THE PLAIN BROWN
RAPPER
Fall quarter, 2005
Visit us on the web:
http://sttacc.ctc.edu
A quarterly newsletter published by Staff Training for Technical and Community Colleges
Executive Board
President
Randy Karnath
Grays Harbor College
rkarnath@ghc.edu
President Elect
Micki Wells
Green River Community College
mwells@greenriver.edu
Secretary
Susan Root
Wenatchee Valley College
sroot@wvc.edu
Treasurer
Marlene Cortez
Spokane Community College
mcortez@scc.spokane.edu
Editor
Diana Grigsby
Grays Harbor College
dgrigsby@ghc.edu
Webmaster
Margaret Eby
Lake Washington Technical
margaret.eby@lwtc.edu
Conference Coordinator
Diana Hagen
Bellevue Community College
dhagen@bcc.ctc.edu
Region A
Aleta Fuhrer
Grays Harbor College
afuhrer@ghc.edu
Region B
Olivia Blake
Seattle Community College Dist.
oblake@sccd.ctc.edu
Region C
Donna Staggs
Everett Community College
dstaggs@everett.edu
Region D
Ana Ellsworth
Big Bend Community College
anae@bigbend.edu
Region E
Cindy Cannella
Pierce College
ccannella@pierce.ctc.edu
President’s
Message
Dear STTACC Members:
I find it hard to believe that another year is almost over and a new year is almost here. I hope
everybody had a good year and I wish everybody a better year in 2006.
One of the charges of the President is to make a conference report. Our host, Spokane Falls
Community College, did a fine job. The theme of the conference was "Enriching Ourselves...Enriching Our Students." Margo Long was our keynote speaker on our first day. Her
topic was "Energizing For Tomorrow" whick gave us good pointers on how to stay pumped up in
everything we do in life. John
Irvin was our keynote speaker on the second day of the conference. His
topic was "Hilarity Therapy" which got
everybody laughing. His topic
involved audience participation and I
was one of the fortunate, or
unfortunate, ones who got to participate. We all can use a
little laughter in our lives. They
both did an excellent job and
nobody left disappointed.
We had several breakout sessions to choose from including
Suzy Weller's Moving From
Surviving To Thriving, Sheri Staudinger's Fitness, Cindy Bone's Gender Communication, John
Boesenberg's Civil Service Reform, Marion Diel-Gire's Ten Green Rules Of Thumb, Laura Sankovich's Human Resources For You, Shusmita Sen and Angela Wizner's Barnga Simulation, and
Nicole Williams' Dissecting The New Food Guide Pyramid. We all learned something to take
back to our colleges from these great variety of speakers.
We enjoyed an Awards Banquet which included a casino night as entertainment. The winners,
of the Exemplary Staff Awards were: Region A-Brenda Dell, Grays Harbor College; Region BDiana Hagen, Bellevue Community College; Region C- Ron Owens, Shoreline Community College;
Region E- Brian Rabold, Green River Community College. Congratulations to all the winners!
The election of officers was held. New officers are Randy Karnath, President; Micki Wells,
President Elect; Marlene Cortez, Treasurer; Sue Root, Recording Secretary; Margaret Eby,
Web Master; Diana Grigsby, Plain Brown Rapper Editor. The Regional Coordinators are: A-Aleta
Fuhrer, B-Olivia Blake, C-Donna Staggs and Robin Brent;D-Ana Ellsworth; and E-Cindy Cannella.
The 2006 conference is a joint conference with The Association and will be held at Bellevue
Community College. Diana Hagen and the rest of the hosting committee are already working
hard organizing it. Seriously, consider attending because you'll be glad you did.
Our next Executive Board Meeting will be in February at Big Bend Community College. If you
have any questions or concerns that you would like the Executive Board to discus or help you
with at our board meetings, please contact one of our board members or your region coordinator so we can add it to our agenda. The contact names are listed in the Brown Rapper.
Have a happy 2006 and keep up the good work!
