The Oklahoma CareerTech Foundation will induct seven people into the Oklahoma Career and Technology Education Hall of Fame in November.
This year’s inductees are Athena Frank, Donna Metcalf, Virginia Sasser, Billy Scott, Fred Shultz, Eddie Smith and Ron Vandever. The ceremony will be Nov. 5 at ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center in Stillwater. Tickets will go on sale in April.
“These seven Hall of Fame honorees helped shape career and technology education in Oklahoma, making CareerTech the best in the nation,” said CareerTech State Director Brent Haken. “Each has advanced the mission of CareerTech in unique and extraordinary ways, and we are honored to be able to recognize them.”
Frank began her career in 1993 as a business and computer technology teacher and district technology coordinator at Ripley High School. From 2005 until retirement in 2024, she taught business and information technology teacher at Central Technology Center in Drumright.
She was Central Tech’s first National Board Certified Career and Technical Education teacher and designed and implemented accredited asynchronous distance education. She served as a Business Professionals of America chapter adviser and continues to serve on advisory committees and as treasurer of the BPA National Board of Trustees. She has also served in many positions in OkACTE and has won several awards, including Teacher of the Year and ACTE Region IV Teacher of the Year.
Metcalf, who will be inducted posthumously, got her CareerTech start in 1972 as a business education instructor at Western Technology Center. In 1978, she joined the state department, where she worked for 32 years as assistant to the state director, curriculum specialist, assistant state coordinator for adult education, human resources coordinator, business and industry services coordinator, dropout recovery program coordinator, Skills Centers School System student services coordinator and field services coordinator.
In 2012, she became organizational and instructional development coordinator at Kiamichi Technology Centers, where she retired in 2020. She received both the Arch Alexander Award of Excellence from OkACTE and the ACTE Lifetime Achievement Award. She took great pride in helping new educators find their footing, offering wisdom, encouragement and steady leadership.
Sasser taught home economics for 25 years at Perkins-Tryon High School, where she also served as adviser for Future Homemakers of America (now Family, Career and Community Leaders of America). She left PTHS to become the FCCLA state adviser at Oklahoma CareerTech, a position she held until retirement.
She continues to serve as an FCCLA STAR Event judge on district and state levels, attends FCCLA state conventions and contributes to fundraising campaigns. She is also a Forever Partner Sponsor for the Forever Red Gala hosted by Oklahoma FCCLA Alumni and Associates.
Scott taught agricultural education in Amber-Pocasset from 1976 to 2024, leading the FFA chapter to achieve more than 40 state champion CDE teams and more than 40 state runner-up CDE teams; four state officers; and many State FFA Degree recipients. The chapter was the Single Teacher Sweepstakes winner for 20 years and an Outstanding Ag Program recipient.
He received the Outstanding Young Ag Ed Teacher award; honorary State and American FFA Degrees; and the OSU Ag Ed Graduate of Distinction award. He served on the Oklahoma Agricultural Education Teachers Association board for several years; is an OSU and Animal Science Alumni lifetime member; was named to the Grady County Educator’s Hall of Fame; and received the first “Here by the Owl” FFA Foundation Trust Fund award.
Shultz, who will be inducted posthumously, helped build Meridian Technology Center from the ground up, serving as its first superintendent. He served as Meridian superintendent for 31 years before retiring. He previously taught agricultural education and worked at the state agency, where he was Francis Tuttle’s first intern.
Believing that the CareerTech system needed to develop its own superintendents and leaders, Shultz started the first CareerTech administrator internship program, a two-year program that produced a number of technology center superintendents.
Smith began teaching agricultural education in Fargo after earning a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University in 1968. He then taught one year in Burlington before joining Oklahoma CareerTech in 1975 to help develop curriculum for teachers.
He joined the CareerTech ag ed staff in 1977 and served as northwest district supervisor, leading the district to earn 100% superior FFA chapters for many years. In January 1988, he became state supervisor for agricultural education, a position he held until retiring in 2007.
Vandever, who will be inducted posthumously, taught industrial arts welding at Bristow High School for six years, earning the Outstanding Young Educator Award in 1965. He became director of student services at Central Tech when it opened in 1968 and worked his way to assistant superintendent in 1970, associate superintendent in 1980 and superintendent from 1992 to 1998.
He helped create Oklahoma’s first Advanced School of Math and Science at Central Tech, leading to Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics programs at other tech centers. He developed a comprehensive career guidance system for high school sophomores and the first two-week summer camps for junior high students. Under his leadership, Central Tech received the Gold Star Award of Excellence when it launched in 1990.
Vandever received the Francis Tuttle Award in 1997.
The 2026 class of inductees will increase the Hall of Fame membership to 99. The Hall of Fame, which is sponsored by the Oklahoma Foundation for Career and Technology Education, was founded in 1990. Previous inductees include governors, college deans and professors, business and industry leaders, educators and CareerTech System faculty, staff and agency members.
For more information about the Oklahoma CareerTech Foundation, visit https://oklahoma.gov/careertech/about/foundation.html.
Oklahoma CareerTech: Oklahoma’s Workforce Leader
The Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education provides leadership and resources and assures standards of excellence for a comprehensive statewide system of career and technology education. The system offers programs and services in 29 technology center districts operating on 63 campuses, 394 PK-12 school districts, 20 Skills Centers campuses that include three juvenile facilities and 49 adult education and family literacy providers.
The agency is governed by the State Board of Career and Technology Education and works closely with the State Department of Education and the State Regents for Higher Education to provide a seamless educational system for all Oklahomans.
