MATC Matters

Dear Faculty and Staff,

Finally, some sun and springtime temperatures! I hope you are ready to shake off the cold and get into the home stretch as we move toward the close of another academic year. Commencement plans are underway. Mark your calendars for graduation on Saturday, May 17.

Please join me this week in welcoming 11 students from our sister college, Kathe-Kollwitz-Schule in Germany. The students and two faculty members will be here to learn more about MATC, and about tourism marketing ideas from a multi-cultural perspective. Our visitors also will tour Madison and the Wisconsin Dells for a full “Wisconsin” experience.

Making MATC green
Students, staff and faculty concerned about the environment met for the kickoff of MATC’s Environmental Sustainability Alliance. The group plans to meet and develop processes and projects that will help MATC become more sustainable. Plans are underway for Earth Day including a dedication of our solar-powered transit shelter on the Anderson Street side of Truax.

More opportunities to view students’ work
Last week I mentioned the student photography exhibit at the Department of Regulation and Licensing. The exhibit will be up through the end of the year. Also, be sure to stop by the MATC Student Painting Exhibition from April 2 to May 5 at Michelangelo’s Coffeehouse, 114 State Street, to view more artwork from our talented students. There also will be a student art show reception at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 9, in the Truax Campus Library. This art show is brought to us by the Yahara Journal and MATC Aesthetics Committee.

PACE Survey
Thanks again to all who participated in the PACE (Personal Assessment of the College Environment) Survey. Remember, you’re invited to attend listening sessions to further explore topics related to the results:

Open listening sessions:

• Monday, March 31
  11 a.m.-noon at Reedsburg (Room 115)
  1-2 p.m. at Portage (Room 102)
• Wednesday, April 16
  11 a.m.-noon at Watertown (Room 101)
  1-2 p.m. at Fort Atkinson (Room 116)
• Thursday, April 17
  1:30-2:30 p.m. at DTEC (D331)
  3:30-4:30 p.m. at Truax (Gourmet Dining Room)
• Friday, April 18
  10-11 a.m. at Truax (Student Lounge)

AQIP update
MATC Matters continues its look at the different categories in AQIP as we prepare for the AQIP site visit. This week, see the article on Category 4, Valuing People. Please take a look at past articles or visit the AQIP Web site for more information.

MATC Marvels
Here are this week’s “favorite teachers,” as mentioned to me by students:
Janet Romich, microbiology
Ronald Koci, business technology
Rebecca Josvai, biotechnology

Other MATC Marvels
This note from Patrick Molzahn, Cabinetmaking & Millwork Program director, to Terrie Thorstad reminds me of how well we work together: “I want to thank you and your team for an excellent job equipping our lab with surplus computers. Our students are extremely excited, and we will now be able to better deliver CNC instruction. Kudos to Dan Martin for getting the computers installed over spring break when it was least disruptive, and to Don Anderson for his patience and willingness to work with our software rep to create the image [software sharing]. You have an excellent team. I look forward to working with them this summer as we complete the transition of our classroom to a full computer lab.”

Thank you to Kay Bradley and vet tech staff for organizing a great job fair. There were many clinics participating, all looking to hire. The clinics appreciated the opportunity to participate and were impressed with the students. The students were enthusiastic and glad to see all the possibilities. A great event overall!

Congratulations to Alden “JR” Colvin, machine tool instructor, for earning certification from the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council (MSSC). JR is the first MATC instructor to receive the endorsement from MSSC, a national organization whose mission is to boost innovation, productivity and competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers through standards based training, assessment and credentialing.

Highlights of my week:

• met with Ken Starkman, construction, manufacturing, apprenticeship and transportation dean, and visited the center;
• held a President’s Advisory Team meeting;
• visited the Sun Prairie School Board with MATC District Board trustee Jim Cavanaugh to talk about enhancing our services and partnerships with the district. This is one of a series of board-to-board outreach visits we are making to every one of our 40 school districts;
• attended the United Way of Dane County Board meeting;
• hosted president’s tables in the Gourmet Dining Room with guests State Representatives Joan Ballweg and Stephen Nass; Brigadier General Donald Dunbar, the adjutant general; Colonel John McCoy, deputy adjutant general; Colonel Scott Legwold, chief of staff-joint staff; Captain Carl Meredith, Wisconsin Army National Guard education officer; Larry Olson, executive assistant to the Adjutant General; Phyllis Laundy and Chad Wydman from WalMart; Melanie Ramey from Wisconsin Hospice, and Troy Thiel of First Weber;
• met with Joe Lowndes, full-time faculty union local #243 president;
• attended College Council and Rotary;
• toured the Goodman Atwood Community Center with MATC Foundation Board member Mary Lang Sollinger;
• attended the MATC District Board meeting;
• met with representatives from Illinois Central College, Kankakee Community College and Parkland College as they visited our campus to learn about best practices;
• dropped in at the Printing Industry Market Focus Group meeting;
• attended a College Council budget meeting; and
• participated in the WTCS Budget Development WisLine meeting.

In closing, here is a quote by Carolyn T. Brown, from her Footprints of the Soul: Uniting Spirit with Action in the World, which I heard at a session at the League for Innovation Conference:

“The struggle to live authentically, with integrity and wholeness, is a challenge in our busy world. It means honoring responsibility to family, community, nation, or group while also honoring the inner calling to know and be one’s true self.”

Bettsey