MATC Matters

Dear Faculty and Staff,

This always is an exciting time of year as we begin to celebrate the year’s achievements and look ahead to May Commencement. Over the next week we are honoring our students’ many achievements with activities such as the Student Awards Luncheon, Foundation Scholarship Awards Breakfast, Athletic Banquet and Portfolio Show. Join me in congratulating students, faculty and staff for another year of great learning!

AQIP Update

Work is continuing on the analysis of the 90 proposals from our March 13 AQIP Vital Focus Conversation Day. The list of “Just Do It” items has been sent to managers for response to the ideas offered that we have identified as quick fixes. Once managers respond, the information will be posted on our AQIP website.

We will be holding seven “AQIP Vital Focus: The Next Step” listening sessions during the first two weeks of May:

Tuesday, May 1, 2007
12:30-1:30pm Portage listening session (Room 102)
2:30-3:30pm Reedsburg listening session (Room 132)

Friday, May 4, 2007
8:30-9:30am Truax listening session (Room 142AB)

Monday, May 7, 2007
1:15 - 2:15pm Fort Atkinson listening session (Room 103)
3-4pm Watertown listening session (Room 101)

Thursday, May 10, 2007
10:30-11:30am DTEC listening session (Room D229)
3:45-4:45pm Truax listening session (Room 142, student lounge)

You are invited to attend a session that is convenient for you. More details are available in the AQIP Weekly Update.

MATC Marvels

Here are this week’s “favorite teachers and staff,” as mentioned to me by students:

James Reyzer, accounting
Roger Herian, speech instructor
Denise Contreras, educational support specialist, college preparedness/academic advising

Other MATC Marvels

Two faculty awards presented at today’s 2007 Annual Celebration of Student Success (A.K.A. the MATC Spring Awards Banquet):

Outstanding Advisor of the Year is Mark Finger (accounting instructor), advisor for the Business Professionals of America. Outstanding Advisor of the Year is Twilla Shesky (retired nursing instructor and Founder of the Student Nurses Association, 1985-2007), Exemplary Advisor-Lifetime Contribution.

A team of students from IT Network Security Specialist and IT Computer Systems Administration Specialist programs won first place in the first round of the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition and then proceeded to take third place in the Midwest regional competition in Illinois in mid-March. The team was advised by IT instructor Craig Newman, with his colleague Mike Masino developing the scoring engine for the competition.

Also in IT, teams of students from the IT Network Specialist and IT Network Security Specialist programs placed in the top ten in a national PC Troubleshooting competition hosted by the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) in Detroit last month. The students competed against 121 teams of students from 70 schools representing both two- and four-year colleges. Congratulations to Mac Robertson, IT instructor and MITA student club advisor, and lead instructor Ken McCullough for an excellent showing.

English instructors Karen Redfield and Amy Minett presented on a panel at the 58th Annual Convention of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (4Cs) in New York City last month. Karen presented “Inside the Circle, Outside the Circle: The Continuance of Native American Storytelling and the Development of Rhetorical Strategies on English” from her chapter in the recently published book, American Indian Rhetorics of Survivance: Word Medicine, Word Magic, published by University of Pittsburgh Press. Amy presented “Undercurrents and Contact Zones: Creative Writing, Linguistic Imperialism, and the Post-colonial Writing Center.”

Penny Aguilera, John Andrews, Geoffrey Bradshaw, Marla Brenner, Douglas Dillman, Maureen “Punky” Egan, Kathleen Frost, Christopher Gargan, Michael Martin, Carol Moretti, Herbert Nelson, Eric Nesheim, Jennifer Patten, Emmalee Pearson, John Ribble, Ingrid Slamer, Teresa Sprecher, Lorin Toepper, Deborah Vogt and David Zentner for making the visit by the Russian Graphic Design delegates such a wonderful success! We were the first official destination on their two-week visit to the Madison area. The visitors were provided with a memorable, informative, and enjoyable visit!

Highlights of my week

• Attended the American Association for Community Colleges (AACC) Conference along with Debbie Derr and Keith Cornille.
• Attended the United Way Disconnected and Violent Youth Delegation meeting.
• Discussed the budget and master planning at the Leadership Council’s 3rd Wednesday Brown Bag.
• Met with student Antonio Moralez-Lopez to talk about plans for the May 4 and 5 Cinco de Mayo celebrations.

In closing, I would like to share a quote by Elbert Hubbard:

“The world is moving so fast nowadays that the man who says it can’t be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.”

Have a great week!

Bettsey