SBCTC NEWS LINKS | Articles about – and of interest to – Washington state community and technical colleges
SYSTEM NEWS | OPINIONS
Fashion era ends at Bremerton High School | Retiring teacher prepares for final show
On May 22, the lights will go up …for Madonna Hanna's last fashion show with Bremerton High School. The fashion marketing teacher is retiring in June after a 30-year career of coaching students to be their personal and professional best. … While recovering from injuries [from a January 1987 car accident], she put together a fashion marketing program for Bates Technical College in Tacoma in the fall of 1987. … At Bates, Hanna organized her first Flights of Fancy fashion show for students with disabilities. Over the years, the different projects she's started, like the Bates Buddy Program that paired her technical college students with underprivileged elementary students for mentoring and to put on fashion shows, have earned her a raft of recognition like President George H.W. Bush's 1992 Daily Point of Light award.
When Hanna was still at Bates, she remembers getting a call one day from a strange person who started asking her several questions about her Flights of Fancy program and her job. "I said, excuse me, but who are you? And they paused, and said, 'I'm calling on behalf of the White House,' and my knees went weak."
The Bremerton Patriot, May 15, 2012
http://www.bremertonpatriot.com/news/151553685.html
Muckleshoot Tribe establishes Higher Education Scholarship program
The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe today announced the establishment of a Higher Education Scholarship program to support Native American students enrolled at one of 12 state universities, community colleges or technical colleges in the 2012 school year. … The Muckleshoot scholarship program will provide $175,000 for the 2012 school year to support between 30 and 45 scholarships for Native American students. … Participating institutions include: University of Washington, Washington State University, Eastern Washington University, Western Washington University, The Evergreen State College, Central Washington University, Seattle Central Community College, Highline Community College, Green River Community College, Bates Technical College, Renton Technical College, Northwest Indian College
The Auburn Reporter, May 15, 2012
http://www.auburn-reporter.com/community/151603085.html
Former Centralia Coach and athletic director honored with Health and Wellness center entryway dedication
Friends, family and Centralia College supporters and alumni turned out Tuesday for the dedication of the entrance hall in the Health and Wellness Center in honor of former athletic director George Gablehouse’s many years of service. The dedication, which includes photos of the 89-yearold former coach and athletic director as well as a jersey with the now-retired number 26, was made possible by a donation from the Michael Smith family.
The Centralia Chronicle, May 24, 2012
http://www.centralia.edu/news/chronicle/Gablehouse_Honored_05-24-12.pdf
Bates graduation Friday
Marketing and business management graduate Tammy Chalmers will serve as student speaker at the ceremony. Chalmers was twice laid off in the last four years because of the gloomy economy and turned to Bates Technical College to become more competitive in the job market. … She is currently working at a large firm in Renton, and will graduate with an associate of applied science-transfer degree.
The News Tribune, May 17, 2012
http://blog.thenewstribune.com/street/2012/05/17/bates-graduation-friday/
Gigi Burke appointed to interim Everett council seat
… the Everett City Council voted Wednesday night to appoint a local businesswoman to temporarily fill the spot left vacant by the death of Councilman Drew Nielsen. The council's choice is Gigi Burke, a former owner of an Arlington-based Anheuser-Busch distributor. Burke serves on various community boards, including the Public Facilities Board of Comcast Arena and the Board of Trustees at Everett Community College.
The Herald, May 31, 2012
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20120530/NEWS01/705309789
Clarkston man named to WWCC board of trustees
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire recently announced the appointment of Donald R. McQuary of Clarkston to the Walla Walla Community College Board of Trustees, replacing Jerry Hendrickson, whose term ended.
Lewiston Morning Tribune, May 31, 2012
http://lmtribune.com/northwest/article_fa195d67-bd6b-5c75-a2b5-f525f9f35406.html
Centralia College installs wind turbine to power lab
Students investigate feasibility of wind and solar energy in Lewis County …Students at Centralia College are coordinating a clean energy working lab that will provide electricity for the Kiser Natural Outdoor Learning Lab.
Centralia Chronicle, May 31, 2012
http://www.chronline.com/news/article_ca1643b4-ab2f-11e1-b73c-001a4bcf887a.html
New skills center targeted for September start
[District superintendent Michelle Price] said the superintendents involved also are interested in working with Big Bend Community College, possibly offering dual credit courses, having college and community classes at the skills center, and sharing instructors.