Randy Karnath
T HE P LAIN BR OWN R APP ER
Region Reports
A
Coordinator: Aleta Fuhrer
Grays Harbor College
afuhrer@ghc.edu
We have had a few changes: new Personnel director and the secretary
(advisor for classified staff training
committee,) had to have aneurism surgery and we also had a change in unions so we just haven’t met. Members
of the classified staff training committee were chosen a week or so ago and
we hope to meet the first part of November.
Summer quarter was a time of continual
transitions but I think the worst is over.
Centralia Community College
By Cheryl Kimbel
Greetings from Centralia,
Since the beginning of Summer quarter we have had 7 classified employees
take advantage of the Training Fund.
South Puget Sound Community College
By Lyn Sharp
Four used their funding for specialized
training classes to update and improve
skills, the other three are working toward degrees. Our Fall quarter Classified Staff Meeting will be held in November. It will include: a presentation
by the School Employees Credit Union, the additional personal day (per
union contract) this year, update on
training funds, health care coverage changes, and other items of interest.
Fall quarter at South Puget Sound Community College always begins with a
fun, informative kick-off week packed
with workshops, guest speakers, entertainment and training sessions. The
highlight of kick-off week this year was
the opening of the Center for the Arts,
the signature building on campus, and
entertainment by a former SPSCC student and by current staff and students.
The gallery in the Center for the Arts
had an art show that displayed a variety
of beautiful creations by SPSCC staff.
We are in the process of planning for
the Spring Retreat, which is the major
annual event on campus for Classified
Staff. Our plan is to have a program
with Terry Fleishman. Some of us
have enjoyed her presentations at
other campuses and would like to
share this valuable information.
Lower Columbia
Community College
By Kathy Blood
Lower Columbia College has been
rather dormant since spring quarter. Classified staff had their ninth
annual all staff spring barbeque and
had information sessions (a.m. and
p.m.) on the Deferred Compensation
Program (DCP) w/Stuart Brotherston
and two sessions on PERS III ICMA’s
w/David Gorens.
The Classified Training committee presented updated information at one of
two quarterly classified staff meetings
during October. This year the annual
maximum per employee is $350. Staff
was reminded about the variety of training opportunities that exist, not only at
the college, but also through the State
and other educational venues.
Another exciting service that is now
available to all staff at South Puget
Sound is the Center for Professional
Excellence. This is a quote by Dr. Ken
Minnaert about the new center:
“For a long time, we have planned a
center to support excellence in our people, our classrooms and our services.
On Aug. 1, Dr. Tracy Gibson joined the
college as dean of staff development. In
PAGE 2
her short time here, Dr. Gibson has
impressed us with her vision for professional development for faculty and
staff. Currently a space in the College Center is being renovated to
create a yet-to-be named center to
support the work of Dr. Gibson and
to help provide faculty and staff personal and professional growth opportunities. I urge you to take advantage
of the opportunities available at the
center.”
Having Fun at Work:
Enhancing Campus Community
Everybody wants to enjoy coming to
their job, and there are a multitude of
things that play into a great workplace atmosphere. When Dr. Minnaert asked me to head up the Enhancing Campus Community team, it
felt like an open door to ideas for
more fun at work – which I think
should be the goal of every department, project or agency. It pays off in
innumerable ways. High morale is a
treasure greater than any budget.
Last year’s committee was creative
and motivated, kicking off several
successful holiday events and a Chilipalooza, as well as overseeing regular
awards for Department of the Quarter
and for those “Caught in the Act.”
The real contributors to this success,
of course, were you, the members of
the college community, who packaged unbelievable gift baskets, dolled
up at Halloween and performed skits
at retirement parties. You brought
your vehicles to car shows, cheered
at games in our gym, gorged yourselves at the International Dinner,
came to the Anthropology Club’s
Fry-Bread Theater, and let Mike
Bosse splash you with heavenknows-what. You also reported many
of our colleagues who went above
and beyond each day, so that they
could be commended before the
Board of Trustees.
These are just a few of the exciting
opportunities that are happening in
the year ahead at South Puget Sound
Community College.
