Bert's Alerts—March 2, 2018
In the Spotlight—March 2, 2018
College of Western Idaho faculty are attending the Integrative Learning Workshop and Conference today, March 2, at the Zions Bank Building in downtown Boise. The event, focused on professional development and integrative learning at the College, will feature keynote presenter, Kim Filer, Assistant Provost for Teaching and Learning at Virginia Tech.
News Highlights
SCORE Big at the Next CWI Night
Enjoy a night out while supporting students! College of Western Idaho (CWI) is proud to partner with the Idaho Steelheads for a night of hockey and fundraising on Friday, March 30. Students, alumni, employees, family, and friends of the CWI community are invited to attend as the Idaho Steelheads take on the Utah Grizzlies. Funded through Employee Giving and group ticket sales, one lucky, future CWI student will be selected as the next $1,000 SCORE Big Scholarship recipient during the game!
Date: Friday, March 30
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Century Link Arena
233 S. Capital Blvd., Boise
Each $15 ticket to the game includes dinner and for each CWI group ticket sold, $5 goes directly back to the SCORE Big Scholarship fund! Purchase tickets and learn more by visiting the CWI website.
Life-Changing Career Choice
Plumber, Andy Sifford, was carefully maneuvering a 56-gallon water heater with a colleague, in a five-car garage of an Eagle home, making sure not to let it crash on the hood of a yellow Chevy Camero.
Every job is different and unique and that is what Sifford loves about the trade. On this recent winter day, he added a water softener and worked on a water heater. Sifford is in the third year of College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Plumbing Apprenticeship Program as he is preparing for the Journeyman’s test which he will take at the end of his fourth year.
“You get a great sense of accomplishment at the end of each day,” Sifford said. “A lot of times we go to flood scenarios, at the end, people want to give you a hug. You build a relationship with people, even if it’s a one-time stop, you just changed their life — you could have just saved them thousands of dollars in damages if you prevented more damage from being done.”
Sifford worked a number of jobs including installing satellite dishes after he graduated from Boise State University with a bachelor's degree in History, but he had a difficult time finding a teaching job. He said he was in a bad spot, with student loans and debt when he decided to give the Plumbing Program at CWI a shot.
“In three years, (this trade) has completely changed my life around, from where I was drowning in student loans and a lot of debt. You have to work while you complete the program, so I’m making money and have no debt. I’m actually paying off my other debt from student loans because of the trades,” he said.
Steve Bennett, Plumbing Program Coordinator at CWI, teaches students about residential, commercial, and industrial plumbing. After spending 30 years as a plumber, which included owning his own business, he decided to become an instructor at the College.
Bennett has a passion for plumbing and the history of the trade. He said the word “plumber” was first used during the Roman Empire — plumbum is Latin for lead, the Romans used lead pipes to deliver water. Not only does plumbing save lives, there have been tremendous innovations in both residential and commercial plumbing. There are many aspects of the trade, including steam heating systems, where a plumber never touches wastewater.
“If it wasn’t for indoor plumbing as we know it, then most of our grandparents and great-grandparents would have died in childbirth or from diseases like cholera, dysentery, and typhoid,” Bennett said.
Bennett uses hands-on training techniques to give students a chance to simulate scenarios they will encounter in the field — using labs at the College. The labs have various water heaters, parts, and fittings with a range of tools, so students can work on projects. There is also a lab that simulates a house foundation with a crawl space. Students learn about plumbing theory, the Uniform Plumbing Code, and reviewing blueprints as they work towards becoming licensed plumbers.
“We’re helping people solve their problems, and if an apprentice approaches plumbing like that, they write their own paycheck,” he said.
Sifford enjoys time in the classroom. On a number of occasions, he has taken questions he encounters in the field to the classroom to get answers. He appreciates the perspective he gets from classmates and instructors.
“You’re not just getting a teacher, you’re getting somebody who has worked in the trade for 20 to 30 years,” Sifford said. The instructors were serviceman or inspectors, so you get whole different perspectives and a well-rounded education.”
There will continue to be significant demand for plumbers in the future, with a 24 percent increase in the profession expected from 2015 to 2024, with a median hourly wage of $23, according to data from EMSI.
Sifford feels the trades have been overlooked by students for years.
