In October I attended the final convening of the ECMC Foundation CTE Leadership Collaborative in Austin, Texas. The funding is sunsetting for this family of six fellowship programs focused on furthering career and technical education. Since entering the collaborative in spring 2021 among a cohort of journalists named Higher Education Media Fellows by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, the Princeton, New Jersey–based organization focused on bolstering civic life among young people, I’ve learned plenty about how educational systems and programs work or don’t work from this larger community of more than 600 journalists, students, community college instructors, policy experts, administrators and corporate workforce leaders.
Stories told from the podium, in discussion groups and in my program’s journalism form a valuable body of work that serves as a library of best practices and case studies for the wider community, touching on everything from dual enrollment, apprenticeship, credential stacking, articulation agreements with universities and life skills to increasing workforce opportunities for populations in rural America, urban America, recently incarcerated America and neurodiverse America (a topic I was fortunate to learn more about in my own story projects). I’m forever grateful to Site Selection Editor Emeritus Mark Arend and Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business Center for International Business Education and Research Founding Director Dr. John R. McIntyre for writing recommendations for this program where I’ve also served as mentor and advisory committee member. Among other lessons learned has been daily awareness of how important professional development and camaraderie are to the growth of my own team members.
Fellowship convenings I attended in places like Chicago, La Jolla, Nashville, Durham and New Orleans have led to a treasure trove of stories and knowledge for Site Selection. That held true in Austin, where a visit to the vibrant campus of Austin Community College and a keynote address by Commissioner of Higher Education for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Dr. Wynn Rosser offered ample evidence of why workforce helps Texas maintain its top-ranking business climate, chronicled by Mark Arend in this issue. Rosser’s credentials include advanced degrees from Texas A&M University. But his first was an associate’s degree from Kilgore College (see the Business Retention & Expansion award winners also in this issue for more about Kilgore).
“I have not come to this place accidentally,” Rosser told us in Austin, “this moment in time where I have the opportunity to influence policy in one of the most powerful economies in the world.”
Watch for more of what I learned in Austin in our forthcoming Workforce 2026 publication, which, like past editions, will be packed with insights into workforce development challenges and opportunities. For now, educate yourself with the conversations, best practices, project stories and overall business intelligence found in every issue of Site Selection.