T HE P LAIN BR OWN R APP ER
Grays Harbor College
By Dollie VanOstrand
We have had a busy schedule for the
last few months here at Grays Harbor
College. In July, the Staff Training and
Development Committee met for the
annual planning day at the Ocean Crest
Restaurant in Moclips. We had a very
productive meeting and were able to get
all of the plans made for the functions,
the budget, and the strategies for training for the upcoming year done. The
calendar was completed in one day!
Officers were also elected for the 06-07
year and two new committee members
as well as a new Training Officer were
welcomed aboard. The new officers
are: Randy Karnath, President; Sue
Means, Vice President; Dollie
VanOstrand, Secretary; Cara Beth Stevenson, Treasurer; Donna Fowler,
Brown Rapper and of course Janet
Parker will move into the Past President’s position. Kudos to the new committee members who stepped right up to
the plate and filled officers positions at
their very first meeting! A big welcome to Dave Halverstadt who joined
us as our new Training Officer! Sad
good-byes will be said to Judy Bowe
and Alice York who will be leaving the
committee this year.
The STTACC conference that we attended in Spokane this year was terrific,
as usual. Brenda Dell was awarded the
Region A Exemplary Staff Award this
year. Congratulations Brenda! Randy
Karnath was voted President Elect and
due to the current President leaving
the state college system Randy will
become the new STTACC President!
Diana Grigsby will be the new Brown
Rapper Editor this year. Randy’s
move up the ladder to State President
for STTACC shifts our local focus at
this time to the revision of our officers.
We toured Clark College, had a picnic
lunch, and spent the afternoon at the
Portland OMSI for the Grays Harbor
College annual Breakaway Day in
August. A terrific time was had by
all. In September we had the Quarterly Potluck and the employee award
for summer quarter was given to Mary
Secor, our smiling cashier in the
kitchen. Congratulations, Mary! Congratulations also to Brenda Dell who
was awarded the quarterly employee
award for Spring Quarter. Cara Beth
Stevenson gave an excellent class in
matting and framing pictures. Thank
you Cara Beth! We all look forward
to the rest of the year and the fun and
challenges that lay ahead.
B
Coordinator: Olivia Blake
Seattle Community College Dist.
oblake@sccd.ctc.edu
STTACC Now Has Its Own
LISTSERVE
Go to this URL
http://sttacc.ctc.edu/sttacc_listserv.htm
Complete instructions are waiting for
you.
•
•
•
Great opportunity to network with
peers all over the State!
Discuss your training ideas!
Learn more about other colleges
training ideas!
Bellevue Community College
By Diana Hagen
BCC Classified Staff participated in a
College Issues Day event on October
4th with college administrators and
faculty. Activities focused on the
upcoming accreditation of the Northwest Commission on Colleges
PAGE 3
and Universities evaluation team site
visit planned for October. Some highlights included accreditation sessions,
a BCC Jeopardy! game designed to
test and inform facts about college
history, letters and numbers and a
“FoundationFEST” Bavarian-style
lunch sponsored by the BCC Foundation.
Immediately following the College
Issues Day, the Events and Human
Resources departments presented their
first of a series of Fun Nights to bring
BCC employees together to share their
hobbies, interests and become better
acquainted. BCC employees were
invited to join in scrap-booking and
card-making activities.
In celebration of BCC’s 40th anniversary year, Building Futures for 40
Years, the BCC Classified Staff cordially invites STTACC Classified
Staff to a professional development
day on Friday, November 11, 2005,
from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The day begins in the BCC Cafeteria,
‘C’ Building, with a continental breakfast followed by a keynote speech
titled, “Workplace Makeover…Give
Negative Attitudes the Nip & Tuck,”
by international motivational speaker,
Michelle Ray.
During the morning and afternoon
there will be a full agenda of concurrent sessions to attend with several
that require pre-registration due to
limited enrollment.
A delicious lunch will be served including refreshments throughout the
day in the BCC Cafeteria.
Drawings for door prizes will also be a
part of the fun.
Registration Deadline: Friday, October 28, 2005.
Registration (includes lunch) is
$25.00.
The BCC Classified Staff Professional
Development Committee thanks the
STTACC Executive Board for the
$200 in seed money to support this
STTACC Regional Conference.
