Iowa TRIO Newsletter
October/November 2012
2012 MAEOPP Professional Conference,
November 11-14,
Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, MO
Hope to see you there!
Iowa TRiO Events
Iowa TRiO Drive-In
Written by: Brad Spielman
On October 22nd, 50 TRiO colleagues from across the state converged upon the campus of Iowa State
University for the annual Iowa TRiO Drive-In Conference.
This year’s conference was framed by three thematic goals: advocacy, best practices, and self-care. The
event began with remarks from Iowa TRiO President, Kris Nerem Lowey. Kimberly Jones and Rheanna
Martinez from the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) addressed the crowd via skype on the
issues of Congressional sequestration and advocacy through social media methods.
Award-winning motivational speaker Brenda Clark-Hamilton (http://www.brendaclarkhamilton.com)
challenged the group to “Bring you A-Game” to your work, your life, and your relationships through
her high energy and entertaining presentation.
Following lunch, three breakout sessions, highlighting proven best practices, were offered. Topics
included Career Exploration, Financial Literacy, and serving At-Risk Youth.
Finally, Tony Wilson (http://tonywilsononline.com/about.html) introduced the TRiO professional to the
“3 Principles” which he argues, is the root of all human psychology and behavior.
The Iowa TRiO Student Leadership Conference was a Success!
This event was held on October 10th, 2012 at Iowa State University in Ames. The morning started off with
a keynote speaker, Matt Diehl, TRiO-SSS Program Coordinator for Central College. His message was
geared towards inspiring the students to be leaders. Following his presentation, students attended
powerful breakout sessions. Topics they could pick from included: The Power of Understanding
Yourself, Resume Writing, Using Social Media, Leadership and Diversity, Student Leadership: Great
Change can Result from a Small Step, Study Abroad, ISU Campus Tour, Dealing with Difficult People as
Leaders, Interactive Leadership, Welcome to College: Transitioning to and Making the Most of College,
College Student Panel, Building Everyday Leadership, Financial Literacy: Understanding your Credit,
and Service Learning.
For lunch the students and advisors came together to hear Colice Sanders, Academic Advisor for TRiOSSS for the University of Northern Iowa, tell her story. She is a TRiO-SSS alumnus of the University of
Northern Iowa and proof that TRiO works. She encouraged the students to reach their potential and
pursue their educational goals.
One student commented about the conference “It’s helpful in showing us that we can be leaders even if
we are quiet or shy. Anyone can become a leader if they work at it.”
Pictures from Central College
Upward Bound Math & Science at Central College
was NOT refunded. What can you do to help
protect our TRiO students and programs?
COE Updates
www.coenet.us
Take Action to Prevent Congress from Cutting TRiO by 8.2%
For the last several weeks, talks of the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts
of 8.2%, known as “sequestration,” have dominated local news reports. Under
current law, this cut is scheduled to go into effect on January 2, 2013 and would
roughly cut $55 billion a year for Fiscal Years 2013 to 2021 from each of
“defense” and “non-defense” federal accounts. Sequestration would mean 69,000
fewer TRiO students served. It harms education, economy, and will cost 2.1
million jobs.
This 8.2% cut would reduce TRIO funding by $68.9 million and result in a loss of
roughly 69,000 TRiO students in FY 2013. Given that the future of our students
and, indeed, our nation is at risk, all TRIO supporters are strongly encouraged to
take advantage of the fact that their legislators are back home on the campaign
trail and let them know that sequestration is absolutely unacceptable. There are
several ways you can take action:
 Write Your Legislators – visit you legislators’ websites and e-mail a message
 Engage in Social Media – Many legislators maintain social media accounts.
Check (http:govsm.com/w/House)
 Write an OP-ED/Letter to the Editor – You can find additional tips for
drafting and submitting an op-ed to your local paper through COE’s TRiO
Media Relations Handbook.
We want to know what you are doing for advocacy!
Please send your stories and efforts to Ellie Burns.
Office 641.628.7651 Fax 641.628.5912
burnse@central.edu
A Letter From Our Iowa TRiO President
Iowa TRIO:
As I come to the close of my Presidency, I have so much to be thankful for. I
would like to take this opportunity to thank the Iowa TRIO Board and
Committee Chairs and committee members for their hard work and dedication to
our association. This has been a very challenging year, and with their support
and work, we have persevered! Thank you to the Iowa TRIO membership for
working diligently on TRIO advocacy efforts. As you know, Iowa TRIO
suffered a devastating loss when 8 Upward Bound programs, 2 McNair
programs, and 1 UBMS in the state were defunded during the recent grant
competitions. We have spent many months on advocacy for these programs
working with COE. Focus was on Senator Harkin’s office. Only one UB
program was in the funding band. These programs are long standing programs;
some have been around since 1965. With the losses of these programs, Iowa lost
the opportunity to serve hundreds of students, and a fantastic pool of wonderful,
talented, TRIO professionals. This was a heartbreaking time for Iowa TRIO. We
are not done with our advocacy efforts, and we will continue to fight!
Even with these losses, our association is strong. We have so many wonderful,
talented staff working every day in the trenches changing the lives of TRIO
students in programs statewide. I hope you will continue to be a strong advocate
for them and for your programs. Every voice counts. I also hope that you will
continue to invest your time in Iowa TRIO. You can do this by serving on
committees or on the board. You can also support the Iowa TRIO sponsored
events like TRIO DAY at the State Capitol, Student Leadership Conference,
Annual Conference, and the Drive In. If you don’t know how to get involved,
please contact me or any board member! We want to see Iowa TRIO continue to
grow!
Thank you for allowing me to serve you as President of Iowa TRIO. As always,
it has been an honor and a privilege to work with so many dedicated
professionals in Iowa.
My best to you all,
TRIO WORKS!
Kris Nerem-Lowery
Iowa TRIO President
2011-2012 Iowa MAEOPP Board of Directors
Kris Nerem-Lowery, President, Iowa Central Community College
lowery@iowacentral.edu
Jen Schuller, President-Elect, DMACC Urban
jlschuller@dmacc.edu.edu
Jayna Woolridge, Past-President, Briar Cliff University
jayna.woolridge@briarcliff.edu
TJ Thayer, Treasurer, Iowa Lakes Community College
tthayer@iowalakes.edu
Katie Whipple, Secretary, Central College
whipplek@central.edu
Ellie Burns, Member at Large, Central College
burnse@central.edu
Cindy Benedict, Member at Large, Northeast Iowa Community College
benedictc@nicc.edu
Trudy Strain-Ahrens, Member at Large, Iowa Lakes Community College
tahrens@iowalakes.edu
Jennifer Patterson, Member at Large, North Iowa Area Community College
pattejen@niacc.edu
Iowa TRIO Board Meeting:
August 2012 – Iowa Lakes Community College, Emmetsburg Campsus
Have something you want to see in the next newsletter?
Contact Trudy Ahrens at tahrens@iowalakes.edu