Meet agent of change, Terryn Batiste, an accreditation and license/certification manager at Houston Community College (HCC) in Houston, Texas, and a Fellow in the third cohort of the Postsecondary State CTE Leaders Fellowship at Advance CTE – Sponsored by ECMC Foundation.
Q: Let’s start with your journey into CTE. How did your background shape your path into this field?
A: I’m from Louisiana and my parents were both blue-collar workers even though they attended college. The week after I graduated from college I took a graduate internship with the Louisiana Board of Regents which sparked my interest in higher education. I kept hearing how higher education could assist with the many challenges the state faced and I desired to be a change agent even then. Now, twenty-plus years later, I still champion for underserved populations to obtain credentials to have a better quality of life.
Q: Navigating pathways to earn stackable credentials in high-wage, in-demand occupations for every learner is a concern for administrators at community and technical colleges. How do you address this challenge at your institution and in Texas?
A: As a part of the Houston Community College System (HCCS) Personalized Learning Pathways QEP Plan, 10 “student personas” that are served at the institution were identified https://www.hccs.edu/about-hcc/accreditation/quality-enhancement-plan/:
- Proactive Professional
- Certified to Succeed
- Fast-Track to the Field
- Four-Year Focus
- Striving to Get Ahead
- Big Dream Lacks Steam
- Language Learner
- Second Act Seeker
- Between and Becoming
- The Unnamed Persona
HCC continues to meet the needs of learners by meeting them where they are and working with them to obtain a credential.
Q: You’ve been vocal about creating accessible, actionable resources that help students build career-ready skills and certifications that are transferable across different industries. Why do you think this is such a crucial issue?
A: Many learners attend college with the focus of just getting a job after completion. In many cases, they aren’t given explicit information regarding how to craft a career, which may include switching industries, defining transferable skills, upskilling, and finding your niche to market themselves in industries.
Q: You’ve spoken before about empowering learners, increasing workforce readiness, and bridging information gaps. Can you share how these commitments have shaped your leadership and actions in your current role?
A: As the Accreditation & Licensure/Certification Manager at HCC in the Workforce Research & Development department I am always looking through the lens of how this could improve HCC overall and create some form of student success. I serve as an advocate when working with workforce programs at HCC during the third-party accreditation process and encourage them to use it as leverage to obtain resources (facilities, staff & faculty, curriculum updates) to obtain student success. I also strive to continuously ensure the program maintains a gold standard driven by industry and subject matter experts by creating licensure/certification strategic action plans when programs don’t meet their agency passage benchmarks. Demographic information is also obtained for licensure/certification exams to examine the full scope of the learners who sit for these tests. We also continue to monitor the credential/licensure landscape to determine the marketability of these examinations in the workforce.
Q: What do you see as the future of CTE in Texas and what challenges do you think need to be addressed?
A: Since Texas is starting to successfully recruit headquarters for all industries imaginable, I see higher education institutions and industries starting to work more closely together and eventually speak the same language to create direct pipelines for learners to be deployed to work. The challenges will be ensuring all facets of the population will be afforded access to the opportunities.
I see higher education institutions and industries starting to work more closely together and eventually speak the same language to create direct pipelines for learners to be deployed to work.
Q: You’re clearly passionate about creating long-term change. What advice would you give to others who want to make a difference in CTE and postsecondary participation and attainment?
A: I would encourage others to be transparent about the opportunities and challenges in CTE. I would also encourage them to challenge the status quo. A culture shift has to occur and be prevalent in learner environments to consider CTE opportunities as lucrative in the higher education landscape. Higher education also has to do a better job of providing spaces for CTE success stories to be promoted on broader platforms.
Q: As a participant in Advance CTE’s national Fellowship, what do you hope to gain from this experience?
A: As an Advance CTE Fellow I hope to expand my knowledge base and network to learn more about CTE trends and initiatives across the nation. I also would like this opportunity to enhance my leadership skills as I advance in my career.
In September 2024, Advance CTE and ECMC Foundation announced the third cohort of The Postsecondary State Career Technical Education Leaders Fellowship at Advance CTE—Sponsored by ECMC Foundation (Fellowship). The Advance CTE — ECMCF Fellows are aspiring leaders from across the nation and an embodiment of the Fellowship’s goal of intentionally building leadership pipelines to address the shortage of successive talent available in state postsecondary career technical education leadership.
Terryn’s journey to CTE leadership demonstrates a commitment to an evidence-based, data-driven approach to ensuring all learners are served in high-quality CTE programs. Her insights are just one example of the incredible work being done by the fellows of the Advance CTE National Fellowship. To learn more about Terryn and other inspiring leadership fellows, visit the Postsecondary State CTE Leaders Fellowship page, where you can discover how accountability and program rigor are essential to the development of industry-responsive postsecondary CTE programs.
If you are interested in launching a CTE Leadership Fellowship in your state please contact Dr. Kevin R. Johnson Sr. at [email protected].
