New assistant vice chancellor excited for CTE
The new assistant vice chancellor at Arkansas State University Three Rivers is excited for his role to get the Saline County Career and Technical Center open and serving students and the community.
Scott Kuttenkuler has been in the role since March 1.
“I will handle the day-to-day operations,” he said.
Currently, he is getting equipment and everything needed to open the facility. He is responsible for recruiting students and hiring faculty. Once it is open, he will focus on supporting the staff.
Kuttenkuler is originally from central Missouri. He has been in Arkansas since 2003. He got his bachelors degree in corporate communications and masters in communications from the University of Central Missouri.
After college, he worked at the University of Arkansas at Monticello for 13 years, first as a debate coach and speech instructor, then as a fundraiser and government relations and finally as dean of students, government relations and was over housing.
He went to South East Arkansas College in Pine Bluff as vice president of Student Affairs, where he serve for four and half years.
He then began this job with ASU Three Rivers.
Kuttenkuler did not plan to get
into education, but that is where he found himself.
In the end, he feels it is all about the students. He
likes working with them.
With traditional students, he gets to see them develop. With nontraditional students, he sees them come in bringing a different perspective.
He likes to be part of
students’ journeys.
His short term goals are to get the CTE center up and running and to hire the best team possible to ensure his long term goals can be reached.
He wants CTE to be the
premier career and technical education center in Arkansas. He also wants it to be the type of program others model their programs on.
He thinks the best way to achieve that is to make it a place that helps the students achieve their goals.
His biggest focus is just getting the doors open.
He wants to develop relationships with businesses and individuals.
“Anybody who wants to share the goals and the mission, we want as a partner,” Kuttenkuler said.
He not only wants the partnership to benefit CTE, but he wants it to benefit businesses by growing the number of trained people in the community they can hire.
He also is seeking partners
to get students into internships and pre-apprenticeship programs.
Kuttenkuler wants the training CTE provides not only to be basic training, but training at a higher level.
He has been married to
his wife, Amanda, for 20 years.
“She is an incredibly awesome person,” he said.
She works as a project manager for the Arkansas Rural Health Partnership.
They have two sons, Beau, 18 and Gabe, 16.
He considers them a baseball family.
Along with baseball, he enjoys hunting, fishing, woodworking and just being a dad.
Kuttenkuler wants people to be interested in the program and reach out and learn more.
Along with his other duties, he considers himself a tour guide for CTE. He wants the chance to show everyone in Saline County and those visiting what CTE has to offer.
He wants CTE to be as open to the community as possible.
Classes are set to begin at the center in the Fall.