President's Message: August 10, 2009

Dear Faculty and Staff,

The district board held a retreat last week to work on its schedule, goals, and board development plans. I also discussed with the board, and they agreed, that we will not change our formal name at this time when we are embarking on the implementation of our master plan and possibly preparing for referendum in the community. Madison Area Technical College has a solid reputation in the communities we serve. It has been our formal name since 1993 and we do not feel it is wise to change it at this time. 

That being the case, we know that there are problems with the way our current "street name" represents the college. We are too often confused with MATC-Milwaukee and we have a multi-faceted mission in addition to our technical education mission. 

We will continue to explore what we call ourselves and how we communicate ourselves to our diverse public. Thank you to everyone who submitted possible names and took the time to think about this.  

Convocation
Convocation is right around the corner (August 18-19). Our keynote speaker on Tuesday will be Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab from UW-Madison. Dr. Goldrick-Rab is the lead author of a recent report entitled “Transforming America’s Community Colleges: A Proposal to Expand Opportunity and Promote Economic Prosperity.” You can learn more about our keynote speaker and the Convocation breakout sessions by checking out the Convocation schedule. See you Tuesday!

Food Service Update
A new and improved cafeteria will open on August 24 at the Truax Campus and shall be known as the Marketplace. The Marketplace will have a food court concept with 5 distinct stations; an enhanced deli station offering grilled Panini's, cold sandwiches made to order, and specialty salads; a grill station offering breakfast items, hot sandwiches and sides for lunch and dinner; a fresh pizza and calzone station; a soup and salad bar, and a station dedicated to Culinary Arts. Additionally, we will be enhancing our grab and go menu to better accommodate our customers. On August 17, the new Ancora coffee shop will open where the snack bar was previously located with an enhanced menu which will include increased breakfast options, gourmet grab and go salads and sandwiches.

Fort Atkinson Wind Turbines Update
We’ve received some exciting news related to our wind turbine project in Fort Atkinson! Two separate entities will help support construction costs:

·   the Focus on Energy Wind Energy Systems Program is awarding us $100,000 to subsidize construction costs (Focus on Energy is a Wisconsin agency funded by the energy utilities to promote renewable energy); and

·   WE Energy’s Customer Incentives for Renewable Energy Generating Facilities Program is also awarding us $100,000 to subsidize construction costs (WE Energy is the energy utility covering the campus in Fort Atkinson).

Construction of the wind turbine is already underway, and we anticipate completion by Thanksgiving.

MATC Marvels
Business Technology faculty members June Sarbacker and Diane Kosharek were recently presenters at the International Association of Administrative Professionals education forum and annual meeting in Minneapolis. In addition to presenting two educational workshops, June and Diane were joined by Business Technology faculty members Beverly Klein and Chris Yero in staffing a two-day exposition hall booth.

Highlights of My Week:
·  met with delegates from the Fiji Ministry of Education to talk about the implementation of their new school, along with International Program Planner Geoff Bradshaw and MATC Student Senate President Samuel Aquino Drohin (there may be some possibilities for service learning in Fiji or contract training of their faculty/staff);

·  met with Neil Heinen and Jen Winiger of Madison Magazine;

·  congratulated staff at the website team celebration;

·  attended a Madison Symphony Orchestra board of directors reception;

·  visited with students and staff at the orientation for students with disabilities;

·  attended Madison Rotary and heard Ripon Area Public School Administrator Dr. Richard Zimman talk about, “What Wisconsin's Public Education Funding Model Needs to Learn From General Motors Before It's Too Late;”

·  stopped in at the Culver’s VIP Scholarship program;

·  participated in the district board retreat;

·  dropped in at the Learner Success retreat; and

·  met with Architecture Tech instructor Robert Corbett and Carol Johnson of Taliesin to talk about future collaborative efforts.

In closing, here is a quote by Randy Pausch from his book, “The Last Lecture” which I imagine most of our faculty has read:

“The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.”

Bettsey