Welcome to 2017! Before looking at the new year, I want to take a moment and thank all OBTA members for their support in 2016. Also, let me congratulate Amy Popovich, the OBTA 2016 Business Technology Educator of the Year. Amy is an Associate Professor at Columbus State Community College. The field of business education continues to face challenges, specifically at the secondary education level, but with support and dedication, we can make a difference. On this topic, I want to thank Matt White and Stephen Lewis for volunteering to serve on an Ohio Department of Education advisory committee that will provide input on ODE’s upcoming revisions of Ohio’s learning standards for science, social studies, and financial literacy. This is a wonderful opportunity to provide input at the state level and improve the quality of education of our children.
Looking into 2017, the planning team is working hard to organize a great professional development conference for 2017. This year, we will hold a joint conference with the NCBEA at Columbus State Community College on September 28-29. Please help us spread this affordable professional development opportunity to all the business educators you know. Additionally, if you are interested in submitting a session proposal, please visit OBTA-Ohio.org.
Coming up in April, we have the National Business Education Association and Business Education Research conferences in Chicago. The conferences will be held concurrently at the Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile. Both conferences will have plenty of professional development opportunities, and the Business Education Research conference will showcase the scholarship of business educators from the past year.
Finally, we can all help strengthen OBTA. One thing we can all do is spread the word to more people and to people in similar disciplines and in both secondary and post-secondary institutions. Furthermore, as we expand to support post-secondary educators, we hope to attract educators in the areas of finance, marketing, accounting, information technology, and others related to the business field. Please help us spread the word about OBTA.
I hope to see you at the NBEA and BERC conferences in Chicago on April 11-15, and the joint OBTA and NCBEA conference on September 28-29 in Columbus. Here is to a wonderful 2017!