The Great Folks recipient for April is Lee Ann Myllymaki.  Her organization and cleanliness of the safe in the Student Services area is outstanding.  Thanks for all of your hard work - it certainly makes the "records" aspect of our jobs much easier!

This year, the bookstore team was able to put over $68,000 back into students' hands!

MISSOULA - The Montana Digital Academy, the state's publicly supported online school, is inviting high school students to enroll in classes that will start in the fall.
The academy is based at the University of Montana and was created by the Legislature to offer students access to classes that their own schools may not be able to offer.

This fall, MTDA plans more than 45 high school courses, including core classes, advanced placement classes and languages including Chinese and Latin. Electives include digital photography, oceanography and web design.

The online classes are taught and graded by licensed instructors and credit is granted by the schools where the students are enrolled. Students can enroll through their schools. Courses are offered free of charge for the 2010-11 school year only.

The Board of Regents is meeting on May 28 and 29 at MSU-Northern. An agenda is available at:  http://mus.edu/board/meetings/2010/May2010/May2010.asp

AHIMA announced last week that it has been granted accreditation for its Certified Coding Associate (CCA) program for a period of five years through April 2015 from the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), the accreditation body of the Institute for Credentialing Excellence. The CCA is the first HIM credential worldwide to be accredited by NCCA. AHIMA joins an elite group of more than 100 organizations representing over 200 programs that have received and maintained NCCA accreditation.

The CCA, an entry-level credential, distinguishes coders by exhibiting commitment and demonstrating coding capabilities. The CCA designation has been a nationally accepted standard of achievement in the health information management field since 2002. More than 8,000 people have attained the CCA certification since its inception.

"Achieving formal recognition by a third party through accreditation is the ultimate seal of approval, establishing AHIMA, through its Commission on Certification's practices and processes, as the definitive gold standard," said Mike Niederpruem, MS, CAE, AHIMA vice president of certifications. "Being the first NCCA-accredited coding certification program worldwide only occurs once and further validates AHIMA's commitment to mission to be the professional community that improves healthcare by advancing best practices and standards for health information management and the trusted source for education, research, and professional credentialing."

MSU - Great Falls sponsored an EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting training and certification on May 14 and 15. There was overwhelming response from the Great Falls and surrounding communities for the training.  The class reached the max capacity of 100 registrations very quickly. The attendees included contractors, roofers, painters, property managers, real estate agents and remodelers. This EPA training requirement has been a controversial issue; however, the risk of being assessed fines as high as $37,500 a day for noncompliance has driven people to register for this training.
 
The College is considering a second training session upon sufficient demand, if you know of anyone in need of this training please contact Linda McNeil at 406-454-3217 or email Linda at lmcneill@msugf.edu.