News

The Consortium is thrilled to welcome Candice Murrell as a returning member of the Consortium staff. She officially joined us again in September 2023 as a Director of Professional and Student Learning and is excited to embrace this new role. Candice is eager to reconnect with educators and school leaders throughout our region to advance […]

The Consortium is offering Thriving Futures for school counselors this fall in response to feedback gathered at a preliminary meeting in March. Registrations for the program, which will focus on future readiness, must be made by Sept. 15, and the first of three in-person sessions takes place Oct. 24. Among possible topics on upcoming agendas […]

Registration is open for introductory courses in Project-Based Learning (PBL) and Human-Centered Design (HCD) that we’ll be offering in September. The PBL training consists of two sessions, Sept. 19 and Sept. 26, from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm at the Consortium’s offices. The HCD training takes place Sept. 21 and Sept. 28, also from 8:30 […]

Educators participating in the Industry 4.0 Teacher Academy seemed surprised and reassured that even the advanced manufacturing sector—with high-tech environments that depend on coding, robots, and the like—offers employment opportunities for students without 4-year degrees. “The trend is toward skills-based hiring,” Catalyst Connection’s Director of Workforce Initiatives, Scott Dietz, interjected as attendees peppered business representatives […]

Companies and community organizations interested in participating in the Student Sustainability Design Challenge we’re offering this year in partnership with the Energy Innovation Center will find information about the program in a video from an August webinar as well as in our Program Description and Timetable. As part of the program, student teams will learn […]

The Consortium’s Professional Development team hosted a webinar earlier this month to unveil our planned Student Sustainability Design Challenge, a multi-district initiative the Consortium will launch in 2023-2024 in partnership with the Energy Innovation Center (EIC), to help educators engage their students in Project-Based Learning experiences focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). […]

The Consortium organized nearly two dozen workplace site visits this year—nine to support students in career learning, and the rest to help educators learn about opportunities for their students and the expectations they’ll face as they prepare for the workforce. Aside from the handful of visits arranged for participants in our Future Ready Leaders program, […]

Our staff in the spotlight Invitations to speak at more than half a dozen conferences during the 2022-2023 school year underscored the range of expertise our staff brings to schools and the thought leadership they bring to education in areas ranging from Human-Centered Design to developing school-business partnerships. Among the highlights: Program Directors Gina Barrett […]

We’re hosting a webinar with Hatch Partners in Play from 9 am to 10 am on Wednesday, June 28 for educators interested in finding out about the beneficial role play can have in classroom learning and using it to better engage students. Reservations can be made online. Hatch Partners in Play is an organization dedicated […]

The Tribune-Review recently spotlighted professional development the Consortium provided for educators in eleven school districts—five in Allegheny County and six in Westmoreland County—who are engaged in an initiative to enhance STEM teaching and learning. As part of the undertaking, we also organized seven Educator in the Workforce (EIW) experiences hosted by regional employers. The EIWs […]