2015WACTE Professional Development Conference
Plan now to attend the 2015 Conference and Professional Recognition Program!
Highlights of this year’s Conference:
Delegate Assembly
Dynamic Keynote Speakers
Exhibitors & Student Showcase
Business & Industry Sessions
Legislative Updates
Informative Concurrent Sessions
Leadership Development
Professional Networking & Roundtables
WACTE Awards Program Breakfast
2015 SCHEDULE OFEVENTS
Wednesday, April 15,2015WACTE Board Meeting / 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Set up for Exhibits & Student Displays / 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Registration/Information Booth / 7:00 am - 5:00 pm
Setup for Exhibits & Student Displays
Exhibits Open / 7:00 am - 8:00 am
8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Silent Auction – open / 8:30 am - 7:00 pm
Opening Session & Keynote Speaker / 9:30 am -11:00 am
Concurrent Breakout Sessions / 11:15 am - 12:15 pm
Student Showcase / 12:15 pm - 1:30 pm
Box Lunch – (With Exhibitors & Students) / 12:15 pm - 1:30 pm
Concurrent Sessions / 1:45 pm - 2:45 pm
Break / 2:45 pm - 3:00 pm
Concurrent Sessions / 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
House of Delegates Meeting / 4:30 pm - 5:45 pm
Reception, Live Auction & Raffle Drawing / 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Friday, April 17, 2015
Registration/Information Booth / 7:00 am - 3:00 pm
WACTE Awards Program/ Breakfast / 8:00 am – 9:30 am
Break & Hotel Check-Out / 9:30 am – 9:45 am
Concurrent Sessions / 9:45 am - 10:45 am
Keynote SpeakerClosingSession / 11:00 am – 11:45am
Register Today!
Early Bird Registration Deadline
2/27/15
Visit our website for online registration, and Housing information.
Thursday’s Opening Session
9:30-11:00 am
Welcome: John Pritchett, WACTE President
Greetings from ACTE: Stephen DeWitt, Deputy Executive Director
Keynote Address:
Between A Rock and A Hard Place;TheTwo Biggest Challenges to Turning an Education into Employment
Chris Czarnik is a national career search expert with more than 10 years of job search counseling and motivational speaking experience. His innovative "research project" approach to job search has helped thousands of people land rewarding careers.
Chris currently leads the employment services department for FoxValleyTechnicalCollege, and is a leading adjunct career search instructor for the 5th largest research university in the nation UW Madison. His process, “The Human Search Engine” was introduced to the 113th United States Congress as a national job search and workforce development model.
As a thought-leader in the field of career search, Chris delivers his dynamic presentations to groups of hundreds of people, as well as providing classroom and "train the trainer" instruction.
Concurrent Breakout Sessions
11:15 am – 12:15 pm
The State Budget, State Legislative Session and CTE
Paul Gabriel, Wisconsin Technical College District Boards
Up-to-the-minute legislative overview, the political environment, the state budget process and bills of interest affecting CTE. A Question and Answer period follows the presentation.
Learn about “sextants” to help you “keep moving” in the right direction”
11:15 am 12:15 pm
Therese Nemec, FVTC - We spend approximately one third of our waking hours at work, so shouldn’t we get the best return on such an important investment? This interactive seminar presents tools you can use to maximize your work days, while inspiring you to take ownership of your job satisfaction. Lean about “sextants” to help you going in the right “direction”. Also learn about:
- Finding purpose and meaning in your work and in your life
- Taking pride in yourself and in your work
- Seeking personal and professional growth
- Having fun
11:15 am 12:15 pm
DPI Dual Enrollment,Kevin Miller, WI Department of Public Instruction
Receive an update on various dual enrollment programs including Youth Options and Course Options.
1:45 pm – 2:45 pm
Aligning Resources to Promote Program Priorities – Matt Simoneau, UW Stout
This session will detail one institution’s comparative look at the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act and its focus on aligning resources to promote program priorities from marketing to faculty professional development. It will present an easy to replicate cross-department, cross-disciplinary model that was used to establish an outcomes based, aligned and data driven approach to prioritizing funding with a focus on utilizing data to make informed decisions.
1:45 pm – 2:45 pm
Hiring Best Practices Local Business Panel
Stephen Kohler, Pierce Manufacturing &
Andy Priessner, Ariens Company
There has been a lot of news about the skills gap that many companies are experiencing. This panel will discuss strategies and challenges now and looking into the future that can impact the success of a business..
1:45 pm – 2:45 pm
Transformational Leadership within the Dancing Landscapes of Complex Systems – Ted May, WisconsinIndianheadTechnicalCollege
In our world of ever-more complex systems, we as leaders at all levels may advance projects and initiatives, manage staff, or offer organizational vision in a highly connected and interdependent environment with ever-changing or dancing landscapes. As leaders within complex systems, we can control almost nothing, but may influence almost everything. Our goal will be to incorporate a deeper understanding of complex systems into a transformational leadership approach for how we work with our colleagues, project teams, and college as a whole. Using these strategies we can build more sustainable organizations and communities.
