From the Executive Director's Desk: Friends of FLATE-A Focus on Strategic Partnerships

FLATE will best achieve its mission in partnerships among other organizations locally,

regionally, statewide, and nationally.  We have active and ongoing partnership projects with a number of organizations – some big, some small, some narrowly focused and others crosscutting.  We use our FLATE guiding & operating principles to help determine if and how we should engage with other groups. We want our partnership projects to be richly meaningful, mutually beneficial to all involved and broaden FLATE’s impact on manufacturing education, outreach, professional development, and to strengthen our intellectual merit.  Our partnership projects have defined tasks, deliverables and projected outcomes that we would like to achieve.  FLATE also has non-specific project partnerships with a number of organizations.  These organizations have shared mission and visions, and we call on each other for events and activities which also have mutually compatible goals. You can read more about our current partner and partnership projects on our website at http://fl-ate.org/partners. 

2015 brought us several new and promising partnership projects as we secured and expanded upon other partnerships we had previously engaged in.   We regularly partner with other NSF ATE Centers and NSF grant projects, particularly those that focus on some aspect of manufacturing.  However, we have special relationships and on-going projects that more deeply connect us to some including those ATE projects and centers hosted by other Florida colleges. We also work closely with STEM, career and technical education organizations at all levels. 

Additionally, FLATE has a plethora of informal partners. Typically, these organizations are

woven into our fabric to contribute to FLATE’s color and texture. They are quick to reply to our queries, always have constructive input, usually surprise us with impromptu help, and are comfortable to request our help.  Thus, we also like to brag about them, and fondly and collectively call them “Friends of FLATE”. This long list includes:

• Hundreds of manufacturers and their professional organizations that helped support Manufacturing Day in Florida
• Florida school districts
• Florida colleges
• Many other stakeholders across the country

As we start 2016 and its technical and workforce development challenges, we look forward to continued interactions with all of our “Friends of FLATE”.

This year brings FLATE some emerging projects with new partners that we believe will help us reach more manufacturers and educators across the state and the country. We are excited about the possibilities and are anxious to begin engagement.  The first is FloridaMakes, the

state-based Department of Commerce’s NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) investment in support of manufacturing businesses in Florida. FLATE and FloridaMakes have reached a MOU to work together to define the technical training and education needs of industry; provide training and professional development to both industry and educators; and support Manufacturing Day outreach in Florida. More at http://www.floridamakes.com.

An exciting era in American manufacturing has begun in recent years with the funding of the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation Institutes or NNMII.  Within these powerhouses of experts on various technological aspects of manufacturing, is the need for training a workforce with new skills and knowledge. FLATE, with five other manufacturing centers, is partnering with PowerAmerica, the National Innovation Institute of Wide Band Gap Power Electronics to define educator professional development need for the K-14 environment.  You can read about this initiative at http://www.poweramericainstitute.com, and about FLATE’s our current partnership projects on our website http://fl-ate.org/partners/partner-projects.

Please enjoy the rest of the stories in this inaugural edition of the FLATE Focus for 2016. We look forward to working and hearing from you. Do send us your thoughts by jotting down a few comments below each blog post, or connect with us through our social networking platforms on LinkedIn, Facebook, and @Made_InFlorida on Twitter. From all of us at FLATE, Happy and Prosperous 2016!

Nominations Open for 2016 FLATE Awards!

FLATE and the Florida Association for Career and Technical Education (FACTE) are working

together for the 2016 recognition program. FLATE’s Distinguished Manufacturing Service Recognition Program, hosted by FACTE, brings recognition to both secondary and post-secondary educators as well as recognizes key personnel for outstanding contributions to promote technology education and career awareness in support of manufacturing. This award includes nominees working in any manufacturing area such as economic development, industry, education and administration.

FLATE award winners are selected from submitted nominations from around the state. FLATE awards are judged by an awards committee made up of industry representative of our FLATE Industry Advisory Committee and FACTE.

Awardees will be selected under three criteria:

• Distinguished Manufacturing Secondary Educator-of-the-Year Award 
• Distinguished Manufacturing Post-Secondary Educator-of-the-Year Award 
• FLATE Distinguished Partner Manufacturing Service Award 

Awards Timeline

• December, 2015: Awards criteria published at FACTE.org/Awards 
  
• January 4, 2016: Nomination Open 
• March 1, 2016: Online Nomination form I (To be completed by nominators) 
• May 1, 2016: Online Nomination form II (To be completed by nominees) 
• May 1, 2016: Nominations close 
• May 31, 2016: Award selections are made by FLATE IAC-FACTE award Committee 
• June 5, 2016: Award recipients and principal nominators are notified of their selection 
• July 25-27, 2016 Awards presented during The 50th Annual FACTE Conference & Trade 

The awards will be held at the Buena Vista Palace Hotel and Spa in Orlando, Florida. For more information about FLATE Awards criteria visit FACTE’S award page.For more information visit http://fl-ate.org/programs/flate-awards, or contact Dr. Marilyn Barger at barger@fl-ate.org. 

