Diane Durham receives Oklahoma Career Tech’s Lifetime Achievement Award

Diane Durham, chief financial officer at Autry Technology Center, received the 2020 Oklahoma Association of Career and Technology Education Lifetime Achievement Award during the Oklahoma Summit, the 53rd annual CareerTech summer conference. This year’s conference was held virtually for more than 4,000 attendees.

Durham’s career in CTE began in 1982 at the state agency in Stillwater. She worked in several divisions at the agency before accepting a position with Autry Technology Center in 2017.

During her tenure at the state agency, Durham worked with financial staff in the technology centers, providing them with funding assistance and legislative updates. She served as an advocate for them with other agency staff. She coordinated training opportunities and presentations during the annual CareerTech summer conference and served as a liaison with the Oklahoma Association of School Business Officials, coordinating breakout sessions at the semiannual meetings.

At Autry Tech, Durham serves as the program chair for technology center financial staff and coordinates training opportunities and speakers. She also serves on the advisory committee for the chief financial officer at the state agency, which provides her the opportunity to share information between the agency and the technology centers.

She is also working with the new business manager at Great Plains Technology Center, providing various documents she has developed for use in maintaining accurate financial records. Her mentorship has included historical knowledge as well as insight into the challenges that a school financial officer faces during the year.

Oklahoma Summit was held in partnership with OkACTE, the professional organization for the state's CareerTech administrators, teachers and staff members.

For more information about the Oklahoma CareerTech system, visit www.okcareertech.org.