The first session presentations from the 2009 Annual Convention are now available. More will be added on a rolling basis as they are submitted to ACTE.
Catch The New Rhythm of CTE
November 19-21, 2009—Nashville, TN
Join us in Nashville November 19-21 for ACTE’s Annual Convention and Career Tech Expo! On-site registration will open the morning of November 19. Discover new approaches, find solutions to your shared challenges, share your best practices with colleagues and leave with constructive new ideas to take back to your school. You’ll gain valuable insights and proven strategies that will improve your programs, help you find funding solutions and increase student achievement in your district.
Your Convention registration includes:
Interested in exhibiting at the 2009 Career Tech Expo? Check out our exhibitors' page for availability and rates.
Why Attend the ACTE Convention?
Building your skills and sharing best practices with your colleagues is well worth the time and money—here are some reasons why your attendance is critical.
Educators who attend ACTE’s Annual Convention are passionate about career and technical education and they recognize its importance to our nation’s future. Nowhere else will you find thousands of like-minded educators who are committed to providing the best education and career training to youth and adults.
It’s critical for you to be part of this network to stay informed, prepared and motivated in your pursuit of excellence. You can’t accomplish this by staying inside your building. When you attend Convention, you get creative and practical ideas and strategies through workshops, speaker presentations and networking opportunities that can be implemented immediately upon your return to school.
Jeff HendersonSouth Central Los Angeles native and award-winning chef “Chef Jeff” Henderson will open this year’s Convention as the Opening General Session speaker. Henderson is an award-winning chef who has served as the executive chef at the renowned Café Bellagio and Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. What makes Henderson so remarkable is his story of going from crack dealer to top chef.
Henderson grew up in South Central Los Angeles and San Diego and was raised by a single mother who worked as a welder. To earn money, Henderson turned to drugs, and by 19 he was running a million-dollar cocaine operation. Eventually arrested and incarcerated, he spent almost a decade in federal prison. During this time, he realized that being locked up had saved him and he discovered his passion for cooking while doing kitchen duty. Once out of prison, he channeled the same intense ambition that had nearly ruined his life to help him rise to the top of some of the best kitchens in the country. But as a convicted felon and a black man in the world of haute cuisine, he had to overcome many challenges.
Henderson began his professional career cooking at many influential restaurants, including Gadsy’s, L’Escale, the Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Marina Del Rey, Zing and The Good Bar. He went on to become a sous chef at the world-renowned Mobil 5-Star Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, as well at Mobil 5-Star L’Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills.
In 2000, Henderson continued his rise, making history in Las Vegas as the first African-American Chef de Cuisine at Caesars Palace. He was later promoted to an executive chef position and has since held that position at several top restaurants in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. In 2001, the American Food and Wine Tasting Federation named Henderson “Las Vegas Chef of the Year.” He has since gone on to become the executive chef at the Bellagio, another first for an African American.
Henderson has been honored as one of the top African-American chefs by Black Enterprise magazine. His memoir, Cooked, was released in March 2007 and he is in discussions with production companies to produce his story and networks to star in his own reality show.
Henderson’s story will not only inspire, but will reinforce to career and technical educators that the skills and education they provide are of real value.
Stedman GrahamStedman Graham is a businessman, educator, writer and speaker who focuses on maximizing leadership, achieving success and embracing diversity.
As a businessman, Graham is chairman and CEO of S. Graham & Associates (SGA), a management and marketing consulting company that specializes in the corporate and educational markets.
As an educator, Graham is a former adjunct professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago where he taught a leadership course. At the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, he taught a management strategy course. He also founded and directed George Washington University’s Forum for Sport and Event Management and Marketing—the first of its kind in the country.
As a writer, Graham has authored 10 books, including two New York Times bestsellers, You Can Make It Happen: A Nine-Step Plan for Success and Teens Can Make It Happen: Nine Steps to Success. His latest release Diversity: Leaders not Labels includes his unique approach to eliminate barriers to success.
And finally as a speaker, Graham has worked with clients such as Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Manpower, CNN, GlaxoSmithKline, American College of Sports Medicine, YMCA, U.S. Olympic Committee, U.S. Department of Labor’s Job Corps, Harvard and Wharton business schools and the U.S. Department of Education.
