National Academies Press: OpenBook
« Previous: Appendix A: Workshop Agenda
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographies." National Research Council. 2014. Opportunities for the Gulf Research Program: Middle-Skilled Workforce Needs: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18980.
×

B

Speaker Biographies

ELAINE J. BARBER is vice president of education and workforce in the Greater Houston Partnership’s Public Policy Division. The Greater Houston Partnership is Houston’s leading business organization. Through its Economic Development and World Trade departments and Public Policy Division, the Partnership develops and implements integrated programs to enhance the business climate, business activity, job creation, economic development and quality of life throughout the Houston region. Barber previously served as COO of Prevent Blindness America in Schaumburg, Illinois. She served as the organization’s chief spokesperson and advocate for the organization. She also led the strategic planning activities of the organization and worked closely with the board to establish priorities and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of existing and new initiatives. She also served as president and CEO of Prevent Blindness America in Houston, where she was responsible for 10 site locations and a staff of 30, throughout the state of Texas. She was responsible for business development and expansion, managed the human resources area and directed the activities of the accounting and financial planning departments. Barber is a member of the American Society of Association Executives. She is a past member of Toastmasters International and the National Association of Fund Raising Executives. She has served as secretary, vice president, human resources chair, strategic planning chair and program development chair of Women Opting for More Empowerment. She is a past treasurer of Combined Healthcare of Texas and a former board member of the Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations. She was named the 1998 Executive of the Year by the Leadership Institute of Greater Houston and received the Missouri City (TX) Women of Distinction Award of Excellence in Public Service that same year. Barber is a recipient of the Prevent Blindness America Leadership Development Award of Excellence, the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce Leadership Award and the Richmond/Rosenberg Chamber of Commerce Leadership Award. Barber received her bachelor’s degree in occupational education from Southern Illinois University.

MARILYN BARGER is the Principal Investigator and Executive Director of FLATE, the Florida Regional Center of Excellence for Advanced Technological Education, funded by the National Science Foundation and housed at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida since 2004. FLATE serves the state of Florida as its region and is involved in outreach and recruitment of students into technical career pathways that support manufacturing; has produced award winning curriculum design and reform for secondary and postsecondary Career and Technical Education programs; and provides a variety of professional development for STEM and technology secondary and post-secondary educators focused on advanced technologies. She earned a B.A. in Chemistry at Agnes Scott College and both a B.S. in Engineering Science and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Environmental) from the University of South Florida, where her research focused on membrane separation science and technologies for water purification. Dr. Barger has over 20 years of experience in developing curricula for engineering and engineering technology for elementary, middle, high school, and post secondary institutions, including colleges of engineering. Dr. Barger serves on several national panels and advisory boards for technical programs, curriculum and workforce initiatives, including the National Association of Manufacturers Educators’ Council. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Engineering Education, a member of Tau Beta Pi and Epsilon Pi Tau honor societies, and was recently named the International Educator of Year by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). She is a charter member of both the National Academy and the University of South Florida’s Academy of Inventors. Dr. Barger holds a licensed patent and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Florida.

PATRICK BARNES is a professional geologist and environmental justice advocate. In 1994 he founded BFA Environmental a minority owned, multidiscipline environmental engineering and scientific consulting firm. At its peak BFA had over 150 employees in the gulf, executing $20 million in contracts. BFA has completed emergency response and environmental restoration

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographies." National Research Council. 2014. Opportunities for the Gulf Research Program: Middle-Skilled Workforce Needs: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18980.
×

projects in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. In 2006, Mr. Barnes provided $300,000 of seed capital to establish Limitless Vistas (LVI), a workforce development nonprofit and Conservation Corps, which has subsequently trained and certified over 350 at-risk young adults for the emergency response and coastal restoration projects resulting from hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike, as well as the BP oil spill. BFA/LVI is currently under contract with the State of Florida’s Career Source Program to provide short term environmental, geotechnical, construction inspection services to 180 unemployed and underemployed individuals in central Florida. In April of 2013, Mr. Barnes was recognized by the White House as a Champion of Change for his effort to bring environmental resiliency to vulnerable coastal communities through job training.

