Traci Buckner, Alison White
Partnerships play a fundamental role in the National Inventors Hall of Fame® School ... Center for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Learning and the Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN) Akron Hub. Through innovative collaborations with diverse industries, the end result is a blend of creative partnerships that strengthen the school, the hub, and the surrounding communities. In this session, we will highlight the school’s program design qualities, which include family, community, and school partners that serve as advocates to promote high learner achievement.
About the Presenters:
Traci Buckner, Instructional Leader, National Inventors Hall of Fame School, Center for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Learning, Akron Public Schools
Traci Buckner is the instructional leader at the National Inventors Hall of Fame® School…Center for STEM Learning. Under her leadership, the National Inventors Hall of Fame School has been featured in Newsweek and on Anderson Cooper 360 in an educational segment from Perry’s Principles. Buckner has most recently spoken at Hathaway Brown’s Innovation Summit and 21st Century Design Symposium on the topic of teaching creativity in a collaborative space and the What Matters & What Counts in Education series in Denver, Colorado. Before beginning her career in the Akron Public School System, Buckner worked as a marketing and sales representative. Upon completing her master’s degree in education from John Carroll University, Buckner went to work in a language arts classroom at Innes Middle School. She served as dean of students at Innes and assistant principal at Litchfield and Perkins middle schools, and principal at Riedinger Middle School. Buckner has served on several district committees including the School Climate Committee, the Local Professional Development Committee, the Educational Management Information System team, and the Standards and Appraisal Committee. She also represented the district at local and national conferences, presenting recently on strategies for strengthening intra-school-system collaboration. In addition to her master’s degree, Buckner holds a BA in Communication with an emphasis on marketing from The Ohio State University and an Instructional Leadership Administrative Certificate from Ashland University.
Alison White, Grant Communications Coordinator, University of Akron and the Ohio Stem Learning Network's (OSLN) Akron Hub
Alison White serves as a grant communications coordinator for The University of Akron and Ohio Stem Learning Network’s (OSLN) Akron Hub. In this role, White is responsible for capturing and sharing best practices across the Ohio STEM Learning Network, driving communications, and coordinating public affairs outreach with regional partners and statewide schools. She serves as an OSLN embedded staff member for the greater Akron region based in the National Inventors Hall of Fame® School … Center for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Learning, a middle school within Akron Public Schools. White’s role also includes serving as a liaison between the OSLN Akron Hub’s founding partners (Akron Public Schools, Invent Now, The City of Akron, The Greater Akron Chamber/Akron Tomorrow, and The University of Akron) and the Ohio STEM Learning Network to amplify, accelerate, and magnify this partnership’s innovative work, which is aimed at building and connecting STEM teaching and learning capacity in regions across Ohio. White previously served as an account executive for Edward Howard, a full-service public relations agency in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2006, White served as an intern in the State of Ohio Governor’s Office of Multicultural Affairs and International Relations. White serves on the executive committees for the National Inventors Hall of Fame® School … Center for STEM Learning, the upcoming Akron STEM High School, and the Ohio STEM Learning Network’s Akron Hub. Previously, she served on the Public Relations Society of America-Cleveland Chapter’s Scholarship and Student Day Committees, and functioned as a professional advisor to Kent State University public relations students. White holds a BS in Public Relations with a minor in political science from Kent State University. She is set to graduate with her master’s degree in higher education administration from the University of Akron in May 2012.
