Bert's Alerts—May 17, 2019
Spotlight
College of Western Idaho (CWI) was honored to be recognized during a proclamation event Wednesday, May 15, in celebration of 10 years of student success. The City of Nampa, along with Mayor Debbie Kling, applauded CWI for the growth and opportunity the College provides to empower our community.
10-Year Celebration
Don’t miss out on the celebration as we share highlights of our 10th graduating class.
CWI in the News
News Highlights
.edu Transition Planned Outages
Phase two of the College of Western Idaho (CWI) transition to the new cwi.edu domain kicks off this Monday, May 20. Planned system outages impacting numerous college-wide systems will begin Monday morning. Please see below for a schedule of these outages.
Planned Outage Schedule
System: Colleague and all associated systems
Monday, May 20
7:00 a.m. – Migration begins
As systems are transitioned, IT will contact the designated testers to test critical paths and report completion to IT.
12:10 p.m. – Planned return to normal function and campus wide notification of outage complete.
System: Blackboard
Week of May 20 - 24
Due to Blackboard undergoing annual maintenance during the week of May 20 – 24, there will be no access to Blackboard during this time.
System: Active Directory
Week of May 20 - 24
Active Directory, used to verify access permissions for employees, will be updated when your new .edu email is activated. This may interrupt your access to systems that utilized Active Directory for verification, beginning Monday and possibly intermittently throughout the week. Solution Owners have provided a list of systems to IT, and IT has identified impacted systems and put plans in place to address the transition.
There will be parts of the transition that won’t go exactly as planned and that is where we need your help. As systems are transitioned and rolled out, if you identify something that isn’t working correctly, first alert your Solution Owner, they may request you submit a Help Desk ticket. In the ticket, include as much information as you can, including the system that is not working and what action is not working. Tickets will be prioritized based on organizational impact.
During this transition, IT will be communicating updates, in addition plan to visit cwi.edu/transition for status updates.
Curious about the changes with your email address? Visit cwi.edu/transition.
2019 Commencement Preview
On Friday, May 17, College of Western Idaho (CWI) will celebrate its 2019 class of graduates in a commencement ceremony hosted at Taco Bell Arena in Boise. This year marks the College’s 10th commencement! The ceremony is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will recognize degree and certificate graduates, as well as GED completers.
The College will honor nearly 1500 degree and certificate candidates with graduates ranging in age from 16 to 81. In addition, the amount of Dual Credit students receiving an Associates of Arts degree is a new record, with 44 graduates.
Highlights of this year’s commencement include:
- 1489 Degree and Certificate Candidates
- Degree and Certificates earned 2081
- 486 Graduates with Honors
- 348 Graduates with Multiple Degrees
- 146 Veteran Graduates
- Average Graduate GPA 3.284
- 44 Associate of Arts degrees awarded to Dual Credit students
- 487 GED Candidates
- Youngest Graduate – 16 years old
- Oldest Graduate – 81 years old
CWI will provide free Spanish-English translation and hard of hearing devices for guests. The units will be available at Lobby 1 and Lobby 2 Taco Bella Arena.
Additional information about the event can be found on the CWI website. Family and friends of graduates who cannot attend commencement in-person are invited to watch a live stream of the event on the CWI Facebook page. Share your success as a graduate or congratulate a student on their accomplishments on social media using #cwigraduation on your posts.
Business Students Recognized for Greatness
College of Western Idaho (CWI) is proud to announce the 2018-2019 winners of the Pearson Outstanding Business Students of the Year: Kayla Liscinski, Bethany Winn, Kari Twiss, Dandan Shoa, and Hannah Buchana. Recognized for their academic achievements and activities in and out of the classroom, students were nominated for the award by Business faculty and internship advisors. Applications were reviewed by a faculty committee and winners were selected based on eligibility requirements, grade point average, and other honors, contributions, and achievements. Those selected receive a scholarship, a personalized certificate and medal, and have their name added to an annual plaque.
