In September, Advance CTE and ECMC Foundation announced the second cohort of The Postsecondary State Career Technical Education (CTE) Leaders Fellowship at Advance CTE—Sponsored by ECMC Foundation. The Advance CTE — ECMCF Fellows include representation across multiple demographic categories reflecting the Fellowship’s goal of intentionally building a postsecondary leadership pipeline for underserved populations in Career Technical Education (CTE) that closes racial representation gaps and removes equity barriers to postsecondary leadership advancement.
This is the final blog in this series which has introduced each Fellow participating in the second cohort of emerging leaders from 14 states, including 12 professionals of color.
Caleb Perriton – Wyoming
Caleb Perriton’s career began in the automotive industry as an international trainer prior to entering the world of postsecondary CTE. Currently, he serves as Program Director of the Trades & Technical Studies Pathway at Laramie County Community College. He is an ASE Certified Master Automotive Technician and earned a bachelor’s degree in automotive technology from Weber State University and master’s degree in business administration from the University of Wyoming.
Luv’Tesha Robertson – Kentucky
Dr. Luv’Tesha Robertson is passionate about creating seamless transitions among secondary, postsecondary and workforce programs to foster learner success, particularly for learners of color. She has over 15 years of experience in program quality, accountability, and learner transfer and retention initiatives at postsecondary institutions and the state level. Currently, Dr. Robertson serves as Deputy Executive Director of the Office of Adult Education at the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet. She earned both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in financial management, conflict resolution and leadership from Sullivan University and earned a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies from Eastern Kentucky University.
Daniel Sandoval – Colorado
Daniel Sandoval is passionate about cultivating self-reliance among learners and students from marginalized populations and has focused on serving immigrant, economically disadvantaged, racially underrepresented and linguistically diverse communities. His range of experience includes grant writing and administration, managing apprenticeship and credential attainment initiatives, and serving in leadership roles in postsecondary student services. Currently, Sandoval serves as the Director of Customized Training and Apprenticeships at Pickens Technical College and as a Psychology instructor at the Community College of Aurora. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English writing from Colorado Mesa University and a master’s degree in counseling psychology from the University of Colorado at Denver.
Milo path to finding his career passion began with experiences that we hope for all Career Technical Education (CTE) learners —- career exploration, robust high school CTE classes and work-based learning that led to a decades-long passion for education and providing more opportunities for students.
Carlos Lopez (Colorado) has over a decade of experience as an instructor, program coordinator and academic advisor at secondary and postsecondary institutions focused on historically marginalized learners. Carlos currently serves as the Associate Dean for the College of Health Sciences and Administration at Emily Griffith Technical College. They earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Metropolitan State University of Denver and master’s degrees in Liberal Arts and Education Leadership and Policy Studies, Higher Education from St. John’s College – Santa Fe and University of Texas – San Antonio, respectively.
Curtis Scales (Arkansas) began his career in management training in the healthcare industry and translated his passion for wellness and supporting underserved populations into a career in education. He currently serves as the Program Manager for Special Populations at the Arkansas Department of Education. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Recreation Administration from the University of Arkansas, and master’s degrees in Management and Leadership and Human Resource Management from Webster University.
Dr. Dimitria Harding (Minnesota) has over 15 years of experience in the CTE field working as a cytotechnologist before pursuing a career in higher education. Dr. Harding currently serves as a Dean of Health Sciences and Career and Technical Education at Minnesota State College. She received a bachelor’s degree in Health Science and a master’s degree in Community Health from Old Dominion University, and a doctorate in Organizational Leadership.