Bert's Alerts - March 20, 2015
News Highlights
Tech Talk: CWI Network Outage Reminder
Starting at 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Network Services will be unavailable for scheduled updates. The interruption in services is required for the Information Technology Department to move CWI’s data center. The outage window is expected to continue for at least 24 hours and will directly impact:
- Help Desk (phones, website, and email)
- Phones
- Colleague
- Blackboard
- myCWI
- CWI website
- Email (incoming email will be delivered when service is restored)
- File Shares
- VPN
The work that IT is doing allows the College to:
- reduce overall and long term costs;
- implement multiple Internet service providers to increase reliability;
- implement a fiber optic network between sites to significantly increase network speed and reliability;
- prepare the network for implementation of a second data center for increased reliability and disaster recovery.
Once all services are restored and tested on Sunday, March 22, an email notification will be sent to all staff.
CWI Campus Development Update
The College of Western Idaho (CWI) is continuing work on expanding its long-term, three campus concept – with facilities and services to support Ada County, Canyon County, and online.
Last year, CWI’s Nampa Campus Master Plan was updated to reflect how the College can better serve the community and prepare for future growth. The College also completed programming for two buildings that were identified as the greatest needs on the Nampa Campus; a Student Center and Health Science building. Additionally, with more than 50 percent of the student population coming from Ada County, CWI is looking to acquire a permanent campus location for students attending classes in Boise.
In March, the CWI Board of Trustees provided approval to enter into a purchase agreement for 32.5 acres on the north boundary of the Nampa Campus between the Academic Building and Cherry Lane. The parcel of land will become part of the College’s Nampa Campus Master Plan designed to support growth through 2040. The College will be completing due diligence over the next several months and anticipates closing on the land by the end of this fiscal year at which time the College will have more information on the immediate use and long-term plans for the land.
Additionally, CWI’s Board of Trustees recently approved moving forward with commissioning an external survey to evaluate voter support for a possible bond to further develop CWI’s Ada County Campus and Nampa Campus expansion.
“When considering the future of Ada and Canyon Counties, it is clear that accessible higher education will be critical,” states CWI Board Chair Mary Niland. “We want to make sure we are acting in the best interest of our community and that we’re most efficient with the taxpayers’ money while at the same time meeting the needs of our growing community.”
The proposed campus expansion stems from growth in enrollment since opening its doors in 2009. Between 2009 and 2014 CWI added over 9,000 students making it the largest serving community college in Idaho. As a short-term solution for addressing this growth, the College has leased multiple buildings to facilitate classroom space in Boise and Nampa until a longer term solution could be identified. This fall CWI’s enrollment hit 10,217 credit students, with an additional 10,480 non-credit program students enrolled across the College’s campuses in Nampa and Boise, community locations, and online.
CWI Piloting Food Service Concept
College of Western Idaho (CWI) has partnered with a national vending machine operating company, Canteen, to provide a self-service food and vending market for the CWI community. CWI has opened the Canteen micro-market at its Ada County Campus Pintail Center to determine the feasibility of expanding the service to other locations. The market offers a variety of items, including fresh food, to its customers.
The micro-market concept is based on an honor system of payment. Customers can access items out of machines and pay at a kiosk. The kiosk will accept cash, debit and credit cards, and Paypal accounts. There are security cameras in the area to monitor payment.
The test site will be operational for six months and then evaluated for continued use. Success of the program will be determined based on overall use as well as adherence to the honor system. If theft is an issue, Canteen will discontinue the markets. If the program is successful, markets may be expanded to additional CWI campus locations. The number and type of machines can be customized by market location.
Micro-markets are usually found in controlled access areas such as staff lunchrooms or in hotel lobbies. CWI is one of the first higher education institutes to try the concept.
CWI Free Application Week Returns
College of Western Idaho (CWI) is helping future students take the first step in starting college this fall with Free Application Week, March 23-30. Anyone who applies to CWI during Free Application Week will have the $25 application fee waived.
Free Application Week is intended to encourage future students to apply now so they are ready to register for the fall semester when class registration opens in April. Students who register early have a greater opportunity to get classes before they are full as well as complete other important steps like applying for financial aid and scholarships.
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, visit cwi.edu/go.
FAFSA Completion Night at CWI
College of Western Idaho (CWI) will host a FAFSA Completion Night in Boise and Nampa on March 24, 2015. The events will help future students complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application which is necessary to receive federal financial assistance for college.
