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CyGaMEs External Evaluator Dr. Victor Hernandez-Gantes

Serving as an external evaluator for CyGaMEs’ Selene fits in perfectly with Dr. Victor Hernandez-Gantes’s extensive research interests. He says, “My research interests focus on the interface involving the design, implementation, and evaluation of educational strategies grounded in education-and-work contexts as a means to maximize career-oriented learning for all students.” Dr. Hernandez-Gantes’s evaluation began with National Science Foundation funding of the CyGaMEs project in in 2008. His evaluation will continue through the final 2014 project year.

Dr. Hernandez-Gantes was born and raised in southwestern Mexico, where he completed a B.S. Degree in Agronomy. He went on to earn an M.S. in Agricultural Education with concentration in International Agricultural Development and a Ph.D. in Educational Research and Evaluation from Virginia Tech. For several years he served as Associate Researcher within the Center on Education and Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He later served as Associate Professor at Florida State University where he primarily supported the Vocational Education and Educational Leadership programs. He had previously served as Senior Educational Researcher for in the Center for Educational Technologies at Wheeling Jesuit University, on several national advisory groups (e.g., National Design Group for the New Designs for Career and Technical Education), and as Chair of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Vocational Education Research (JVER, 1999-2001).

Dr. Hernandez-Gantes is currently the Director of the Career and Workforce Education program at the University of South Florida. The program offers a Master’s in Career and Technical Education and a Ph.D. in Career and Workforce Education. Dr. Hernandez-Gantes is the Coordinator of the doctoral program. He also contributes to teaching activities in two graduate programs. Dr. Hernandez-Gantes has published several articles on teaching adults through online learning and the book, Teaching English Language Learners in Career and Technical Education Programs (photo credit).

Over the past decade Dr. Hernandex-Gantes has collaborated with organizations and faculty at a number of universities nationally and internationally. He says, “This has resulted in a number projects in the areas of professional development and the integration of mathematics and career education supported by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Research in Vocational Education, and NASA.” Such projects have resulted in two grants in addition to his work with CyGaMEs.

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