As the Saturday General Session speaker, Graham will share his leadership insights and tips that will not only help career and technical education professionals themselves, but will also get them thinking about their roles as mentors and educators.
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Friday General Session
In-depth discussion and celebration will be the focus of ACTE's Friday General Session. On November 20, Convention attendees will hear an expert panel discuss trends in high school reform and the role career and technical education can and should play. This high-profile session will be moderated by Bill Daggett from the International Center for Leadership in Education and will include:
- Mark Elgart, president and CEO of AdvancED, the parent organization for the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement, the National Study of School Evaluation and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement.
- Stuart Udell, CEO of Penn Foster, one of the nation’s largest accredited online providers of high school, career school and college programs. He also serves as chair of the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network.
- Don Henderson, senior manager of creative expression for Apple Education. In his role, Henderson is responsible for creating programs and solutions that integrate Apple’s digital media tools across the curriculum. As such, Henderson works with educators around the country and abroad who have created programs focused on the use of Apple’s professional applications.
- David Wakelyn, program director for the education division of the National Governors Association. In this role, Wakelyn oversees NGA’s Advanced Placement Expansion project, which has seen a 98 percent increase in minority student enrollment and growth in performance exceeding the national average. Wakelyn is also the co-lead for NGA’s efforts to raise the quality of career and technical education programs.
In addition to this high-profile discussion, Department of Labor Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Jane Oates will address attendees. A former special populations teacher, Oates worked from public schools to government service, advising Senator Edward Kennedy on the Senate HELP Committee and serving as executive director of New Jersey's Commission on Higher Education.
Also addressing attendees will be newly appointed Assistant Secretary of the Office of Vocational and Adult Education Brenda Dann-Messier. Dr. Dann-Messier has worked as president of an adult learning center and co-authored a number of papers on ways to increase access to higher
education for different communities, an area of high priority to ACTE.
ACTE will also present its annual national awards during this General Session. This event, generously sponsored by CEV Multimedia, will highlight the best career and technical educators from around the country and recognize them for their accomplishments. This is the one time a year where career and technical education shines a national light on itself. Be sure you are there to support these individuals and the image of career and technical education.
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Pre-Convention Tours
WMH Tool Group Tour
Be one of only 50 ACTE Convention attendees to tour the WMH product showroom and distribution center. WMH is a subsidiary of Walter Meier Holding AG, an international company manufacturing high-quality, precision woodworking and metalworking equipment, including Powermatic®, Jet® and WILTON®. Learn about the latest innovations in woodworking and metalworking from WMH executives, engineers and managers. The WMH team will share how they successfully design high-quality and innovative equipment, manufacture around the world, and distribute in the United States.
The tour will be on Wednesday, November 18. You will depart from the Gaylord Hotel and travel by bus to the WMH headquarters, about a 45-minute ride. Lunch will be provided. The bus will depart at 9:00 a.m. and return to the Gaylord Hotel at approximately 2:00 p.m.
Registration for this tour is closed.
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NRCCTE Pre-Convention Session
The National Research Center for Career and Technical Education developed the Jump-Start Initiative to allow state and regional teams to get hands-on experience with the Math-in-CTE model to determine if they could benefit from a more intensive NRCCTE-sponsored technical assistance implementation. As a response to input from facilitators and participants, they have concentrated the Jump-Start experience to a two-day workshop, with an optional follow-up at the individual sites, scheduled for November 17-18 as a two-day pre-Convention session. Attending Jump-Start will improve your and your team’s understanding of the model and increase your leadership capacity to ensure a successful implementation in the future. Contact Jennifer Sawyer for more information and a registration packet.
This event is closed. NRCCTE will keep a waiting list for those interested in attending.
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College Credit Now Available
For the first time, ACTE Annual Convention attendees have the opportunity to receive college credit for their participation. ACTE, NOCTI and Penn State University have teamed up to provide Convention attendees the opportunity to earn up to two graduate credits for attending the premiere professional development event for career and technical educators.
Attendees can receive one credit for attending the Convention and an additional credit if they also attend the NOCTI, ACTER or IVETA pre-Convention activities. Students will have a Penn State University instructor assigned to them and will be responsible for preparing to come to the Convention, attending the Convention and demonstrating the implementation of new concepts learned during the Convention.