PAGE 4
T HE P LAIN BR OWN R APP ER
South Seattle Community College
By: Sandy Thompson
From your CDAC committee:
Katherine Flenniken KFlenniken@sccd.ctc.edu , Marianna Asaturova
masaturo@sscd.ctc.edu & Sandy
Thompson SThompson@sccd.ctc.edu
Break away threatened with
extinction
The CDAC committee currently consists of 3 members. We cannot make
Break Away, mini grants, & other enriching professional development programs happen without more members on
our team.
Working on the CDAC committee is a
rewarding way to help out the college
and your fellow classified staff members. This committee is supported by the
SSCC Administration, and your
supervisor will encourage you to attend
our meetings and be active on our team.
Start now, get in on the fun and professional development and join us this
winter quarter on our CDAC Committee
Retreat – should we go on an Argosy
cruise, Tillicum Village or another great
place? Contact CDAC members for
more information.
Please accept our invitation for a fun,
rewarding experience.
CDAC Professional Development Day,
November 11, 2005
Join us for a day of valuable information. We will start the day, after a light
breakfast and conversation, with lectures
about emergency preparedness and
earthquakes in our area. After our working lunch we will have educational sessions about the new Electronic Timesheets, Chinese Garden, and the new
Pastry Lab. Then wrap the day up with a
raffle for prizes and evaluations, so we
can hear your feedback on our program.
Look for detailed information in your
email and RSVP so we have a head
count and know what part of the afternoon program you would like to attend.
It’s your day! Enjoy it!
QUICK SURVEY….
The best ideas come from you; please
share your thoughts with us.
What would you like to see from
CDAC? What topics or activities would
you enjoy at Professional Development
Day or Break Away? Do you have ideas
for enriching or fun activities for winter
or summer quarters? Email your ideas
to us!
Lake Washington Technical College
By Kathy Johnson
Lake Washington Technical College
annual Support Staff Professional Development Day theme was- Energize Your
Life: Ignite the Spark in your Creative
Spirit. Jim West gave pointers on how
to Create Gracious Space and The Fish!
Philosophy of Customer Service. Other
morning sessions included Office Ergonomics, Organizing Your Desk by Julie
Blow, Internet Search, and Creating Web
Sites. The afternoon was devoted to
Leave Burnout Behind: Creative Development & Personal Renewal for
Staff Members by Charlie Murphy, Cofounder/Co-director of Power of Hope.
Staff learned how to turn work into an
opportunity for fun, creative development through arts-based exercises that
connect you with your creativity and
promote self-renewal and enthusiastic
participation. I highly recommend this
for any Higher Ed employee group.
A Brown Bag Workshop “An Introduction to Appreciative Inquiry: Working Toward a Desirable Future” was
presented by Mia Calkins and Roger
Kjos August 23rd. The “how to” effect of
Appreciative Inquiry taps people’s potential to make themselves, their organizations and communities more effective
by unleashing creativity, knowledge and
spirit towards a common purpose. Focus
on what’s working, rather than what is
not, and eliminate the lines between winners and losers.
The film “Searching for Angela
Shelton,” was shown on April 20th in
recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness
Month. The film started out as a journey
to survey women across America, using
her name as a starting point. What she
discovers is that 24 out of the 40
women sharing her name have been
raped, beaten, molested and/or sexually
assaulted. The filmmaker gains strength
to confront her own abuser, her
father. Following the movie there was a
discussion and services available for
individuals affected by the content.
Two showings of “Rabbit Proof
Fence,” depicting aboriginal girls escape
after being plucked from their homes to
be trained as domestic staff in 1931 and
their trek across the Outback, were presented on May 18th as part of our free
Diversity film series. “Skins,” a drama
dealing with the difficult issue of alcoholism among Native Americans, was
shown Oct 12th four times. Living
Voices enacted “La Causa” - a one person show portraying the history and
events of farm worker’s fight for rights
during the 1960’s.
Other diversity activities were: a
workshop, “Ways to Assist Interactions
with Students with Disabilities,” presented by Rob Harden & Bree Callahan,
and the 3rd Annual LWTC International
Fashion Show of elegant costumes from
different cultures all over the world.