“I would encourage people, if you're not sure because of financial reasons, you should at least check it out, you can go to the first orientation class and it may change your whole life— it’s changed my life for sure! Even later in life, starting the trades at 34, I’m going to be retiring early and making a good living.”
CWI College Application Week March 5-9
College of Western Idaho (CWI) wants to help you start college this fall during College Application Week, March 5 - 9.
This is a great time for future students to apply and be ready for open registration in April. Students who apply early have greater options for classes, and can complete other important steps like applying for financial aid and scholarships.
Additionally, the College is hosting a financial aid event March 7 from 4-6 p.m. at the Ada County Campus Pintail Center where students can get assistance completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and receive tips on paying for college. Eighty-one percent of CWI students receive some form of financial aid to assist them in their pursuit of an education.
Anyone interested in applying to CWI can fill out the online application at cwi.edu/apply. For more information on becoming a student at CWI, as well as learning about financial aid options, visit cwi.edu/go.
Road to Nationals: Preparation and Teamwork
Hard at work during a Friday practice at the College of Western Idaho (CWI) Nampa Campus Academic Building, Bryce Funkhauser of the College's Speech and Debate team fine-tunes his dramatic interpretation (DI) speech he has been working on for months. In a moment of passionate acting and memorization, he recites a beautiful piece entitled, “Elevator to Salvation”, written by Brad Lawrence. Preparation is key in development of his national caliber performance at the Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament held in Nashville, Tennessee, March 14-17.
Each competitor brings different strengths and talents to the team, teaching and assisting each other along the way. Coach, Mark Galaviz, lends his expertise as a former national champion speech and debate competitor to Funkhauser. In turn, Bryce assists fellow team mate, Garrett Ellison.
“We bounce ideas back and forth to get fresh eyes,” said Funkhauser. “After staring at it for a while, it’s difficult to see new things to improve.”
“The team sets aside numerous clinic hours every week,” said Jim Gatfield, Director of Forensics. “We are successful because we work together so well.”
Selecting a dramatic reading brings a different feel and suspense to the audience. Standing center stage, preparing the voice of their character, a small, black binder is pulled chest high. Opening wide before speaking, the authors' characters come to life in this storytelling event. The pages in the binder represent the author's words, interpreted in a DI speech.
"A page turns as an indicator for an audience a new scene is beginning and symbolize progression in the piece,” said Funkhauser, speaking of the purpose and meaning of the binder. “It has my entire speech in it, and I might look down in case something happens. The best is when you can look down just as the judge is not looking at you,” he jests. 
Practicing a piece for a period of two months up to a year may seem repetitive; however, it is the work of champions.
“They are trying to make the piece (speech) as perfect as it can be. There is no main structure change now,” Gatfield explains. “We make sure the time is consistent, memorization is sharp, and tweak small things. Taking a piece that is done and smoothing it down till it’s as fine as it can be. Students select a piece that speaks to them. It can be kind of cathartic seeing the characters come through.”
Of great importance to a busy Speech and Debate team is staying healthy and keeping up on their studies. In the form of fatherly and passionate advice from coaches to help the team prepare for Nationals, Galaviz said, “We are with you.”
Drink water, take a nap, eat something that is healthy," Gatfield exclaimed.
As the team moves forward on their road to nationals, the picture comes sharply into focus. Motivation, hard work, irreplaceable contributions from coaches and veteran members of the CWI Speech and Debate team, such as Funkhauser. In the end, the individuals on this team are amazingly talented and hard-working individuals.
Andrew Carnegie, a well-known business magnate, once said, "Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward team objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results."
With a common vision of success at the national level, CWI's Speech and Debate team can channel their energy to help guide and lift each other along the way in Tennessee at Nationals.
Scott Keene
Keene, a student in CWI's Communication program, is following the Speech and Debate team's road to nationals as part of an internship for his Communication Capstone class.
Anthropology Club and Service Learning Participants Prepare for Connections Project
College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Connections Project provides a positive space for students to share what they have been passionately working on throughout the year with fellow students, family, friends, faculty, and the community. Club tables and panel discussions are a fantastic opportunity for student groups to share their work.
