President's Message:January 18, 2011

Dear Faculty and Staff,

Things were really cooking at the College this past weekend. The Culinary Arts program hosted one of the largest culinary competitions in the Midwest. Twenty-eight professional chefs from throughout the country competed in nine different categories. Our culinary students also faced-off against MATC-Milwaukee to see who would represent Wisconsin at the American Culinary Federation’s regional competition in New Orleans this April. We’re happy to say our team won the state competition!

Special thanks to chefs Paul Short and John Johnson for coordinating this exciting event and to the other faculty members who gave up their weekend for our students. I was especially impressed by the cakes prepared by instructor Suzanne Daly. Good luck in New Orleans!

Jam the Gym
As I meet with new faculty and staff every month one of the three things I ask them to do is to support their students and colleagues in our many activities. Here’s a great way to help support our men’s and women’s basketball teams. Join us for the 5th annual “Jam the Gym” celebration on Saturday, February 12. The event will feature WolfPack basketball, food, friends, and fun. Click here for more information and to register for Jam the Gym. 

Urban Design Committee
The College is presenting preliminary architectural renderings and information about the new health education building Wednesday afternoon at the city’s Urban Design Committee meeting. This is the first of many requirements that we must fulfill before the College can break ground this summer. We will continue to gather input from faculty, staff and students as we get closer to finalizing our building expansion plans. The renderings you may see in the media are preliminary and will continue to evolve.

College Marvels
Here are some “favorite faculty” mentioned to me by students recently:
Carol Moretti, graphic design and illustration
Susan Kloosterboer, dental
Paul Hilke, engineering
Michael Martin, commercial art

More Marvels
Business Technology instructor Kristine Held will be a featured speaker for the upcoming Cisco Forum for Education Leaders. Last year, the virtual forum attracted more than 4,500 education leaders from nearly 80 countries.

Highlights of My Past Week:
• attended the new employee orientation and welcomed staff; Barry Fox, custodial associate, Darby Sugar, instructional lab specialist, James McFarlane, lieutenant of operations, Karen Rinke, instructional laboratory specialist, Annette Aeschbach, lab coordinator, Megan Helfand-Berg, clerical technician, and Ann Camillo, program specialist,
• attended the administrative brown bag,
• participated in the Smart Future Building project team meeting,
• attended a Wisconsin Economic Forecast event with Governor Walker as guest speaker,
• participated in the Madison Symphony Orchestra Board and Education Committee meetings,
• participated in the district board meeting,
• participated in the WTCS New Energy Jobs Steering Committee meeting,
• met with chief security information officer Bruce Coulter,
• participated in the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce Public Policy Committee meeting,
• participated in the WTCS Presidents meeting and also met with Governor Walker,
• attended the award ceremony for the American Culinary Federation Student Team State Cook-off, and
• participated in the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ceremony at the State Capitol.

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., here is one of his quotes on education:

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically...intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

Thank you for everything you do for our students!

Bettsey