EP&D Graduate Brent McKeeman

The December Nursing pinning and MATC graduation both went very well. Brent McKeeman, former EP&D student, provided the commencement speech and captured the hearts and minds of students and the audience as well.  We are very proud of our graduates and love to show off whenever we can.

I have been invited to be a part of the Governor's Career and Technical Education (CTE) task force, which is an Ad Hoc committee assembled to examine Tech Ed at the secondary and post-secondary levels.  There has been great input from a variety of areas and exciting conversations to date.  If fact, the Governor has called  us to his offices on Monday to make an announcement regarding CTE which we hope will include his plan for strengthening the Kansas Workforce by using both high schools and two-year colleges.

 

Clockwise from top left: Senator Reitz, Representatives Carlin,
Carlson, and Swanson, MATC Board Chair
Marla Brandon, and Representative Schwartz.

We hosted five of our regional legislators earlier this week for an intimate luncheon which gave us an opportunity to assure them of our support and to lay out the needs of MATC and other similar colleges state-wide.  Our three VPs each provided their view of the college and exchanged a lot of great information between the ten folks at the table.  We had the privilege of having our Board Chair Marla Brandon join us for this terrific get-together.

   

Chamber After Hours is coming to MATC on Wednesday, February 8th at 5:30 p.m.  We will be hosting Chamber members and giving tours, awarding door prizes, and having a multi-area ribbon cutting to celebrate all of the upgrades and construction that has occurred since we last hosted the Chamber in late 2005.

We are moving ahead aggressively with our new Strategic Plan for 2012 - 2017.  We have hired retired Community College professional Judy Crymble to wrangle this huge project.  We will be meeting with the Board of Directors, Faculty, Staff, Students, Program Advisor, and General Advisory Committee members to solicit input.  We are examining directives from Federal, State, KBOR, Board of Directors, and local constituents to ensure all of our goals align in a cohesive manner.  While this may seem daunting (because it is) we will work together as a team to build what I hope is the most comprehensive and focused strategic plan ever.

Those of you who have known me for a while know that I like to bend a few nails once in a while.  Well, I finally finished building my deck earlier this week and with only a couple of ladder incidents.  Here's a safety tip for you, soft ground and tall ladders do not mix well. All's well that ends well.  

Tonight is the Cotton Bowl, and while I am a U of A graduate school grad and Brenda was born and raised in Arkansas, we wish both teams perform in a manner that makes their fans (and their Moms) proud.

 Have a great weekend.

Rob