Bert's Alerts—May 15, 2020
In the Spotlight
A student in Tim Schuh’s Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) 135 Flight Lab launches a drone at the Kuna Butte during the week of May 4. The students were primarily focused on autonomous grid flights for mapping and agriculture.The UAS lab was one of seven CTE labs taking place to allow students to safely complete the spring semester.
News Highlights
2020 Essential Nursing Pinning
Nursing pinning ceremonies are a long-held tradition throughout Schools of Nursing; the pins are worn to reflect the school of nursing the nurse attended. These ceremonies have been a tradition for College of Western Idaho (CWI) since our inaugural class of Professional Nursing students. Rest assured, this year’s pinning will go on!
It has been said in many a CWI pinning ceremonies, it takes an entire college to grow a nurse! Many contribute to a graduating nurse’s success including the faculty who taught the pre- and co-requisite classes, the advisors who cheered them on, the security and facilities staff who kept the buildings and labs safe and clean, and many others who have touched their lives throughout their journey at CWI.
Plan to join us Saturday, May 16, for the 2020 Essential Nursing Pinning beginning at 4 p.m. as we line the streets entering the Nampa Campus Academic Building to honk, clap, and cheer on 44 CWI Nursing graduates. Cars can begin lining up at 3 p.m. along East Terra Linda Way and Selland Way.
A closed ceremony will take place following the celebratory processional to honor our 2020 graduating class of Nursing students as well as acknowledge the heroes who work every day to keep the rest of us safe and healthy. Spots for the ceremony are on a first-come, first-served basis as parking is limited. Families, friends, and supporters are asked to remain in their cars in an effort to follow social-distancing protocols. Guests are welcome to stay on campus and provide enthusiasm and celebratory cheers from your cars, as the nurse’s recess from campus and begin their journey to their future careers.
Visiting Artist Series Hosted Matt Bodett
College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Visiting Artist Series welcomed Chicago artist, Matt Bodett, Friday, May 8 via Zoom. Studio Art students were privileged to learn from Bodett’s expertise as well as ask him questions.
Bodett received his Master of Fine Arts from Boise State University in 2011 where he taught printmaking until he moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 2013. Since moving to Chicago he has played an active role in disability advocacy and utilizing artwork to open dialogue around mental health. As a visual artist, poet, and performance artist, Bodett has had opportunities to share his work at venues throughout Chicago including Steppenwolf Theatre, Victory Gardens, The Poetry Foundation, Intuit: the Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, Evanston Art Center, Gallery 400, and several other locations. Bodett has also exhibited and performed internationally, most notably at the Freud Museum in London and the No Limits Festival in Berlin. Matt is on the advisory board for the Institute for Therapy through the Arts based in Evanston, Illinois, and serves on the artist’s counsel for 3Arts.
“The content of this workshop was amazing! Matt presented his work and the concepts behind them in a really effective way,” commented Studio Art student, Jordan Barno. “I loved how he mixed so many mediums and some classic art history pieces in very new ways.”
CWI’s Visiting Artist Series is made possible through a grant from Idaho Commission on the Arts, which is supported by National Endowment for the Arts.
Graduate Shout-outs
In celebration and acknowledgement of our 2020 graduates, College of Western Idaho’s first-ever virtual ceremony will go live June 19. In addition to the ceremony, faculty, staff, and graduates are invited to attend a two-day, curbside pick-up event June 17 and 18 at the Nampa Campus Micron Education Center. Additional details about both events will be communicated shortly, so stay tuned!
To congratulate our graduates on their accomplishments, the Communications and Marketing team is gathering shout-outs to our graduates from faculty and staff. Shout-outs will be used across various communication channels in the weeks leading up to the virtual ceremony.
For those interested in participating, please choose one of the submission options below:
Option 1 – Congratulatory Message and Photo
Congratulatory Message
- Direct your message to 2020 CWI graduates.
- Message should be 50 words or less.
Photo of YOU!
- Please take the photo horizontally.
- Do your best to step away from your background – right up next to a wall is not ideal.
- If you take the photo with your phone, please do not zoom in.
- If you know how to, please blur the background. Portrait mode on newer iPhones is great to use for this.
- Do not crop or add any filters to the photo.
Option 2 – Video Shout-out
- Video should be two minutes or less.
- Shout-out should be directed to all 2020 CWI graduates rather than individuals.
Please send your congratulatory messages, photos, and/or videos to Jessica Argyle at jessicaargyle@cwi.edu by Friday, June 12.
