Pat Edmunds is the Director of Arkansas Tech Career Center in Russellville, Arkansas. Spending more than 25 years in CTE, she has accepted the role as educational administrator, leader, and mentor excitedly. She took a 1972 vo-tech model and modernized it by facilitating a merger with a two-year institution, updating programing, incorporating industry credentials, and growing enrollment by 200%. She brought industry to the table to have real conversations about growing a local modern workforce. Her motto is, “If you’re not improving, you’re backing up.” When she’s not in her garden, she and her husband, Jerry, love spending time with their precious grandbabies or traveling to her favorite haunts in New Orleans.