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The Kansas Kollator - Spring 2005
It is with sadness that I write my last article as President of AKCCOP. I have truly enjoyed this experience and appreciate your vote of confidence by allowing me the privilege of serving as President of AKCCOP for the past two years. This organization has given me so much more than I could ever give back. The leadership experience I have gained as president has been invaluable. I have learned that the microphone is not my enemy. I have had the opportunity to see many of our members attain their educational goals because they had that extra little bit of money from an AKCCOP Grant. I have made many friends and acquaintances through attending AKCCOP conferences and serving on the board, and I have learned the value of every Office Professional involved in AKCCOP. In the past 16 years as a member of AKCCOP, my view of Kansas has widened. I have learned one important thing after visiting most of the 19 Community Colleges. . . "big things come in small packages". Every college that I have visited no matter how SMALL has its own special personality and area of expertise, but they all have one thing in common, everyone on the campus and in the community rally to make sure that when AKCCOP arrives on their campus and in their city we are welcomed in a BIG way. As winter delivers its final chilly blast (hopefully) across the state of Kansas, I try to THINK SPRING!!. As we think of Spring, we naturally think of the AKCCOP Annual Conference. What a segue. . . .. The 38th Annual AKCCOP Conference, Colorful Connections, will be held on Wednesday, March 30th, Thursday, March 31st and Friday, April Fools Day at Cloud County Community College in Concordia, Kansas. I encourage all of you to attend the conference and bring a friend to share this experience. Cloud has a wonderful schedule of events planned. It's not too late, send your registration today. If you have questions, please call Mary Gantz at Cloud, 785-243-1435, ext. 202 or email her at mgantz@cloud.edu. We will present the 2005-2007 Slate of Officers to you during the conference. You are the heart of AKCCOP, please give the new officers your support and most of all your ideas to better AKCCOP. We are always looking for ways to grow!! Remember, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got." Thank you for your support. Sally Gordon, AKCCOP President Barton County Community College Linda Dueser, Reporter Barton County Community College Office Professionals gained seven new members after a successful membership drive in September. BCCCOP now has a total of 24 members. We celebrated Bosses’ Day in October with a potluck luncheon honoring our bosses. Door prizes were given and Barton’s men’s ensemble, Da Capo, provided musical entertainment. Starting in January, BCCCOP has been inviting people from various offices on campus to speak at our monthly meetings about programs or projects from their areas so that members can be more informed about campus activities. New marketing director Todd Moore, admissions representative Kala Steffen and Institutional Advancement executive director Darnell Holopirek have been guest speakers. We awarded a $150 scholarship to an office technology student, Marne Bradford of Bushton. BCCCOP provided cookies for the students during fall semester finals week, placing large plates of them in areas frequented by the students in several buildings. Members also placed large bowls of candy for the students on Valentine’s Day. In November, Barton’s Athletic Director Neil Elliott gave BCCCOP members a tour of the college’s new Thelma Faye Harms Wellness Center, which is available for use by students who are not athletes, as well as faculty and staff. The center is equipped with 10 cardiovascular exercise pieces, including three treadmills, three elliptical cross trainers, two upright exercise bicycles and two recumbent exercise bicycles. For strength training, the wellness center has a dozen selectorized weight machines, which work every muscle group through circuit training and it has a Smith Machine for weight training. Additionally, the center has two sets of dumbbells, weighing between 5 and 75 pounds, and weight benches; a sit-up board, a back extension machine and one functional trainer. The space is enclosed in glass and the floor is covered with PaviGym Fitness Tile. The center also has mounted on the wall two 42-inch plasma televisions – one tuned to a sports channel, the other to news. Funding for the center was provided through the Thelma Faye Harms Charitable Trust. The addition of the new Wellness Center makes it possible to help more individuals achieve their fitness goals. “Filling our students’ needs is the primary impetus behind building the wellness center,” said Barton Athletic Director Neil Elliott. “The college’s athletics fitness center wasn’t always available to non-athletes, or faculty and staff. Thanks to the Harms Trust Fund, the new wellness center is now a reality.” In February, Barton’s Foundation opened Cougar Tales, a used bookstore in downtown Great Bend as a new fund-raising venture to help provide program enhancements for the college. Institutional Advancement Executive Director Darnell Holopirek got the idea for the bookstore after talking with her counterparts from other institutions around the country who had success with similar for-profit enterprises. Certain regulations must be maintained since the Foundation is a nonprofit entity. The bookstore counts on 30 volunteers to help inventory and sell more than 10,000 used books that individuals have donated. Many of the volunteers come from the college’s Silver Cougar Club for individuals 55 or older. Several college employees and community members have