A.J. GUITEAU is an Industry Consultant in Offshore Drilling Training and Workforce Development with a Bachelor of Science in Education from the College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mr. Guiteau recently retired as Director of Learning and Development after 38 years leading corporate training in two of the world’s largest offshore drilling contractors. He is the Founding Chairman of the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) WellCAP Well Control Training Committee and Founding Chairman of the Houston Community College Industry Advisory Committee for the HCC Drilling Training Center. He’s a leader in the development of the IADC WellCAP Plus program bringing the expertise of the Louisiana State University drilling research center and the Universities of Texas and Oklahoma into a joint industry training and certification process for drilling personnel worldwide. He is a founding member of the Well Control Institute Advisory Panel. He has an extensive background in management training, facilitation and experiential learning with emphasis on technical simulation and drilling competency programs. He was awarded the 2009 Offshore Leadership Award from the Minerals Management Service now the BSEE. Lead the development and opening in May of 2013 of The Ocean Technology Center at Diamond Offshore Drilling in Houston, Texas. His consulting interest is in the development of long term performance standards and programs focused at producing a “new crew change” of employees with greater performance potential needed for the growing high tech drilling rigs of today.

JOSEPH (CHIP) HUGHES, JR. is currently director of an innovative federal safety and health training program based at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The program supports cooperative agreements to develop and deliver model safety and health training programs for workers involved in hazardous substances response with numerous universities, unions, community colleges and other non-profit organizations throughout the nation. For the past 20 years, Mr. Hughes has worked in both the private and public sectors in developing environmental and occupational health education programs for workers and citizens in high-risk occupations and communities. As a part of this work, he has pioneered efforts to create new methods and approaches for conducting needs assessments, reaching underserved populations, developing training partnerships and creating innovative program evaluation and assessment measures. Mr. Hughes was given the DHHS Secretary’s Award for Exceptional Service in November 2001 for his role in responding to the World Trade Center attacks. After the NIEHS response to the Katrina disaster, Mr. Hughes was given the DHHS Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service in June 2006 and the NIH Director’s Award in 2011 for responding to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. In November, 2011, Mr. Hughes was given the Tony Mazzocchi Award for lifetime achievement by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (NCOSH). Under Mr. Hughes’ leadership, NIEHS grant support of $40 million is annually committed for the development and administration of model worker health and safety training programs consisting of classroom, hands-on, on-line, computer-based and practical health and safety training of workers and their supervisors, who are engaged in activities related to hazardous materials and emergency response.

RAMANAN KRISHNAMOORTI has held the position of chief energy officer at the University of Houston since February 2013, leading the university’s efforts to establish energy-centered partnerships on an industry and university level to address the world’s most pressing energy challenges. During his tenure at UH he has served as the Dow Chair Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (2008-2013), and the Associate Dean for Research at the Cullen College of Engineering (2005 to 2008). He is a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering with affiliated appointments as professor of petroleum engineering and professor of chemistry. Krishnamoorti obtained his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and doctoral degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University in 1994. He currently serves as a board member of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and the Texas Higher Education Board’s Advisory Committee on Research Programs (ACORP). Krishnamoorti has received numerous awards throughout his career including the Journal of Polymer Science: Polymer Physics Prize, John Wiley; Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship at the University of

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographies." National Research Council. 2014. Opportunities for the Gulf Research Program: Middle-Skilled Workforce Needs: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18980.
×

Houston; Cullen College of Engineering Junior Faculty Research Award; and the NSF CAREER Award, Division of Materials Research. In 2013, the Houston Business Journal named him “Who’s Who in Energy.” He was recently named a Fellow of the American Physical Society and has published over 125 journal publications and an H-index of 45.

JENNIFER LANGHINRICHSEN-ROHLING obtained her doctorate from the University of Oregon in 1990 and has been a licensed clinical psychologist since 1991. She has research interests in relationship violence (e.g., stalking, intimate partner violence, bi-directional abuse), marital and family resiliency, and adolescent risky, unhealthy, suicidal, and/or life-diminishing behaviors (self-injurious behavior, suicide proneness). Her recent research is community-based and occurs while integrating mental and behavioral health care into primary care and school settings. Implementing and evaluating evidence-based, solution-focused and resiliency-enhancing interventions is a priority for Dr. “L-R”. Currently, Dr. "L-R" serves as the Director of the Gulf Coast Behavioral Health and Resiliency Center. This USA Center provides prevention and intervention services to Gulf Coast communities.

