co n trib u te d by Bruce Mulligan
instructor “ We now have two w elding
inspector instructors and this w illallo w
more students to be certified.”
Mulligan went to high school in Pittsburg.
" I go o fe d aro u n d fo r a co u p le o f
y ears,” M u lligan said o f h is tim e after
high school. He then went to com m unity
college at Allegheny County for w elding,
and he studied art history. That is w hen
he becam e interested in sculptures. He
w ent to three different w elding schools
before he becam e a professional welder.
N ow M u llig a n is m arried w ith two
children. In 1998, he relocated his fam ily
to St. Petersburg, Florida. He was still
doing artwork and traveling to Europe.
He was considered an artist technician
in Europe. He was a design engineer on
m any o f the projects fo r ARW.
The S t. Petersbu rg m ove proved to
be tou gh . M u lligan spent a lot o f tim e
traveling to New York.
" A ll m y good m oney was being spent
travelin g,” said M ulligan.
M ulligan came back to the W est Coast
on Halloween 2010 to pursue welding. He
worked at th e shipyard on Swan Island.
He began teaching part-tim e at Portland
Com m unity College, w hile still working
fu ll-tim e as a w elding inspector.
He spent 50 to 60 hours per week on
construction sites.
“ I had open heart surgery in April, ” said
M u lliga n . It was ph ysically taxin g and
injuries could happen. When the full-tim e
position opened at C C C , he applied and
became employed and now works one job.
Coworkers said that M ulligan is easy
to w ork w ith and gets alo n g w ell w ith
students. H is expertise w ith welding is a
Top: Bruce Mulligan helped build this 22-foot tali aluminum tree that sits in New
valuable commodity added to the welding
York. Middle: Mulligan «sits in his office. Bottom: Mulligan helped build a real;
departm ent.
transformer,
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pho to co n trib u te d b y Bruce M ulligan