Columbia Basin Herald, May 31, 2012
Three guys laid off from mill become nursing grads
A patient who couldn’t breathe, bleed or cry suffered through the mistakes of three laid-off mill workers on their way to becoming nurses. Dan Meyers, 53, Steve Ball, 43, and Mark Breshears, 54, made a dummy from a paper plate and a stuffed sweat suit to learn basic tasks such as starting IVs and giving shots. …The three men are among the 165 students graduating from the Clarkston campus of Walla Walla Community College [on] Saturday. … Sherri Jones, a nursing instructor for second-year students at WWCC, said the three quickly erased any doubts she had about what kind of nurses former sawmill employees would make. “They’re compassionate and caring. They are very dedicated to studying and getting through this program and sticking to it.” Before Meyers, Ball and Breshears enrolled at WWCC they had been acquaintances, working in different sections of the Three Rivers Timber sawmill. Each was drawn to nursing for slightly different reasons when the mill shut down in the last months of 2008. … Making it in the classroom wasn’t the only difficulty. Ball and Breshears were commuting from Kamiah, logging 130,000 miles each, enough to drive from Lewiston to New York City about 50 times. Money was tight. Meyers, Ball, and Breshears, said they used a mix of grants for displaced workers, Pell grants and student loans to pay for tuition, books and other expenses.
Lewiston Tribune [via LoanSafe], May 31, 2012
http://www.loansafe.org/three-guys-laid-off-from-mill-become-nursing-grads
How Wine Growing in Walla Walla Supports the Economy
Walla Walla Community College saw the opportunity to train those workers in a program tailored to the local wine industry’s needs. The college’s graduates populated the fields, wine laboratories, cellars, and tasting rooms that unfurled like tendrils across the county. As the industry grew, so did the city’s tourism business, its restaurants, and its hotels. The number of wine-related jobs in the region nearly doubled over the past four years. America’s economy today feels as sleepy as Walla Walla’s two decades ago. Middle-class workers were slammed by the financial crisis, their jobs disappearing, wages stagnating, and future uncertain. To put them back to work, the nation would do well to consider Walla Walla, which seems to have cracked the code on how to get mid-skill workers back into the labor force while revitalizing an economy. If the country needs a model, this could be it.
National Journal, May 31, 2012
Green River looks to fill funding gaps with Continuing Education scholarships
Darla Abraham has seen a lot of people come in to her Continuing Education office on Auburn’s Green River Community College campus over the years, their whole demeanor brimming over with hope that, given just a bit more training, or a certification, they could get that forklift job, that flagger job, that health care position. All that separates them from taking the class and realizing that future may be $45, or in the case of forklift training, $175. Unfortunately, Abraham gets to breaks the news that there’s no funding, not a penny in scholarships for non-degree, work-related classes like that. Saying that, says Abraham, program coordinator for Continuing Education, is like “taking a sledgehammer to people’s lives. It crushes me, absolutely crushes me.” Fresh from one of those “sledgehammer experiences,” Abraham brought her frustrations to a meeting of the GRCC Foundation’s Employee Giving Program. To shorten the story, that’s when people began to talk about a new scholarship. Not only new but also different, owing to where it would set its sights – at those same continuing education, work-related, non-degree programs. Green River Community College Foundation has agreed to contribute to the scholarship, but Continuing Education is about to pitch into a series of fundraisers. …While some students with vocational training do get covered by Work Force, Work Source or Work First, this is strictly for those who fall through the cracks
Auburn Reporter, May 31, 2012
Darla Abraham is the program coordinator for Continuing Education at the Green River Community College. By ROBERT WHALE Darla Abraham has seen a lot of ...
http://www.auburn-reporter.com/community/155848845.html
Shoreline's unemployment rate shows signs of rebounding economy
Besides attracting new investors and businesses, the Council is committed to supporting local businesses by partnering with Shoreline Community College to offer weekly business development workshops.
Shoreline-Lake Forest Patch, May 31, 2012
http://shoreline.patch.com/articles/shoreline-s-unemployment-rate-shows-signs-of-rebounding-economy
Wounded chef's survival called a 'medical miracle' by surgeon, mother says
When Leonard Meuse took a job two years ago at Seattle’s Café Racer, his parents say he was following a dream. “He’s highly intelligent,” Elaine Meuse said of her son Thursday. “He worked as a research scientist at Stanford and the University of Washington but wasn’t happy and wanted to do something more personal and creative.” After going back to school at Seattle Central Community College and becoming a pastry chef, Leonard was hired as the café's kitchen manager.
