Welcome CTE Leaders!
June 5-8, 2023
Younes Conference Center South, 416 W Talmadge Rd, Kearney, NE 68845
Conference -June 5-7
Post Conference Sessions – June 8
Registration Opens in April
The NCE Conference is a professional development learning opportunity featuring national and state CTE leaders. The conference’s focus will be on addressing current and ongoing themes related to CTE instruction. The NCE Conference is sponsored by the Nebraska Department of Education, Nebraska Career Education, and in cooperation with the Association for Career and Technical Education of Nebraska.
Accommodations: A block of rooms have been reserved with a special conference rate. Please make reservations as soon as possible to secure the group rate. Use the code: Career Education Conference 2023.
Hotel Name: Comfort Inn
Street Address: 118 3rd Ave, Kearney, NE 68847
Phone: (308) 251-2722
Special Rate: $119.95
Hotel Name: Fairfield Inn
Street Address: 510 W Talmadge Rd, Kearney, NE 68845
Phone: (308) 236-4200
Special Rate: $119.95
Hotel Name: LaQuinta Inn & Suites
Street Address: 108 3rd Ave, Kearney, NE 68845
Phone: (308) 237-4400
Special Rate: $119.95
*You must call the hotel directly to book and receive the conference room rate. The hotels cannot be responsible for reservations made through any third party. Please note, that the website IS via a 3rd party. Rates quoted herein are per room, per night, and do not include applicable taxes.
Keynote Speakers
Temple Grandin, PhDWorld-Renowned Inspirational Autism Activist, Best-selling author, Animal Welfare, and Behavior Expert.
Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is one of the most accomplished and well-known adults with autism in the world. Her life was brought to the screen with the HBO full-length filmTemple Grandin, starring Claire Danes. Dr. Grandin has been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in September 2016, featured on NPR, and has a 2010 TED Lecture titled “The World Needs ALL Kinds of Minds.” She has also been featured on the BBC special“The Women Who Thinks Like a Cow”, ABC’s “Primetime Live”, “The Today Show” and more. Grandin developed her talents into a successful career as a livestock-handling equipment designer, one of very few in the world. She also speaks on both autism and cattle handling. Dr.Grandin’s current bestselling book on autism is The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger’s. She also authored written Rules of Social Relationships; Animals Make UsHuman; Animals in Translation; Thinking in Pictures; and emergence: Labeled Autistic. Grandin is considered a philosophical leader of both the animal welfare and autism advocacy movements.
Featured Speaker
Dr. Nicole Cobb is the Associate Chair and a faculty member in the Department of Human Development and Counseling at Vanderbilt University. Prior to coming to Vanderbilt, she served as Executive Director of School Counseling for the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. She has worked in education for 26 years as a teacher, school counselor and administrator. She holds a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership and Policy from the University of Tennessee. Nicole has done a great deal of policy and research work in the areas of school climate, school counseling, and CTE.
She has served nationally on many councils and committees including but not limited to: Michelle O’Bama’s Reach Higher initiative, Southern Regional Education Board’s College and Career Advisory Council, National Career Academy Council and College Board’s National Ambassador program. She is the immediate past vice president of the Association of Career and Technical Education’s Counseling and Career Development division, immediate past president of the Tennessee Counseling Association and was recently appointed by Governor Bill Lee to serve as an advisor on Tennessee’s Council for Career and Technical Education.
Nicole is the recipient of the Tennessee School Counselors Association’s Supervisor of the Year award, Tennessee’s Association of Counselor Educator’s Advocate of the Year Award and was named as Vanderbilt University’s Distinguished Faculty of the Year in 2022.
In her downtime, Nicole can be found running a trail in the park, teaching yoga, reading by the fire, or traveling the world in search of a good adventure.