also volunteered their free time to help with the store. No tax dollars are spent to maintain the bookstore. Donations of used books are accepted at the store in Great Bend and at libraries and other locations in surrounding communities. BCCCOP enjoyed a Christmas social in December, meeting for a chili dinner and gift exchange. An additional social this semester was held at a local restaurant on “Taco Tuesday.” BCCCOP will be sending five members to the AKCCOP Conference at Cloud County. Butler Community College Laura Albert, Reporter laura@butlercc.edu Butler students and staff had an unexpected day off January 5 because of the ice storm that hit our part of the state. Phone connections between Butler of Andover and Butler of El Dorado were affected for almost a week following the storm. To help students with early enrollment, offices were open the following Saturday. Butler’s Nixon Library has received a face-lift. New carpet was installed, walls painted, shelves and equipment rearranged to better serve the students. The work began after Fall finals and was mostly completed before Spring classes began. Like with any move or remodel, it is taking time to get everything back in order and this has kept the library staff busy. But the outcome is a nice place to study and relax to read. Another change that has taken place in the college is the change in the Business & Industry Institute. B&I had been located in Augusta for over 15 years, but is now located in the 5000 building in Andover. The name has been changed to Business Performance Group (BPG). A Tobacco Use Task Force has been reviewing the tobacco use policy of the college. It has recommended that smoking and the use of smokeless tobacco be prohibited within 25 feet of all building entrances. The ash receptacles were moved away from the doors and so far, this has helped keep smokers from surrounding the entries. The Learning Calendar has been updated from the current academic year through 2006-2007 and is available on Butler’s Pipeline. This will be the first semester that no hard copies are distributed. This is one more step toward a paperless Butler. Thanks to a $12,102 SBC grant, Butler Community College will be able to run live television feeds from the gymnasium, the Kansas Room in the 1500 building, and the college theatre to and from BCTV (Butler’s television station). Another grant was awarded to Butler from the Administration for Children and Families under the Early Learning Opportunities Act. The grant was for over $285,000 and is for 17 months. This grant will fund the Partners in Learning, Literacy and Readiness (PILLAR) initiative. Julie Joy, director of Butler’s Early Childhood Association Apprenticeship Program, will be primary lead from the college. March 7 – 11, Butler and community will celebrate a week of events surrounding Harper Lee’s American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. On Monday, March 7, there will be a showing of the movie starring Gregory Peck at El Dorado’s local theater. On March 8, a book discussion led by Sonja Milbourn will be held on the Butler of El Dorado campus. March 10th actors from the movie will be at the El Dorado High School to discuss the making of the movie and their feelings about the importance of the novel and movie. Completing the week’s activities will be a Brown Bag Lunch Discussion of the novel held in the Nixon Library on BOE’s campus. Butler’s Operation Staff is gearing up for the T.E.A.M. Recharge to be held on Friday, April 15. Eleven of Butler’s staff plan to attend the AKCCOP seminar at Cloud County Community College. Hope to see many of our state colleagues up there. Coffeyville Community College Janice Lair, Reporter Jay Herkleman and Emily Washburn were named Coach of the Year for men's and women's basketball in the Jayhawk Eastern Conference. Brad Weber was named the 2004 Indoor Men's Track Coach of the Year for the Eastern Conference. The Red Raven's Men's Cross Country Team was awarded Academic Team of the Year holding a 3.54 cumulative GPA. They ranked 10th in the nation and the volleyball team held a 3.46 cumulative GPA. CCC former student Victor Romero was invited to join the 2004 summer season of Opera in the Ozarks in Eureka Springs, AR. Opera in the Ozarks is focused on college-age students who are interested in opera performance. Its three main stage productions showcase professional opera singers as principle roles in the operas. The students study and perform four opera within a two month period. He made the semi-final round in his age group for the National Art of Teaching Singing competition. Victor is attending the University of Nebraska. Aggie Day is set for April 15th. Aggie Days is a group of interscholastic contests for secondary students to prepare them for careers in many agricultural areas. These areas include public speaking, livestock and land judging, economics, horticulture and entomology. Students from Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas will attend and compete in these events. International Week was November 15-19. CCC has 24 international students enrolled from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Canada, Nicaragua, Lithuania, Germany, Gambia, Togo and the U.A.E. The Coffeyville Red Ravens accepted an invitation to play in the Sun Bowl in Scottsdale, Arizona December 4, 2004. The Ravens were 9-2 overall and ranked 6th nationally by the National Junior College Athletic Association. Scottsdale was 9-1 with a #5 nationally ranking. Several Coffeyville Technical Campus students enrolled in Dick Robison's welding program have completed bend tests, advancing them to the next portion of their professional studies. Coffeyville Community College was pleased to welcome five new employees to kick