MCGHEE TYSON AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Tenn -- Less than a month after taking charge of the U.S. Air National Guard's primary learning center here, its Commander, Col. Kenneth Lozano, challenged faculty and staff to retailor their mission and vision statements.
"We want to take TEC to new heights, and developing a shared mission and vision is an important step in that," Colonel Lozano said.
The results are the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center's new Mission: To train and educate today's Airmen for tomorrow's fight.
The group met to consider the center's purpose as well as what makes it unique in a brief, ambitious, and understandable statement, in which to focus and rally around.
Giving further insight and direction is TEC's new Vision: The most agile, innovative, and resilient total force training and education provider.
"It's awesome because that's aligning us with what we want for the organization," Chief Master Sgt. Steven Durrance, the enlisted professional military education commandant/senior enlisted advisor, said. "Our attitude on how we handle these changes, in this new direction, will ensure their success."
TEC staff and faculty include about 85 Airmen assigned from the Air National Guard, regular Air Force, and Reserve Command. The group provides EPME and professional continuing education for the total Air Force and Department of Defense.
Colonel Lozano called on each Airman to embrace the center's culture and priorities. They include a culture of respect and trust inspired by the Air Force Core Values, with engagement, as well as three priorities:
- Take care of team TEC
- Increase readiness
- Develop exceptional leaders
TEC is capitalizing on its efforts through the Baldrige Excellence Framework as a means of reaching its goals, improving results, and becoming more competitive.
The PCE division, which includes the TEC TV studio, transmission team, and the video production team, as well as instructional developers, are quickly steering in the new direction. They are testing new tools like augmented reality and virtual reality, and they are looking at online coursework.
"We are building off this recharge,” the division chief, Chief Master Sgt. Shaun Withers said. “We are targeting the students, what their needs are, with the ultimate goal of solving Air National Guard problems.”
Meanwhile, the Mission Support division is looking at its campus operations and cyber operations, among other support to faculty, staff, and customers.
“This is bringing what we're looking to do to fruition,” Senior Master Sgt. Nadia Berrouet, Cyber Operations superintendent, said. “We want to focus on the digital generations in ways that are unknown to us today.”
Teams meet regularly to discuss just what a "smart campus” means and how they will get there. One goal is to integrate emerging technologies, to include smart systems, digital storage, facility management, and security systems, among others. The topics vary in complexity and impact on the organization.
"I am excited about TEC's future," Colonel Lozano said. "With this incredibly talented and dedicated group, our new heights have no limit for the U.S. Air Force."