The Lion’s Club Health Van held free
health screenings for: diabetes, glaucoma, blood pressure, vision and hearing. Blood Drives were held April 22nd
and Oct 21st with Puget Sound Blood
Center. Heidi Shepherd helped us learn
practical ways to lose that pessimistic
approach to life in “Moving From Pessimism to Optimism”.
Mary Suhler, LWTC Classified staff
member and bike enthusiast, offered a
discussion of “Do it yourself” bike repairs including techniques she learned
over the years, keeping her on the road
during rides such as STP (Seattle to
Portland), and RAPSody (Ride around
Puget Sound).
An Ethics Training on the appropriate
use of state resources such as E-mail,
internet, printers, SCAN codes, consumables, etc. was given by Susan Harris of
the WA State Executive Ethics Board on
Oct 25th.
IKON provided training in our copy
center’s new Canon MultiFunctional
Devices. It covered faxing, scanning,
and printing from your desktop to your
department copier and/or the copy
Continued on page 5…..
PAGE 5
T HE P LAIN BR OWN R APP ER
Lake Washington C.C. continued…
Big Bend Community College
By Kimila Helvy
center MFD’ s. Jay Crider from Hershey
Systems Inc. (a leader in document imaging applications) gave a presentation
Sept 12th of what their company could
do to solve our archive problems and
expedite work flow. The college is still
investigating vendors for this service.
Customer Service I & II, our classes
based on Noel-Levitz Advanced Connections, ran in June and July. We offer
the classes as six 2- hour sessions on
Tuesdays and Thursdays. Laura Oslund
taught Customer Service I and Kathy
Johnson facilitated Customer Service II.
August 4th our Asst Dir IT Ron McKinney offered “Do You Know How to Utilize the LWTC Phone System & Voice
Mail?” to accommodate new hires and
ensure we are utilizing our systems fully.
Good customer service requires good
phone skills.
C
Coordinator: Donna Staggs
Everett CC
dstaggs@everett.edu
Everett Community College
By Zada D. Wheatley
Everett Community College began the
2005-06 year with the annual Classified
Staff Training Breakfast. The breakfast is
free to all classified staff and is paid for by
Classified Staff Training funds. All new
employees were asked to stand and state
who they are and where they work. This
introduction gives everyone the opportunity to “put a name with a face” from the
various departments at EVCC Donna
Staggs gave a report on the STTACC Conference that was held at Spokane. It was a
very good conference! Thirty-five yearsof-service awards were awarded to 3 employees for 20 years of service, 14 employees for 15 years of service, 3 employees for
10 years of service, and 15 employees for 5
years of service. The Opening Week breakfast was attended by 110 of 178 classified
staff. People get very excited about a free
breakfast and door prizes! It was a great
morning!
D
Coordinator: Ana Ellsworth
Big Bend Community College
anae@bigbend.edu
BBCC Classified Staff Break-a-way was
held April 22nd and staff agreed it was
the best ever! BBCC classified staff
attended morning sessions of their
choice – “The Inner Game of Fly Fishing”, “Ergonomics”, “Credit Scoring”,
and “Dutch Oven Cooking”. We then
enjoyed the sunshine while we had a
wonderful outdoor Dutch oven meal. A
chuck wagon was brought on campus
and the aroma of ribs, baked bean, biscuits and cobbler filled the air. After
lunch the staff had the option to look and
learn on an informative bus tour of the
trail system in Moses Lake. Our presenter – Joe Rogers – of the Trails Planning Team was very enthusiastic of the
plans in the works to link BBCC’s new
parkway with trails to downtown Moses
Lake. The trail system will offer us an
opportunity to walk our way to a healthier body.
BBCC classified staff spent many hours
holding soup lunches, making apple and
pumpkin pies, washing cars, and making
beanie hats to meet our goal of $5,000
for our American Cancer Society Relay
for Life Team. The Relay was held in
June and we were awarded a 25” Plasma
TV which was donated back to the
BBCC Foundation as an auction item for
their annual fundraiser dinner/auction.
