Au Revoir Dave!

FLATE News for March 2012 is that David Gula, FLATE Outreach Manager, is retiring this month. Dave tells us it’s his 5^th, or so retirement. I haven’t probed back to the first one, but maybe this will be his last. Dave came to FLATE at our very beginnings, channeled to us from the Florida High Tech Corridor’s Tech Path’s efforts. In 2002, FLATE was still an idea with promise. The promise inspired the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program to invest $70,000 in a “Planning Grant for one year for the FLATE leadership team to develop its “plan,” and define the regional and statewide need.” Looking for something to do and someplace to volunteer to help grow the pipeline of students interested in STEM career pathways, Dave started attending our NSF ATE Regional Center Planning Grant meetings. His contributions to our “volunteer” planning team’s activities and to our mission became so valuable that we convinced him to accept a contract to help us with our industry surveying during that period. This activity defined the need for educational reform for manufacturing education throughout the state.