MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Pancakes, as far as the eye can see... Saturday, February 4th from 7:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. the Skills USA students will be holding a pancake breakfast here on MATC's campus in order to help finance their trip to this year's (inaugural) competition. 

BLACK WOMEN: ACHIEVEMENTS AGAINST THE ODDS

The traveling exhibit, Black Women: Achievements Against the Odds is on display at the Manhattan Area Technical College Library. African American women revolutionized American life with their contributions to civil rights, the arts, education, medicine, and a host of other fields. Underground Railroad organizer Harriet Tubman, athlete Wilma Rudolph, poet Gwendolyn Brooks, and journalist Ida B. Wells Barnett are among the prominent women featured in this exhibit of 20 mounted panels.  Black Women: Achievements Against the Odds was produced by the Smithsonian Institution and purchased by the Kansas Humanities Council, and is being toured by the Kansas Interpretive Traveling Exhibit Service.  Black Women: Achievements Against the Odds will be open for viewing from January 17th, 2012 until February 16th, 2012.

We sat through three very impressive presentations today by groups who are vying to help us create our College Master Plan.  This plan, when interwoven with our new Strategic Plan, will give us some excellent direction for the next few years. 

The Stars are Aligning

Lots of exciting things happening all at once:  from NBAF to the Governor's CTE initiative, to our Master and Strategic plans, to continued growth, there is an electricity in the air and an incredible synergy happening here and across Kansas.

Well, I finally made it to 55 years old and can now enjoy Denny's restaurant senior menu.  Take a look at the soccer ball-sized cupcake and the miniature cupcakes Tracy made for my birthday.  What you can't see are the breakfast burritos to the left.  So much for new year's diets.  Thanks everyone for your birthday goodies, gifts, and wishes. I really appreciate your efforts.

Have a great weekend. 

Rob

Happy Big Black Balloon Birthday Jane.  There were several little gnomes running around here on Friday while Jane was out of town filling her office almost to the ceiling with balloons.  When she arrived first thing Tuesday she was quite pleasantly surprised.  I think she had a little too much fun popping all those balloons in order to make it to the wheel chair for this picture.

Congratulations to Scott and Jessa Voos on the birth of their 7 lb. 11 oz. son "Crew Woody Voos" on Monday, January 9th.  Mom and Son are doing great.

Congratulation are also in order for Stephanie Wall.  Stephanie has been selected to speak at this summer's Registered Dental Hygienist convention in Las Vegas.  This group is very selective which makes the honor even more prestigious.  She will be speaking on Dental Offices and the Electronic Health Record.

You are looking at a snapshot of our new webpage that will be out soon.  It will be found by going to http://www.manhattantech.edu/.  Please note that there are still a few errors and missing pictures.  If you see mistakes once it is launched or have suggestions please forward them to Nicole or Karen in Student Services.  Thanks

Have a great weekend everyone.

Rob

 

We had New Student Convocation today and it looks like were gonna need a bigger campus.  Lots of smiling faces and full hallways. Thanks to all of our Staff that pitched in and to our Student Ambassadors Desa, Louisa, and Chris (top right photo).

Congratulations to Cindy Barnes, PN Nursing Instructor, for her selection as the 2011 winner of the John Reichle Leadership Award.  As always competition was stiff but we can only select one person per year.  Cindy has been with MATC for 32 years.

We began our series of S.W.O.T. analyses with faculty and staff this week.  Tomorrow we will work with our Board of Directors to get their input during their annual retreat.  Next come the students, and all of our adviser committees.  We are getting terrific feedback so far and are excited about the anticipated outcome.

Monday we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday.  I have always admired Dr. King's courage and strength.  It is a shame that we must destroy what we don't understand or disagree with.  "I (too) have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream, 1963.

Here is something new to the Blemo. The weekly fortune cookie:  I got this one on Tuesday at the Golden Wok.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable and restful weekend and are here bright and early Tuesday for the start of the spring semester.

Rob

Governor announces plan to improve Career and Technical Education

TOPEKA – Career and Technical educators and stakeholders joined Kansas Governor Sam Brownback Monday for the announcement of his plan to boost the percentage of students who are career and college ready upon high school graduation. The plan, which proposes improvements to career and technical education (CTE) programs, is part of Governor Brownback’s Road Map for Kansas commitments to improve education.

“Career and Technical Education programs are a great way for high school students in Kansas to obtain real-world knowledge and skills that will help them immediately – whether that’s to begin their career after high school or to get a job that will help pay their way through college,” Governor Brownback said. “As business demand continues to increase, we must work to reverse the trend of the decreasing supply of CTE certified workers. We have seen the number of high school students enrolled in technical education programs drop by nearly 20,000 and the number of students earning a certificate by nearly 33%.”

The Governor’s proposal would provide a little more than $20.5 million for, student tuition, school transportation costs, incentives to high schools for certificates earned in key occupations and marketing to increase participation.

“With the help of Governor Brownback and our Kansas Legislators we can build a seamless pathway for students to learn and earn while moving from one level of education to another,” said Rob Edleston, the President of the Kansas Association of Technical Colleges. “The choice of college or work will no longer be the case. The choice has become what kind of college degree I should get in order to ‘Learn a Living.’”

Linda Fund, the Executive Director of the Kansas Association of Community College Trustees said, “We applaud the Governor’s support of a Career and Technical Education System which provides workers for economy-driving jobs faster than any other educational system. Kansas Community Colleges provide the vast majority of the current technical education in Kansas and support putting resources into a skilled workforce to make Kansas more globally competitive. Creation of a skilled workforce that can fill the needs of our business and industry partners is critical to Kansas economic recovery.”

Kansas Education Commissioner Dr. Diane DeBacker said the plan aligns nicely with the Career and Technical Education initiatives adopted by the State Board of Education in 2008 and emphasized in the State Board’s strategic planning.
 
“For the past several years, the Kansas State Department of Education, together with local school districts, has been working to provide career pathways that will enable all students to be both college and career ready when they leave high school,” DeBacker said. “We’re pleased to see this same focus coming from our state’s highest office.”

Andy Tompkins, the Executive Director of the Kansas Board of Regents, said the initiative will provide an incentive to high school students to pursue an education at Kansas community and technical colleges while they are still in high school, enabling them to get a jumpstart on being ready to enter the workforce.

“Our 26 community and technical colleges provide Kansans the ability to translate their passion into careers in avionics, healthcare, manufacturing, business, and countless other industries,” Tompkins said. “Highly skilled and trained Kansans, educated by these institutions, can help provide Kansas businesses the workforce they need to be successful in today’s global economy.”

The Governor’s proposal will now be presented to the Kansas Legislature.

Citation: http://www.hutchpost.com/2012/01/09/governor-announces-plan-to-improve-career-and-technical-education/

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