off the spring semester. Courey Feerer, Head Soccer Coach/Student Advisor, Greta Rexwinkle, EMTP Program Instructor, Dickie Rolls, Executive Director of CCC Foundation, C.W. Tollefson, Head Rodeo Coach /Student Advisor and Kristin Whitehair, Graham Library Director. Colby Community College Doris Anderson, Reporter For our fall campus project, we sponsored a Halloween costume contest. To enter the contest, faculty and staff were charged $5 and students $1. Part of the fee was used as prize money and the remainder for our spring scholarships. Pictures were taken of each contestant and we determined the two winners. Our new O.P. advisor, Dan Erbert, new Dean of Fiscal Affairs, was officially welcomed to our group at our December 8 meeting. We exchanged Christmas ornament gifts at this meeting. We assisted with the Thanksgiving dinner, sponsored annually by Faculty Alliance, by setting up the tables, which were very festive. We will be taking applications for the Office Professionals scholarships awarded students each spring for the next school year. Last year scholarships were awarded to two students who met the established criteria. After scholarship applications are received, the scholarship committee reviews them and makes a recommendation to our group for selection of the winning recipients. On March 17, 2005, Dr. Mark Hansen, one of the nation’s leading scholars on American politics, will be first speaker of the Dr. Max Pickerill Lecture Series at the CCC Cultural Arts Center. Dr. Keith Coplin, CCC English instructor, has been nominated for another book award. His novel, Crofton’s Fire, received nominations for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The William E. Colby Award, and the Pen/Faulkner Award during 2004. Now the book has been nominated for the W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction. The annual Endowment Auction will take place April 2. The party auction annually raises $40,000-$50,000 for student scholarships. Since this year marks the 40th anniversary of Colby Community College, we are hoping for an especially successful event. A former CCC student will be recognized for cataract research by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (AVRO). Jerry Robben, 2003 CCC graduate, is currently majoring in biochemistry at KSU. He recently completed a project which resulted in the prevention of hydrogen peroxide induced cataract formation; this project will provide the basis for further work on gene therapy on the eye lens. AVRO will give Jerry Robben national recognition at their annual meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in May. The college has lost the services of a husband and wife team who have been at CCC since 1992. Mary Ann Wilson taught in the business department. Her husband Jon was the Financial Aid Director at CCC. Mary Ann and Jon have moved to Grand Junction, Colorado. CCC added men and women’s golf to their sports offerings at the January board meeting. Mr. Miles Ladenburger, CCC graduate and sportsman, will coach the teams. He is currently recruiting high school seniors for competition next fall. Chairman of the Board of Trustees at CCC, Curt Stephens, is expected to be back for the February 21 board meeting. Curt suffered severe injuries in a motorcycle accident on September 5. He has gone through extensive surgeries and rehabilitation since September. He is a strong leader on our board at CCC, and the community wishes him well as he assumes a normal lifestyle once again. Don Kready was recently honored for his 26+ years of service to the CCC Board of Trustees. He is one of the longest-tenured trustees in the state of Kansas. He has been the school’s representative to the KACCT since it was formed in 1997. He seldom misses a KACCT meeting and was called the “dean of our statewide community college boards” by Sheila Frahm, the Executive Director of the KACCT. We are looking forward to the AKCCOP Workshop hosted by Cloud Co. in March. Two of our members will be selected to represent us at that workshop. We know that it will be an interesting, entertaining time and a memorable experience for them. Dodge City Community College Marge Blattner, Reporter New Campus Construction A building that will connect the Science/Math and Allied Health buildings and house new laboratories and office space A new home for the college’s welding and manufacturing technology programs. The new manufacturing technology building is expected to be ready for students to use at the start of the fall 2005 semester. Construction of the Science/Math lab addition is anticipated to take around 15 months to complete. DCCC Women’s Volleyball Team DCCC OPP Christmas Party 2005 OPP Officers Personals AKCCOP Conference Garden City Community College Pam Caldwell, Reporter The 2005 Spring semester at GCCC is a busy one with lots of exciting events happening already! GCCC surprised retiring athletic director Dennis Perryman with an announcement to name the GCCC PE Building in his honor during a recent retirement dinner. GCCC Trustees officially took up the recommendation during their January 12 board meeting. Kansas Jayhawk Conference Commissioner Bryce Roderick, a former GCCC trustee and assistant athletic director, called Perryman his mentor and best friend, as did a number of other officials, former players, and associates. Perryman had been at GCCC for 19 years, taking charge of athletics and physical education in 1986. The GCCC Auto Tech Program is proud to announce it has earned NATEF (National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation) certification for attaining excellence in automotive service. The certification will remain in effect for five years with a chance for renewal after another review. GCCC began working to meet the