President's Message: December 9, 2011

Dear Faculty and Staff:

December is a busy month with lots of activities. A special thanks goes to staff and volunteers who helped with last Saturday’s "Breakfast with Santa" at DTEC, and the Community Show Choir Concert last Sunday at the Mitby Theater. The music department’s final performance of the year is Saturday, December 10, at 2 p.m. The concert is free!

Construction Updates
A live construction webcam is now available on our website. The webcam is pointed at the Health Education Center site. We’ll also have webcams pointed at the Gateway, Ingenuity and Protective Services sites in the near future. Steel was recently hauled onto the Health Education Center site to build the skeleton of one quarter of the building – it will take about two weeks to finish this first section. Crews are also “blanketing” the Health Ed and Protective Services site by spreading blankets over the ground to protect it from freezing so concrete can be poured.

Demolition is the focus at the Ingenuity Center/Gateway site. Last week crews finished knocking down a storage building and will begin removal of the stair tower adjacent to the old north entrance of the building. Look for another crane tower to be on-campus next week!

Have you seen signs around the construction zones that say FDC? FDC stands for Fire Department Connection – when hydrants are relocated as part of the construction, crews must clearly mark them for the fire department.

Information Protection Policy
In order to protect sensitive information the College retains on students, employees, financial results and other day-to-day operations, Information Technology has developed a new Information Protection Policy approved by the Executive Administrative Council. All employees have a responsibility to support and abide by this policy to ensure sensitive data is appropriately protected. Please review the policy and direct any questions you may have to Igor Steinberg, Chief Information Officer or Bruce Coulter, Chief Information Security Officer.

President’s Advisory Team
The President’s Advisory Team has wrapped up its meetings for this semester. Next semester’s schedule is 8:15-9:15 a.m. on January 6, February 3, March 2, April 6 and May 4. Meetings are held in the Truax (lower) Cafeteria. Thanks to members Tina Ahedo, Lynn Baldwin, Scott Beard, Mick Conners, Katie Korovets, Susan Kotur, Joe Lowndes, Reggie Mosher, Steve Noll, Lorin Toepper, Ana Turk, Nancy Woodward and Ana Zambie, as well as Student Senate president Jennifer Johnson. As always, everyone is invited to drop in at any of the meetings.
                                                

Please be sure to mark your calendar for the annual holiday celebrations for College faculty and staff. Here’s the schedule:

Monday, December 12
10-11 a.m.,  Ft. Atkinson – Room 157
12-1 p.m., Watertown – Room 136

Thursday, December 15
10-11 a.m., Portage – Room 102
12-1 p.m., Reedsburg – Room 113

Tuesday, December 20
9-10 a.m., Commercial Avenue – Room 108B
10:30-11:30 a.m., South – Room SM148

Wednesday, December 21
8-9 a.m., Downtown – Room D040
1-2 p.m., West – Room 110

Thursday, December 22
8-9:30 a.m., Truax – Cafeteria

Marvels
Here are the names of faculty mentioned to me recently as I spoke with students:

Dixie Burns, Astronomy
Doug Dillman, Visual Communications
John Galligan, English
Bernie Hoes, English
Betty Hurd, Fashion Marketing
Holly Kerby, Chemistry
Jessica Klehr, Architecture
Matt Majeskie, Arts and Sciences
Kevin Piper, Arts and Sciences
Ann Thompson, Applied Engineering Technology

Recent Activities
• participated in a YWCA Circle of Women committee meeting;
• met with District Board Secretary Noel Radomski to discuss WISCAPE;
• District Board Chair Frances Huntley-Cooper and I were interviewed by Brava Magazine for their January issue focusing on women who are tackling big issues, running businesses and making a difference in our community;
• attended a United Way Schools of Hope leadership team meeting;
• had lunch with Susan Schmitz, president of Downtown Madison Inc.;
• attended the weekly downtown Rotary meeting;
• had lunch with Katharine Lyall, former UW System president;
• was interviewed by Laurie Borowicz, Northcentral Technical College, who is conducting research on effectively leading organizational change for her dissertation;
• attended the portfolio show at Olbrich Gardens;
• participated in the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce Public Policy meeting; and
• participated in a Wisconsin Technical College System Presidents’ Association Wisline meeting.

I came across a quote recently by management guru Peter Drucker in the book The Lean Startup. I think Drucker’s words could be applied to a number of situations!

“There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all.”

Thank you for everything you do for our students.

Bettsey