As we approach the end of the semester, I have the privilege of speaking at many events and telling KCKCC’s great story!
At the KCKCC Foundation Hall of Fame Awards and Scholarship Event held on the 27th (where the Foundation raised nearly $120,000 for student scholarships) and at last Friday’s Employee Recognition and Retirement Dinner (where years of service awards totaled 1,575 years!) I had the opportunity to share our story with community and business leaders as well as KCKCC retirees. Here are the Cliff notes:
While many institutions strive to achieve national recognition or awards, in addition to KCKCC’s women’s basketball team winning the NJCAA DII National Championship, and our local Phi Theta Kappa program receiving Five-Star Chapter Status and Dr. Tucker receiving Five-Star Advisor Status, this last month…
The KCKCC Music Department received an unheard of five (5) awards in the internationally-published magazine Downbeat!! In this month’s magazine, it announced its 42nd Student Music Awards recognizing the “Best Student Musicians of 2019”. The Blue Devil program and students received awards for: Outstanding Performance, Large Vocal Jazz Ensemble; Outstanding Soloist; Outstanding Engineered Studio Recording; Outstanding Performance, Blues/Pop/R&B Ensemble; and Outstanding Performance, Small Jazz Combo.
The KCKCC Debate Club also had a remarkable showing at the Community College National Sweepstakes Debate Championship! Of the 58 community colleges and 370 students competing, Kansas City Kansas community College in an unprecedented fashion, swept all three debate events! Members of our debate team won: Gold in International Parliamentary Debate, Gold in NFA Lincoln Douglas Debate and Gold in Team Parliamentary Debate. In the sweepstakes competition, the team received Gold in Debate and silver in combined debate and speech. The team also received several other awards and recognitions.
To keep up with all these amazing stories and more, a link to all On Campus newsletters has been added to the website at: https://www.kckcc.edu/communications/on-campus.html . It’s a great place to go if you need to catch up on College happenings. Share this with a friend to keep spreading the word on all the great things taking place at KCKCC!
KCKCC President Works with Veterans Community Project – To stay engaged and up-to-date with KCKCC’s many tremendous programs and students, in April, I launched a new program of the month initiative. On April 22, I had the opportunity to work with the morning with our Building Engineering and Maintenance Technology Program as they and the Construction Technology Program learn valuable and high-demand construction skills and as they also provide great community service by building Tiny Homes for Kansas City’s Veterans Community Project. The mission of the VCP is to eliminate veteran homelessness by providing transitional housing and access to 360° service solutions. A tremendous thanks to Professor Shawn McGivern for letting me join his class and learning about the great things they are teaching in the program! If you don’t follow the program on Twitter, you will definitely want to. https://twitter.com/KCKCCBPM. Continuing this initiative in June, let me know if you would like to be the next ‘program of the month’.
KCKCC Downtown!! Classes are on the schedule and students are beginning to enroll in evening KCKCC classes offered at Wyandotte High School in fall 2019. Beginning with courses offered in the general education core, Office Assistant Professional, developmental education, and ESL and GED, we are proudly beginning to offer additional educational opportunities to KCK’s Downtown Core. Community response has been very positive and philanthropic organizations and foundations have begun to commit financial resources to help fund ESL and GED courses that don’t have traditional tuition revenue streams. https://twitter.com/KansasCityKSCC/status/1123241227967696896
Workforce Partnership Joins Forces with KCKCC to Develop Registered Apprenticeship Programs. Recently, KCKCC was mentioned in the KANSASWORKS Newsletter about our participation in creating registered apprenticeship programs for high-demand, high-wage career fields such as welding and industrial maintenance. As the #SkillsGap across the country increases and as over 7 million open jobs in the United States continue to go unfilled, registered apprenticeships are great way of combining college-based and work-based educational experiences.
Congratulations to KCKCC’s Fire Science Program! In April, our fire science program was recognized by the National Fire Academy as a certified Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education Program (FESHE). Through the hard work of Todd Miles and others in the fire science program, the program has received this national certification. Working with coordinators of two- and four-year academic fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) management degree programs, the U. S. Fire Administration established the Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education (FESHE) network of emergency services-related education and training providers. This certification brings national recognition to the program and opens opportunities for partnerships with local and regional Emergency Medical Service providers.
Congratulations also goes out to our Practical Nursing Program! With the excellent instruction and clinical training provided by our practical nursing faculty and clinical sites, KCKCC PN students exceeded the national average for first time pass-rates for the NCLEX-PN exam! With a pass rate of 90.3%, our students surpassed the state rate of 88.31% and the national rate of 85.91%. This is no easy task – Congratulations and great job!
Other College Updates:
Strategic Plan Development. We are currently right on schedule for the development and projected completion of our new 2020–2023 Strategic Plan. The strategic plan steering committee has met and reviewed all recommendations for edits/additions/deletions to the plan Strategic Priorities, Goals and Initiatives. Final wordings is being reviewed and Marketing is creating public facing materials that will be submitted to the Board of Trustees at the June 18, 2019 board meeting.
FY 2020 Budget Development Process. Thank you to everyone who submitted budget information and requests towards the development of next year’s budget. Presidents Extended Cabinet reviewed all requests with department/division leads and President’s Cabinet will continue to rank and prioritize requests. Requests are being categorized into three categories, Operational Requests, Personnel Requests and Capital Requests. As most frequently happens, budget requests exceed projected operating revenues, so all requests will be evaluated in relationship to the Strategic Priorities, Goals and Initiatives identified in our new strategic plan with a special focus on strategically investing in growth opportunities.
Partnerships. As partnerships are a key element to the success of colleges and universities in today’s new economic environment, continued effort is being placed on the creation of new or enhanced partnerships with other educational institutions, business and industry, and social and philanthropic organizations. To this end, some of the recent or upcoming conversations include representatives of Donnelly College, University of Kansas Health Systems, University of Kansas School of Medicine, USD 500, Kansas City Kansas Unified Government, Hispanic Development Fund, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City, J.E. Dunn Construction and Dunn Family Fund Foundation, Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Hall Family Foundation. In all conversations held to date, representatives from each of these organizations have expressed support and gratitude of our efforts as Kansas City, Kansas’ community college, and our efforts directed towards additional outreach of under-served populations.
Upcoming Events. Many end-of-the-semester events are scheduled in the coming weeks and I hope to see you there!
- Family Fund Ice Cream Social: this Tuesday, 11:00 – 1:00, Main Commons
- Pioneer Career Center Bash: this Tuesday, 11:00 – 1:00 p.m. and 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
- Main Campus Bash: Wednesday, 12:00 – 2:00 p.m., Math/Science Courtyard
- TEC Bash: Friday, May 10, 10:00 – 1:00 p.m., front foyer
- Chat with the President, last for the semester, Wednesday May 8, 2:15 – 3:15 p.m. Upper Jewell
- Pioneer Career Center Graduation Reception, Monday, May 20, 6:00-7:30 p.m., PCC
and most importantly;
- KCKCC Commencement: Thursday, May 23, at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.!
Horns Up!
Dr. M.