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Update From President, Jason S. Wood, Ph.D. – May 10, 2021

Mike SteffelPosted on Posted in General

Dear College Community,

Welcome to May!  Thank you for all of your work over the past year.  Many, many students will graduate because of what you do to help them be successful.  Please know you have helped improve the lives of our students with your work and service at the college. 😊

Here is an update:

  1. COVID
    1. We continue to slowly re-open campus for in-person services and instruction.  We thank the many, many people who always respect and follow college protocol while on campus.  Well done!  Let’s keep it up for the health and well-being of each other.
    2. Please remember to wear face masks and maintain physical distance.  It is also important you stay home if you are not feeling well.  More information and instructions will be provided regarding the next phase of re-opening.
    3. We strongly encourage you to get a vaccine.  Here is the link for making an appointment.  Just over 70% of our fulltime faculty and staff have been vaccinated.  Our ability to relax some of the safety protocol increases as the vaccination rate reaches 90%.   
  2. Creative Elements Salon is open for business!  As part of the curriculum students need to spend time serving customers.  If you feel comfortable, please consider lending them your hand…for a manicure!  More details will be shared soon.  We recognize the extra efforts many faculty are making to ensure students get the essential hands-on learning that prepares them for successful careers…thank you for helping our students learn.
  3. New College Values:  Thank you to the culture committee for working on developing the new Inclusivity value and updating the rest of the values.  The Board of Directors approved the first reading of the updated policy and will consider the topic again at this month’s meeting.  Please see the Board packet for more information.
  4. Project RISE, our new enterprise resource planning project, continues on-time and on-budget.  As we move forward, more time will be spent on designing the human experiences so students have a world class experience with us.  An overall project update will be shared again later this month in the exec team minutes and at the Board meeting.  Special thanks to Matthew Baute for his continued leadership and expertise and to the many, many people working across the college to make this a successful endeavor.
  5. Legal Clinic at Southwest Tech – for Students
    1. The Student Services Leadership Team is working with Madison College, Legal Action of Wisconsin, and their partners to bring a free Legal Services clinic to Southwest Tech.  Free, confidential legal help is available to assist with a range of legal issues including but not limited to: family law, housing law, criminal records issues, immigration, debt collection, and bankruptcy.  Please see the attached document for more details.
    2. How can this help a student be successful?  Madison College shared an example of a student who started missing a lot of class because the student’s mother did not have a valid driver’s license.  The student was responsible to take their younger siblings and mother to all of their appointments.  The Legal Clinic was able to help the mother get her license re-instated which allowed the student to attend classes regularly.  
  6. STAR Event – Please know we are grateful for your work, especially over the last year.  On May 21, the day before graduation, we will celebrate you at the STAR Event.  More information is available on the Hub and from Holly Crubel and Amy Campbell. 
  7. Kudos to…
    1. Jordyn Poad!  We appreciate her efforts with planning and coordinating in-person new student orientation sessions this summer.  She was recognized by Robin Hamel in the attached Shout Out and we appreciate all of the people working to improve new student orientation and keep people safe as we return to campus.
    2. John Troxel!  Natalie Long recognized John for the excellent work he does protecting the college from cyber security threats.  We each play a role in keeping campus safe and our IT team helps us know our responsibilities.  Thank you to John, and the entire IT team, for their efforts!
    3. Annetta Smith!  I am grateful for all of the efforts Annetta makes to welcome to faculty and staff to the college.  Several people who are in their first year at the college have shared just how much Annetta has helped coordinate their successful start to working here.  Thank you, Annetta, and the HR team who helps, for being great at what you do!

If you have a handful of minutes, here is an article about recovering from the pandemic on a personal level entitled, “The Other Side of Languishing is Flourishing.”  There are suggestions to consider to improve your personal well-being.  If you have a moment, please let me know what you think of the suggestions – I was impressed with how much alignment exists with our Orange Frog training.  And, as always, please act on any inspiration you receive to help a colleague by sharing one of the suggestions in a way meaningful to them.  As a college, we are people who care about each other.  Please take care and let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Thanks,

Jason

Posted in General