• Saturday we have two events on campus. 1. There will be approximately 120 Ag Ed teachers from the Kansas Association of Agricultural Educators on campus for a tour and, 2. a dental hygiene continuing education symposium, through the North Central Kansas Dental Hygiene Association, will be here too. Should be a pretty busy day and no…we will not be calling these events “hoof and mouth degrees”.
  
  
• Do the roads seem more crowded around Manhattan these days? According to The Workbuzz.com (www.theworkbuzz.com/employment-trends/best-and-worst-metros-jan-2011/?siteid=20100309_CRM_OFF-MARKET) if you’re looking at percentages of growth areas in the U.S.A., these metros were the leaders:
  Ocean City, N.J. (17.6 percent)
  Manhattan, Kan. (5.4 percent)
  Kennewick-Pasco-Richland, Wash. (5 percent)
  St. Joseph, Mo.-Kan. (3.9 percent)
  
  
• Here’s an update on last week’s tenth Kansas Mission of Mercy Dental Project in Hutchinson, KS that our students participated in. The project provided free dental care to low-income individuals in a first come, first served clinic. The KMOM Hutchinson project treated 1638 patients with dental care valued at $1.25 million this year. To date, more than 19,000 patients have received dental care through the KMOM project and nearly $10 million in care has been delivered.
  
  
• The Student Government Organization held their spring 2011 elections earlier this week. Congratulations to the following: President, William Leslie (INT); Vice President, Chris Collins (AT) and Secretary/Treasurer, Dani Bacon (BA). We look forward to your leadership in the months to come.
  
  
• Congratulation to the Business Administration program for securing Assistant Insurance Commissioner for the State of Kansas, Bob Tomlinson, as a speaker at two presentations at Manhattan Area Technical College regarding business and personal insurance on Thursday, March 17, 2011. More to come.
  
  
• I’ll be testifying before the Senate on Monday endorsing SB 13 which modernizes a great deal of language related to Community and Technical Colleges and bring the laws in line with our present way of doing business.
  
  Have a great weekend everyone.
  
  Rob

• Another dumping of snow and with it we have another opportunity to practice our snow removal techniques. While crews are out early, and remove most of the accumulations, there will always be slippery areas, including ice, for the first couple days. All of that to remind everyone to be very careful and pay special attention to where you are placing your feet while the conditions are less than stellar. Most falls occur because we are used to looking straight ahead while walking and setting our feet down without first ensuring a clear surface.
  
  
• Congratulations to Ben and the Information and Network Technology program and Linn and the Automotive Collision Repair program for terrific presentations and for both qualifying to submit proposals for the upcoming Technical Education Excellence Grant. We wish both of your programs success in your efforts
  
  
• The Dental Hygiene faculty and students are volunteering at the Kansas Mission of Mercy in Hutchinson, KS as I type this Blemo. I spoke with Krista moments ago and she estimates that the effort will end up serving over 1,000 needy folks today. We are proud to be a part of this, and other similar efforts that our Allied Health programs volunteer for.
  
  
• Congratulations to Kerri Reinecke, Dental Hygiene Secretary who is getting married on Saturday!
  
  
• We would like to welcome our new MATC Foundation Board of Trustees members: Mr. Ron Dickey with Bluestem Electric (who is also a GAC member), Dr. Josh Walker, D.D.S. with Family and Implant Dentistry (who is also a DH PAC member), Wes Mosier, retired from Reinke Manufacturing and heavily involved in our Welding program, and finally Cindy Zapletal with AT&T who is a long time friend of technical education and a fine community leader. We welcome all of you with open arms and thank all those who volunteer to serve our College day-in and day-out.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Rob

• Seven inches of snow on Monday made it easy to decide to close the College for the day and to open two hours late on Tuesday for Fee Payment day. Our snow removal crews were out in force clearing parking lots and sidewalks Monday, Tuesday, and even Wednesday from drifting.
  
  
• I will be attending the annual Leader's Retreat in Overland Park on Friday and Saturday joining folks from Junction City, Manhattan, and Wamego, (Ju-Ma-Go). This is always a very informative event and wonderful networking opportunity.
  
  
• Our latest traveling display can be found outside the Library in the display alcove. It is named "Native American Folk Art: Living Traditions". "The history of Native Americans in Kansas is, in part, the story of how cultural traditions continue to unfold through time while maintaining ties to the past. Historically, Indian nations traded with other Indian nations, and their artists also came in contact with Europeans, new technologies, and changes in the environment. Although Native American cultures were challenged by outside forces for many years, the traditional elements remain strong in folk arts practiced today. Produced by the Kansas Historical Society with partial funding from the National Endowment for the Arts." Included with the display are some private artifacts loaned to the College displaying Native American Art from New Mexico and Arizona.

Have a great three day weekend everyone.

Rob

• Happy New Year to everyone. Let us hope that 2011 will be one that we can remember fondly for years to come.
  


• Welcome our newest faculty member to the Associate Degree in Nursing program, Kim Davis. We hope you will have a long and enjoyable career with us here at MATC.
  
  
• Congratulations to Linn Schroll for being selected as the 2010 John Reichle Leadership Award recipient. We are all very proud of you.
  
  
• Faculty returned yesterday and we enjoyed a very informative day of training by a number of people. After our College Council portion of the meeting, where all committees share what is happening within their focus area, we had three important and informative sessions. Thad spent almost two hours talking about Information Assurance (computer and communication security) and left us much, much wiser and hopefully more careful with information that we send and receive both at work and other places. Trysta tested our knowledge of sexual harassment and reinforced the importance of being aware of how our behavior can affect others. Finally, Barb Sollner and the whole Professional Development Committee (PDC) facilitated focus groups to collect questions and concerns about campus security and health issues. The PDC will use this information to make suggessted improvements. It was a great morning and we appreciate the work everyone did to prepare and present.
  
  
• Following the morning convocation the PDC hosted the third annual chili cook-off and Pink Elephant swap. Of course we had our big ole hot potatoes and other fixins to smother in chili for a terrific meal.

The winners of the MATC 2011 Annual Chili Cook off are;
Best Overall = Dan Kirkpatrick
Most Unique = Ron Bell
Secret Ingredient = Tracy Geisler
Firecracker = Justin Pfeifer
Fire Alarm = Andy Duggan
Family Favorite = Marilyn Mahan
Sweetest = Krista Hahn
What’s the Foreign Flavor? = Rex Fai

• At the pink elephant swap Brent and Barb emceed the name drawings where many fun items were traded, supplying us with a very entertaining time. For example, here’s a picture of Marilyn strutting around with her pink elephant pick on demonstrating her fashion sense as she did during the event.
  


• Fee payment day is Tuesday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. and as usual will be a very busy time for many people on campus. If you are a returning student, don’t forget to stop by. It doesn’t take long if your timing is right.
  


• The College will be closed for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Birthday on Monday January 17
  
  
• As a reminder to all, during inclement weather pay attention to your TV and radio notifications, check the web site or call the college for a weather recording giving you instructions for the day.
  
  Rob