Automotive Tech Innovator Named Educator of the Year

July 27, 2023

Ken Mays honored at National Science Foundation’s annual “Impact” conference

Central Oregon Community College’s Ken Mays, Automotive Technology adjunct instructor, former professor and past program director, received the 2023 Educator of the Year Award at the National Science Foundation’s recent High Impact Technology Exchange Conference in Atlanta.

As featured on the High Impact Technology Exchange Conference’s website:

The award recognizes community college faculty who make significant contributions to the education and training of today’s technology workforce. Nominees for the award must have had a demonstrated broader impact on technology education on both a local and national level. The Educator-of-the-Year Award recognizes a community college educator for outstanding contributions to advanced technological education.

Mays has taught in COCC’s automotive technology program for over 25 years and directed the program from 1998 to 2022. His greatest joy is watching past graduates succeed in the automotive industry as technicians, managers and business owners. Although he retired from full-time teaching in 2022, he continues to support the COCC Automotive program as an adjunct faculty member. His favorite courses are those that encompass an array of scientific principles, mixed with mechanical and electrical applications. Mays was a pioneer in expanding COCC’s program to include alternate fuel vehicle technology and quickly became a national leader in electric vehicle technology instruction.

He led the development of digital badging, certifications and new-era associate degrees that incorporate alternative fuel technology. Mays was instrumental in initiating the formation of a nonprofit consortium of community colleges whose mission is to improve the growing auto tech readiness gap and improve continuing education opportunities for technicians.

Increasing the diversity of automotive programs has been a goal in all of Mays’ work. He has significantly increased female engagement in COCC’s program and encourages others to implement strategies for increasing the number of females who pursue careers as automotive technicians. He has recently extended this effort through an alliance with Awesome Women in Automotive, a Kansas-based national nonprofit that matches two-year college females in automotive programs with female mentors in the industry.

Supported by the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program, HI-TEC is a national conference on advanced technological education where secondary and postsecondary educators, counselors, industry professionals, trade organizations and technicians can update their knowledge and skills. Charged with preparing America’s skilled technical workforce, the event focuses on the preparation needed by the existing and future workforce for companies in the high-tech sectors that drive our nation’s economy.

Image: Ken Mays with an Automotive Technology graduate at COCC's 2021 commencement.