2016 FLATE National Visiting Committee Meeting and Stakeholders Dinner

FLATE is hosting its 12^th National Visiting Committee (NVC) Meeting in February. The Committee is

made up of leaders in industry, education, workforce and economic development from across the nation, with local representation, and is a required component for all NSF ATE large projects and centers to have a National Visiting Committee. NVC members serve as advisors working with the grantees and NSF to help achieve the stated goals and objectives. The committee also assesses the plans and progress of the project, provides advice to project staff, and reports both to NSF and the project or center leadership.

This year FLATE is hosting its NVC meeting in Tampa. Of special interest is the Dinner Meeting for FLATE's 'invited list' of stakeholders and guests. The Dinner will be held Feb 4, 2016 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Columbia Restaurant (2117 E. 7th Ave.) in historic Ybor City in Tampa, and will provide FLATE's invitees an opportunity to meet NVC members.

Program agenda for the three hour event includes:

• Networking & FLATE Overview (Past and Present)
• Introductions & Welcome: Dr. Marilyn Barger & Dr. Celeste Carter, NSF
• Dinner Speaker: Leo Reddy, President & CEO, MSSC
• FLATE Future: Dr. Richard Gilbert (stakeholder input period)
• Closing remarks: Dr. Marilyn Barger

Meeting discussions will center on manufacturing education, training issues and ideas with 

member(s) of the National Visiting Committee, the Florida Department of Education, Industry and CareerSource Florida. Dr. Celeste Carter, Program Director for the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C., and Dr. Marilyn Barger, Executive Director of FLATE will welcome all guests to the meeting. Leo Reddy, Chairman and CEO of the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council in Washington, D.C., will be the special guest speaker. “It is an exciting time for manufacturing here in Florida and across the nation” said Dr. Marilyn Barger, who noted FLATE’s role in leveraging manufacturing excellence across Florida. “For the past 12 years, FLATE has been ‘the go-to’ organization for manufacturing and advanced technical education in Florida,” and FLATE is excited to continue making an impact and building on a community of practice to support high performance skilled workforce for Florida’s manufacturing sectors.

Invitees are asked to register for the Dinner at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nvc-dinner-tickets-20413746064. The last day to RSVP and confirm attendance is January 25, 2016. For more information about FLATE’s National Visiting Committee and upcoming Stakeholders Dinner visit www.fl-ate.org, or contact Dr. Marilyn Barger at barger@fl-ate.org/813.259.6578.

MSSC is Coming to Florida!

MSSC is coming to FL!  Leo Reddy, CEO of MSSC (Manufacturing Skill Standards Council) will

be in Florida this winter.  Together with Neil Reddy, MSSC Executive Director, or alone, Leo will be attending a number of Manufacturing events across the state. With the goal of engaging more industry with MSSC and broadening industry knowledge and endorsement of the credential and other industry validated credentials as important parts of the technical education process.

Florida ranks number 2 in the nation for the number of MSSC CPT (Certified Production Technicians) certified workers. FLATE initiated this journey in Florida with the alignment of the A.S. Engineering Technology technical core to the MSSC Skills and submitting the first statewide articulation agreement (as defined by the CAPE act) to the FL DOE back in 2007. Today, 19 colleges offer the ET Degree and nine high schools, one tech center and one college (as a PSAC program) offer the Automation and Production Technology (APT) High School Framework (also aligned to MSSC). According to the latest data provided by MSSC, there are currently 1665 CPT certified candidates, 15 full CPT authorized instructors, and 75 testing sites in Florida. Outlined below is a snapshot of total MSSC certificates that were issued for the state of Florida for CPT.

Anyone, including students in this technical high school program in Florida, can articulate 15 credits in the ET degree for a current MSSC certification.  The MSSC CPT also articulates to other A.S. degrees in Florida; please check the statewide articulation agreements available on the Florida Department of Education (FL DOE) website. Collateral benefits to this existing FLATE envisioned education infrastructure include MSSC training in non-academic programs as supported by grants from the Department of Labor. Many of these training-focused grants were awarded in Florida based on industry’s value of the certification as well as the clearly defined articulations of the training to credit-bearing academic programs that FLATE put into place throughout the state.

FLATE is arranging venues for Leo and Neil Reddy to speak with manufacturers and educators around the state.  Here are the starting entries for the list. Do mark your calendars for the dates and venues outlined below. 

If you are interested in hosting a MSSC discussion and/or presentation in a meeting (of any type) setting let us know. Leo and/or Neil Reddy are happy to engage manufacturers (primary audience), educators and other stakeholders. For more information contact Dr. Marilyn Barger, Executive Director of FLATE at barger@fl-ate.org/813.259.6578, or visit http://fl-ate.org/programs/mssc-skills.