Members of CWI’s Anthropology Club, along with their club advisors, Nikki Gorrell and Annette Grove, are busy preparing for this year’s Connection Project. Gorrell feels that the Connections Project is a chance for students to showcase their best selves and to share what they have been working so hard on during the year.
The club will be setting up a table at the event to advertise an exhibit they are currently working on in collaboration with CWI’s Career and Technical Education students. The exhibit, The Tools in Our Hands: The Evolution of Career and Technical Education, will illustrate how technology has advanced from the tools and techniques used by primitive humans to the complex methods and materials used in the present day through artifacts, interviews, and images. Club members will focus on areas of welding, drafting, and horticulture for the first installment of this exhibit. Each will have the opportunity to observe students working in each discipline and conduct interviews in order to gain insight into the education necessary to obtain careers in these fields. They will be asking students why they chose their specific craft and the challenges associated with pursuing their career choice. This qualitative data will then be linked back to what the club members have learned regarding the history of these fields through the lens of Anthropology. The exhibition, on display at the Nampa Campus Micron Education Center through December, will feature an incredible visual timeline of tech innovation, as well as several interesting artifacts.
“Anytime you have an opportunity for a student to take information that they’ve learned or are learning, and then explain it to someone else, it reengages them in the material on a much deeper level,” Grove said. “Every time they do that, it cements it in their brain. When they have the opportunity to teach it or present it someone else, I think that’s invaluable.”
Another aspect of the Connections Project will be a panel discussion hosted by Martha Timberlake, for Social Sciences, to discuss various aspects of service learning. Students will be serving on the panel with members of the community who have invited CWI students into their programs, such as the West Ada School district and the Girls Scout’s Vision Program. Students will talk about their experiences and the value that service learning has added to their education at CWI. The community partners will share what they find beneficial regarding the relationship they have curated with CWI and how student participation contributes to the mission of their programs. Faculty members will discuss the challenges of integrating service learning programs into their classes and the reasons why these programs are beneficial for students. This panel will be helpful for anyone interested in gaining insight regarding the benefits and challenges involved with service learning.
“Getting in there and being a part of something outside of what you do in your normal student life is a window into other opportunities,” said Timberlake. “The networking that happens as a result of that kind of participation really makes a qualitative difference in student’s experiences at CWI”.
Do you have student work you would like to showcase at Connections Project? Faculty can submit work on behalf of their students, or students may submit work on their own. All submissions are due by Friday, March 23. For details regarding the submission process visit cwi.edu/current-students/connections-project-submissions. Please email connections@cwi.edu with any questions or if you want to talk through ideas.
Join us for this year’s Connections Project held at the Nampa Campus Academic Building on April 26 from 3-8 p.m.!
Visiting Writer Series Welcomes Lidia Yuknavitch
Lidia Yuknavitch, the fiction headliner at Storyfort, will be reading at Nampa Campus Academic Building on Wednesday, March 21 at 7 p.m.
Yuknavitch is the author of national bestselling novels The Book of Joan and The Small Backs of Children. Her widely acclaimed memoir, The Chronology of Water, was a finalist for a PEN Center USA award for creative nonfiction and winner of a PNBA Award and the Oregon Book Award Reader’s Choice. A book based on her recent TED Talk, The Misfit’s Manifesto, was released in October 2017. Her TED talk “The Beauty of Being a Misfit” has been viewed almost 2.5 million times. This event is open to the public.
Date: Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Time: Reading begins at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a Q&A
Location: Nampa Campus Academic Building, second-floor atrium
For more information, please contact Malia Collins at maliacollins@cwi.edu.
College of Western Idaho Partners with Grand Canyon University
College of Western Idaho (CWI) announces a partnership with Grand Canyon University (GCU), a prominent, private Christian university located in Phoenix, Arizona. Under the articulation agreement, students who complete a degree at CWI can seamlessly transfer applicable credits toward an undergraduate program and graduate from GCU.
The agreement is based on course equivalency and program transfer guides established between the two institutions used to evaluate official transcripts. In the guides, preferred courses from CWI applicable toward GCU programs are identified. GCU will accept a maximum of 90 semester transfer credits, of which a maximum of 84 can be lower-division credits. Students are required to meet a minimum of 120 semester credits and cumulative 2.0 GPA to graduate with their bachelor’s degree.
