CareerTech part of Centers for Workforce Excellence
Oklahoma CareerTech’s technology centers are working with industries, economic developers and other educational entities in their regions to support business growth and expansion.
The groups are working together through nine Centers for Workforce Excellence recently certified under the Oklahoma Works Together program, the Oklahoma Department of Commerce announced last week.
The centers are designed to meet local economic needs, are led and supported by employer groups, engage all stakeholders and align educational pathways.
Read more about the Centers for Workforce Excellence on the Department of Commerce website.
Oklahomans win ACTE awards
Amanda Eastridge-English of Metro Technology Centers was named the 2021 National Association of Career and Technical Education Teacher of the Year. Eastridge-English is the law enforcement services instructor on Metro Tech’s South Bryant Campus.
Read more about Eastridge-English and the award on the ACTE website.
In addition, Kendra Allen, career assessment specialist at Canadian Valley Technology Center’s Chickasha Campus, received the ACTE New and Related Services Division Support Staff of the Year award.
Other Oklahoma nominees for national awards were Cecil Wainscott, licensed trades instructor at Lexington Skills Center, Postsecondary Teacher of the Year; Teresa Pinkston, assistant director at Tulsa Technology Center’s Riverside Campus, Administrator of the Year; and Kristal McCathern, cosmetology instructor at Southern Technology Center, Carl Perkins Community Service Award.
CareerTech to host agriculture panel discussion
Oklahoma CareerTech will host a virtual panel discussion on the latest trends and employment opportunities in agriculture at 2 p.m. Dec. 15.
The hour-long discussion will feature several agriculture experts, including Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Blayne Arthur and Lopez Foods President John Patrick Lopez. Other panelists will be Scott Nemecek, ODCTE agricultural education program manager, and Cynda Clary, Oklahoma State University Ferguson College of Agriculture associate dean for academic programs.
COVID-19 webinar available for agriculture employers
The Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education has partnered with the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division to offer a free webinar about the Families First Coronavirus Response Act for agriculture employers.
The webinar will be from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Dec. 16. Registration is required. It will offer an introduction to the FFCRA and access to resources to help employers comply with the law.
ODCTE hosts session on electric vehicles
Oklahoma CareerTech automotive service and collision/refinishing instructors learned more about electric vehicles in an interactive virtual session.
The CareerTech-hosted session included presentations from Nathan DeHaan from Tesla of Tulsa; Sen. Mary Boren, a Tesla owner and electric vehicle advocate; and Eric Pollard, air quality and Clean Cities coordinator at the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments.
The session focused on familiarization of electric vehicles and their growing market, along with an increased need for charging infrastructure and service facilities.
Useful links
Follow us on Twitter at @okcareertech and find us on Facebook at OklahomaCareerTech and on Instagram at oklahomacareertech and read our blog, Oklahoma CareerTech Delivers. Find our podcast at https://www.cthorizon.org/.
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Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen. -- Horace Mann
