Story submitted by Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education

Dana Wallace of Meridian Technology Center received one of Oklahoma CareerTech’s top awards during the Oklahoma Summit, the 52nd annual CareerTech summer conference, at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City Aug. 1-2.

Wallace, executive director of communications and marketing at Meridian, received the 2019 Oklahoma Association of Career and Technology Education Outstanding Communications and Marketing Award. Oklahoma CareerTech held the conference in partnership with OkACTE, the professional organization for the state’s CareerTech administrators, teachers and staff members. 

The Communications and Marketing Award recognizes a staff member who demonstrates outstanding communications and marketing skills above and beyond normal responsibilities. Recipients of this award must have made significant contributions toward innovative programs that serve to improve and promote CareerTech education.

As a member of Meridian’s executive leadership team, Wallace is a member of a core group that assists with strategic decisions focused on the technology center’s future. Her work on the team has contributed to Meridian being named a Top Workplace in Oklahoma for the past five years.

Wallace is an active member of the National School Public Relations Association, the Oklahoma School Public Relations Association and the Oklahoma CareerTech communications and marketing officers network. She also serves on Meridian’s recruitment and retention committee and the emergency response team. She received advanced public information officer training through FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute.

Recently, Wallace participated in Oklahoma CareerTech’s Technology Center Administrator Program, a professional development program that gives participants the chance to advance their technology center administrative careers and increase their knowledge of the CareerTech System.

Before joining Meridian 10 years ago, Wallace served as assistant director of international admissions at Oklahoma City University, as a marketing specialist and writer/editor at Baylor University and as a television anchor and reporter. She holds a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting from OCU and a master’s degree in educational administration from Baylor.

For more information about the Oklahoma CareerTech System, visit www.okcareertech.org.