Bert's Alerts - August 4, 2017
Spotlight
Idaho State Police recently gifted an Air Brake Training Board to College of Western Idaho (CWI). This simulation tool will provide hands-on training opportunities to students in multiple areas of the college including the Heavy Duty Truck Technician and Professional Truck Driving Programs.
“It will allow us to teach certain learning objectives in a way we never could before,” said Associate Professor of Diesel Technologies, Steve Rayburn.
(From left) Tracy Younger, Professional Truck Driving; Alex Beal, Department Chair Diesel Technology; and Capt. Tim Horn, Commercial Vehicle Safety with Idaho State Police
News Highlights
New Hours at One Stop Student Services
College of Western Idaho (CWI) has made some exciting changes over the summer to improve access to student services at the College. The new and improved registration system has been optimized to provide students with the flexibility they need to register for classes and get the advice they need to excel in their college career.
As CWI continues to focus on improving the resources offered to students, the convenience of these services is also a priority. Expansion of hours at the One Stop Student Services locations for Ada and Nampa campuses will launch on Aug. 21. The new hours will be from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday, Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the first Saturday of every month from 9 a.m. to noon. Experts will be on hand to help students with questions about financial aid, admissions, and career exploration.
CWI’s goal with adopting this flexible schedule is to better meet the needs of our students by offering all of the services they need in one location during convenient hours.
Hours starting Aug. 21:
Day Open Close
Monday 9:00 a.m. 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday 9:00 a.m. 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday 9:00 a.m. 7:00 p.m.
Thursday 9:00 a.m. 7:00 p.m.
Friday 10:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m.
First Saturday of every month*
Saturday 9:00 a.m. Noon
*Second Saturday when holiday weekend falls on first Saturday, Saturday service will start September 9 (due to Labor Day weekend)
Citizen Scientists Help Tag Monarchs
As a monarch butterfly launched from a milkweed plant to take flight, Dondi Black of Boise, raced across the wet ground through knee high grass, with an aerial net in hand, in pursuit at Roswell Marsh near Parma on July 28.
The elusive butterfly escaped, but Black’s mother, Frankie Crumb, was lucky enough to catch another butterfly — the two were part of a group of 19 citizen scientists who caught more than 50 monarchs.
“I think it’s awesome people want to help and to be involved in this project. It’s an incredible opportunity for a community college to work with monarchs in their natural habit. All of the problems monarchs are facing are human caused. If people can see them and get a chance to interact with them — the more likely they’ll work to promote conservation,” said Dusty Perkins, an Associate Professor of Biology at College of Western Idaho (CWI).
Monarch butterfly populations have undergone extensive declines since the mid-1990s due to habitat loss and fragmentation in wintering and breeding ranges. While declines in North American monarchs are likely the result of several continent–wide anthropogenic and climate-driven factors, such as habitat loss and fragmentation that reduces populations of milkweeds. Tagging butterflies in places like Roswell Marsh is a first step for scientists to track their movements and learn more about the monarchs. Citizen scientists are helping to map milkweed locations and monarch distributions.
“We can see how many of the monarchs we tagged a month ago are still here, we don’t know how long they live or where they move next,” said Perkins.
CWI graduate Vance McFarland, an intern with the Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG), has been tagging monarchs this summer for the agency across southern Idaho. McFarland kept busy placing tags on the wings of numerous butterflies. The tag is a small sticker, half the size of a penny, and each tag has an identifying number for a butterfly. The tag also includes an email address which allows data to be sent to Dr. David James at Washington State University.
The Monarch Butterfly Conservation Project was one of three grant-funded projects at CWI through the National Science Foundation and the Idaho EPSCoR program.
