Career Technical Workforce Education wins Outstanding Advising and Mentoring Program Award

Education program has grown from 21 students in 2013 to 350 in 2020

The Career Technical Workforce Education program in the College of Education and Human Development has won the Outstanding Advising and Mentoring Program Award. This educational initiative is focused on serving individuals who currently hold a state teaching license but intend to prepare themselves to instruct in a career-technical program.

This Bowling Green State University program has grown from 21 students in 2013 to 350 students in 2020 by utilizing a combination of personalized and individual guidance. The education approach utilizes in-class modules crafted to assist students as they reach decisions regarding their pathway in the program.

The faculty members behind the CTWE program were lauded for their “creativity in meeting students’ educational needs” with software and partnerships all across Ohio. The outstanding performance of students on licensing assessments provided ample evidence of the program's ability to remain current with changes and demands in the field and the institutional commitment to student support and curricular development.

The program is led by DJ Kern-Blystone, Jeremy Nadler, Cindy Ross and Dawn Thompson. They have developed, designed and continue to deliver this highly successful program intended for newly hired career tech education (CTE) teachers across the state. The program is delivered 100 percent online and targeted for individuals who have made a career change to the education profession.

In her nomination letter, Ross, a College of Education and Human Development teaching professor and the Career Tech Workforce Education Program coordinator, said that the group went to work in the spring 2020 semester as it became apparent that new CTE teachers were struggling with the movement of middle school and high school education to online learning, due to the pandemic. The CTWE faculty held additional virtual sessions in coursework to provide support and developed a Career Tech Teacher Resource website to help former and current BGSU middle school and high school CTE teachers make the transition from in-person teaching to an online or hybrid approach.

“The CTWE program has worked very hard to think outside of the box to support students,” Ross said. “Care and dedication to the success of the students enrolled in the BGSU coursework has been and continues to be the main priority of the BGSU CTWE faculty.”

Mary Dudley, an agriculture educator in the Cincinnati Public School system, said the training she received in the CTWE program has been a significant contributor to her professional success, since she came to her current job without formal teaching certifications.

“Without the commitment of the extremely capable staff at BGSU, I would not have gotten far in my newly chosen career field,” Dudley said. “I felt like I was treading water in a turbulent ocean and the lifeline provided by the faculty in the BGSU workforce education program gave me the tools I needed to bridge the divide and open the doors for professional growth.”

Others involved in the CTWE program echoed those sentiments, citing “the unconditional support and cheerleading from the program faculty and advisers” or the “the support and individuality which I received from my faculty during my program.” They also voiced an appreciation for the online format, which allowed them to continue working full-time as a teacher while completing their coursework.