MATC Matters

Dear Faculty and Staff,

What a week it was! I started it with a wonderful visit to a Contemporary American Society class in Fort Atkinson led by instructor Nina Neupert. The students were very interested in our plans for expansion at Fort Atkinson, so I had a chance to share with them pictures of the remodeling and additions. The MATC Foundation has been raising funds in the Fort Atkinson area with a goal of $500,000 to complete that project. We are at the $400,000 mark but must come up with another $100,000 to match a portion of a gift we have received. Special thanks to Bob Dinndorf and the foundation staff for their work on this project and to Cindy Bowen and the staff at Fort Atkinson who are beginning a Fort Atkinson faculty/staff campaign. And, we’ve just received word that NASCO has pledge $10,000 for the project.

Also on Monday, I met with the President’s Advisory Team (PAT). Just to remind you, this is a group of staff representing all areas of the college such as the regional campuses, part-time and full-time faculty, and students. PAT members are chosen by the groups they represent. During our meetings, I share the latest news I have and ask members to report what’s happening in their areas. This is one of the channels that we utilize for communication between the president’s office and all employees.

Tuesday morning we met with a consultant, Susan Obler, to explore the possibility of MATC applying for three grants - Title III, which expands services to low-income students, Title V, which increases capacity to serve Hispanic and low-income students, and TRIO, which supports students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

I also had an opportunity to listen to the Day of the Dead singers in the cafeteria on Tuesday. About 60 students from Leopold Elementary School’s bilingual classes entertained us and presented traditional displays decorated with sugar skulls and artwork honoring the dead. United Common Ground invited the children for this second annual event.

College Spotlight
The highlight of the week was the College Spotlight. Kudos to the college Marketing team for orchestrating this event, and special thanks to all of the faculty and staff who participated. I understand that facilities staff did an excellent job of set up and tear down.

Most of the technical programs had booths with activities designed to capture people’s interest. My favorite experiential was, “If I had a hammer” where one tried to hammer a nail with one swing in order to win a prize (I did not win a prize!). I also liked the therapeutic massage – it was just what I needed.

The highlight of evening was the “Win A Career” contest. The videos by the five finalists were clever and heartwarming. The winning video is available from our homepage, and Channel 27 covered the event as well. It was a pleasure to serve as a judge in this contest, along with board trustee Bob Elkins, Emmy Fink from the CW, and Madison Director of Community Services Enis Ragland.

LaRonde
The “LaRonde” fall theatrical production opened Thursday night. Tickets are still available for this coming weekend. The play is performed completely by our MATC students without having to use community actors. An admirable feat for director Rick Graves.

The Friday Cheer
On Friday, I had the opportunity to visit the Arts &Sciences Center where I encountered a group of people giving the Friday cheer: “Friday it is, Friday it is, Friday it is the best! It can’t be beat, it can’t be beat, it’s better than all the rest! YEAH YEAH!!â€? What fun! However, what would be even better is if that cheer was given on Monday morning, “Thank goodness it’s Monday and we get to come to MATC to transform lives one at a time!â€? I also visited some classrooms and was particularly impressed with the students in Bernardo “Bernieâ€? Hoes’ writing class and at the learning center where one-on-one tutoring was taking place.

Friday afternoon I attended the First Friday Orientation Session with new employees as part of my WTCS Certification. Dr. Jerry McGowan, our board trustee, spoke about the district board’s structure and responsibilities, and Dennis James, CETL technology instructor, gave a most interesting presentation of the history of the tech college system. The group added much with their discussion. That afternoon, I also had the opportunity to meet the regional Phi Theta Kappa advisor from Minnesota who is encouraging us to enter more students in USA Today’s All USA Community College Academic Team. If you have stellar students who also perform works of community service please talk to Susana Valtierra, campus life and enrichment program coordinator, about nominating them for the competition.

On Saturday, I attended a conference on racism and heard some moving speakers talk about white privilege and other topics about diversity.

MATC Marvels
Here are this week’s “favorite teachers,” as mentioned to me by students:
Jaime Ugaz, Spanish
Matthew Guenette, English
Christopher Dyszelski, psychology
Gaila Olsen, mathematics
Linda Galang, chemistry
Mary Haight, French

Other MATC Marvels
Biotechnology students at Madison Area Technical College will soon get some state-of-the-art equipment thanks to a $10,000 grant from the Monsanto Company. The grant was presented to biotechnology instructor Dr. Jeanette Mowery at Monsanto’s Agracetus campus in Middleton.

Today, I leave you with a quote from MATC’s Turina Bakken, associate dean for the Center for Business and Applied Arts. Her quote appeared in The Capital Times last week in “This I believe,” an article featuring a collection of beliefs by Madisonians and commemorating a 1952 book by the same name compiled by Edward R. Murrow.

“I believe that you are only as important as you make others feel; that you should (as paraphrased from the wise Irishman Billy Dixon) take yourself off the stage and put the spotlight on other people.

While differences of opinion often lead to new understanding, if people occasionally don’t agree with you, you can say with a smile the words I heard so often from my Grandma Danielson: ‘Do it your own wrong way!’”

Have a great week!

Bettsey