Holiday House Photos

Every year, employees at Clover Park Technical College give their time and money to help students in need. Holiday house was a huge success thanks to the generosity of faculty and staff.

Holiday House by the numbers (2010):

• $5,000 was raised at a chocolate auction sponsored by the Lakewood Partners in Business
• $680 was raised at the annual basket raffle

• 89 total families received help (including a total of 155 children)
  

Breakdown of how these families were helped:

• 64 families were adopted by departments and/or individuals, 25 families were helped with holiday house funds.
  
• 9 families received food/gift cards only
• 80 families received toys/gifts and food gift certificates

Stats about website comments

In the ever-changing world of online activity, one of the greatest inventions to date is a tool that allows us to capture data - Google Analytics.

About a month ago we piloted a new comments feature on our College website that allows users to engage with us on our website. According to the data, it has been well used. The comments feature has garnered more activity than our Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages combined.

Take a look my report. It’s an interesting read.

Thank you,
Sean O’Connor
Webmaster

Healthy Is as Healthy Does

Healthy Is as Healthy Does: How to Prevent a Stroke and
Six Warning Signs of Stroke – and the Three Questions

Strokes are a leading cause of severe, long-term disability, and addressing the associated risk factors can be beneficial. Consider the following suggestions from Dr. Andrew Weil:

1. Control your blood pressure either through lifestyle changes or medication.
2. Exercise. People who exercise consistently have a lower risk of suffering a stroke.
3. If you smoke, quit.
4. Limit alcohol intake. If you drink alcohol, do so only in moderation. Moderate alcohol intake is defined as no more than one drink per day for women and two drinks a day for men.
5. Manage diabetes and keep tight control of blood sugar levels.
6. Lower cholesterol into a healthy range.
7. Focus on your diet. Follow a diet designed for those with high blood pressure and heart disease – it may be helpful in preventing strokes.
8. Take calcium and magnesium. These minerals are helpful in controlling high blood pressure, one of the strongest risk factors for stroke.

Do you know the warning signs of a stroke? It is important to recognize them, since speedy treatment is necessary to help reduce the potential damage to brain tissue and improve the odds of a full recovery. Here are the typical stroke symptoms:

1. Sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes
2. Weakness or numbness on one side of the body, including the face
3. Difficulty speaking
4. Disorientation, confusion, or memory loss
5. Dizziness, loss of balance, or loss of coordination
6. Severe headache that comes on suddenly with no apparent cause

The American Stroke Association suggests that anyone can identify a stroke by checking for the signs of facial weakness, arm weakness, and speech problems. As a bystander, you can help to determine if someone is having a stroke by asking them to perform three simple actions:

1. Ask the person to smile.
2. Ask the person to raise both arms above his or her head.
3. Ask the person to speak a simple sentence.

If the person has any problems completing any of these steps, call 911 immediately and describe these symptoms.

Reprinted with permission from Dr. Andrew Weil’s newsletter

Wellness Committee
Clover Park Technical College

$145,000 grant enhances education for hospital workers in Pierce County

Collaborative effort supported by MultiCare Health Systems and UFCW Local 21

Lakewood, WA – Clover Park Technical College and Tacoma Community College have received a $145,000 Hospital Employee Education and Training (HEET) grant from the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges to provide enhanced education for hospital workers in Pierce County.

The collaborative effort is being supported by MultiCare Health Systems and United Food and Commercial Workers UFCW Local 21. Funding through this grant will provide training for up to 30 employees who wish to enter a nursing career pathway.

An adequately trained healthcare workforce remains a critical component of the region’s economic recovery and long-term growth. In spite of the current unemployment situation, vacancy rates in nursing continue to challenge hospitals and clinics. The Health Care Personnel Shortage Task Force, a body convened by the Washington State Legislature to address the need for qualified healthcare workers, reports that nursing vacancies are the highest of any industry and will continue to see growth throughout the next decade.

The funding will enable the college to offer the Nursing Assistant Certified program and nursing prerequisite courses for MultiCare employees. “We look forward to partnering with CPTC to serve MultiCare as a vital healthcare provider in Pierce County," said Lisa Edwards, Dean for Enterprise and Economic Development at TCC.

