Jana Schmidt, assistant adjunct professor of Architectural and Engineering Computer Aided Design, has been selected as one of 15 instructors nationwide to receive the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Educational Foundation’s 2008 Building the Future Award. The award recognizes Schmidt’s work at Lake Travis High School, where she heads the school’s Project Lead the Way Program, designed to further excellence in engineering education.

Texas Learns honored the Adult Education Division with its silver-level recognition in February during the Texas Association for Literacy and Adult Education conference in Corpus Christi. The award recognizes the division for meeting 10 out of 11 federal performance measures for adult education.

The Children’s Lab School is one of the first early childhood programs in the nation to earn accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) under its new standards. To earn NAEYC accreditation in the new system, Child Development staff went through an extensive self-study process, measuring the program and its services against the 10 new NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards and more than 400 related accreditation criteria. The Lab School received NAEYC accreditation after an on-site visit by NAEYC assessors to ensure that the program meets each of the 10 standards. NAEYC accreditation lasts five years.

The Texas Distance Learning Association recently inducted Virtual College of Texas Director Ron Thomson into the Texas Distance Learning Hall of Fame. The award recognizes Thomson’s role in the launch of STARLINK, a teleconference network of Texas two-year colleges, and the Virtual College of Texas, the consortium of community colleges that work together to provide online learning opportunities for college students in Texas.

Ben Ferrell, vice president of business services, has joined the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Student Financial Aid Advisory Committee. The committee will conduct a legislatively mandated study on the feasibility of restructuring the state’s financial aid programs.

President/CEO Stephen B. Kinslow, Ph.D., will serve on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s College for Texans Web Portal Committee. The advisory group will provide guidance for the redesign of the College for Texans website.