Interested educators can learn more the program, including academic requirements and registering as a non-degree student at Penn State, here. The cost for the credit(s) will be collected when educators register (print form). For general questions about the program, contact Peter Magnuson (703-683-9341).
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ACTE has developed several pre-Convention workshops that will take place Wednesday, Nov. 18.
Career Clusters 201This half-day workshop will provide an overview of the Career Clusters Tour Guide: Module 2—Implementation. This workshop, which will take place on Wednesday, November 18, is designed to introduce participants to the basic concepts of initial implementation of a Career Clusters framework, including the overarching infrastructure of implementation, developing plans/programs of study and application of the 15 critical components of implementation. The guide includes background information, a PowerPoint slide presentation, PowerPoint notes, handouts and CD. Each participant will receive a copy of the Career Clusters Tour Guide: Module 2 (a $65 value).
Registration for this half-day workshop is limited to 75 participants and the registration fee is $140. It will run from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Developing a Crisis Response PlanIn this half-day workshop, participants will hear a case study of how a Midwest technical college serving 34,000 students ever year has developed a plan to respond to crisis on campus. Participants in this workshop will hear two perspectives on the development of this plan, one from Student Services and one from Administrative Services. Topics to be discussed include violence-prevention plans, National Incident Management System (NIMS) training, behavioral intervention teams, employees’ roles and more. You will walk away from this workshop with all the tools and information you need to create and implement a crisis response plan. Presenters include J. Timothy Greene, a risk- and loss-control consultant with Districts Mutual Insurance, and Deborah T. Wallendal, dean of student services at Waukesha County Technical College. Participation and discussion will be encouraged. Light refreshments will be served.
The session will start at 1:00 p.m. and end at 5:00 p.m. The registration fee is $140.
Linking Career/Technical Studies to Broader High School ReformAs schools face the serious challenges of raising student achievement, improving graduation rates and preparing all students for postsecondary studies and the workplace, they are increasingly turning to career and technical education for the answers. Using the proven practices of the High Schools That Work reform model, career and technical studies take center stage in high-performing high schools. This full-day workshop will explore how schools can organize multiple pathways that include an intellectually demanding academic core and career and technical studies, active engagement in learning, embedded literacy and numeracy, extra help and support to meet high standards and guidance and advisement to ensure that all students and their parents are involved in setting goals for further learning and the workplace. This workshop will take place on Wednesday, November 18 and will be facilitated by Gene Bottoms and Heather Sass of High Schools That Work.
The registration fee for this full-day workshop is $200. It will begin at 8:30 a.m. and conclude at 4:30 p.m.
Academic Excellence Through Career and Technical EducationAre you interested on learning about the role of CTE in school reform, academic excellence through CTE, leadership strategies for integrating CTE and academic education or how to use the rigor/relevance framework to improve instruction? Then you need to attend ACTE’s Academic Excellence Through Career and Technical Education pre-Convention workshop. CTE educators and administrators looking to make real improvements in their programs, schools and districts will want to join Willard R. Daggett, president of the International Center for Leadership in Education, and Richard Jones and Jim Miles, senior consultants with the International Center, in this full-day workshop that will focus on developing creative new programs that blend the best of academic and CTE programs. This full-day event will run from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and include morning coffee and refreshments, as well as an afternoon drink break. Participants will eat lunch on their own.
The registration fee is $150.
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This year, ACTE has several different tools to help you engage online! If you're able to be with us in Nashville, these tools can enhance your experience; if you can't make it, these tools can keep you up to speed on what's happening at the Convention:
- Official Convention Blog: Stay current with news and session profiles before the Convention. During the event, read along as our official member bloggers describe their experiences and takeaways. Subscribe by e-mail to have updates delivered to your inbox.
- ACTE on Twitter: Get real-time reminders and play-by-play action by following ACTE on Twitter. Use the hashtag #09acte in your Convention-related tweets so that we can pull together updates from everyone conversing about the conference (see how this works in our widget at the top of the page, or learn more about hashtags).