MultiCare and UFCW 21 released a joint statement echoing the enthusiasm for the project: “MultiCare and UFCW 21 have a history of providing developmental and career opportunities for MHS employees. We are pleased to be working together on this grant."

Established in 1998, HEET promotes labor, management and college partnerships to fund flexible training programs for health professionals. A report published last year by the University of Oregon found that HEET has been particularly successful in creating sustainable solutions to curriculum delivery while reducing overall costs.

Lori Banaszak, Vice President for Instruction at Clover Park Technical College believes the joint venture bodes well for the future. “At Clover Park, our focus is on preparing individuals for success in the workplace and we are very pleased to partner with Tacoma Community College in offering quality career instruction to UFCW 21 employees at Multicare Health Systems. We see this as the beginning of a great partnership for everyone and look forward to many more collaborative opportunities.”

Nominations for the 2010 All-USA/All-State Community College Academic Team

Ernie Ransom, Phi Theta Kappa, Human Services program, and Benjamin Wells, Environmental Science & Technology program, have been nominated for the 2010 All-USA/All-State Community College Academic Team.

Ransom and Wells have been forwarded to the Phi Theta Kappa’s national headquarters and will be among those considered for Washington State’s New Century Scholar and the national All-Academic Team.

Both students are excellent representatives of the College and were nominated because of their academic achievement, community service, and strong work ethic.

In her letter of recommendation, Human Services Instructor, Kathleen Hathaway described Ernie Ransom as an outstanding student who maintains a consistently high level of quality work in the classroom. "He demonstrates a good work ethic and is an organized team player who takes an active role in the leadership of the classroom," said Hathaway.

Ransom is in the last quarter of the Chemical Dependency Specialist Certificate and his third quarter of his associate’s degree program.

"As a role model for other students, he never fails to have a positive attitude and a kind word for others. He has a background in working with the mentally ill and brings a wealth of real-world experience to the classroom," she said.

Ernie Ransom, Phi Theta Kappa, Human Services program

"Ben Wells is a natural leader who demonstrates his leadership with a calm demeanor," said Kathryn Smith, Environmental Science Instructor. Wells is a member of the EcoClub at Clover Park. Wells also devotes his time and energy to a variety of habitat restoration projects in the Puget Sound area including performing salmon counts and invasive species eradication.

Wells plans to transfer to the University of Washington - Tacoma where he will pursue a degree in Environmental Studies with a focus in Urban Planning specific to water treatment/delivery.

Benjamin Wells, Environmental Sciences & Technologies program

Winter Operations Update

You may have noticed some construction vans on campus and you may have even heard some related construction noise. In the world of facilities, that is the sweet sound of progress.

As I noted in my Fall Operations update we have a number of minor repair projects under way primarily funded by state capital dollars. These projects are under contract and beginning soon or in some cases are already under way.

Here is another quick rundown of those projects:

Building 5 -Electrical and mechanical systems replacement.

Building 6 - Renovation by Roofers Apprenticeship program to create classroom and outdoor instruction area.

Building 14 -Replacement of HVAC system and some interior improvements to prepare for collocation of NWCTHS and CPSD high school classes.

Building 15 - Renovation will also begin on the Building 15 general-purpose science laboratory (the former cafeteria kitchen area) which will be completed prior to Spring Quarter 2011.

Building 19 - Renovation to include a complete exterior “overcladding” of Building 19 - a process that is the most environmentally sensitive (i.e.; no impact in our local landfill) and the least expensive. During this construction period we will also replace the second floor HVAC system in Building 19.

While a great deal of construction work on these projects will take place during our December break, there will be noise impacts during normal college hours. With that said, on all of these projects, we will do our best to minimize the noise impact in these areas and give as much advance warning of substantial interruptions; however, we ask for your patience as construction timelines are very fluid and require ongoing flexibility on our end.

Also, thank you for your patience as parking will be temporarily impacted by construction crews.

A final word about closures: The maintenance staff will continue to turn our college thermostats down significantly during our upcoming college closure, scheduled beginning Monday, December 20, through Sunday, December 26. Prior to our closure, the Sustainability Task Force will send out an email to the college community reminding us about turning off our electronic devices prior to the closure in order maximize utility savings. Please begin to think about the utility savings game plan for your area.