Development on CWI’s New Brand Continues
Work on College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) new brand is continuing along; however, we wanted to update everyone on an adjusted timeline and upcoming next steps.
Brand champions met in early March to participate in a new logo development overview meeting where they provided feedback to help further explore, develop, and refine logo candidates. This feedback helped provide direction for the logo options to be included in an upcoming survey. Currently, the logo options are under review for any potential trademark issues. Once we have clearance on the viable options, those identified will be included in the survey.
As a reminder, the survey will be distributed internally to all employees and students, as well as externally through CWI communication channels. Included in the survey will also be options for an updated and/or new color palette. Color is an integral part of a brand and will help identify our institutional brand identity. As we continue to move forward in developing a new brand and establishing our unique attributes, color will help set us apart from other institutions.
While logo development and the overall brand process is still moving forward, the current disruption everyone is experiencing, due to COVID-19, has caused delays in our original timeline. We apologize for the timing of the survey release being during the summer, however, we hope employees off contract and students will watch CWI’s channels for announcement of its release and participate in this feedback process. In addition, feel free to encourage those outside of CWI to participate in the survey as external feedback is also important.
Thank you for engaging in this process. We look forward to gathering feedback from all of you and the CWI community related to logo and color development. Feedback gathered from the survey will help us with further logo refinement and the overall brand process. Our team will continue to provide updates on this entire process.
If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to reach out to Communications and Marketing at 208.562.2222 or communications@cwi.edu. Stay well, and stay mighty!
Founding College Employee Announces Retirement
After nearly 13 years of service to College of Western Idaho (CWI), Debbie Jensen has announced her retirement. For nearly a decade, Jensen has worked in Facilities Management and Planning coordinating electronic and key access for the College, an important component of keeping our campus safe. Her responsibilities have included programming the electronic doors, granting individual’s access, distributing keys, and keeping all files pertaining to access and keys up-to-date and accurate – all of which she has done with a high degree of integrity.
Prior to CWI, Jensen was employed by Boise State University for 15 years where she was privileged to assist in the creation of the College of Engineering and became the Management Assistant for the first Dean of Engineering. She later transferred to Boise State’s Canyon County Center and worked as the Management Assistant for the Executive Director, Dennis Griffin for several years. While working for Griffin, she was involved in the creation and building of Boise State West, now known as College of Western Idaho’s Nampa Campus Academic Building.
In 2007, Jensen was the first person to join Griffin, CWI’s first President, as his Executive Assistant. She served in this role until he retired in 2009. As one of the seven founding members of CWI, she served on the President’s Executive Team participating in the exciting and challenging task of creating the College from scratch and is one of the last original members still working at CWI.
“It was a leap of faith for Debbie to leave BSU and become part of this adventure,” Dennis shared, “but she proved to be a valuable member of my team.”
Prior to her move to Facilities, Jensen was the Executive Assistant to the Executive Director of Information Technology for two years. Facilities was under Information Technology (IT) at the time, so along with her IT duties, she also worked with building access and keys.
Jensen’s family is very important to her. She enjoys spending time with her three sons, twin daughters, eight (almost nine) grandchildren, and one great grandchild. Her pastimes include reading, sewing, doing genealogy, and enjoying the great outdoors.
“I have worked side-by-side with Debbie my entire time at CWI,” said Jeff Flynn, Executive Director of Facilities Planning and Management. “I don’t even know where to start, but can definitely say there will be a void not having Debbie as part of our daily operations here at the College. As stated above, there is really nothing Debbie hasn’t been involved in during her 13 years at CWI. She was not just a go-to person for myself and the Facilities team but for many when it came to her institutional knowledge. Debbie’s dedication to CWI and her co-workers is unmatched, and while I am excited for Debbie and this next phase of her life, she will be missed. Congratulations, Debbie! I look forward to seeing what this next phase of your life brings. Cheers to you!”
Jensen’s last day at the College is Friday, May 15.
Planned Blackboard Outage
College of Western Idaho’s Blackboard system will be unavailable from May 22-29 during a planned outage.
Work will take place to complete the migration from self-hosting the system on the College’s internal servers to a cloud-based Blackboard service. The cloud-based system will provide a better user experience for students and faculty by improving support resources. Additionally, the changes will make it faster and eliminate the need for a weekly maintenance window on Sunday mornings, which prevents users from accessing the system.
Faculty will submit grades by May 21, so the migration can begin the next day. The Grade Appeal deadline is extended to June 30. More information on the process can be found in the Grade Appeals Policy of the Student Handbook.
Students can contact One Stop Student Services with questions at 208.562.3000.
