Dr. Harold Nevill, COSSA

CTEI Lifetime Achievement Award:  The true value and inspiration of Career and Technical of Education is  Dr. Nevill who has provided greatly to Career Technical Education, student success, and the betterment of our entire workforce and his ability to bring folks along-side and share in a common value of student success is beyond measurement.

Those who have had interactions with Harold, has been able to learn much from his extensive knowledge and passion for CTE. But perhaps most importantly and of most respect is some of the various capacities he has served, which reach much farther than Idaho. Let us start from the beginning… Dr. Nevill was raised in Idaho’s Treasure Valley on his family farm, graduating from Fruitland High School in 1974 while serving as State Vice President for Idaho FFA. After high school, Harold committed to the United States’ Navy to serve our country. From Seamen Recruit to Lieutenant Commander, Dr. Nevill provided leadership, oversight, and management to several U.S. Navy projects and programs. After his career in the Service, Dr. Nevill entered the world of education, starting as a science, math, electronics, and business teacher in 1997. After his academic teaching, he brought his experiences in the Navy serving as Chief Operating Officer for the space satellite tracking and data injection station and entered into Career Technical Education as an educator. His passion for sharing his knowledge and expertise with the next generation of the workforce became evident from that point forward. Dr. Nevill began teaching electronics for the Dennis Career-Technical Education Center in 2002 where he taught for three years before moving to the Division of CTE, leading Idaho’s Skilled and Technical Sciences Program Area and serving as State Director for SkillsUSA. During his time with the Division, significant progress was made in engaging industry in program efforts at the state and local level; he became part of the Idaho Career Technical Education Foundation (more on that to come), and helped set a vision and direction for SkillsUSA for the next decade. After three years at the Division, Dr. Nevill joined the West Ada School District where he served as the CTE Coordinator and assistant principal for Renaissance International Baccalaureate High School. In this position, he worked with leadership and community to begin developing several of what would first of their kind in Idaho including: Firefighting and Law Enforcement, to name a few. In 2010; Dr. Nevill headed to the Canyon-Owyhee School Service Agency (COSSA) to serve as the Chief Executive Officer, Superintendent, CRTEC Principal, and CTS Administrator—wearing many hats and providing servant leadership to expand and grow the programs and employer relationships within in community and region. But, it does not end there. During the same time of holding these full-time positions, Dr. Nevil continues to be active in other CTE efforts across the state of Idaho.

The Idaho CTE Foundation Board of Directors elected Dr. Nevill to serve as President of the foundation in 2012. Under his leadership, the foundation grew its outreach and programs; increased scholarships, solidified sustainable programming to ensure long-term scholarship opportunity for students and worked tirelessly to ensure students were reaping as many benefits as possible during their engagement within CTSOs and their postsecondary educational purists. You will find an extensive list of awards and accomplishments Dr. Nevill has made over his career which directly relate to the building of relationships and advancement of Career Technical Education to Idaho and beyond. Today, to highlight a few of those current roles,

• Chairman of the Board; Coalition for Agriculture’s Future
• President; Career Technical Educator of Idaho
• Board Member; Southwest District Health Advisory Committee
• Past-President; Idaho Career Technical Education Foundation
• Executive Director; COSSA Foundation
• Board Member; Snake River Canyon Scenic Byway Corporation
• Commissioner; Idaho State Juvenile Justice Commission

The list goes on and on and while you’ve noticed not all of them have reference to CTE within the title or organization name, in each interaction he always has his former State FFA Officer hat; looking for ways to increase opportunity for students and have them prepared for their future careers—

Dr. Nevill has provided leadership and management to several districts along with state-wide through his professional career. Serving as a District CTE Administrator and Superintendent, he has contributed to ensuring robust industry focused instruction and programs—directly aligned to the needs of their local workforce. This is not easy work. It is much easier to make decisions and implement those for local programs, but truly engaging the local employers take time, collaboration, and significant effort.

Dr. Nevill also collaborated with Treasure Valley school districts to meet a need of providing CTE programs to both Idaho and Oregon students, resulting in Treasure Valley Tech. This school provided a framework for sustainable Career Technical Schools in Idaho and best practices to leverage resources from multiple districts to meet the needs of all students.

CTEI Association, Dr. Nevil as served as the President for Career Technical Educators of Idaho for the past year along with serving in multiple leadership capacities within his educator area teacher association.  Within CTSO’s   from a professional lens, Dr. Nevill was a local CTSO advisor during his time as a CTE educator and served as the State Director for SkillsUSA Idaho during his tenure as State Program Manager. During his time as the State Director, SkillsUSA saw increased engagement and participation from both students and employers. These key partnerships allow for strong opportunities for students.

As the president of Career Technical Educators of Idaho Harold’s impact on a regional and national level for CTE plays a significant role. CTEI has seen an increase in engagement and collaboration from the Division while Dr. Nevill has been president and his vision and leadership for the association continues to move Idaho CTE forward. This collaborative approach, his engagement on the Foundation, and as a CTS Administrator bring a wide perspective to improve and advance state, regional, and national CTE work.  Oftentimes in leadership position folks can take two routes: They can assume authority either positional or dispositional. Positional are those individuals that others respond to and listen to because they have a hammer they can slam. Dispositional are those who individuals want to follow because they see the vision, character, and passion from an individual. Harold’s focus and passion for CTE puts him in a position of dispositional leadership and this comes because of his constant drive to go above and beyond for not just CTE, but students and employers and Idaho’s future.