April 29-May 1, 2026

 Examines the role of educators as architects of opportunity who help students see futures they may never have imagined for themselves.

Donald Walker is a leader, scholar, and advocate working at the intersection of career and technical education, workforce development, and inclusive learning design. He currently serves as the Region 2 Director for the Michigan STEM Network, where he collaborates with schools, industry partners, community organizations, and postsecondary institutions across Hillsdale, Jackson, Lenawee, Livingston, Monroe, and Washtenaw counties. His work focuses on building regional ecosystems that expand access to high quality STEM and career connected learning opportunities, ensuring that students can see clear and attainable pathways from education to meaningful careers.

Donald also serves as Vice President and Trustee of the Farmington Public Schools Board of Education, where he leads both the Community Engagement and Policy Committees. In this governance role, he helps guide district policy and works to ensure that the voices of students, families, educators, and community partners are reflected in decisions that shape the educational experience.

Donald previously served as Director of Multimedia at the Detroit School of Arts within the Detroit Public Schools Community District, where he led career aligned media production programs that prepared students with both technical and creative skills for college and careers. Earlier in his career, he served as a videographer and editor for Detroit Public Schools Community District, producing districtwide media that highlighted student achievement, educational initiatives, and community engagement.

He also served as Director of Education and Instructor at Specs Howard School of Media Arts, where he helped design and deliver career focused media curriculum that prepared adult learners for entry into the creative and broadcast industries. His work consistently bridges education, industry, and workforce preparation.

Donald has also contributed to national conversations around inclusive education and learning design through his work with CAST, the organization that developed the Universal Design for Learning framework. His work there focused on accessible course design, inclusive instructional strategies, and helping educators create learning environments that remove barriers for diverse learners.

In addition to his professional leadership, Donald is a doctoral candidate at Wayne State University in Curriculum and Critical Social Inquiry. His research focuses on expanding equitable access to career and technical education, particularly for Black male students who remain one of the least represented populations in many CTE programs. His scholarship examines how systems, policies, and instructional design can remove barriers and open pathways for all learners.

He has presented his research and practice at national conferences, including the American Educational Research Association, where his work explores equity, access, and systemic transformation within career and technical education and STEM pathways. He is also a Postsecondary Leadership Fellow with Advance CTE, where he collaborates with national leaders to strengthen the connection between secondary, postsecondary, and workforce systems.

Across his work in education, research, and community engagement, Donald Walker’s leadership reflects a clear and consistent commitment to expanding opportunity and access. His work is grounded in the belief that education should open doors, connect people to purpose, and create meaningful pathways for all learners. Guided by a deep commitment to equity, he focuses on ensuring that students, particularly those historically underrepresented in career and technical education, have access to experiences that prepare them for both career and life.

Through strategic leadership, research, mentorship, and community partnerships, Donald continues to build bridges between education and workforce systems. His work centers on cultivating environments where individuals are supported in discovering their own strengths, defining their own purpose, and pursuing pathways that allow them to contribute meaningfully to their communities.

Perkins professionals carry the heavy cognitive load of translating complex systems into access, stability, and possibility for students they support, regardless of disability, language barriers, parenting challenges, foster care situations, or financial instability. The mission of MOSPA professionals is absolutely critical; but the pace, complexity of systems that need navigating, and the emotional weight of the work can quietly push support professionals into constant stress, urgency and never-ending weeks.

In this interactive keynote, we’ll help participants avoid heading further towards career burnout by focusing on how to design a way of working that can be more sustainable. Using a 5-step framework, participants will learn how to create a CLEAR strategy that recenters their own needs by slowing down the relentless pace, strengthening autonomy and choice, and creating practical wellbeing strategies for themselves and their teams.

Most importantly, members will walk away with tangible steps that they can implement the following week to improve their clarity, energy, and capacity for their students.

 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Participants will be able to identify signs and avoid common burnout symptoms that are commonly experienced by educators. 
2. Participants will be able to name the support friction that drains energy in Perkins-related work and identify where it shows up heaviest in their own work.
3. Participants will learn to use the CLEAR framework to improve their own personal sustainability in roles that balance impact, workload, complicated systems, and capacity.
4. Participants will increase autonomy over their workweek by clarifying what’s in their lane, what could be shared, and where opportunity exists to add wellbeing