Q13 FOX, May 31, 2012
Deals with banks stack fees on college students
It took Mario Parker-Milligan less than a semester to decide that he was paying too many fees to Higher One, the company hired by his college to pay out students' financial aid on debit cards. ... "They sold it as a faster, cheaper way for the college to get students their money," said Parker-Milligan, 23, student body president at Lane Community College in Eugene. "It may be cheaper for the college, but it's not cheaper for the students." … Longview's Lower Columbia College does not use Higher One, said college spokeswoman Sue Groth. "At this point in time, LCC is not ready to implement this type of system for technology reasons and because we haven't established that the cost-benefit is there," she said. She said Lower Columbia began mailing financial aid checks to students in winter quarter, replacing the old system of having the students pick up checks on the first day of class.
Longview Daily News, June 1, 2012
TRENDS| HORIZONS | EDUCATION
State job openings [in Ohio] high while employers seek qualified workers
Worker skills are often blamed for unfilled jobs, but wages also a factor. … But the so-called skills gap explains only a part of the problem in filling those production jobs, experts say. Another, perhaps equally important reason jobs are going unfilled, is the gap between workers’ expectations and the wages employers are willing to offer, said James Brock, a Miami University economics professor. “This is a supply-and-demand problem, and one way they (employers) can get more people is to offer to pay them more,’’ Brock said. “If there is a real shortage, they’re just going to have to bite the bullet and offer higher pay to get people.’’
The Dayton (OH) Daily News, May 13, 2012
Stop Redesigning And Start Tuning Your Site Instead
In my nearly two decades as an information architect, I’ve seen my clients flush away millions upon millions of dollars on worthless, pointless, “fix it once and for all” website redesigns. All types of organizations are guilty: large government agencies, Fortune 500s, not-for-profits and (especially) institutions of higher education.
Smashing Magazine, May 16, 2012
http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2012/05/16/stop-redesigning-start-tuning-your-site/
National Network Will Help Apprentices Earn a College Degree
The U.S. Departments of Labor and Education are planning a consortium in which colleges will award credit for students' prior learning in apprenticeships.
The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 27, 2012
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Prozac Campus: the Next Generation
The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 27, 2012
http://chronicle.com/article/Prozac-Campus-the-Next/131951/?sid=cc&utm_source=cc&utm_medium=en
Manufacturers push skills certificate as good jobs go unfilled
McClatchy News, May 27, 2012
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/05/27/2849398/manufacturers-push-skills-certificate.html
Facing Facts
Community college leaders say "completion agenda" has been good for the sector, even when painful, but they worry that the focus could have unintended consequences if it becomes a fixation.
Inside Higher Ed, May 29, 2012
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/05/29/taking-stock-completion-agendas-benefits-and-limits
Back of the Line
Some California community colleges have 1,700 students per academic adviser. But a state law designed to protect faculty jobs may help prevent the hiring of more counselors.
Inside Higher Ed, May 29, 2012
When Mandates Attack
“But we didn’t mean that!” Broad-brush rules have a way of generating unintended, and even unsupportable, consequences. … Apparently, California … has a rule that no more than 50 percent of a college’s budget can be used for “non-instructional” expenses. When combined with a catastrophic budget crunch, that means that colleges can’t hire nearly enough academic advisors to keep up with student demand. Advisors count as “non-instructional,” so hiring a new advisor requires hiring a new professor. If you can’t afford both, you can’t hire the advisor. So now certain community colleges there have over a thousand students per advisor.
Inside Higher Ed, May 31, 2012
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/when-mandates-attack
Some teens aren't liking Facebook as much as older users
For these youngsters the social networking giant's novelty has worn off. They are checking out new mobile apps, hanging out on Tumblr and Twitter, and sending plain-old text messages from their phones.
The Los Angeles Times, May 31, 2012
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-facebook-teens-20120531,0,5676320.story
Expect federal oversight of international programs to increase, speakers say
The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 30, 2012
http://chronicle.com/article/Expect-Federal-Oversight-of/132051/
The Best Way to Land a Job? It's Still Word of Mouth
The experience of stumbling about for jobs and a career path is familiar to anyone who graduated during the recessions of the mid-’70s, early ’80s, and even the beginning of the ’90s. Yet since the 1970s, access to information has exploded. Want to research the job market in the 1960s? Google it. Eager to find a community that shares your enthusiasm for indie rock? Spend time on Facebook. … Surely, it should be slam-dunk easy to match potential employees with potential employers considering the expansion of the Internet, powerful search engines, vast social media networks, and Big Data. Apparently not. “We find that in the U.S., information about work and jobs is relatively hard to come by for someone seeking employment,” says James Manyika, director of the McKinsey Global Institute.