Thank you, as always if you have questions please contact me directly at amy.goings@cptc.edu.

Amy Goings, MPA Vice President for Operations and College Relations

Student Employment Opportunity

The Student Programs office is hiring 2 students to work as Lead Mentors in the new S.T.E.P. Center, located in building 15, across from main entrance to the library.. These students will be responsible for connecting students to college and community resources, planning and participating in college events, and empowering their fellow students to reach their goals.

Students hired as Lead Mentors would staff the S.T.E.P. Center for 12 hrs per week, and will be paid $10.43 per hr. Applicants must have completed 12 credits at CPTC with a minimum GPA of 3.0 in order to be eligible. Application materials can also be found online here.

In the Spotlight: Information Technology Department

Clover Park Technical College (CPTC) has one of the state’s leanest Information Technology (IT) Departments, with a PC-to-technician ratio that’s quite high. To give you a visual, picture the four desktop support technicians – each one is responsible for servicing 750 computers.

Including Director Michael Taylor, the staff of the IT Department who deal with databases network, desktop support, and our telephone system include: Chuck Abbott, Frank Chase, Bev Dupuis, Robert Erntson, Kendra Fitch, Jason Kruse, and Cris-Jon Lindsay.

Because we live in a time of economic strain, we are more aware than ever of trying to work with less resources. One of the ways the IT Department contributes to that effort is simply making people more aware that printing comes with a cost and can be more efficient and eco-friendly.

Are you sitting? On average, $65,000 is spent on printer cartridges used by the College each year. Using your individual copier can cost 8¢ - 12¢ for black & white copies, and 10¢ - 20¢ for color.

Efforts will be ongoing to educate faculty and staff about being aware of their printing habits. For example, do you really need five or six copies of hand-outs for a meeting, when only two or three will do? If you’re able to print double-sided, how much paper, campus-wide (including South Hill), do you suppose we could save every year?

Here’s a wave of the future: IT is looking into more centralized administration tools. What does that look like? IT staff will actually be able to look at a computer without leaving the office. In fact, a technician can look at work orders and often identify what’s wrong with a computer. Then, depending on the issue, an individual could receive a call that walks him or her through how to repair the computer.

Ethical considerations always rule, but did you know that computer users are not only expected to use discretion and common sense on sites they visit, but that some sites can be tracked back to the College, and the College could be told that a particular computer visited a site? Supervisors are expected to be aware of what their staff are doing, and this includes De minimis use, which dictates that you keep in mind that you are working on a resource paid for by the state for state business, even though you may occasionally spend a moment or two otherwise.

Bandwidth utilization is another area of IT oversight. Even though people on campus can carry on their work with a live basketball or baseball game playing, please know it’s not a good game plan. The reason is that this uses valuable bandwidth, which is competing with the work of the College. There is only so much bandwidth, and when you and I tap into it, we’re impacting how much the College can do business and serve students.

Michael says, “When people come up with ideas about ways to improve IT business or save the College money, we’re willing to listen. Other colleges may have a certain implementation that a member of our staff or faculty would like to see at CPTC, and I’m willing to sit down and discuss pros and cons.”

Open Source (OS) is one change with benefits. Open Source refers to a program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design free of charge, that is, open.

The College is looking at some of the OS options as we slowly come out of certain contracts that are in place. For example, an anti-virus system change will take the College’s cost from $13,000 per year to $2,000.

You may be familiar with Norton Ghost ® and Symantec Ghost. Well, now there is an Open Source clone system (OCS) solution called Clonezilla, which is suitable for single machine backup and restore and massive deployment. Clonezilla has been used to clone 30 computers simultaneously. It takes only about 10 minutes to clone a 5.6 GBytes system image to all 30 computers. To visualize the savings, picture a technician working on one computer for two hours and then Ghost taking that information and making all the other computers ready for the classroom, versus spending two hours on each one of 30 computers.

CPTC is also collaborating with other colleges. Our IT Department is cautiously poised to implement a new voice over IP (voice over Internet Protocol, or voIP) system and will begin changing out the first half of our phone system sometime in 2011. Bates Technical College will follow in about two years, and so will be watching our progess. VoIP is a telephone system that’s one of the newest communication tools available, uses the same pathways as our computers, and will take us away from the old PBX. Five other colleges in the state have gone that route before us, so our IT people have been in contact with them to help us steer clear of problems.