Students can pursue employment areas of nursing, education, business and STEM, as well as have opportunities to earn a degree in Christian studies or worship arts. Each transfer student works with a transfer specialist who provides a Lopes Pre-Evaluation of potential transfer credit and personalized step-by-step support throughout the transfer process. Transfer scholarships and GCU’s transfer experience events are also available to CWI students.
INBRE Summer Scholars Program
College of Western Idaho (CWI) is excited to offer paid summer research opportunities for students through the Idaho INBRE Research Program. Students will earn $1,000 for two weeks of full-time work from May 21 to June 1, 2018. Eight positions are available for CWI students.
The INBRE Scholars program will give students the chance to immerse themselves in scientific research for two weeks. They will delve deeply into the research project and carefully investigate a research question. Students will learn to analyze and interpret the results, and the project will culminate with the design of a scientific poster which will be presented at the INBRE Research Conference in Moscow, Idaho.
Through this process, scholars will develop and utilize quantitative reasoning skills and integrate scholastic learning with many aspects of the project. This program will give students the opportunity to participate in original scientific discovery while furthering their education and having fun!
Application deadline is March 23, 2018.
Contact Dr. Suzanne Oppenheimer at suzanneoppenheimer@cwi.edu to learn more about applying for this program.
Faculty Present at Idaho Education Technology Association Conference
The Idaho Education Technology Association (IETA) held their annual conference Feb. 5 – 7 at Boise Centre on the Grove in downtown Boise. The IETA conference is for school district IT, administrators, instructional educational professionals, and teachers in Idaho to hone their skills in technology, pedagogy, practice, and leadership. The conference is a wonderful way for Idaho educators to keep up on innovative teaching and learning strategies and to stay on top of future trends.
College of Western Idaho (CWI) faculty, Scott Straub, and University of Idaho faculty and former CWI faculty, Carol Billing, collaborated to present at the conference. The topic was “20 Ways To Connect With Students and Parents” which shared insight on how teachers can make better connections with students and parents. Over 80 people attended the workshop, and nearly 1,000 educators from around Idaho and the northwest attended.
Faculty of Distinction—February 2018
Justin Vance has been selected as College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Faculty of Distinction for February 2018. Vance is currently serving as the Department Chair of Culture, History, and Politics at the College. He has a passion for helping students, especially non-traditional students, reach their educational and professional goals. He loves working at CWI because of his colleagues who are truly enthusiastic about teaching and helping students succeed.
Vance earned a bachelor’s degree in History from Boise State University, a masters in Diplomacy and Military Studies from Hawai’i Pacific University, and a Doctor of Education from University of Southern California. Vance grew up in McCall, Idaho, though he lived on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, from 2000 to 2016. He returned to Idaho in 2016.
He is the author of several scholarly works on the American Civil War in the Pacific and World War II including, “Pacific Islanders and the Civil War” in Asians and Pacific Islanders and the American Civil War published by the National Park Service. In his free time, he enjoys motorcycling and spending time with family.
Nampa Campus Academic Building Closure
The Nampa Campus Academic Building (NCAB) will be closed Sunday, March 11, 2018. The existing chiller at NCAB will be removed from the roof and a new chiller will be lifted into place. Due to the weight of the chiller and the associated risk during the crane operation, access to the building will be prohibited. Key card access will be disabled from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. the day of the lift. Please plan for this closure.
Contact Facilities Planning and Management at 208.562.3545 with questions.
Valley Regional Transit Requesting Feedback
College of Western Idaho (CWI) is working closely with Valley Regional Transit (VRT) to enhance ridership and offerings for students and members of the community. VRT recently released the final draft of the ValleyConnect 2.0 plan. The plan provides a blueprint for design principles and performance measures for future transit development in Ada and Canyon counties. The plan also provides for two conceptual network scenarios – intermediate and growth.
VRT is currently in the community comment phase of ValleyConnect 2.0. Your input is important and will play a large role in shaping the final version of the plan. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey about ValleyConnect 2.0.
Information about the plan and survey can also be found on VTR’s recent Facebook post.
The deadline for providing comment is Thursday, March 15, 2018. The ValleyConnect 2.0 plan is scheduled for final review for approval by the VRT Board of Directors at the April 2 VRT board meeting.