CWI Compass Connect - April 2, 2019
News Highlights
An Incredible Impact
Hometown: Boise, Idaho
Major: Sociology
Graduation: 2012
“College of Western Idaho (CWI) had an incredible impact on my life," recalled 2012 alumna, Amanda Graham. "I left with an associate degree and zero student loan debt which, I think, is pretty empowering! Because of CWI, I went from a shy, young girl to a confident leader."
Amanda had dreams of attending a private, liberal arts college as a young 16-year old.
“In 2009, both of my parents lost their jobs. I was a month away from graduating high school, and suddenly we couldn’t afford in-state tuition at a public university.”
CWI opened its doors to students that same year and quickly became an affordable and viable option for Amanda.
“My parents worked hard to make college a reality for me. They were not only influential in my decision to go to college and helped keep me motivated throughout the journey.”
As a CWI student, Amanda helped to create the College’s first student government, the Associated Students of College of Western Idaho (ASCWI) and became the organizations first president. As the ASCWI president she advocated for students’ interests, met regularly with the College’s president and Board of Trustees, gave speeches, and attended events with legislators.
“I developed lifelong passions, skills, and friends at CWI."
Amanda graduated from CWI in 2012 with an Associate of Arts in Sociology. Following CWI, she transferred to Boise State University where she completed a bachelor’s degree in Sociology in 2015. Amanda now works for the Information Division of the Idaho Supreme Court as an Administrative Assistant to the Chief Information Officer. She will begin law school this fall.
Start empowering your future – visit cwi.edu/BeMighty!
Start by Believing Day Proclamation
College of Western Idaho (CWI) is supporting the Start by Believing campaign, which changes the way we respond to rape and sexual assault in our communities.
CWI Board of Trustees will read a proclamation stating Wednesday, April 3, as Start by Believing Day. The event will also feature the “What Were You Wearing?” Survivor Art Installation. The display combines the stories of sexual assault survivors with the clothes they were wearing when they were assaulted. The goal of the art installation is for participants to see themselves reflected in not only the outfits, but also the stories.
Most victims of sexual assault never report the crime to law enforcement, often because of the responses they receive from friends and family members. The Start by Believing campaign is designed to change this.
Criminal Justice faculty Stephanie Ritchie Breach and McKenzie Wood organized the event with Aleshea Boals, Victim Witness Coordinator at the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office. Students Jessica Hall, Tessa Moreno, Shelby Irwin, and Angela Parker assisted with the event as well.
Start by Believing Day Proclamation Reading and “What Were You Wearing?” Survivor Art Installation
Wednesday, April 3
Noon to 1 p.m.
Nampa Campus Academic Building, 2nd Floor Atrium
Fall 2019 Registration
College of Western Idaho (CWI) is excited to announce registration dates for the Fall 2019 semester.
Priority registration at College of Western Idaho for the Fall 2019 semester begins April 8. Priority registration allows continuing students a chance to enroll in classes ahead of others in order to stay on track to graduate.
- Students can register online anytime on or after their assigned registration time.
- Continuing students, who enrolled and attended classes any semester since fall 2016, are eligible.
- Assigned registration times are based on cumulative credits earned.
- Students can check myCWI and CWI email for their assigned time.
- Dual Credit students are not eligible for priority registration.
Open Registration for all students, including new and continuing, begins April 15 at 8 a.m.
Visit us online to learn more about applying to CWI, orientation, registering for classes, and for One Stop Student Services hours and locations.
CWI Library Wins an “Oscar”
If you happen to see College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) librarians wearing designer gowns and tuxedos to work, don’t be surprised. CWI Library was recently awarded an Excellence in Academic Libraries Award, which is the academic library equivalent of winning an Academy Award. The award is given by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) to honor an outstanding community college, college, and university library each year. According to ACRL, the award recognizes “the accomplishments of librarians and other library staff as they come together as members of a team to support the mission of their institution.”
Moments like this cause us to reflect on how far we’ve come, and those of us who have been at CWI for a while know how much fun that can be. So I thought I’d give you a quick recap of what CWI Library looked like when I began as director in 2011:
- Our library resided in a single classroom in the NCAB building, where our few bookshelves were notably devoid of actual books (we had about 2,000 total at that point).
- Those searching for books in our catalog typically received a blank page that noted only that there were no results for that search (suuuper encouraging).
- Aspiring researchers visiting our website found a single page that redirected them to our accreditation partner, the College of Southern Idaho, for the majority of their needs (advancing the message: Welcome to CWI Library! Now go away).
- For the few databases we offered, we had a handout listing the passwords you needed to log into them. (You had to call or stop by to get access).
- Oh, and the Library staff consisted of two people. I was one.
While the two of us poured our energy into serving students, things at CWI Library were pretty dire back then. The most common thing we heard from students as they walked into our space was, “Oh. My high school library was bigger than this.” Faculty sent their students straight to Boise State to work on class assignments, and our established local library colleagues looked askance at the valley’s latest startup, wondering how long they would be the ones who had to support our students. A fair question.
Then, there was the first accreditation site visit by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), which took place in week six of my new job as director. Although I did my enthusiastic best to convey my vision and plans for our library, there was no getting around the fact that none of my grand ideas were actually in play yet. When the accreditation team listed the library among the five areas they recommended for improvement at the college – and after I spent about 24 hours believing myself to be an absolute failure whose promising career had just crumbled to dust – the challenge was on. The mandate I received from the vice president to whom I reported at the time was essentially: Kim, make us a library.
We grew everything year by year: our staff, our systems, our spaces, our collections, our knowledge, and our reputation on campus. We invented our jobs and our processes day by day because there was no precedent to fall back on and no expert to consult. We were all new to our roles and were all in these roles for the first time. We built an organizational culture that prioritized flexibility, experimentation, and innovation, because for us there was no other way to get things done.
Many staff and faculty at CWI have similar stories. Working at our college in the early days was equal parts challenging, exhausting, and inspiring beyond words. For the library staff, these years have been an incredible experiment in inventing a community college library according entirely to our ideals and the needs we heard from our students and faculty.
It worked. First we saw our accreditors entirely reverse their opinion of the library, offering us a commendation at the next site visit in 2017. Now, as we display our new plaque in the exhibit case outside the Nampa Campus Library, we accrue evidence that even with our small staff and minimalist spaces, CWI Library has grown into a top-caliber academic library, serving the campus with services, resources, and staff that rival any of our more established peers.
It worked because we worked hard. It worked because we listened to our community of students and faculty and built the things they asked for. From my perspective as Director, it worked for another reason, too: because when you hire a team of talented, passionate, driven professionals, give them ownership of their jobs, invite them to participate in the creation of a common vision, and manage by supporting and trusting them, you end up with an award-winning organization.