And we’re observing as Bates goes into implementing a “desktop virtual environment.” They’re making changes to provide centralized computer services and take computer purchases out to every ten years (rather than four or five), so the return on investment is a lot higher.

“It’s a sort of horse trading with other colleges, if you will,” Michael says. “I’ll trade you this if you’ll give me that. It’s been a very positive exchange.” And the beat goes on…

Dianne Bunnell
Clover Park Technical College

In the Spotlight: Grantsmanship at Clover Park

Brandon Rogers, Grant Development Coordinator at Clover Park Technical College (CPTC), handed me a sheet of grants applied for and funding awarded for 2009-10. Some of the awards are below:

College Spark $50,000
MetLife Foundation $50,000
Gates/SBCTC IBEST $85,000
Health Education & Employment Training (HEET) $140,000
Weatherization $140,000
Special Equipment, Aviation $150,000
SEED $180,000
JBLM $1,300,000

“If you’re hitting 60-70 percent of the grants applied for, you’re doing well, and the College is in the upper end of that range this year,” he said. “New awards total over $2 million, and there were $1,026,310 in continuing awards.

As you may imagine in today’s economy, the grants process is very competitive. Take the prestigious MetLife Foundation 2010 Community College Excellence Award. CPTC was one of three winners out of 300 applicants nationwide. It is the first time the state of Washington has won the MetLife Award and the first time the award has been presented to a technical college.

So how does one go about finding out about where the grants are? Is there a “Grantz-All” mailing list that people like Brandon have their names on? Actually, there is. He’s on about a dozen different mailing lists and receives newsletters, is in touch with resources specifically for federal grants, and the state board. He also keeps in contact with the College’s partners because, occasionally, someone comes across a grant that is not known through the usual channels.

After finding out what is available, Brandon may know of faculty members who would be interested, and he’ll give them a call – or they’ll call him about an idea. Ideas then are forwarded to Cabinet. Then, a grants committee is set up (including the involved faculty member, the institutional researcher, and anyone else who would have some connection).

The evaluation components of a grant proposal are very important. Ideas need to be backed up with numbers. What, specifically, are you going to accomplish? How many people are you going to serve? What is the measurable impact on people’s lives?

Last year, the King County Workforce Development Council was applying for a large grant, aware that they’d be more competitive if they had a multi-county approach. Brandon received a call from them, asking if we would be interested in partnering on this proposal. Brandon’s getting that phone call had nothing to do with his writing a brilliant grant proposal; rather, it had to do with years of developing relationships with folks. Agencies know that CPTC is a solid partner; we deliver on what we promise.

So King County asked CPTC to participate, he submitted what was needed, they included it in their proposal, and won the grant – that resulted in CPTC receiving $180,000.

Although the current economic climate will improve over time, the situation for higher education is being called “the new normal,” and colleges will continue to rely on aggressive resource development through grants and government contracts (such as a $1.3 million contract with Joint Base Lewis McChord, which Mabel Edmonds’ Workforce Development group recently won).

You may be wondering right about now how CPTC could be in budgetary distress, due to state budget cuts, with $3 million of “extra” money. Why not just write a grant for $1.1 million, and then there’d be no need to consider furloughs?

“I wish it worked that way,” Brandon said. “The problem is that grants are essentially contracts to do a specific type and amount of work, and that doesn’t translate into staving off furloughs or saving jobs.”

However, grants can be used to purchase equipment within the strict parameter of grant guidelines. Earlier this year, CPTC was awarded a $150,000 special equipment grant. As a result, the College’s goods and services budget was spared.

Brandon said, “We certainly want more folks at CPTC participating in the grants process. But, there’s a hesitancy, and we want to remove any fears about the ‘mysterious business’ of grant writing.”

One of the misconceptions is that grant writing is akin to writing term papers. In actuality, ninety percent of the time spent in grant development isn’t sitting in front of a computer, but begins before the writing – because of the relationships already developed – or is spent arranging meetings with partners.

Brandon’s advice to the CPTC campus? Send him an email or stop by his office and let him know if you have an idea.

