ACTE Announces Georgia Professor and Extension Specialist as National Award Finalist

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2019

Contact: Jarrod Nagurka
jnagurka@acteonline.org, 703-683-9312

ACTE Announces Georgia Professor and Extension Specialist as National Award Finalist

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Today, the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) announced Elizabeth Andress, Professor and Extension Specialist at The University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, as the 2019 ACTE Region II Postsecondary Teacher of the Year. This award recognizes the finest career and technical teachers at the postsecondary level who have demonstrated innovation in the classroom, commitment to their students and dedication to the improvement of career and technical education (CTE) in their institution and communities.

Andress has been a food safety specialist with Georgia Cooperative Extension since 1994 and is a Professor in the Department of Foods and Nutrition at the University of Georgia.  Her extension programs in food safety and quality include home food preservation and foodservice sanitation, including the ServSafe® food handler certification program. She is the Director of the National Center for Home Food Processing and Preservation (NCHFP) as well as co-author and lead contact for the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning and the University of Georgia So Easy to Preserve book and videos. The audiences for her programs are county extension educators, FACS and agricultural education teachers, foodservice employees and the general public.

Since 1995, Andress also teaches FDNS 4640/6640, Food Sanitation and Safety, in the Department of Foods and Nutrition at UGA. She also taught a one-credit freshman seminar on food safety for three years and a Maymester undergraduate course on home food preservation for two years. In addition to annual food preservation and safety in-services taught to UGA extension educators every year, she has taught 18 in-service trainings for extension educators in 15 other states. Andress began teaching food science workshops for FACS and AgEd school teachers in Georgia in 2012. Her trainings have been mostly hands-on laboratory food science workshops that teach scientific principles and methods of various food preservation methods with demonstrations of instructional activities for the classroom. Andress also provides youth curricula to teachers and leadership to county extension educators who have reached an additional 350 teachers through 16 workshops in Georgia.

Andress is one of five finalists for the 2020 national title. The national winner will be announced at the ACTE Awards Gala, a dinner and award presentation recognizing the best CTE educators in the country. The event will take place on Wednesday evening, December 4, during ACTE’s CareerTech VISION 2019 in Anaheim, CA. The Awards Gala is sponsored by Express Employment Professionals, Goodheart-Willcox, CareerSafe, and Stratasys. For more information about the ACTE Excellence Awards, visit our webpage.

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About ACTE
The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) is the nation’s largest not-for-profit association committed to the advancement of education that prepares youth and adults for successful careers. ACTE represents the community of CTE professionals, including educators, administrators, researchers, school counselors, guidance and career development professionals and others at all levels of education. ACTE is committed to excellence in providing advocacy, public awareness and access to resources, professional development and leadership opportunities.