Council on Occupational Education President and CEO Dr. Kirk A. Nooks Visits EAS Carpenters Technical Center

Rob Smith, Executive Training Director

PHILALDELPHIA, PA, UNITED STATES, September 23, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Eastern Atlantic States Carpenters Philadelphia Technical Center welcomed Dr. Kirk A. Nooks, President and CEO of the Council on Occupational Education (COE), to its training center as the organization celebrates a milestone in its accreditation journey.

As President and CEO of COE, Dr. Nooks leads an accrediting organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education that focuses on career and technical education institutions and programs.

The visit comes as the EAS Carpenters Technical Centers celebrate the conditional accreditation of all 17 training centers across the region. The journey to this milestone began in 2019, when the Carpenters Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee (CJATC) partnered with the General Building Contractors Association (GBCA) to devise solutions to expand continuing education opportunities for members of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. Since then, the CJATC and four other regional training funds have united to create the EAS Carpenters Technical Centers, completing a major organizational restructuring that established a single regional training fund.

The EAS Carpenters Technical Centers operate 17 training centers serving more than 4,500 apprentices across Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

“We are proud of how far our training centers have come since beginning this process in 2019,” said Executive Training Director Rob Smith. “This conditional accreditation represents an important milestone for our organization and reflects the hard work that has been put in and our commitment to education .”

The EAS Carpenters Technical Centers look forward to continuing to strengthen their commitment to education and workforce training for the next generation of skilled carpenters.

CONTACT: Brooke Fuller, Senior Communications Specialist, Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, 412-239-1739, bfuller@eascarpenters.org.
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About the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters The Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters is a labor union that develops, trains, and empowers the hardworking men and women of the skilled construction trades. The EAS Carpenters Union represents over 42,000 members across Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia. The union’s members specialize in a variety of crafts, including interior systems, high-rise construction, concrete, heavy highway infrastructure, and specialty trades such as millwrights, floor layers, and tradeshow workers.

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