CPTC faculty and staff have connections with their colleagues at other institutions, and this could be of great benefit to CPTC. When a grant reader sees that the College is collaborating on a countywide level, such as the countywide efficiency committee, it’s another plus.

If, for example, you know someone at another college who’s working on a grant, find out if it may be something CPTC could participate in. If there’s any way we can partner with them and help support their proposal, it could work to their advantage and ours.

Over winter quarter, a workshop will be put on for staff and faculty to learn the art of the grant writing process. Think about it. You may already have the connections, and with grant-writing skills you could contribute to a strategy to help cope with the new normal we are bound to be dealing with for the foreseeable future.

GRANT WRITING
Presenter: Brandon Rogers
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
3:00-5:00 p.m.
Building 19, Room 107
2 Hours
Skill Standard or Core III

Dianne Bunnell
Clover Park Technical College

Santa's Coming to Holiday House!

When: December 9th, 2pm - 4pm
Where: Building 23, Room 214

All Clover Park students are invited to bring their children to Holiday House for a Christmas cookie or two, and to have their picture taken with Santa Claus.

All photo’s taken at Holiday House will be available for pickup in Building 16, Room 101 from 8 - 5 pm on December 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th. Be sure to pick your photo early so you can get copies made (at the location of your choice) for family and friends for the holidays

Scholarship Recipients: Clover Park Foundation Winter Quarter 2011

Scholarships have been awarded to the following students for Winter Quarter 2011. Thank you to all the faculty who write such wonderful letters of recommendation and to all the staff and faculty who support our students.

Congratulations to the following students:

Sherry Bailey, Early Care and Education, Students for Students Scholarship

• Vanessa Beck, Medical Esthetic Sciences, CPTC Merit - Mt. View Funeral Home Scholarship
  

• Kristin Both Medical, Esthetic Sciences, Partners in Lakewood Rotary Scholarship
  

• Tabatha Boyes, Human Services/Chemical Dependency, Key Bank Retention Scholarship
  

• Shuyi Chen, Aviation Maintenance Technician, CPTC Merit Scholarship
  

• Angel Crabbe, Nursing Prerequisites, Key Bank Retention Scholarship
  

• Rebekah DiBenedetto, Human Services/Chemical Dependency, CPTC Merit-McGranahan Architects Scholarship
  

• Ezekiel Edwards, Aviation Maintenance Technician, CPTC Deans Scholarship
  

• Kellie Faraca, Massage Studies, Massage Envy Scholarship
  

• Jennifer Justice, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Science Scholarship
  

• Keiko Kanazawa, Surgical Tech, Merit Scholarship in Memory of Joseph Kosai

• Anita Lancelin, Architectural Engineering & Design, James McGranahan Memorial Scholarship

• Yuzhu Liu, Aviation Maintenance Technician, CPTC Merit Scholarship
  

• Chuanjian Long, Aviation Maintenance Technician, CPTC Merit-CNR Inc. Scholarship
  

• William McMullen, Auto Upholstery & Glass Technician, Classical Glass Corvette Club Scholarship
  

• Yolande Moreno, Medical Esthetic Sciences, PCA Skin Academic Development Scholarship
  

• Roy O'Mary, CNISS, The Boeing Company Scholarship
  

• Charlotte Perfecto, Aviation Maintenance Technician, CPTC Merit-Harborstone Credit Union Scholarship
  

• Danielle Perkins, Human Services/Chemical Dependency, Ed Chandler Memorial Scholarship
  

• Bridget Peterson, Nursing Prerequisites, Key Bank Retention Scholarship
  

• Jolene Pierson-Mustin, Human Services, Pre-requisites Hamilton Family Scholarship
  

• Ernie Ransom, Human Services/Chemical Dependency, CPTC-Merit-Northwest Commercial Bank Scholarship
  

• Deborah Reda, Landscape Management, Hamilton Family Scholarship
  

• Concetta Scott-Masterjohn, LPN, Hudkins and Schade Family Scholarship
  

• James Tolson, Environmental Sciences, Key Bank Retention Scholarship
  

• Roger Turnbull, CNISS, The Boeing Company Scholarship
  

• Andrea Wilkerson, Culinary Arts, National Association of Catering Executives Scholarship
  

• Chao Zeng, Aviation Maintenance Technician, CPTC International Scholarship