MAUREEN LICHTVELD, M.D., M.P.H has 35 year experience in environmental public health and currently is Professor and Chair, Department of Global Environmental Health Sciences, Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Her research focuses on environmentally-induced disease including asthma and cancer, health disparities, environmental health policy, disaster preparedness, and public health systems. She holds an endowed chair in environmental policy and is Associate Director, Population Sciences, Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium. Dr. Lichtveld has a track record in community-based participatory research with a special emphasis on persistent environmental health threats affecting health disparate communities living in disaster prone areas. As Director of the Center for Gulf Coast Environmental Health Research, Leadership, and Strategic Initiatives, Dr. Lichtveld serves as Principal Investigator of several Gulf Coast-associated environmental health research and capacity building projects ascertaining the potential impact of the Gulf of Mexico Oil spill: the NIH-funded Transdisciplinary Research Consortium for Gulf Resilience On Women’s Health, addressing potential post- oil spill effects on vulnerable pregnant- and non-pregnant women; “Risk and Resilience in Environmental Health”, a project designed to implement rapidly deployable community-based research, outreach and education; and the Gulf Region Health Outreach Program’s Environmental Health Capacity and Literacy Project, aimed at strengthening individual and community resilience through an environmental health clinical referral network, emerging scholars, and trained community health workers navigating frontline health services. Dr. Lichtveld was elected President of the Hispanic Serving Health Professions Schools. She was honored as CDC’s Environmental Health Scientist of the Year and twice named Woman of the Year by the City of New Orleans.

BROOKE POLK serves as the Competence and Learning Development Specialist at the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC). She manages the IADC Competence Assurance Accreditation program, is an IADC representative on multiple industry committees, is involved in new accreditation program development and implementation, and manages IADC special projects and industry initiatives. She earned a Master of Education degree in Educational Technology Leadership from McNeese State and a Master of Education degree from Stephen F. Austin University in Education Administration and Supervision. She has a B.S. degree in Education. She formerly served as an education administrator, education coordinator, curriculum designer, trainer, and program developer.

BILL RALEY has been involved with the petrochemical industry for almost 40 years in a variety of capacities. In order, he has worked for Brown and Root’s Petrochemicals Construction Division, Union Carbide in Texas City, Shell Chemicals and Refining in Jubail Saudi Arabia, Illinois Institute of Technology’s Gas Developments Corporation and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the United Arab Emirates, and currently has over 20 years at College of the Mainland (COM). The major emphasis of the majority of these experiences was industrial construction craft and maintenance training. He holds an M.S. degree in Technology from the University of Houston, and was Co-Principal and Principal Investigator for a National Science Foundation funded Center Grant at COM where the AAS in Process Technology–PTEC, was created. He has served as mentor to numerous community colleges across the United States assisting in initiating PTEC programs. Raley was also involved in establishing craft and PTEC programs at local technical colleges and universities in Ecuador and Indonesia.

MARK SCHNEIDER is a Vice President and Institute Fellow at the American Institutes for Research, based in Washington, DC. Previous to joining AIR, he served as the U.S. Commissioner of Education Statistics from 2005-2008. He is also a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. He is the author of numerous article

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographies." National Research Council. 2014. Opportunities for the Gulf Research Program: Middle-Skilled Workforce Needs: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18980.
×

and books on education policy. His most recent book, Getting to Graduation, edited with Andrew Kelly, was published in 2012 by Johns Hopkins University Press. His book, entitled Higher Education Accountability, edited with Kevin Carey, was published by Palgrave in December of 2010. Charter Schools: Hope or Hype?, written with Jack Buckley, was published by Princeton University Press in 2007. His 2000 book, Choosing Schools, also published by Princeton University Press, won the Policy Study Organization’s Aaron Wildavsky Best Book Award. Schneider has been working on increasing accountability by making data on college productivity more publicly available. To that end, he is one of the creators of www.collegemeasures.org, where he serves as President. The Chronicle of Higher Education recognized the importance of this work by selecting Schneider as one of the 10 most influential people who shaped higher education in 2013.

MARSHA TOWNS is the Student Conservation Association’s (SCA) Director for Partnership Development for the Gulf Region. In this role, Ms. Towns represents SCA as senior staff member of the Gulf Region, and Houston Community Program, and as the key partner liaison for SCA partnerships for the Gulf Region. She has served with SCA for 25 years in several positions, most notably, as National Director for the Conservation Internship program, SCA’s largest conservation service program, and Director of SCA’s Member Services. Ms. Towns served as an adjunct instructor for the Community High School of Vermont (Vermont’s high school for adjudicated youth) and an Advisory board member of the same. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Art from the University of Massachusetts in Boston, Massachusetts, and her Masters of Education degree in Secondary Education from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire.

