Traci Thorpe named new superintendent at Pioneer Technology Center

Pioneer Technology Center’s Board of Education voted to offer the position of Superintendent to Traci Thorpe, currently Deputy Superintendent at Pioneer Tech.

Thorpe has accepted and is slated to replace Bruce DeMuth upon his retirement on June 30, 2018. Thorpe will be the seventh superintendent to serve at Pioneer Tech since its beginning in 1973.

“The PTC Board is very pleased that a candidate of Traci’s experience and passion will be stepping into the superintendent’s position.  She brings a continuity of leadership and vision and will carry on Pioneer Tech’s mission of providing the best possible opportunities for our students, clients and the surrounding community,” said Gay Norris, Board President.

Thorpe has been employed at Pioneer Technology Center for the past 19 years.  A career educator of 26 years, she began her education career in Gate, Oklahoma, as an elementary/middle school teacher.

Thorpe is a native of Fairview, Oklahoma, where her parents were educators.  She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Education as well as a Masters of Education in Educational Administration from Southwestern Oklahoma State University.

At Pioneer Technology Center, Thorpe began as the first instructor for the SHARE Program (Sharing Hope and Redefining Education), a dropout recovery program, and was instrumental in its development and implementation.  She has served in several positions at PTC, and in 2006, transitioned to administration at the tech center, being named Director of Special Programs.  Currently she serves the district as Deputy Superintendent.

An active leader within the CareerTech system, Thorpe was recognized as the Oklahoma CareerTech Administrator of the Year in 2014.  Certified as a Superintendent, a Technology Center Administrator and as a Secondary Principal, education is at the heart of everything she does.

Serving in many leadership roles, Thorpe has been a member of several Ponca City Chamber of Commerce committees, including Education and Workforce.  She participated in the Oklahoma Academy Town Hall and is a graduate of both Ponca City and Blackwell Leadership. A current member of the Ponca City Library board, she also served as a board member to the Survivor Resource Network, formerly Domestic Violence Program of Oklahoma.

“I’m ready to step into the next level of leadership at Pioneer Tech,” Thorpe said. “I relish the opportunity to do so in an organization into which I am wholly committed and have served for over 20 years.”

Wife to John, mother of three daughters, grandmother to three grandchildren with one on the way, Thorpe has called Ponca City home for nearly two decades.

For more information about Pioneer Tech and its programs visit www.pioneertech.edu or call (580) 762-8336.