MATC Matters

Dear Faculty & Staff,

I’m very pleased to report that on Wednesday evening the MATC District Board approved a tentative agreement with our full-time Teachers’ Union Local 243. The board’s action is contingent upon ratification of the contract by members of Local 243 on Sunday, September 16 (5:30 p.m. at Truax). Thank you, and congratulations to all staff who were involved in the negotiation process, especially Joe Lowndes and Gwen Torkelson for their leadership.

Earlier today we were honored to host two delegations from Germany at Truax campus. The first was a group of county executives and educational leaders who are establishing a sister county relationship between Wood County in Wisconsin and Rheingau-Taunaus-Kreis. The delegation also will be traveling around the state to see models of technical college education.

The second delegation was a group of school superintendents from throughout Hesse, Germany, who were on campus to receive an overview of Wisconsin’s education system. MATC and representatives from the Wisconsin Technical College System presented information, and the Department of Public Instruction was also on hand to provide an overview of the K-12 system. The State of Wisconsin and the State of Hesse, Germany, have had a sister-state partnership for 29 years. This partnership has allowed both Wisconsin and German students to expand their knowledge of global business strategies in programs such as automotive, printing and culinary. Geoff Bradshaw does a great job arranging these visits and seeing that our guests feel welcome, and is instrumental in securing these successful partnerships for MATC. Congratulations to David Shonkwiler for doing a wonderful job translating and giving an overview of the college and technical college system in German.

Michael Stark will be joining MATC on Tuesday, September 25, as our new Director of Facilities. Michael’s experience includes several years working in Wisconsin state government, most recently with the Wisconsin Department of Administration Division of State Facilities where he served as the Director of the Bureau of Operations Management for the past two years.

More MATC news to share

The August 30 enrollment report indicates that our FTEs have increased 2.2 percent as compared to the same time last year. The largest increases in FTEs are being seen in Arts & Sciences (5.2 percent); Agriculture, Applied Engineering, Biotechnology, and Information and Business Technology (4.3 percent); and Construction, Manufacturing, Apprenticeship, and Transportation (3.2 percent). Congratulations to everyone who makes this increase possible.

At last Wednesday’s board meeting, the MATC District Board received college scorecard data for the first in a series of five monitoring reports to measure college effectiveness. Reports are aligned with our college End Statements, and Wednesday’s report focused on how our students are doing in achieving their educational and career goals. Future reports will focus on gainful employment/continuing education, skilled workers, open access/welcoming environment, and enhancement of collaborative community efforts.

Highlights of my week
In addition to events on our campuses, I’m always excited to be out in the community sharing news about MATC and learning what’s going on in our community and how the college can support those efforts. Recently, I took part in these events:

• Met with the Dean of the School of Education and other faculty representatives from UW–Madison to discuss the possibility of a graduate leadership program for our employees.
• Met with David Wilson from UW Colleges.
• Attended a meeting of the PeopleSoft Southern Wisconsin Consortium (MATC, Southwest Wisconsin Technical College, and Western Wisconsin Technical College) hosted at MATC. The meeting included presidents and key technology staff from each technical college and provided an opportunity to celebrate the success of the PeopleSoft 8.9 upgrade, discuss what worked well during the upgrade and opportunities for improvement, and communicate a new governance model as we move forward.

Have a great week three! I hope classes and students are settling into the new semester by now.