This examination of secondary agricultural education students' performance was used to determine if students could perform up to industry standards. In this study, the industry standard were blueprints created by engineers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Students had to fabricate a Cost-effective Roll-Over Protective…

This article presents an analysis of preferred knowledge sources for beginning farmers and differences in knowledge networks between "heritage" and "nonheritage" farmers. The purpose of the analysis is to support the reassessment of training, technical assistance, and other needs of beginning farmers to be able to develop more…

In our reflective essay from our multiple perspectives as journal editors, peer reviewers, and published authors, we present ideas about editorial support, democracy, and innovation in the publishing process. As four tenured professors who work in universities in the states of Illinois, Virginia, Texas, and Kentucky, we are a community of editors…

It is important that education and training programmes align with the needs of the professions they are designed to support. The culinary arts and hospitality industry is a vocational area that needs to be examined more closely to ensure that the skills and competencies taught are those that will actually be needed when students matriculate from…

As of September 2010, the U.S. manufacturing sector grew for the 14th consecutive month, leading some economists to speculate that, as with the Great Depression, American manufacturing will lead the economy out of the recession. It is a little bit of good news in a long stream of depressing employment reports. Career and technical educators…

Despite action by Congress and the Bush administration to shore up the student-loan industry, some state-authorized organizations say they may not return to the loan business this year, and others are cutting some of the borrower benefits and services they provide. Nine state loan agencies stopped issuing either new federally backed or new private…

Today, many high-tech, professional jobs are being sent overseas. According to TechsUnite.org, more than 150,000 technology jobs have been lost to offshoring since 2000. In this article, the author asserts that American colleges and universities are uniquely poised to help confront this economic challenge by providing basic and applied research…

Community and technical colleges are at a crossroads in their history and mission in preparing individuals for the challenges of lifelong learning and the workforce of the future. Many industries are faced with the challenges of replacing an aging and retiring workforce, updating employee skill sets, and maintaining quality and production…

Describes Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation (KHIC), a nonprofit community development organization that creates jobs and helps small manufacturing businesses succeed in nine "perpetually poor" rural Kentucky counties. Outlines KHIC services: loans for both expansion and working capital; equity and real estate investments;…