CWI Compass Connect - March 24, 2015
In the Spotlight
College of Western Idaho (CWI) SkillsUSA is happy to announce it will present 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 into a showroom of muscle cars, stock cars, eighteen wheelers, motorcycles, and more. Registration is currently open and entries are needed for all categories. Vendors are also invited to join the event. The event is free; music, food, and the best cars in the valley will all be on display. 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.
News Highlights
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.
Seven CWI Students Punch Ticket to BPA Nationals
The College of Western Idaho (CWI) will send seven students to the Business Professionals of America (BPA) National Leadership Conference this spring following an impressive showing at the BPA state competition, March 6, at Broadview University in Boise. CWI students qualified for nationals in 12 total events; capturing seven first-place awards, five silver medals, and four third-place honors.
Kaj Forney led the way for CWI with first-place finishes in three events: Network Administration using Microsoft, PC Servicing and Troubleshooting, and Systems Administration using Cisco. Joining Forney with gold medal honors were Katia Peralta Arroyo (Advanced Word Processing), Jaime Duke (Basic Office Systems and Procedures, Keyboarding Production), and Drew Powell (Computer Network Technology).
The seven students will now turn their attention to the BPA national conference, which will be held May 5-9 in Anaheim, Calif.
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.
Norton Named March Faculty of Distinction
Greg Norton has been selected as College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Faculty of Distinction for the month of March.
Norton, a faculty member in the CWI Education Department, has been working with a new adjunct faculty this year to help her get up to speed with CWI’s publisher software and to generally share content and ideas for teaching the curriculum. They have started to meet together each Saturday and he even invited her to dinner with his family over the holidays. His commitment to helping others demonstrates CWI’s core values of caring and legacy of learning.
CWI is happy to congratulate Greg for his Faculty of Distinction honor.
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.
