Our Students Stand Out at Nationals

Submitted by Julie Myers

Last week we announced that the National Kitchen and Bath Association had chosen our student, KC Smelser of Fairfield, as a 3rd place winner in the national Student Kitchen Design Competition. But of special note was the fact that of nearly 200 entries nationwide, we had 4 entries that made it beyond the 2nd round of judging into the top 19 designs; the most of any school in the nation!!!  I am very pleased with how well our students performed in this industry competition.  Puts us in a nice spot for our re-accreditation and site visit next year!

Pictured below are the other 3 individuals with designs that made it into the top 19, from left to right: Tiffany Royland, Alicia Adachi, and Cindy Semple.

Search committee formed for new Dean/CEO

From MSU News Service

The Montana State University College of Technology has formed a search committee to find a new dean/CEO for the college. The search committee will be co-chaired by Gwendolyn Joseph, interim dean/CEO for MSU-Great Falls, and Bob Hietala, dean of MSU's Gallatin College Programs in Bozeman.

The search committee will be co-chaired by Gwendolyn Joseph, interim dean/CEO for MSU-Great Falls, and Bob Hietala, dean of MSU's Gallatin College Programs in Bozeman. Committee members include faculty, staff, administrators, members of the Great Falls community and the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education.

"This is a very important position for MSU and therefore we will be conducting a national search in order to identify and bring to campus the best possible candidates," said MSU President Waded Cruzado.

MSU plans to use a search consultant to help gather a pool of applicants and hopes to have a new dean in place for the start of the next academic year. The position came open in mid-November when Joe Schaffer stepped down to accept the presidency of the Laramie County Community College in Wyoming.

Members of the search committee include:

Campus representatives: Brian Cayko, faculty; Jillian Ehnot, classified staff; Leanne Frost, professional staff; John Godwin, student; Bruce Gottwig, faculty; Leah Habel, professional staff; Ken Wardinsky, professional staff.

Community representatives: Brett Doney, president /CEO of Great Falls Economic Development Association; Laura Goldhahn, president of Benefis Hospitals; Brad Talcott, chair, MSU-Great Falls development board.

Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education representative: John Cech, deputy commissioner for two-year education. 

A Student Survey on the Grading System

Submitted by Wendy Dove

Students:  We want to hear your voice! 

How often do you want to check your grades? Do you think grades in D2L are easy to use?  What about grades in Banner?

The Student Grading System Survey is now open for you to give your input into grading systems used at MSU-Great Falls.  If you've already completed the survey - thank you!  If you haven't, please do so soon.  The survey will close on February 24.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7WTP933

If you have questions about this survey, please contact either

Susan Cooper (scooper@msugf.edu, 771-4357) or

Dennis Veleber (dveleber@msugf.edu, 771-4325

Renaming? Rebranding?

 Submitted by Pam Parsons

I hope you shared your thoughts on the name of our College by responding to the survey that was sent to you a few weeks ago.

Faculty Scholarship Honorees

Submitted by Laura Wight

Please join me in congratulating the 2012 XLi Conference faculty scholarship honorees: 

• Teri Dwyer, BT&T Division
• Donna Eakman, BT&T Division
• Karen Wilcox, DE&T Division
• Robin Williams, HS Division

These faculty will attend the XLi Conference to be held in Missoula, Montana, March 8-9, 2012.  In addition, the scholarship recipients will give a brief presentation to the MSU-Great Falls campus at the end of the Spring 2012 semester showcasing their experience at the XLi Conference and how they plan to incorporate the conference information into their teaching. This showcase event date is planned for April 2012.

Bringing the U to You 2012  

The 2012 Great Falls Lecture Series continues on February 23 at 7 pm in Heritage Hall with Steve Holland's presentation "Traversing the Technology Valley of Death" to be held this Thursday in Heritage Hall. Steve is the Director of the MSU College of Engineering's Montana Manufacturing Extension Center and will be discussing how ideas often struggle to become commercially viable; the result of inventors and innovators successfully traversing its pitfalls, cliffs and blind canyons. The road to successful commercialization of new technologies is fraught with twists and turns, pot holes and detours. Come to understand why and how the technology "Valley of Death" can be traversed by partnering for the right resources and expertise.

A Fresh Start for Struggling Students! 

Great Folks Recipients
Submitted by Lisa Albert 

Julie Rummel and Tom Degel are the Great Folks recipients for January.  Julie is being recognized for going above and beyond while helping Veteran students.  Tom is being recognized for compiling the data needed for IT to create student network accounts.  Congratulations! 

Remember, Great Folks forms are available in Human Resources or on the intranet under Human Resources forms.

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