standards more than a year ago. The two-year associate degree program is also affiliated with the Ford Motor Company’s Maintenance Program, and serves as an educational Center of Excellence in the Career Learning System of the Ford MLR Program launched in 1999. The learning system provides a pathway for students seeking associate degrees and career skills in automotive service and a number of other fields. There are approximately 2,000 training programs today in all 50 U.S. states, an important consideration for young men or women entering the automotive service career field. A public ribbon cutting ceremony was recently held for the GCCC Automotive Technology Center of Excellence, which made GCCC join the “Ivy League” of automotive technology training. There’s a new measure of opportunity in music at Garden City Community College. GCCC is launching the Southwest Kansas Music Academy, which has begun offering music lessons for youth and adults. The academy is also organizing a children’s choir. Music lessons will be taught by GCCC music faculty, area public school instructors and selected musicians. The new choir is open to girls and boys with unchanged voices, who are enrolled in any grade through eighth, and will be directed by a local music instructor based at one of the area elementary schools. People age 50 or older who are interested in learning how to use computers may now enroll in the Senior Computer Lab, hosted by GCCC Outreach Programs in Scott City, Holcomb, Tribune and Syracuse. Class is for beginners with little or no knowledge of computer use, and they learn at their own pace and on their own schedules. Class members work with the help of competent and qualified instructors, just like the senior instruction classes already available on the GCCC campus in Garden City. Now with the help of grant funds from the Finnup Foundation, the program will be expanding to other area counties. The GCCC Meats Team started the 2005 judging season off to a good start by placing 3rd overall at the National Western Contest at Greeley, Colorado, January 16. The three top teams at the contest ended up very close to each other, with only a 116 point difference between the first place team score and GCCC’s 3,569 points. GCCC placed first in Pork Judging, third in Placings, fourth in Judging and Questions, and fifth in Lamb Judging and Total Beef. The GCCC group surpassed last year’s team score by 168 points, earning high team status in Pork Judging and placing in the top five in every category. Many GCCC Educational Support Professionals will be involved in the very successful, annual Endowment Association’s Spring Scholarship Auction scheduled April 1, 2005. Approximately 100 volunteers will help throughout the night as over 1,000 community friends of GCCC place bids on over 300 live and silent auction items trying to reach a fund-raising goal for scholarships of close to $100,000. The GCCCESP group will continue raising funds for its annual academic scholarship fund as needed, and is looking forward to the upcoming AKCCOP conference! Have a great Spring semester! Hutchinson Community College Tammy Neal, Reporter Hutchinson Community College Office Professional’s would like to welcome you to our lovely campus. We have been pretty busy here this spring semester. Kathy Larson was our guest speaker in January. She spoke to us about stress management in our office. She gave us some great ideas on how to deal with stress and some stress relievers we could do right at our desk. In March, we will be selecting our new board and hope to have most of them present at the conference that Cloud County Community College will be hosting. We are looking forward to the great activities that they have planned, and seeing all of you there. Here at Hutchinson Community College we have been doing a lot of renovating as some of you know. We have put in a pond to the north of our football field. This is a very beautiful area for our students. They could use this area for studying, lounging or would even be perfect for the art classes. Also in this area, the Rotary Club of Hutchinson, Kansas has put up a really cool clock. Later this spring when the chimes are attached, it has been said that you will be able to hear it chime all over campus. You may check out our website for more information on this project and other points of interest at www.hutchcc.edu/PhotoBank/CampusRenovation/gowan.htm. General Richard Meyers is just one of the Dillon Lecture speakers that we have had speak to us this year. He was fantastic. He spoke on the war in Iraq and how great it was to be back in Kansas. He is a graduate of Kansas State University and now a four star general and Chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff. He is shown here with Dr. Berger, President of Hutchinson Community College. Dr. Richard Carlson was our first Dillon Lecture speaker. He is the author of “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.” He spoke about stress and how it affects the workplace. It is amazing how much of the small stuff can cause stress in people and the workplace. Well that is all we have for now. We are looking forward to the end of another semester and graduation and will be looking forward to hearing from you in the fall. Until then, see you at Cloud County Community College! Johnson County Community College Kathy LaBelle, Reporter Our general meetings, which take place at noon on the third Wednesday of the month, have been really educational this year. In December OPL members gathered for a Whimsical Winter Luncheon for a delicious lunch and a lively gift exchange. In January members listened to Dr. Ann Hess discuss Aging Myths/Alzheimer’s. In February Preventive Safety was the topic of the program with Campus Safety