2024 Award Recipients
Hall of Fame
Gerry Rainford
Auto Body Instructor, Dakota County Technical College
Outstanding Educator of the Year
Dwayne Hickman
Automotive Instructor, St. Cloud Technical and Community College
Outstanding New Educator of the Year
Tom Weller
Professional Truck Driver Instructor, Alexandria Technical and Community College
EXEMPLARY SECONDARY PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
Moorhead Career Academy’s Transportation Program
Instructor, Chantz Rud
TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM SUPPORTER OF THE YEAR – Business
I-State Truck Center
For DCTC’s Diesel Program
TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM SUPPORTER OF THE YEAR – Individual
Roger Gartner
Regional Technical Instructor/Recruiter, Ziegler CAT
Learn more about the recipients
Our Goal is simple
The TCOE Awards are meant to publicly and meaningfully recognize great people and organizations who have the most tremendous impact on our state’s high quality transportation-related education programs.
We are proud to sponsor these awards to educators, advocates, supporters, and industry partners, for their outstanding contributions to the field of transportation education. Award recipients are nominated by their peers and are selected by the TCOE Awards Committee each summer. We sincerely hope you will use this opportunity to help us recognize and promote the good work that is happening across the state of Minnesota.
Nominators are asked to provide some basic information about the candidate, as well as a minimum of three letters of recommendation from varied sources. The deadline for submissions is June 1st, nominations can be submitted at any time. Please review the TCOE Awards Criteria before filling out the nomination
Award categories
Hall of Fame
Commemorates lifetime contributions to transportation education in Minnesota.
Outstanding Educator of the Year
Celebrates educational and instructional excellence in the field of transportation teaching and learning.
Outstanding New Educator of the Year
Recognizes early-career educators who demonstrate a deep commitment to, and potential for, excellence in the field of transportation teaching and learning.
Exemplary College Program of the Year
Showcases post-secondary level transportation programs that serve as exemplary models of institutional support, instructional leadership, and program-wide excellence.
Exemplary Secondary Program of the Year
Showcases secondary level transportation programs that serve as exemplary models of institutional support, instructional leadership, and program-wide excellence.
Transportation Program Supporter of the Year
Applauds the efforts of individuals and/or industry partners across Minnesota who have demonstrated exemplary support, through gifts of their time, talent, or resources, of transportation-related educational programs.
Academic Professional of the Year
Recognizes the efforts of an academic professional from Minnesota who has demonstrated exemplary job performance through their high quality work and steadfast support of transportation-related educational programs.
Awards Presentation
The TCOE presents these awards each year during the first week of August at the MTTIA Conference.
Previous Award recipients
2023
Hall of Fame
David Johnson
Anoka Technical College
Outstanding Educator of the Year
Drew Goddard
Hennepin Technical College
Outstanding New Educator of the Year
Tyler Kunstleben
St. Cloud Technical and Community College
Exemplary Secondary Program of the Year
Automotive Program
Anoka-Hennepin STEP
Transportation Program Supporter of the Year
Travis Hetteen
Knife River
Academic Professional of the Year
Roseanne Anderson
St. Cloud Technical and Community College
2022
Hall of Fame
Tom Brandt
Minnesota State College Southeast
Outstanding Educator of the Year
Olle Gladso
Riverland Community College
Outstanding New Educator of the Year
John Clancy
Moorhead High School
Exemplary College Program of the Year
Heavy Equipment Operations and Maintenance
Central Lakes College
Transportation Program Supporter of the Year
Bill Bartholomay
Wurth USA
Academic Professional of the Year
Andrea Thiner
Moorhead High School
2021
Hall of Fame
Dale Derung
St. Cloud Technical and Community College
Outstanding Educator of the Year
Jeff Schneider
Moorhead High School
Outstanding New Educator of the Year
Amanda Evenson
Minnesota State College Southeast
Exemplary College Program of the Year
Hibbing Community College’s Automotive Program
Kevin Hyduke and Wayne Trenholm
Transportation Program Supporter of the Year – Individual
Judell Anderson
AASP-MN
Transportation Program Supporter of the Year – Business
Brenny Transportation
Academic Professional of the Year
Leanne Pearson
St. Cloud Technical and Community CollegeCollege
2020
Hall of Fame
Mike Lehn
ASE Education Foundation
Outstanding Educator of the Year
John Witthauer
Northeast Metro 916 Career and Technical Center
Outstanding New Educator of the Year
Jonathan Rymer
Riverland Community College
Transportation Program Supporter of the Year
Dan Walton
Viking Land Harley Davidson
Academic Professional of the Year
Carl Borleis
Alexandria Technical and Community College
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