… For the most part, technological advancements don’t help people get a foot in the door. What does matter is a recommendation and personal assessment. A large body of academic research shows that half or more of all jobs come through informal channels—connections to friends, families, and colleagues …
BusinessWeek, May 31, 2012
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-31/the-best-way-to-land-a-job-its-still-word-of-mouth
Retraining program looking to fill manufacturing job gap
“Even with unemployment at 8.1%, as many as a million manufacturing jobs remain unfilled nationwide, according to a study by the accounting firm Deloitte and Touche." CBS added, "The main problem, a massive skills gap. Job openings but not enough properly trained workers to fill them."
CBS Evening News, May 31, 2012
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7408456n&tag=mncol;lst;7
Vocational education students need algebra 2, foreign languages, say state Board of Education members
[Michigan] State board member Eileen Weiser, R-Ann Arbor, said it would be a mistake … to think that students planning to take career-oriented classes can’t complete higher-level courses. But, Weiser said, the state’s schools need to look at things a little differently, especially if they are preparing students for the realities of a global economy. … “There’s an obvious mismatch between student achievement and how we’re teaching many children if we’re going to try to compete with other states and countries,” she wrote. … Weiser said the most frustrating part of the discussion is a belief that career-tech students can’t meet rigorous academic standards. “Why would schools turn their back on a better way to prepare their kids for honorable professions that involve manual labor (or nursing, other non-4 year coursework) through STEM education that would allow them to pursue any career opportunity they may face in their lifetimes?”
Michigan Live, June 1, 2012
http://www.mlive.com/education/index.ssf/2012/06/vocational_edcuation_students.html
Pathways to the Presidency: Concluding Remarks
Wrapping up their series on what different types of colleges and universities should seek in new leaders, Richard Skinner and Emily Miller urge boards to think boldly.
Inside Higher Ed, June 1, 2012
http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2012/06/01/colleges-must-seek-new-kinds-leaders-essay
High Tech, High Touch: Confessions of a Community College Dean
We’re moving in two different directions, and only beginning to realize it. On the one side, we’re moving to more online instruction and more automated or nearly automated processes. The idea is to both increase convenience for students -- especially those with jobs and/or families -- and to improve the economics of the college by increasing enrollments and cutting costs. … On the other side, we’re trying to improve the success rates of students generally -- and of students from underrepresented groups specifically -- by a panoply of “high touch” strategies. Intrusive advisement, mandatory orientation, learning communities, freshman interest groups, and mini-prep classes -- all of which we’re using -- have been shown to help, but do so through increased labor intensity per student. They’re expensive.
… Community colleges have bifurcated missions already, trying to handle both academic transfer and workforce development. Now they’re also trying to be both more automated and more personalized. With less money.
Inside Higher Ed, June 1, 2012
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/high-tech-high-touch
Seattle-area economy rated third in U.S.
The Seattle area is King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. It finished third last year and first in 2010. The next-highest rated Washington area was the Tri-Cities, in 13th place, up from 35th in 2011, 70th in 2010 and 125th in 2009.
Seattle PI, June 1, 2012
http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Seattle-area-economy-rated-third-in-U-S-3600083.php
POLITICS | LOCAL, STATE, NATIONAL
[A case to watch given its impact on the state budget process and the ability of the Legislature to support higher education with a simple majority vote.]
Judge rules against two-thirds tax law
Decision sets up a state Supreme Court showdown
The Spokesman Review, May 31, 2012
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/may/31/judge-rules-against-two-thirds-tax-law/
In Our View: Don't Ignore the Voters
Judge rules I-1053 unconstitutional, but state will appeal to high court
The Columbian, May 31, 2012
http://www.columbian.com/news/2012/may/31/dont-ignore-the-voters/
Such a great gnashing of teeth after I-1053 ruling
The Olympian, June 1, 2012
http://www.theolympian.com/2012/06/01/2125193/such-a-great-gnashing-of-teeth.html
Editorial: State Supreme Court should support I-1053, the two-thirds tax rule
The Seattle Times, June 1, 2012
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2018327217_edit01twothirds.html
FRIDAY LITE NEWS
The Comma Sutra
The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 1, 2012
http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2012/06/01/the-comma-sutra/
Why Humans Are Crazy for Crispy
The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 30, 2012
http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Humans-Are-Crazy-for/131952/
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