JASON TYSZKO is senior director of education and workforce policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Through events, publications, and policy initiatives, the education and workforce program—in partnership with Chamber members and business leadership—seeks to cultivate and develop innovate thinking that spurs action to preserve America’s competitiveness and enhance the career readiness of youth and adult learners. His prior experience focused on coordinating interagency education, workforce, and economic development initiatives. In 2009, he served as a policy adviser to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration and as a member of the Executive Committee that directed more than $10 billion in investments to aid in the state’s recovery. While in the Office of the Governor, Mr. Tyszko chaired the interagency Job Training Working Group and developed Illinois Pathways, the signature public-private STEM education strategy included in the state’s Race to the Top proposal. In addition, he was deputy chief of staff and senior policy adviser to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. There he oversaw the design and launch of the STEM Learning Exchanges, an innovative network of statewide public-private partnerships tasked with coordinating planning and investing to support regional STEM education and workforce programs. He further provided lead staff and policy support to the Illinois Workforce Investment Board. Tyszko also managed innovative technology projects. This included the build-out of integrated education and workforce statewide longitudinal data systems and the implementation of the Illinois Shared Learning Environment, a transformative learning management system that enables personalized learning through integrated data in a cloud environment. Tyszko received his Master of Arts from the University of Chicago and his Bachelor of Arts from DePaul University.

JEFF ZINKHAM is the Director of Competency Consulting for PetroSkills. In addition to managing the competency consulting business for PetroSkills, he teaches a Basic Drilling Technology course. Prior to PetroSkills, he spent 33 years with BP. Mr. Zinkham joined Amoco Production Company, later to be merged with BP, in January 1981 after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh with a BS degree in Mining Engineering. He spent the early part of his career in Drilling, Completions and Production engineering as well as commercial assignments and regulatory advisory roles. He worked as an engineer and a manager on a variety of projects stretching from onshore United States to Russia to South America to Australia. The past 10 years of his career has been focused on developing technical capability and proficiency. His last position with BP was that of a Discipline Capability Manager for the Well Construction Function.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographies." National Research Council. 2014. Opportunities for the Gulf Research Program: Middle-Skilled Workforce Needs: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18980.
×
Page 29
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographies." National Research Council. 2014. Opportunities for the Gulf Research Program: Middle-Skilled Workforce Needs: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18980.
×
Page 30
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographies." National Research Council. 2014. Opportunities for the Gulf Research Program: Middle-Skilled Workforce Needs: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18980.
×
Page 31
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographies." National Research Council. 2014. Opportunities for the Gulf Research Program: Middle-Skilled Workforce Needs: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18980.
×
Page 32
Next: Appendix C: Workshop Attendees »
Opportunities for the Gulf Research Program: Middle-Skilled Workforce Needs: Summary of a Workshop Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $28.00 Buy Ebook | $22.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

During the period 1990 to 2010, U.S. job growth occurred primarily in the high-skilled and low-skilled sectors. Yet, one-third of projected job growth for the period 2010-2020 will require middle-skilled workers -- who will earn strong middle-class wages and salaries -- important to both the production and consumption components of our economy. These jobs typically require significant training, often requiring more than a high school diploma but less than a baccalaureate degree. In the Gulf of Mexico, middle skilled workers play key roles in maintaining oil system safety, completing the numerous environmental restoration projects needed along the Gulf coast, and as workers in an integrated and resilient public health system. Educational pathways that lead to middle skilled jobs in these areas include: apprenticeship programs offered by schools, unions, and employers; high school career and technical education programs; community college courses, certificates, and associate degrees; and employer provided training.

Opportunities for the Gulf Research Program: Middle-Skilled Workforce Needs is the summary of a workshop held on June 9-10, 2014 in Tampa, Florida. This workshop convened 40 thought leaders from the Gulf region's education, employer, and policymaking communities to facilitate a discussion of the current state of education and training pathways for preparing the region's middle-skilled workforce in both the short- and long-term and to identify perceived needs and potential opportunities that might be addressed by the GRP. Workshop participants discussed a variety of opportunities around building capacity in the region's middle-skilled workforce, including the need for competency-based education and training approaches and stronger partnerships among the region's employers and institutions of higher education.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!