and Security officer, Greg Smith. March was our OPL general election, as well as a time set aside to honor our Office Professional of the Year. At our April meeting, Jonathan Bacon, Education Director for Ed/Tech will speak to us about Family History and May is reserved for Alan Swarts, JCCC Academic Computing Services Director to enlighten us about spans, pop-ups, worms and browser high-jacking. June is the month for members to bring their favorite salad and gather for our annual Spring Salad Luncheon. Our November annual OPL Silent Auction brought in around $5300 in sales and Special Grants brought in another $1400 with their chance drawing, ensuring that our organization will once again be able to amply fund both Special Grants and Scholarships. Our Boss’s Day event in October was a huge success. In keeping with an international theme this year, a delicious assortment of pastries (like German chocolate cake, Mexican wedding cookies, biscotti, crème puffs, Baklava, shamrock cookies, Pizelles and cheesecake) were served. Windows hung free-style as part of the décor to signify the theme “Windows to the World.” Each table had centerpieces on them of flags representing countries from around the world. And, there were artifacts such as a table scarf from Saudi Arabia, a glass replica of the queen’s ship from Thailand, as well as a dress from Greece, placed around the room. There was music as well and everyone had such a good time. Our Community Service Committee visits residents of the Olathe Good Samaritan Center on a regular basis. Often they work on art projects with the residents, or help with Bingo. Members who do not attend are encouraged to get involved by contributing costume jewelry or hand lotion, for example, which are used as Bingo prizes. Others bake cookies for the residents to enjoy. In January our Membership Committee asked several of the OPL committee chairs to make a presentation to the participants of the spring 2005 Professional Development Days VOICE conference. This was a great opportunity to make our presence known on campus. This conference replaces the in-service format used in previous years, giving participants options as to what they would like to hear or attend. Our OPL Annual Membership Party held on Thursday, March 3 from 5-7 p.m. in the JCCC Commons building was a way for prospective members to get to know us and decide whether or not they too would like to become actively involved. Nominees for the Office Professional of the Year award were announced at the October OPL general meeting. This year’s nominees are: Sherri Hanysz, Susan Rushing, Lori Vogelsberg and Mary Toepfer. The Office Professional of the Year award recognizes and rewards outstanding office professionals who have contributed to OPL and the JCCC community, demonstrated excellence in job performance, and exhibited personal and professional growth through participation in college and community activities. Each accepted their nomination and submitted a portfolio to the Award Committee. An outside judge evaluated the portfolios and will select the award recipient. At the time of this reporting, the name of the recipient had not been announced. Each year JCCC’s Staff & Organizational Development Department invites our office professionals to participate in a Master Staff Workshop. At this conference professionals gather for intensive learning, listening and reflection. The goals for the workshop include sharing successes, working together to find solutions to challenges and making JCCC stronger with communication across campus. This mini-retreat took place September 28 and 29 this year, and was a huge success. Seventeen employees participated. Campus-wide a new Technology building is underway, along with an art museum. It is exciting to be on campus, watching these changes take place. Since enrollment is up again this semester, we look forward to having the additional space. JCCC received the Kansas Award for Excellence (KAE) in 2003/4, a source of great pride, setting the stage for the next level—the Malcom Baldrige Award Administration, staff and faculty are working together trying to complete this application, hoping to qualify. I think that pretty much brings us up to date on what is happening here at Johnson County Community. We look forward to seeing you at Cloud County when they host the 38th Annual AKCCOP Conference. Labette Community College Fran Clay, Reporter HELLOOOOOOO……… from Labette. It seems like a very long time since I’ve written anything for the Kollator, as a matter of fact, it has been. I’m very sorry that I missed getting an article in last Fall. Well like everyone else, I’m anticipating Spring and the AKCCOP Conference. The Robins arrived about two weeks ago and the daffies are up, and grass is greening but I’ve lived in Kansas now some 34 years (guess you could say I’m officially a transplanted Yankee) and I know that in Kansas, winter can raise its ugly head anytime before May. So many things have happened here at Labette since I last wrote. Two new Classified Staff members joined our crew in the Fall of 2004. They are Meagan Fugate, Public Relations Secretary and Jennifer Harman, Physical Plant Secretary. Labette hired it first ever Director of Financial Aid. Chuck Kietzman came to Labette from Southern Nazarene University where he served as Director of Financial Assistance for the past two years. Working at a private university has given Mr. Kietzman a good background in dealing with the issues he will encounter here at LCC as the Director of Financial Aid. If I don’t mention this in the first part of this writing, I may be wrestled to the ground. As most of you probably know, our LCC Wrestling Team took #1 in the NJCAA National competition in Rochester, MN. I have to do a