Craig Statucki had a most unusual first day as the State CTE Director in Nevada. March 16, 2020, was the state’s first day of school closures due to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. He spent his first couple of weeks on the job gaining an understanding of what school building closures would mean for Career Technical Education (CTE) delivery across his state, especially as some school years were scheduled to end as early as Memorial Day weekend. Craig is proud to report that many CTE programs donated their personal protective equipment (PPE), among other supports provided to frontline workers including those in healthcare, transportation distribution and logistics, and more. He believes this will encourage continued connections between CTE programs and communities and is an action that proves the strong link between high-quality CTE programs and flourishing communities.

As Craig moves beyond the immediate pandemic response, he is celebrating the completion and submission of Nevada’s Perkins V plan. He is also exploring solutions to the new and widely shared challenge of remote completion of work-based learning requirements, especially as the largest number of internships for learners in Nevada are in healthcare settings.

Craig has lived in Nevada for thirty years and most recently served as the Executive Director of Nevada’s Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) chapter for five years, an organization he has been part of since the late 2000s. In his new role as State Director, Craig is excited to lean on his experience building relationships between state and local CTE stakeholders to lead Nevada through change. “I always said, ‘I wish the Department of Education would do x, y or z,’ and now I have the opportunity to make x, y and z happen,” Craig said.

In his free time, Craig listens to podcasts about technology, innovation, leadership and entrepreneurship and enjoys spending time outdoors.

Erskine Glover started as New Jersey’s Director, Office of Career Readiness, in early 2020 and has already visited several school districts in the state to visit with administrators, instructors and learners to see how CTE is working for New Jersey. Erskine brings a breadth and depth of educational experience with him to this new position, having served as an educator in northern New Jersey for 24 years including as an assistant superintendent for a couple of years, school administrator for 14 years, and teacher for eight years. Erskine has spent the majority of his career in the K-8 landscape.  

Erskine has a passion for preparing current and future instructors for their roles as educators. He has supported their professional development, including helping to promote practices that support the emotional capital of educators for long-term careers, an issue that is prevalent during COVID-19. Additionally, Erskine has helped educators in delivering more project-based and blended learning education. While working for Newark Public Schools, the largest school district in the state, Erskine tapped into his systems thinking and systems design skill set to develop a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) pathway for elementary school students that connected to the Career Technical Education (CTE) options at the district’s high schools, providing learners with early exposure to STEM while also setting them up for a seamless pathway throughout their education.

Looking ahead, Erskine is excited to work on partnerships between schools and industry, and to spark interest in CTE in younger learners. He is interested in using data to influence the delivery of high-quality and in-demand CTE across the state, as well as to promote equity in New Jersey’s CTE system.   

When Erskine is not working, he coaches youth soccer (he’s been coaching the same team for five years!) and practices sports photography for multiple outdoor sports. 

Melissa Hickey is once again heading up Career Technical Education (CTE) at the Connecticut State Department of Education, where she has been working for the past four years. Melissa returns to this role while also serving as the Reading/Literacy Director for the state. She has held a number of education roles including beginning her education career as a second grade teacher, serving as a coach, science coordinator and district-level administrator.

Melissa brings creativity to her role, having recently partnered with the Department of Labor to host “Cuppa Joe Road Shows,” to connect business and industry representatives to educators and facilitate conversations between the two groups to both showcase and spark successful partnerships. Partnerships are key to how she approaches her work at the state level. In fact,  she created the Perkins leadership group which resulted in 2,500 people providing input into the Perkins V state plan via multiple online surveys and public hearings. Melissa strives to work across the many stakeholders that are necessary to make high-quality CTE possible, including the Department of Labor, Department of Economic Community Development, and business and industry, and even works to connect them to each other.  Top of mind for Melissa is working with business and industry as well as high school and community college leaders to engage in conversations to establish new industry recognized credentials.

There’s lots of change in Connecticut, as state staff turn towards implementing their Perkins state plan, and the recent change of Career Clusters in the state. However, in the coming months, Melissa and her small but mighty team are working to increase work-based learning opportunities and helping their colleagues across Connecticut provide high-quality and in-demand opportunities to learners.

Once the snow melts, Dennis Harden will be running the trails in Des Moines, Iowa. For now, he’ll have to stick to running the state’s Bureau of Career and Technical Education (CTE) as the new CTE Bureau Chief. 

Dennis comes to this role from Missouri, where he served as CTE Coordinator for two decades, working across several realms including guidance and counseling, equity and of course, Perkins planning. Dennis started his CTE career at the Missouri Department of Education, supervising a customized business and industry program. Dennis also spent four years working as the director of skilled technical sciences, health sciences and industrial technology.

In the coming years, Dennis is looking forward to getting the Iowa Perkins V plan across the finish line. He will also lead the team in continuing to work through the Future Ready Iowa initiative, a redesign of the state’s CTE programs that aims to improve access to high-quality CTE throughout the state by promoting regional planning partnerships and aligning CTE programs to in-demand occupations. Dennis and his team will consider how they can best help educators implement changes as part of the initiative. The Iowa bureau of CTE is also working on a statewide communications plan, which they developed as part of their work on the grant, Strategies to Attract Students to High-quality CTE, with the help of Advance CTE staff.

While Dennis is certainly not a new member of Advance CTE, we are so excited to welcome Dennis to this new role leading CTE in Iowa!