NSF EPSCoR: Crofcheck Scope for Seminar: How Technical Systems Management and Related Programs are Embracing New Teaching Models and Industry Collaboration to Overcome Kentucky's Middle Skills Gap and Create a Strong Workforce Pipeline

This one-day seminar will bring together middle-, high-school, and higher education professionals and industry leaders who have an interest in technical, STEM, STEAM (STEM + Art/Design, STEM + Agriculture), and distance education innovations to learn more about the Technical Systems Management (TSM) program and a limited number of synergistic programs in Kentucky whose goals are to increase the number of students in STEM disciplines and strengthen Kentucky's STEM-related workforce pipeline. During the morning session of the approximately six-hour seminar, instructors and staff from UK BAE's TSM program, UK's Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT), and UK Fine Arts will discuss the TSM program, highlighting the innovations and collaborative efforts in the program and the broad implications for workforce development and job training in the state and beyond that this new program provides. The morning keynote speaker will be Bill Brundage, University of Louisville. In Session II, presentations will be made by individuals from partnering departments within University of Kentucky, outside collaborators, and industry representatives. Two tours of the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering's laboratories and facilities will be conducted.