little bragging here. Of our nine National Qualifiers, six members placed 7th or above. Earl Jones with a 1st at 133; Cory Allison with a 5th at 141; Luke Elmore with a 4th at 149; Adam Ingram with a 2nd at 157; Alex Saunders with a 7th at 184 and Jared Shelton with a 2nd at 197. Earl Jones (Labette’s first 2 x National Winner) was also voted Most Outstanding Wrestler and our coach Joe Renfro (in only his third year) was voted NJCAA Coach of the Year. I can’t leave our women’s basketball team out. The women’s team had its best start ever – 9-0, they had the most wins ever and the longest winning streak (8). They topped the school record for wins (20) with a regular season finish of 24 wins. One more report from my area: last fall we were busy acquiring lots of babies in our department. (As you will notice-all were born before the season started-barely) On October 12th Wrestling Coach, Joe Renfro and his wife Elizabeth became parents of Lincoln Meron Renfro weighing 7 lbs. 11 oz.; on October 26th, Head Baseball Coach Aaron Keal and his wife Schuyler became the parents of Henry (Hank) Aaron Keal weighing in at 7 lb.12 oz.; and on October 31st, Head Men’s Basketball Coach, Armando Johnson and his wife Angela became the parents of Karon Jamani Johnson weighing in at 7 lbs. 2 oz. All babies are now 4 months old and as cute as can be. It will be fun to see them all running around the gym at the same time. Of course, Volleyball Coach, Leigh Phillips (and Ryan, our Softball Coach) have a two year old named Brady as does our Assistant Wrestling Coach, Joel Thompson and Abby a son named Miles. We basically have our own pep group right here in the gym. On the academic/club side of activities, Phi Beta Lambda had a very successful year at the stat conference. They had 5 students participate in contests and the results are: Isaac Jack – 1st place Business Law; Isaac Jack – 2nd Economics; Jefferson Rundell – 2nd Public Speaking; Corey Plotts – 2nd Sports Management & Marketing; Isaac Jack – 3rd Accounting Principles; Amanda Fitzwater – 4th Public Speaking and Corey Plotts – 5th Sales Presentation. The chapter also placed 2nd in money raised for the March of Dimes. Physically our campus has changed with the addition of a new student lounge attached to our previous student cafeteria area and additional administrative offices above on a second level. This is the view of the college facing North, students are gathered around the new Student Government Office area. New plantings along the East side and new brickwork located at the entrance between buildings creates a very pleasant view. The new area houses a study area with top-of-the-line computers, an area for just lounging and a large flat screen area for some “chilling out” time. Last summer the new flowerbeds and walkways, on the Southside of the Campus were a spot of beauty at LCC. Not only were there a lot of changes on the exterior of LCC but inside also. President, Ronald Fundis received the Distinguished College President’s Award from Tau Theta Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa. President Fundis; commitment to Phi Theta Kappa and LCC students has allowed Tau Theta to grow to a shining Five Star and Top 100 Chapter. His dedication, financial assistance, presence, attitude, and direction are why he received this award. This prestigious Michael Bennett Lifetime Achievement Award, is for retiring college presidents, campus chief executive officers and state community college directors is selected based on outstanding support provided Phi Theta Kappa over many years. President Fundis will be recognized for this award at the 87th Annual International Convention in Dallas, Texas, April 14-16, 2005. Talent Search – started its third year of a grant program last fall. Talent Search helps 6th through 12th grade student prepare for college entrance. Last year over 600 students participated in the program from Labette, Cherokee and Crawford counties. Talent Search helps students succeed by offering ACT/SAT preparation, assistance in applying for scholarships, financial aid and college admission, tutoring, mentoring, career planning and workshops which enhance study skills and cultural enrichment. June Downing, Director of Radiography reported that the program’s latest graduates have had another 100% pass rate on their national certification exams. This is the 6th consecutive year of 100%. A local bank close to the college has come up with the “Cardinal” checking account. The Bank of Parsons has offered these “spirit” checks with the Cardinal symbol of the college up in the left corner. Of course, Classified Staff created their cookbook again this year with a tasting party just before Thanksgiving. As always a lot of new recipes made the book with an occasional old favorite. Tasting day everything was delicious. Some of the proceeds were donated to the Christmas Baskets Committee to help with the fresh food purchases for the baskets. This year the Christmas Baskets Committee and all of the LCC family, helped a total of 8 families with 24 children. Our Respiratory Care Department has purchased a new Pulmonary Function software that is loaded on a laptop, is portable and can print great graphs of lung function. Also Via Christi in Wichita donated a PB7200 ventilator, this machine will allow students to practice with newer modes of ventilation. In January Elizabeth Walker was hired to be the new Musical Director, Adjunct Instructor. Elizabeth informed me that students and community members are working on the Spring production of “Big-The Musical”. It is adapted from a screenplay of the movie with Tom Hanks. The cast includes several children of faculty. The story includes all of the famous elements from the movie including the “dancing keyboard”. Also