Bert's Alerts - January 30, 2014
In the Spotlight
In January, Idaho Public Television presented a new special that takes a look at some of the roadblocks to higher education. “Journey to College”, which was co-sponsored by the Idaho State Board of Education, included a panel of education professionals who discussed initiatives across the state that are helping students prepare for college and other post-secondary programs. The 90-minute show also featured student spotlights, one of which was CWI student Margaret Slater, who appears in the final minutes of the program. The full show is available to view online.
News Highlights
CWI Presents to Legislators
This week was Education Week during the state’s legislative session. College of Western Idaho (CWI) President Bert Glandon presented to the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC) on Tuesday, Jan. 27. As part of the presentation, President Glandon provided the committee a report on CWI’s accomplishments and goals in the coming year along with the budget requests for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016.
On Monday, Jan. 26, all three community college presidents joined together in making presentations to the House and Senate Education Committees. The collaborative approach reinforced the community colleges’ commitment to working together to help Idaho reach its 60 percent goal, and provided the opportunity to highlight what each of our colleges are doing both in collaboration and independently to serve their communities. Legislative representatives offered several compliments to all three community colleges and were very supportive of the work being done.
The full presentations are available on myCWI, under College Resources > Communications and Marketing > Current Marketing.
Over the next several weeks, these legislative committees will take the governor’s recommendations, as well as CWI’s and other agencies’ requests into consideration when planning the FY2016 budget.
Visiting Artist Series Welcomes Idaho Shakespeare Festival
The College of Western Idaho (CWI) Visiting Artist Series is slated to resume this spring with a special performance and presentation by Idaho Shakespeare Festival. Actors will visit CWI’s Nampa Campus Academic Building on Feb. 3 to perform The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare. The performance is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be followed by an acting workshop at 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
CWI Night at the Steelheads Returns
College of Western Idaho (CWI) invites employees, students, alumni, and the community to support student scholarships by taking in CWI Night at the Steelheads, Friday (Feb. 13), at CenturyLink Arena. CWI has partnered with the Idaho Steelheads hockey team for the second consecutive year to offer discounted $15 tickets (full price is $19), of which $5 will be donated to the CWI Foundation for student scholarships. The puck drops at 7:10 p.m. and the game is sure to provide a fun night in downtown Boise as the Steelheads take on the Utah Grizzlies.
To purchase tickets, visit www.igrouptix.com/idahosteelheads.
Username: CWI
Password: NIGHT
CWI Hosts First Program and Career Expo
On Feb. 11, College of Western Idaho (CWI) will welcome future students, community members, and education partners to Nampa Campus to explore CWI’s professional-technical programs at the inaugural technical program and career expo. CWI's Professional Technical Education program labs will be open for tours, refreshments will be served, and faculty, advisors, and industry representatives will be on-site to help with:
- Hands-on activities
- Demonstrations
- College Readiness Tips
Event Details
- Wednesday, Feb. 11
- 4-8 p.m.
- Nampa Campus Micron Center for Professional Technical Education
5725 E. Franklin Rd., Nampa – View Map
Culinary Dining Opens for Spring
The College of Western Idaho (CWI) Culinary Arts program has opened its dining room, deli, and bakery for the spring semester. Students will serve lunch Wednesday through Friday each week from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The dining room, deli, and kitchen are an important part of the learning experience for students and a great way to support the program. To schedule a lunch meeting or to view the current menu, please visit cwi.edu/culinary-dining.
Tech Talk: Office 365 Update and Online Security Reminder
The College of Western Idaho (CWI) Information Technology (IT) Department presents this series of Bert’s Alerts articles intended to share updates at CWI as well as relevant technology topics.
Office 365 Migration
The date for CWI’s Office 365 migration is quickly approaching. IT is still on target for a mid-February start and in preparation here are a few details. Employees should be on the lookout for an email next week that will explain when accounts will be migrated, as well as what to expect the day of migration and the day after.
Here are some of the benefits to expect from the new Office 365 Platform:
- Increased email security and spam filtering
- An updated Outlook Web Access interface
- An increase for individual mail box storage up to 50GB
- Online versions of Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, and Powerpoint
Be Alert
IT would like to remind employees to beware all requests for them to click on an email link to gather information. A number of people have recently received emails with requests to, “Please open and update!” Employees should do neither and are asked to delete the email immediately.
Security experts project 2015 to be a record year for attempts to gather personal information, due to banks and retailers in the United States changing to higher security credit cards in the coming months. Those who would like to steal personal information plan to do so before it gets more difficult. One way to combat these efforts is to not click on links in emails that were not requested.
January Faculty Honor Presented to Shanks
Kimberly Shanks has been awarded College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Faculty of Distinction for January.
Shanks is a Nursing faculty at CWI. She is being recognized for leaving a wonderful legacy of serving in an atmosphere of caring. In one great example of this, Shanks recently offered to stay late with a student during a clinical rotation so that they could see the birth of a newborn. The student had the following to say about Shanks, “she took the time out of her day to stay with me so I could have the chance to experience this. Thank you!”
Please join in congratulating Kimberly for receiving this honor.
