MATC Matters

Dear Faculty and Staff,

This is the latest news on the state budget deliberations:

• Governor Doyle met with his cabinet at the Department of Commerce Monday morning to begin the “planning and preparation required if the Legislature continues to fail to pass a budget,â€? according to a spokesperson in the Governor’s office.
• Speaker Huebsch and Senate Majority Leader Robson met privately at the Legislative Fiscal Bureau Monday afternoon and were expected to discuss “policy items.â€? According to Senator Robson, those items include things on which both sides have previously expressed agreement and non-fiscal items.
• Senator Robson said that meetings at the Executive Residence were helpful, but no further meetings are scheduled for that location.
• No meetings of the Conference Committee are scheduled at this point.
• At noon Monday, Governor Doyle and seniors from Appleton urged the legislature to pass a budget and explain the “dire consequencesâ€? of not passing a budget.
• Senator Scott Fitzgerald scheduled a morning media availability session to continue the push to have the Senate take up the Assembly-passed K-12 levy limits and shared revenue bills.
• In addition, Senator Robson and several Assembly Democrats have written to Department of Public Instruction (DPI) Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster asking that DPI use school aid funding levels agreed to by both houses to calculate aid payments to local school districts.

As the budget relates to MATC, at best we were kept this year from a cut but it appears the final results will be much worse. We are not in a panic mode yet, though I have been asking all of you as well as students to contact your state legislators. We will continue to monitor any progress and keep you posted.

More community college issues
Last week in this letter I reported on seven of the important issues facing community colleges as reported by George Boggs, president of the American Association for Community College (AACC) at a presidents meeting I attended recently. This week I will continue with the other points he mentioned:

8. Emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). All community colleges across the country have been encouraged to create and support programs that help develop students in these areas, including reaching out to the middle school level. (Some examples of where we have been doing this include the Mathematics Club “Faceoffâ€? competition, Science Theater projects such as production of the “Radiant Source” play about Madam Curie and Fusion Science Theatre, and Girl Tech aimed at engaging girls in information technology.)

9. Continual enrollment pressure. Though not so bad in the Great Plains states, some of the reasons are: Tidal Wave II is here, rising university costs, the need for more life long learning courses, and retiring baby boomers preparing for a second career.

10. Increase student mobility. Many community college students are place-bound and need more access to become mobile, thus, the need for better articulation agreements, more learning centers in our districts, and more distance learning opportunities. (I believe we have been on top of this.)

11. More focus on K-12 transitions. Sixty percent of students coming out of high school are unprepared for college, so transitions need to be improved. Dual credit for high school students is common across the country. (Wisconsin seems to be far behind in this area.)

12. Increased emphasis on first responders and security. Preparation is still important post-9-11, in addition to the possibility of a pandemic. (Our Human and Protective Services Center and our district Health and Safety Department both are aware of this and have been working to enhance our level of preparedness.)

13. Global and intercultural education. This is again referring to Freidman’s flat world and the emerging global society and economy. Also, George Boggs mentioned the growing anti-American spirit that he has seen in the world. He encouraged community colleges to reach out to students from around the globe. (We are very fortunate that we have an international program planner, Geoffrey Bradshaw, who does a marvelous job of coordinating student trips abroad and visits from international groups to our college.)

MATC Marvels
Here are this week’s “favorite teachers”, as mentioned to me by students:
Jonathan Pollack, history
Joseph Bernstein, jazz history
Jennifer Tracey, economics

Other MATC Marvels
Denise Reimer, business procurement assistance center (BPAC) program director, gave a presentation on the BPAC for the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) leadership congress last week and did an excellent job of explaining the program.

Igor Steinberg, technical infrastructure director, gave a presentation on “Textbook” Implementation of Storage Array Virtualization, at the HP Higher Education Executive Forum and at the PDS 2007 Technology Conference

Highlights of my week
In addition to events on our campuses, I have the opportunity to go out into the community and nationally to share news about MATC and learn what’s going on. Recently, I participated in the annual Association for Community College Trustees (ACCT) leadership congress.

In closing, I would like to share a quote from Vince Pfaff:

“Just remember: People tend to resist that which is forced upon them. People tend to support that which they help to create.”

Thanks for all you do for our students!

Bettsey