on a musical note, the LCC combined choirs will be touring to Canada May 26-30, 2005. They will be doing numerous fundraising projects this year. Operation Excel, a Student Support Services TRIO grant, has many activities planned for our students again this semester. They are offering several different workshops-from math study sills to etiquette and health issues. Also their cultural activities provide students activities they might not normally have available to them such as community concerts, spring break trip to San Antonio, Texas and campus visits to other four-year universities in preparation for transfer. In addition they offer mid-term grade checks, academic counseling, and a peer tutoring and mentoring program. Before we know it, the annual Auction for Scholarships will be upon us. Last year the auction (held in April) amounted in a total proceeds of $20,066, for a net total for the last five years of $70,463. This years’ auction will be held on April 30, 2005. Spring Fire School is just around the corner, it will be held May 18,19,20 & 21. The school draws firefighters from all over the stat of Kansas. Last year saw 110 firefighters attend the workshops and the smoke trailer (which is interesting to watch). In addition to raising money for scholarships, Classified Staff are trying to promote more attendance at LCC sporting events throughout the year. In conjunction with the coaching staff and the Athletic Director, a home game for each sport is designated for this event. We then schedule a pep rally and encourage students and members of our “spirit teams” to attend the rally and the designated game. At half-time, we draw a name from those in attendance for a prize and also have a small prize for the team captain of the spirit team that has the most attendance at the event. We started late this year but hope to include all of our athletic teams next year. It’s all about having fun and supporting our teams! Deans and several different organizations on campus have contributed a “punch a lunch” card to our cafeteria (worth $22) for our drawings. There will be four of us traveling to Concordia and we are looking forward to the Conference. I’m sure that there will lots of good information and networking. See ya there. Pratt Community College Diane Thompson, Reporter Special Recognition The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association (HLC/NCA) made its re-accreditation visit November 14-16. The results: 10 more years! No follow-up visits required! No follow-up reports required! This college wide effort was celebrated with a brunch for all immediately following the team’s departure and bonuses for full and part-time employees. Pratt Community College Education Support Professionals (ESP) Activities October 2004 – · ESP Open House was hosted to give potential members a chance to see what our organization is all about. New members of ESP are Austin Skelton, Tavy Dunn, Dana Yarborough, Michelle Davis, and Judy Trabert. · Boss’ Day Social was hosted by ESP with the Friday before boss’ day. In good humor, the bosses were awarded the next day (Saturday) off for all their hard work and dedication. November 2004 – · Continuing the ESP tradition of giving a victory send off and goodies to groups leaving for regional and national events, the Volleyball and Cross Country/Track teams were the grateful recipients of goodie bags and accolades as they left for their respective events. · Since the HLC/NCA team would be confined to work and may not have the opportunity to get out for something to eat, ESP made meat and cheese trays to place in their hotel refrigerators. This was supplemented by a “Beaver Blue” basket of snack items and beverages provided by the college. The team chair made a special mention to the president how much they appreciated the food baskets and trays. · Due to changes at the recycling center, the student-led (Phi Theta Kappa) recycling project will not be continuing. They are hoping to restart recycling at a later date when conditions change. They recycled well over 6000 pounds of paper this school year at a savings to the school and the environment in waste disposal. December 2004:· Once again ESP and the instructional Business Department shared hosting the December monthly celebration and the official “Festival of Trees” lighting in the commons area. Our Student Services department has been setting up over 100 themed Christmas trees in the upper and lower commons areas of Pratt Community College for several years now and it has become tradition for President Wojciechowski to light them at this event. One of those trees is the PCC family tree, sponsored and set up by ESP and the instructional Business Department with ornaments from departments and offices campus-wide. · Another ESP tradition, Survival Bags for the students during finals week, was a successful fundraiser once again: 106 bags were sold with a profit of over $600. · Rounding out our busy month of December, Goody Day was sponsored by ESP during finals week for students, faculty and staff. All employees were invited to bring a snack to the Beaver Bytes Cyber Café and participation was wonderful. · ESP is making plans to host the 2007 AKCCOP conference. Other news· The ESP scholarship was endowed this fall and has a balance of over $7,000. The group will now be deciding what criteria will apply in order to receive this scholarship. · Carpenter Auditorium renovations have been completed. The grand re-opening was held in October. The renovation was spearheaded by the PCC Foundation. Its new project is the purchase of land south and east of the college. · PCC has recently completed renovations on our greenhouse which was seriously damaged last year in a storm. · Diane Thompson welcomed Grace Elizabeth