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Research Roundtables - Deanna Schultz, Kevin Dietsch, UW Stout,Jane Finkenbine, GatewayTechnicalCollege, Jeff Dykes, Eau Claire Fire Department/CVTC, Jonathan Hardbarger (tentative), GatewayTechnicalCollege–
Graduate students in the University of Wisconsin Stout’s Career and Technical Education master’s and educational specialist programs are conducting applied research that contributes to our field. This session will be a roundtable format of students presenting their research on topics such as secondary/post-secondary partnership programs, new program viability, incumbent worker training, and career pathways.
Labor Market Trends in Wisconsin
Dennis Winters, Wisconsin DWD
A New Epoch in Wisconsin's Labor Environment.Wisconsin's workforce challenges have shifted seemingly overnight. The trends are clear. The ramifications are stark. Dennis Winters will present what the abrupt change in the state's labor pool means for business in the coming years.
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Understand Your Wisconsin Retirement System
Roger Byers Wisconsin Retired Educators Association –Roger Byers, a former benefit specialist at ETF will provide an informative overview of your Wisconsin Retirement System Benefits.
FRIDAY, April 17
8:00 am – 9:30 am
WACTE Awards Program/Breakfast
Concurrent Breakout Sessions
9:45 am – 10:45 am
WTCS Presidents Panel– Dr. Thomas Eckert, PresidentBlackhawkTechnicalCollege, Dr. Susan May, President Fox Valley Technical College, Bruce Barker, Chippewa Valley Technical College and other College Presidents.
Wisconsin Technical College Presidents will discuss CTE issues impacting the WTCS Districts. Audience questions are encouraged.
9:45 am - 10:45 am
Leading the Way with CTSOs
Kinga Jacobson, NWTC/Gibraltar School District,
Dr. Debbie Stanislawski, UW-Stout, Dr. Urs Haltinner, UW-Stout - Interactive examination of career and technical student organizations, followed by a collaborative analysis of their role in student success, their change in mission and goals, and the untapped opportunities they provide CTE and STEM educators in support of their efforts to increase student engagement and achievement.
Session participants receive promotional handouts for the currently active major CTE CTSOs and share their experiences relating to leveraging CTSOs for recruiting, retaining, and transitioning students in CTE and STEM programs.
9:45 am - 10:45 am
Burnout Prevention Begins with Intention - Margo Keys, Ph.D., ChippewaValleyTechnicalCollege -The ability to create and sustain a balanced, harmonious life is the key to your success and well-being. An unbalanced life can lead to career and personal life burnout. Preventing burnout requires an intention and investment in a healthy lifestyle, followed by deliberate practice. Those who have perfected the formula enjoy numerous benefits and serve as an inspiration to others. Attend this session to learn more on preventing burn out and sustaining balance and harmony in your life. The session includes information on this important topic, remedy and practice, including natural stress remedies. Tap into ancient practices to maximize your ability to balance the priorities of your life. Invest time now to sustain, and improve your performance in the long run.
Attendees will benefit by:
Increasing awareness on the long term benefits of healthy living
Increasing awareness on preventing burn out
Learning about and practicing natural stress remedies including ways of decreasing inflammation through simple ways of eating
Closing Keynote & Closing Session
11:00 am – 11:45 am
Importance of Collaboration to Achieve Success
Mr. Timmothy Boettcher, President, Realityworks, Inc.
CTE is rapidly becoming a priority, and disruption often happens initially on the edge of the market. Career and technical education advocates have been making a case for its expansion for years. Recognition that CTE can play a critical role in the national push for college and career readiness as well as workforce and economic development has prompted governors, mayors, and districts to improve and increase CTE options for students. Timm will discuss how this movement is playing out in districts, making the U.S. more globally competitive, being praised by teachers, spawning innovation, and offering new opportunities for business.
Mr. Boettcher was named as the ACTE 2015 Business Leader of the Year, which recognizes his commitment to improving career and technical education (CTE).
Originally recruited in 1998 as a software engineer to design and develop cutting edge technology for new products, Mr. Boettcher assumed leadership for Research and Development and then Engineering before being named President of Realityworks in 2005. Responsible for total operations, he has driven significant understanding of market opportunities, gatekeepers, and funding in education, healthcare, and public service markets; bolstered production and supply chain efficiencies; acquired and launched new age technology; rebuilt leadership competencies; led growth into the Company’s 62% US school system and over 90 country presence; and led the implementation of the Company’s ESOP to build on the societal mission of the Company and further the family oriented culture to reward employees for their success in achieving the mission and efforts to drive growth. Focused on high market growth, he has led the Company’s turnaround and achieved double-digit top line growth simultaneously with dramatic profit and cash flow improvement.
Mr. Boettcher brings more than twenty years of engineering, product development, and global operations experience in education, advanced technology, manufacturing, and distribution industries. Prior to joining Realityworks, he held positions at Cray Research, a leading manufacturer of the world’s fastest supercomputers and Wal-Mart Distribution, the world’s leader in distribution and logistics.
3 Ways to Register
Mail: / Complete and mail the registration form to:WACTE ● 2307 Parmenter Street ● Middleton, WI 53562
Fax: / Complete and fax the registration form to: (608) 833-3011
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Online: /
Questions? / Call us at (608) 833-5858
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