- Attendee Twitter and Blog Roll: Planning to update your own blog or Twitterstream from Convention? Add your blog URL and/or Twitter ID to our directory and connect with colleagues who are also blogging or tweeting about Convention.
- Convention Discussion Forum: Share anything and everything about your Convention plans and your experiences in sessions and on the expo floor.
- Flickr Photo Gallery: Photos from the Convention, updated constantly! Send your photos to cimperatore@acteonline.org to be posted. If you have your own Flickr account, add “ACTE Career Tech” as a contact.
Visit our tutorials page to see how easy it is to use these and other ACTE online resources, such as ACTE on Facebook and LinkedIn.
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The ACTE/NRCCTE unConference, held during the 2009 ACTE Convention and Career Tech Expo, will feature short, informal sessions emphasizing openness and dialogue. Located at booths 429 and 435, the unConference is for you if you have a passion for and knowledge about CTE that you want to share outside of the formal Convention session schedule, or if you like to learn and engage in an informal environment. Sign up online through November 16; after that date, sign up on-site at booths 429 and 435. To attend a session, check out the schedule online or on-site at booths 429 and 435, then grab a seat to listen, learn and share your thoughts.
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CTE Support Fund Silent Auction and Networking Reception
Unwind and do a little holiday shopping after Thursday’s sessions at the CTE Support Fund silent auction and networking reception. Take part in the support fund's biggest fundraising event Nov. 19 at 5:30 p.m. as we auction off crafts, signed memorabilia, tools, classroom items and more. Come support ACTE’s advocacy efforts, enjoy some food and drinks and mingle with your colleagues. If you would like to donate an item for the auction or for more information, please contact ACTE’s Advocacy Manager, Jamie Baxter.
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Young Professionals Feedback Session
What will ACTE look like in five or 10 years? We want to find out, which is why we are inviting you to participate in the Young Professionals Feedback Session that will take place on Saturday, November 21, in Governor’s Chamber E, starting a 1:00 p.m. If you are under 40, we want to learn from you during this session. Bring your insights, thoughts and ideas, as well as answers to questions like: How do you want to learn? How do you communicate? Does ACTE have the resources and networks you need? What can we change to make ACTE a more responsive association? Is ACTE relevant?
The future of ACTE will be driven by its younger members—let’s hear what you have to say!
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Annual Convention Addresses Green Tech
ACTE has added a strand of sessions and workshops designed to help career and technical educators prepare and plan for the impact the green tech industry will have on their schools, programs and classes.
The strand begins with a pre-Convention conference led by NOCTI that addresses how to turn green standards into curriculum. This event takes place on Wednesday, November 18, starting at 1:00 p.m. Sessions focus on wind-energy standards, green-building standards and program implementation and include a variety of case studies. There is a separate registration fee for this pre-Convention conference.
As a part of the general ACTE Annual Convention programming, there are sessions on:
- Preparing the New Green Collar—a copy of The Green Collar Workforce curriculum will be shared
- Green STEM Technology—focuses on the STEM side of green jobs
- Green CTE—focuses on the greening of CTE curricula
- Sustainability—delves into the teaching of sustainability as a 21st century skill
In addition to these sessions, many of the ACTE Divisions also have sessions that address the issues of green tech and sustainability. Register today!
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Interview With Butch Spyridon, President of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau
Curious about what to do with yourself after a full day of sessions and walking through the Exhibit Hall? Catherine Imperatore interviewed Nashville CVB President Butch Spyridon about Nashville as a tourist destination, how the economic downturn has affected the hospitality and tourism industry and the preparation hospitality and tourism students receive and whether it's enough to succeed in the field.
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Partners, Partners, Partners
Much of the success of last year's Convention in Charlotte was due to the content-provider partnerships ACTE established. Those will continue in Nashville. To date, ACTE has secured the support of:
CTEEC Business Meeting
The Career and Technical Education Equity Council (CTEEC), an affiliate of ACTE’s Administration Division, will be holding its business meeting on Thursday, November 19 from 2-3:00 p.m. in Delta Island B. During this meeting, which is open to all attendees, CTEEC will be reviewing its next year’s program of work and would like input as it moves forward to help CTE’s efforts to meet the needs of diverse students.
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