Developing a Culture of Strategic Employer Engagement and Grant Know-How to Support Innovative Technical Programs

Ann Beheler; Hope Cotner

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 4
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41952
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41952
Download Count: 176

Paper Authors

biography

Ann Beheler Center for Occupational Research and Development

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Ann Beheler has been in the Information Technology industry for over 30 years, and she currently leads several National Science Foundation grants including the IT Skill Standards 2020 and Beyond project, the National Convergence Technology Center (a National IT Center), and the Building Pathways to Innovation project. All work builds on many previous NSF and DOL grants.

Ann has corporate experience at Rockwell, Raytheon and Novell; has led her own consulting firm; created and taught in the first vendor-specific networking degree program in Texas, and previously led IT-related divisions and grants for community colleges in Texas and California. Previously, she was Vice President of Academic Affairs for Porterville College, responsible for all instruction at the college, and prior that she was a Dean at both Orange Coast College in California and at Collin College.

Among other things, Ann is known for effectively bringing together business and industry using a streamlined process called the Business & Industry Leadership Team Model (BILT) to identify with them the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) they predict will be needed by "right-skilled" job candidates in the future. She then works with faculty to align curriculum such that those who complete certificates and degrees in IT have the knowledge, skills, and abilities that will make them readily employable in high-paying IT positions. Ann holds a PhD in Community College Leadership from Walden University, a MS in Computer Science from Florida Institute of Technology, and a BS in Math from Oklahoma State University.

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biography

Hope Cotner Center for Occupational Research and Development

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Hope Cotner is President/CEO of the Center for Occupational Research & Development, a national nonprofit preparing students for success in careers and higher education. She is passionate about helping schools, colleges, and communities strengthen business-education partnerships to ensure students are armed with the academic, technical, and employability skills needed to be successful in an evolving global economy. Hope has 29 years of experience guiding program improvement initiatives in career-technical and workforce education; most recently, directing the Pathways to Credentials project for ED-OCTAE, the Necessary Skills Now Network for the National Science Foundation’s ATE program, and Advancing Credentials through Career Pathways supported by the ECMC Foundation. She has authored more than 20 professional development courses, toolkits, and guides and co-authored two books on career pathways. Hope serves on the Board of Directors of the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers, was the Expert Panel Chair for the What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guide on Postsecondary CTE for the Institute of Education Sciences and was a career pathways subject matter expert for the President’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership 2.0 Steering Committee. A frequent national speaker on career pathways and the future of work, Ms. Cotner also serves as co-principal investigator of the NSF-ATE initiative Preparing Technicians for the Future of Work.

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Abstract

Abstract

The Building Pathways To Innovation (PTI) Through Strategic Employer Engagement (DUE 2039395) project’s basic premise is that technical programs of all kinds are most beneficial to students when they are co-led by the employers who will hire graduates from these programs. This co-leadership focuses on today and perhaps more importantly on future employer requirements that need to be factored in to fuel enhancing existing or creating new academic programs to best-prepare future workers.

The basic method for ensuring employer co-leadership is the Business & Industry Leadership Team (BILT) model created by the National Convergence Technology Center (DUE 1700530). This method has proven effective at enhancing meaningful employer engagement over many years. Funded by the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education Program, PTI supports two interrelated initiatives that pair to continuously build, maintain, and mine deep relationships with employers to guide and assist in funding on-going innovation in technical programs. The approach is especially applicable for small- and medium-sized colleges whose budgets often cannot fund the cost of innovative program updates.

The initiative at the core of the project’s work is the BILT Academy. The BILT Academy provides a free 10-month cohort experience to teach and mentor faculty and administrators from educational institutions to effectively build a highly-engaged BILT with their employers. Using a structured, repeatable process, the BILT co-leadership approach capitalizes on the industry knowledge of employers and the teaching expertise of faculty to ensure continuous curriculum innovation meets the needs of both employers and educators. The model has proven effective for small, medium, and large colleges over a span of 17 years.

The Grant Seeker Academy also uses a free cohort model to teach and mentor college teams to write competitive National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education grant proposals to fund employer-led innovation in technical programs. This academy engages mentors with extensive experience writing successful National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education grants to provide one-to-one mentoring for college teams in parallel with an intensive workshop that teaches the elements that form a competitive proposal.

With strong employer engagement pointing the direction for innovation in technical educational programs and college teams for these programs having the expertise to write competitive proposals, a culture of innovation can often be built with funding for development of new or enhancement of existing programs. Case studies from small, medium, and large colleges will be provided as part of the paper and the poster session.

Citation
Format

Beheler, A., & Cotner, H. (2022, August), Developing a Culture of Strategic Employer Engagement and Grant Know-How to Support Innovative Technical Programs Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41952

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Abstract

The Building Pathways To Innovation (PTI) Through Strategic Employer Engagement (DUE 2039395) project’s basic premise is that technical programs of all kinds are most beneficial to students when they are co-led by the employers who will hire graduates from these programs.  This co-leadership focuses on today and perhaps more importantly on future employer requirements that need to be factored in to fuel enhancing existing or creating new academic programs to best-prepare future workers. 

The basic method for ensuring employer co-leadership is the Business & Industry Leadership Team (BILT) model created by the National Convergence Technology Center (DUE 1700530). This method has proven effective at enhancing meaningful employer engagement over many years. Funded by the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education Program, PTI supports two interrelated initiatives that pair to continuously build, maintain, and mine deep relationships with employers to guide and assist in funding on-going innovation in technical programs.  The approach is especially applicable for small- and medium-sized colleges whose budgets often cannot fund the cost of innovative program updates.

The initiative at the core of the project’s work is the BILT Academy.  The BILT Academy provides a free 10-month cohort experience to teach and mentor faculty and administrators from educational institutions to effectively build a highly-engaged BILT with their employers.  Using a structured, repeatable process, the BILT co-leadership approach capitalizes on the industry knowledge of employers and the teaching expertise of faculty to ensure continuous curriculum innovation meets the needs of both employers and educators.  The model has proven effective for small, medium, and large colleges over a span of 17 years.

The Grant Seeker Academy also uses a free cohort model to teach and mentor college teams to write competitive National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education grant proposals to fund employer-led innovation in technical programs.  This academy engages mentors with extensive experience writing successful National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education grants to provide one-to-one mentoring for college teams in parallel with an intensive workshop that teaches the elements that form a competitive proposal. 

With strong employer engagement pointing the direction for innovation in technical educational programs and college teams for these programs having the expertise to write competitive proposals, a culture of innovation can often be built with funding for development of new or enhancement of existing programs.  Case studies from small, medium, and large colleges will be provided as part of the paper and the poster session.
AU  - Ann Beheler
AU  - Hope Cotner
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Developing a Culture of Strategic Employer Engagement and Grant Know-How to Support Innovative Technical Programs
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/41952
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--41952
ER  -