MATC Matters

Dear Faculty and Staff,
In case you haven’t heard, Velma Hamilton has passed away. Velma was the first African American teacher hired in Madison. She taught English at Madison School of Vocational and Adult Education (the predecessor to Madison Vocational, Technical and Adult Education, VTAE#4, and MATC) and later became Chair of the General Studies Department.

West Side Campus
We held an appreciation event this week to thank all the contractors and construction crews who are working on our new West Side facility (former Famous Footwear building). We’ve now hit the halfway point in our construction! The final push is on to complete the building by the first day of fall classes—which is August 24. It’s a tight deadline and we want to thank everyone involved in the project for all their hard work. The MATC-West building will be the temporary home for Human and Protective Services and will also include some Arts and Sciences courses. The official grand opening is scheduled for September. We’ll keep you posted.

Outlook Migration Update
We are now in the final stages of the Outlook migration. Thank you for your patience during this transition. If you still have questions about Outlook we encourage you to stop by one of the drop-in sessions in room 220A at the Truax campus. Migration team members will be available to answer your Outlook questions on Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The sessions run through the end of July.

Name Change
As promised, we’re continuing to keep you informed on MATC’s potential name change. The entire process has been enlightening. It has also been kind of fun seeing all of the creative suggestions from faculty, staff and students. Here are a few of the names that have been submitted so far.

MATC Night at the Duck Pond
Batter up! Don’t forget to join the MATC Foundation and Alumni Association this Thursday (July 23) for MATC Night at the Mallards. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. and the game starts at 7:05 p.m. Reserve your seat online (password is MATC). MATC has many connections to the Mallards—so help us cheer on the team at the Duck Pond and watch me throw out the first pitch!

MATC Marvels
Here are some names of instructors recently mentioned to me by students:
Donna Chappell, academic writing
Jodie Ryan, college preparedness

Highlights of my week:
• met with Mark Schmitz and his staff of ZD Studios who are assisting us in completing the branding we have been developing for the past three years;
• heard from Jeff Holcomb, Senior Convention Sales Manager with the Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau, during a College Council presentation on their “Bring Your Meeting Home” campaign that encourages holding meetings and conferences in Madison;
• was joined by Jon Bales and Ellen Hustad for an orientation session with new board member Noel Radomski;
• attended Downtown Madison Rotary;
• met with Joe Lowndes, full-time faculty union president;
• reviewed our Radiology Reaccreditation materials with Kay Parish;
• greeted Al Ebron, the President of the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC) who was on campus during the hybrid electric vehicle instructor training we hosted; and
• presented highlights at the annual organizational meeting of the district board.

President Obama recently talked about the importance of community colleges as he outlined his plan to invest $12 billion dollars in two-year institutions during the next decade. Here are a few quotes from his speech:

“Community colleges are an undervalued asset in our country. Not only is that not right, it’s not smart. (We) need to promote community colleges and make community colleges stronger.”

“Time and again, when we have placed our bet for the future on education, we have prospered as a result – by tapping the incredible innovative and generative potential of a skilled American workforce.”

Bettsey