MATC Matters

Dear Faculty and Staff,

I hope a warm welcome back may help counter our run of cold weather for faculty and many others who were off for spring break last week. I hope you found time to refresh and rejuvenate, whether traveling to seek new experiences or getting caught up on projects close to home.

The past several weeks have been a tragic time for the family, friends and teachers of Lucas Peerenboom, our liberal arts student who was critically injured by a hit and run driver in early March. On March 31, Luke, 20, passed away quickly and quietly at UW Hospital after life support equipment was removed. Several MATC staff and faculty members provided whatever support we could for his family. The college sent a memorial plaque to Luke’s funeral service, held last Saturday in Tomahawk.

I also ask each of you to send your best thoughts and prayers to Tom Ryan and his family. Tom, one of our exceptional accounting instructors, suffered a serious accident while vacationing in Mexico over break and now is hospitalized in Houston. We are awaiting more details about his condition.

MATC Legislative Advocates
When the Joint Finance Committee of the Wisconsin State Legislature met in our district at the Arlington Research Agricultural Research Station on March 21, several strong advocates for MATC made sure committee members knew about the powerful return on investment our college delivers. MATC Full-Time Faculty Union President Joe Lowndes presented testimony (PDF: 496KB) about our exceptional Biotechnology Program and the state’s need for skilled lab workers. Also, Rob Wangard, president of Cartridge Savers, Inc., along with Ralph Steckman, manager of our Business Procurement Assistance Center, provided materials (WORD: 88KB) demonstrating how BPAC has helped Cartridge Savers, and other small businesses, win lucrative government purchasing contracts that bring new revenue sources to the state.

Administrative Professionals Week April 22-28, 2007
This year, MATC will observe Administrative Professionals Week by hosting a gathering on Monday, April 23, from 8-9 a.m. in room 142 A/B at the Truax location. Please join the Business Technology faculty and students for morning refreshments. In addition, Business Technology faculty at most MATC locations will host activities locally. I encourage you to take part and recognize our exceptional administrative professionals at MATC. For more information, view the full week’s schedule.

MATC Marvels
Here are some “favorite teachers,â€? as mentioned to me by students the week prior to spring break:

John Drake, English
Lisa Hubacher, judicial reporting
Anne Schacherl, business law
Ronald Dunbar, economics

Other MATC Marvels
Karen Kretschmann has been selected to participate in WLDI, the Wisconsin Leadership Development Institute.

Good news! Our website search project is complete and a Google search has been implemented on our MATC public website at http://matcmadison.edu. Thanks to Chad Draheim and Ed Sheard (now in retirement) for their work on engine implementation, and also thanks to Annette Koenig and Dennis James for their extensive and tireless work with faculty and staff on content updates that will make searches more productive. Technology Services will be closely monitoring results over the next six months, with careful attention to any suggestions/comments received from site visitors.

Nancy Schley, instructional design coordinator in CETL, has published her latest article, Instructor: Get Off the Stage, in CAFÉ, the Center for the Advancement of Foodservice Education.

Our MATC Child and Family Center kids, with help from siblings, parents and grandparents, for creating works for the Sweet Treat Art Show.

Steve Hauser, athletic director, and others for making the state basketball tournament such a success. UW-Marinette head men’s basketball coach says, “. . .our men’s and women’s teams were given first-class treatment from the time we arrived until the time we left. . .â€?

Ryan Liebert has been recognized as Outstanding Business Officer by the Community College Business Officers.

Technology Services’ Enterprise Development for completing a system upgrade to the latest product release of Cognos 8 Business Intelligence. In addition to the new functionality and more robust reporting tools, the new hardware investment has resulted in advanced reports running two to three times faster on average! The core team members include Reggie Mosher, administrative applications manager; project leaders Rona McNeil, Gary Huber and Randy Hammer; senior project leaders Steve Hineline and Tony Pagac; Jim Russell, senior network specialist; and Mitch Millan, technical support specialist, who completed the bulk of the upgrade and deserves major praise for building our new system from scratch.

Highlights of my week

• Visited the Mt. Horeb School Board with MATC District Board member Vera Riley to talk about enhancing our services and partnerships with the district. This is one of a series of board-to-board outreach visits that we are making to every one of our 40 school districts.
• Met with Paul Soglin, former Madison mayor.
• Attended Governor Doyle’s business leaders meeting at his residence.
• Interviewed candidates for the position of Vice President for Infrastructure Services.
• Was interviewed by Madison Magazine for an article on local employment demands and projections.
• Attended the WTCS State Ambassador Banquet.
• Met with the editor of the Wisconsin State Journal.

In closing, I would like to share a quote from Norman Vincent Peale:

“Believe in yourself. Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy.�

Again, welcome back!

Bettsey