MATC Matters

Dear Faculty and Staff,

It was great to see everyone at Convocation last week. Thank you to all who presented, to our local chapter of the Wisconsin Association for Career and Technical Education (WACTE) for providing lunch, and all who worked behind the scenes to make this the perfect kickoff for the year ahead. Special thanks to our keynote speaker Dr. Betsy Barefoot, who gave us a good overview of our strengths and the challenges we face as we continue to improve our students’ First Semester Experiences. Thanks also to District Board Chair, Janice Bultema for introducing and building the excitement for the Smart Future Campaign and to “Fork, Spoon and Pepper Shaker” (Holly Walter Kerby, Anne Schacherl and John Opel) for the lively presentation on academic integrity.

Smart Future Campaign - You Are the Futuremakers
As Jan Bultema announced, the MATC Foundation is launching the most ambitious fundraising effort in MATC’s 97-year history. Our MATC District Board and our Foundation Board are leading the college-wide major gifts campaign, but all of us will play a part. The theme of the campaign is “Smart Future” and through this fund we hope to create a “Student Success Center” to give our students access to success.

I encourage each one of you to make a gift of any amount you can afford toward this campaign. Your participation means so much and will demonstrate the confidence we have in the college’s future and in its important role in preparing students for the world ahead.

Every full-time employee will be contacted by a “campaign champion,” and everyone will hear soon from one of the “Tri-chairs” for the employee campaign. Join me in thanking Turina Bakken, dean of Business and Applied Arts; Shawna Carter, associate dean of Arts and Sciences, and David Dean, faculty for Information Technology and member of the Foundation board, for stepping up and leading our effort to achieve 100 percent employee participation. Here’s to a successful campaign and to our future! And, don’t forget the drawing for a week’s stay at a fantastic two-bedroom villa at a place (choose from hundreds of possibilities) and time of your choice. All contributions before December 1 will be eligible (and you get one chance for every $100 pledge).

It’s the Season - Election Season
This week you can hear the views of 2008 legislative primary candidates during a forum sponsored by MATC’s Legislative Network. The forum is open to all and will be held on Thursday, August 28, from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at Truax in the Student Lounge (Room 142). The Legislative Network is a group of college staff involved in garnering technical college support among elected officials.

Look also for voter registration tables at the Truax cafeteria on September 16 and at the Downtown campus on September 17. MATC Matters will post details soon. It is our duty to vote and to encourage our students to vote.

MATC Marvels
Amy Alt, lead teacher in the Child & Family Center at Truax, is the Wisconsin Early Childhood Teacher of the Year. The award is co-sponsored by Wisconsin Early Childhood Education Association (WECA) and Wisconsin Division for Early Childhood (WDEC). Those honored with the award are recognized for making outstanding contributions to the field of Early Care and Education as well as demonstrating outstanding teaching, service, collaboration and partnership.

Grants news
UW–Madison was awarded funding for their Committee on Baccalaureate Expansion (COBE) proposal. MATC, a subgrantee in the proposal, will receive approximately $80,062 over the next two years to collaborate with the UW–College of Engineering to increase the number of students who transfer from MATC and obtain baccalaureate degrees in engineering at UW–Madison.

Congratulations to Agriscience and Technologies Dean David Shonkwiler, Arts and Sciences Dean Veronica Delcourt, Construction, Manufacturing, Apprenticeship and Transportation Dean Ken Starkman, Chemistry Instructor Ken Walz, Learning Program Advisor Claudia Griesbach, and Senior Accounting Specialist Amy Brown, who worked with UW–Madison to draft the proposal.

MATC also has received notice from the International Longevity Center (ILC) that the college will receive a grant under the 2008 Community College Caregiver Training Initiative funded by MetLife Foundation. Under the proposal, Resources for the Elderly: Assisting Caregivers in the Home (REACH), we will receive $25,000 to expand on the college’s successful CNA program by introducing Care in the Home content into the existing certificate program as well as creating a new two-day workshop for family home caregivers.

Join me in congratulating Susan Worth, project coordinator and CNA program director; Antonio Re, associate dean of Health and Safety Education; Ed Clarke, director of grants and special projects; Dana Maya, grants officer; Amy Brown, senior accounting specialist; Sarah Hart McGuinnis, budget manager; and Bob Dinndorf, MATC Foundation executive director, for working on and winning this grant.

Adult and Continuing Education received a $5,000 grant from CBM Credit Education Foundation, Inc. to help sponsor a Financial Education Workshop on Saturday, October 25, at the Downtown Education Center. The workshop involves many community partners who will offer sound financial education information to the Dane County area community especially targeted to underserved populations such as women, Spanish-speaking minorities and the 50-plus population. Many sessions are taught in Spanish. The grant allows the event to be offered free of charge to participants.

Highlights of my week:

• attended the Joint Legislative Council Special Committee on Building Wisconsin’s Workforce where Dan Clancy, WTCS President; Paul Gabriel, WTCS District Boards Association’s Executive Director; and UW System President Kevin Reilly gave presentations;

• kicked off the new school year with a presentation at Convocation along with MATC District Board Chair Jan Bultema, and MATC Foundation Executive Director Bob Dinndorf;

• met with women community leaders;

• attended College Council;

• played diversity bingo while greeting employees at our first annual diversity reception;

• attended the Wisconsin Way forum with District Board Vice Chair Jon Bales;

• participated in facilities master planning workshops throughout the week;

• met with Boris Frank (Boris Frank Associates) and Dan Viste (president of the Mazomanie Community Corporation) at Rotary regarding their desire for MATC classes in their area;

• visited the Marshall School Board with MATC District Board trustee Josephine Oyama-Miller 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);

• hosted a WIRED Initiative Leadership Caucus briefing session;

• interviewed final candidates for the positions of Dean for Health and Safety and Vice President for Learner Success;

• greeted students during New Student Daze;

• met with a dissertation student; and

• attended a five-hour meeting with JJR, the Madison-based firm working on the district-wide Facilities Master Plan.

In closing, here is a quote from my convocation speech this year (and last year) that pretty much sums up the challenges we face:

“How do we prepare students for jobs that don’t yet exist, to use technologies that haven’t yet been invented, to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet?”Welcome back!Bettsey