CWI will have academic and financial aid advisors available to answer questions, provide direction, and give tips on best practices. In addition they will discuss the importance of being responsible with financial aid during college and in loan repayment.
Space is limited. Anyone planning to attend should RSVP to reserve a spot. There are four sessions to choose from between two locations.
March 24 – Sessions start at 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Reasons to Attend:
- Complete Your Application for Financial Aid
- Understand Your Financial Aid Options
- Learn to Manage Your Financial Aid
- Advisors On-Hand to Help
In addition to FAFSA Completion Night, CWI is offering to waive the $25 application fee for anyone applying to CWI during FREE Application Week, March 23 and 30.
Skills on Wheels Car Show Set for April
College of Western Idaho (CWI) SkillsUSA is presenting the third-annual Skills on Wheels Car Show, April 18, to fundraise for students traveling to the organization’s national competition this summer. The car show will transform the Micron Center for Professional Technical Education in Nampa into a showroom of muscle cars, stock cars, eighteen wheelers, motorcycles, and more. The event is free and will include music and food.
Registration is currently open and entries are needed for all categories. Vendors are also invited to join the event. For registration information or to sign up for a booth visit cwiautoshow.org or call SkillsUSA Advisor, Sean McConnachie, at 208.562.2356 or seanmcconnachie@cwi.edu.
Writing Center Sends Tutors to Present Research
This month the College of Western Idaho (CWI) Writing Center sent two tutors to present at the Northwest Tutoring Center (NTC) Conference at Green River College in Auburn, Washington Amber Shoopman led a discussion on adaptive change in conversation during a tutoring session. Maria Howard presented research on how Writing Center tutors play an essential role in student retention and persistence towards graduation and future success beyond college. Shoopman and Howard said their experience was beneficial to their current work and expect it to impact their future careers as teachers.
“Having the opportunity to present my research and techniques, and talk about our writing center, not only improved my skills and confidence for my own teaching career path, but garnered an improved image of CWI and brokered an increased level of respect for our consultants,” said Shoopman. “In addition, the NTC conference introduced me to several new programs and theories that will benefit and strengthen the Writing Center and, by extension, CWI students.”
Howard shared during her presentation, “Students in particular see how the Writing Center helped them through gaining more confidence and skills—both academically and socially—has helped to ensure retention towards graduation.”
This marks the fourth time CWI Writing Center tutors have been accepted to present original research at regional, national, and international conferences. CWI Writing Center Coordinator, Rick Coonrod, says he is not surprised by the continued success of CWI tutors.
“The tutors are treated like grad students,” says Coonrod. “They come to us already talented as writers and scholars, and I simply expect them to act that way.”
Writing tutors are given plenty of encouragement to research their ideas. Part of their training includes researching tutoring topics and presenting their findings to the group. Often, tutors then take their research further, revising and expanding their research for conference presentations.
The conference presentations identify the CWI Writing Center as a professional enterprise comparable to any other long-established writing center in the country. Nevertheless, the opportunity to enter the professional conversation at a conference has a positive impact on the individual tutors and students.
Howard adds, “Attending the conference helped me immeasurably, because it reinforced that the work I am doing in the Writing Center is instrumental in the success of myself and students.”
March Staff of the Month Given to Keulman
College of Western Idaho (CWI) is pleased to announce CWI’s March Staff of the Month honor has been awarded to Gloria Keulman.
Keulman has worked at CWI since October 2011 as an Administrative Assistant II for the School of Social Sciences and Public Affairs. “Serving all in an atmosphere of caring” is a Core Value that Keulman has been recognized for embracing every day. One colleague shared, “on a regular basis, I get to hear her interact with students and she does a fantastic job empowering them in their roles”.
Keulman was born in New York. She is the granddaughter of Spanish immigrants but lived most of her youth in Cuba and Mexico where she learned to speak fluent Spanish. She attended business school in New York City and completed a few community college courses. Keulman’s previous career was working in Corporate and Human Relations for Hewlett-Packard in San Francisco, Calif. Her experience included working short term assignments for two of HP’s former Chief Executive Officer’s.
Keulman is married and has three children and four grandsons. She says she spends much of her free time attending her grandsons’ sporting events and babysitting. She is also an active part-time real estate agent and rental property manager.
Please join in congratulating Gloria. Thank you for your commitment and continued dedication to CWI and its faculty, staff, and students.
