FROM: Ann Houston, Communications and Marketing
Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education
1500 W. Seventh Ave., Stillwater, OK 74074
Phone: 405-743-5112 Fax: 405-743-5541
e-mail:ahous@okcareertech.org

CareerTech Program Prepares New Administrators

Some 24 CareerTech system leaders are participating in the Technology Center Administrator Program (TechCAP) sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education.

In the next few years many administrators in the CareerTech system will be retiring. LaMecia Stidham, who coordinated the program two years ago, said the program was designed to prepare people to step into those roles. Stidham is a technology center field service coordinator at the state CareerTech agency.

“TechCAP provides an in-depth look into ‘survival skills’ for specific technology center administrator-related tasks,” Stidham said. “This program is the capstone to our other statewide leadership development programs.”

This year’s program kicked off at the state CareerTech department in Stillwater Aug. 25 and will end May 12 after sessions on all aspects of the CareerTech system including finance, the system’s history and philosophy, and its organizational structure. Both state and national perspectives will be highlighted.

Sessions will be held at several of the state’s 56 technology center campuses.

Phil Berkenbile, Oklahoma’s state CareerTech director, said programs such as TechCAP were critical to the system’s continued success.

“If we are to build on the reputation of this system as one of the nation’s finest, we must prepare our teachers and administrators with the skills they need to succeed as our future leaders,” Berkenbile said.

posted Aug 29, 2005