The Maine Administrators of Career and Technical Education (MACTE)(www.mainecte.org) along with United Technologies Center (UTC) in Bangor will play host to the 2010 ACTE Region 1 conference from April 29-May 1.
“Catching the Waves, from Green Energy to Composites. What does the Future Hold for CTE?” is the focus of this year’s conference. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in several workshops and be treated to a keynote presentation from Dr. Habib Dagher, director of the Advanced Composites Center at the University of Maine.
According to Dr. Don Cannan, Executive Director of MACTE, Dr Gagher was a natural fit to speak at the conference. “He comes to us with outstanding achievement in Green Technologies. He is also the founding Director of the University’s Advanced Structures and Composites Laboratory. His laboratory, established in conjunction with the National Science Foundation, is a world leader in the development of cost-effective, high performance hybrid composite materials.”
Dr. Cannan believes that green energies and composites will lead the State of Maine into the next generation of jobs that will help preserve Maine’s pristine environment. “Maine’s CTE Schools are prepared and ready to teach and train Maine students for jobs in Composites and in Green Energy. Program development is ongoing, we presently have a half dozen new programs aligned to these industries in operation within our CTE Schools.” He says that employment forecasts suggest these will be well paying jobs requiring new skills.
MACTE is the official organization for Maine’s network of 27 career and technical education (CTE) schools. The mission of Career and Technical Education, as part of the educational system in Maine, is to ensure that students acquire the high-quality technical skills that will prepare them for post-secondary education and entry into an ever-changing workplace and society and meet the rigorous academic standards of Maine’s Learning Results.
The Region 1 of the Association for Career and Technical Education includes states in the northeast, as far south as Maryland, and west including Michigan and Ohio.
For those interested in attending the conference, registration materials are available at http://www.mainecte.org/acte2010/