Thompson to her family on October 15, 2004. Baby is doing great and mom is back at work. · Best wishes to Michelle Davis as she leaves PCC for a job much closer to her home in Stafford. · Special thanks to Judy Trabert for volunteering to help out at the concession stand on behalf of ESP at one of the recent basketball games. They were short staffed at times, and kept her busy. ESP received $25 for her time. · Kudos to Austin Skelton for his frequent participation in school plays and musicals. His recent contributions included Hamlet in The Abridged Works of William Shakespeare, and special entertainment for the student activity Cinderfella. · Lora Lobmeyer, Sharon Barrett’s husband Ed (former PCC board member), and Judy Trabert’s son Jerry (PCC’s Director of Information Technology and returned veteran from service in Bosnia and Germany) contributed letters of family members to "Letters from War," a reader’s theatre of letters which soldiers and their families have written over the last one hundred years. · Officer changes: Laura McGovern resigned as Secretary and Cathy Blasi volunteered to be acting Secretary until September elections. Diane Thompson volunteered fill the Vice President vacancy left by Crystal Scherer until elections. Seward County Community College Terri Barnes, Reporter tbarnes@sccc.edu Greetings. I woke up to a winter wonderland this morning. Thankfully, the beauty did not hinder the drive to work. The spring semester is well on its way. Students are back, and classes are under way. The college has nine teams of six members each participating in the “Community Meltdown” program in Liberal. The program is sponsored by the Liberal Parks and Recreation and Seward County K-State Research and Extension. Classes are offered on Monday nights for eight weeks. The classes focus on implementing a healthier lifestyle. There is a weigh-in and a weight-out, and at the conclusion there will be two winning teams. One with the most pounds lost and one with the highest team percentage lost. The 2004 Telolith, a publication of student art and literary works, received the American Scholastic Press Association’s First Place with Special Merit award. Christy VanZant’s short story, The Wildflowers received Outstanding Story recognition. Congratulations to Susan Copas and Bill McGlothing. The Crusader, SCCC’s college newspaper, received national recognition from the Associated Collegiate Press at the National Media Convention. CrusaderNews.com was recognized as an Online Pacesetter. Congratulations to Anita Reed and her staff. The college began “hosting” area high school basketball games. SCCC logo items and a $100 scholarship drawing are given away at each game. We also buy the popcorn for the night and provide SCCC popcorn bags with a discount coupon on the back of the bags that can be used at the Saints Bookstore. This is a great recruiting tool. Steve Heckman, a former SCCC art instructor, passed away in December. Steve was a fabulous artist, and he will be greatly missed. The SCCC men’s basketball team lost a player with the death of Robert Townsend. Robert was killed in a tragic car accident over Thanksgiving break. Robert was a sophomore who had transferred in from Coffeyville Community College. The SCCC Development Foundation is giving away a red 2005 Mustang on April 23, as a fund raiser for the Foundation. The car can be viewed on our website, www.sccc.edu. Donation tickets are $35 or 3 for $100. Dr. Gerald Harris, dean of student services, will be leaving the college at the end of February. We wish him all the best in his new endeavors. The SCCC Office Professionals (SCCCOPs) compiled, organized and printed a SCCC 35th Anniversary Cookbook featuring recipes from alumni, employees, students, and friends of SCCC. The cookbook costs $10 and profits benefit the SCCCOPs’ scholarship fund. It was a lot of hard work, and the finished cookbook is great. SCCCOPs has already made a profit of approximately $880 and still has cookbooks to sell. SCCCOPs received donations of time and supplies from several individuals on and off campus. If you are a cookbook aficionado and would like to buy one of ours, please contact Betty Glenn at bglenn@sccc.edu. A small shipping charge may be added to the $10. The SCCCOPs’ scholarship committee has met and awarded three $100 scholarships for spring 2005. The decision was hard, as there were twelve deserving candidates. Karen Duncan, who has been the SCCC athletic secretary for the past 15 years, is leaving at the end of this week to take the Deputy County Treasurer’s job in Dighton, Kansas. Karen has been a great asset to the athletic department. Karen’s husband WR Duncan, director of buildings and grounds, will be taking early retirement on June 30. They will both be missed. We wish them the best. Several of us enjoyed a goodbye lunch for Karen on February 17, at the La Hacienda Restaurant. Karen was the secretary for SCCCOPs this year. Bronwyn Smith will be replacing her as secretary. Ashley Lacefield, wife of Scott Lacefield, SCCC Sports Information Specialist, will be the new athletic secretary. We welcome Ashley to SCCC. Five of us will travel to Cloud County Community College for AKCCOP. We look forward to seeing many of you there. “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Aesop From the Vice President Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your AKCCOP vice president. The last two years have been wonderful. It has been a great pleasure working with our chapter reporters and I appreciate all of your help and support in publishing the Kollator. Many thanks. I couldn’t have done it without you! Happy Spring to all, I’ll see you in Concordia. Sarah Smith AKCCOP Vice President |
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