STUDENT BIOS
Kayla Liscinski
Kayla, a native Idahoan, is a third-year CWI student graduating with an Associate Degree in General Business. She currently works in a local construction company's bookkeeping department and as a bookkeeper for Homeschool Idaho, a local nonprofit homeschool organization. As a previously homeschooled student, Kayla learned to work hard and applied this skill to her college studies. When not studying or at work, Kayla enjoys adventuring with her husband, hiking, skiing, or enjoying local coffee shops. Following graduation, she plans to attend Boise State University to pursue a bachelor's degree in accounting and finance and possibly study abroad. She will graduate from CWI with 3.95 GPA.
Bethany Winn
Bethany was born in California, raised in the Midwest, and spent most of my high school years and first year of college in California. She moved to Idaho to pursue a position as Direct Care Staff at Boise Girls Academy Teen Challenge. While attending CWI, she has additionally worked in food service. Bethany has been accepted to Boise State University and will begin attending there this fall to obtain a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Business Management. Following her schooling, she is interested in nonprofit business work and pursuing a corporate career.
Kari Twiss
Kari was born and raised in Moscow, Idaho, graduating from Moscow High School in 1991. She studied Business at the University of Idaho for two years before beginning a career in bookkeeping. Shortly after moving to the Treasure Valley in 1999, she got married, started a family, and became a stay-at-home mom. She is married to her husband of 19 years, Eric. The couple has three children: Marisha (17), Ethan (15), and Ryan (12). In addition to being a full-time wife and mom, Kari operates a home-based business, is active in her church, and is the Host Family Coordinator for the Boise Hawks. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, gardening, traveling, and watching her kids play sports. Kari will graduate from CWI with a 4.0 GPA.
Dandan Shao
Dandan and her husband moved to the United States from China in 2015 where she worked as a high school teacher. Her first job in the United States was working in the Caldwell Public Library as a page. Facing challenges of English language and American culture in this role, Dandan knew she needed to make a change. One year later, she went back to school and became a student at CWI. Looking back on the past three years, she is very proud of the progress she has made and still remember how shy she was in her first class. “Thanks to the courage from my instructors, classmates, and especially my husband,” Dandan said, “I gained much confidence. I am graduating with a GPA of 3.95 this semester.”
Hannah Buchanan
Hannah graduated from CWI in December 2018 with an Associate of Arts in Business, while maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.866. Since then, she has attended her first semester at Boise State University majoring in Accounting. She chose Accounting not because it was a subject she knew and understood, but because it was something she could learn to know and understand. While at CWI, an influential accounting professor helped Hannah develop a love for numbers and making things balance. Additionally, she completed an internship with the College’s Business Office.
For more information regarding the CWI Business Student of the Year award, contact Joe Welker at joewelker@cwi.edu.
Virtual Benefits Fair Winners
Thank you to all who participated in the inaugural Human Resources (HR) Virtual Benefits Fair! We received some great feedback and look forward to incorporating some new ideas next year. Congratulations to the winners of the drawing: Tyler Haile, Elaine Holmes, Crystal Ferguson, Andrew Miller, Sam Galan, Jessica Argyle, Randy Guay, Tim Schuh, Teresa Martinez, Ted Daniels, Briana Roberts, Jennifer Pope, and Jordan Mendoza. If you haven’t already, please be sure to stop by HR to claim your prize!
Ada County Campus Parking Lot Repairs
Please be advised the parking lots at College of Western Idaho’s Ada County Campus Pintail Center and Lynx Building will be undergoing asphalt repairs May 12 – June 2. Repairs will include replacement, crack filling, sealcoating, and restriping. Parking will remain open as the work will be done in phases. Thank you, in advance, for your patience.
Contact Facilities Planning and Management at 208.562.3545 or facilities@cwi.edu with questions, concerns, or for more information.