Thirteen BBCC Quilters designed and
created a patriotic – Red, White, and
Blue Quilt – and donated it to BBCC
Foundation as an additional auction
item. Monies collected on auction items
go towards scholarships for BBCC students.
Nine classified staff attended the Annual
STTACC Conference in Spokane in August. They found the conference fun and
informative. Ana Ellsworth of BBCC
accepted the position as Region D Coordinator.
Several members of the classified staff at
Big Bend Community College had a
unique experience of working in the Lioness Spaceburger Booth during the
Grant County Fair August 15-20. They
volunteered to raise money for next
year’s BBCC Relay for Life Team. Everyone who worked indicated they had a
good time and would do it again next
year.
T HE P LAIN BR OWN R APP ER
YAKIMA VALLEY COMMUNITY
COLLEGE
By Sharen Uptegrove
During the summer our committee reviewed and revised some of our policies
and procedures to enhance our success
possibilities for training, staff recognition, mentoring, and improvement of
classified staff support.
We will plan budget allocation for the
entire year and have revised our budget
due date. New officer nominations and
elections will be done in Spring Quarter
annually and terms will begin July 1st of
Summer Quarter. Officers will serve for
one year, with exception of Chair
Elect ,who will serve two years.
A calendar of events planned by PDC
will be provided and a time line calendar
generated for consultation when event
planning or training. We have a new
photo directory (Hard copy) of staff and
will be generating an online version.
A survey was sent out to gather responses for types of training preferred by
staff. We had a lot of interest in team
management workshops. A subcommittee on training implementation
was begun and Cindie Beaulaurier was
recruited as the training officer to head
the committee. A program for professional development for evening staff was
discussed and generating a training each
month for all staff.
Congratulations to Judi Shaw, Program
Assistant for WED Division for receiving the Classified Employee of Summer
Quarter award. Great job, Judi!
We added Cindie Beaulaurier as our
Training Officer and Kelly Chase took
over as Secretary.
Our end of year all day retreat procedure
has been altered to include three separate
“sessions” for training, networking, and
recognition. These sessions would be
done each quarter and would have an
annual theme which would be incorporated into each quarter’s session. The
theme chosen for 2005-2006 will be
“Diversity”.
A survey was sent out to gather responses for types of training preferred by
staff. We had a lot of interest in team
management workshops. A subcommittee on training implementation
was begun and Cindie Beaulaurier was
recruited as the training officer to head
the committee. A program for professional development for evening staff was
discussed and generating a training each
month for all staff.
Congratulations to Judi Shaw, Program
Assistant for WED Division for receiving the Classified Employee of Summer
Quarter award. Great job, Judi!
PAGE 6
We added Cindie Beaulaurier as our
Training Officer and Kelly Chase took
over as Secretary.
Our end of year all day retreat procedure
has been altered to include three separate
“sessions” for training, networking, and
recognition. These sessions would be
done each quarter and would have an
annual theme which would be incorporated into each quarter’s session. The
theme chosen for 2005-2006 will be
“Diversity”.
A “Fall Fest” was held November 16th
from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm to begin facilitation of our new plans. A training provided by Jim Pinnell called “Fish Camp”
received good reviews.
Winter session will be called “Winter
Warmer” and will embrace all kinds of
ethnic dishes provided by a pot luck
luncheon. Recipes will be provided.
There will be diversity workshops before
and after the luncheon and many more
surprises! The date is Feb 10, 11:00 am –
2:00 pm. The spring session on Spring
Holiday will be a celebration of diversity
with staff recognition, training, door
prizes.
We are all looking forward to implementing our new plans to better serve
our staff.
From the Editor:
My sincere apologies to you all for this Fall edition being so late. Unfortunately, life and my job have gotten in the
way. It has been a real learning experience for me to put this together and I really do appreciate this opportunity.
Winters edition is soon to come I have now articles from six of the campuses. The deadline for those articles was
January 6th. The deadline for the spring edition will be March 3, 2006.
I hope you enjoy this edition and I sincerely thank all the area Coordinators, the executive board and the Reporters
from each campus for their help and cooperation.
An extra large thank you from the bottom of my heart to Mark Holm, Donna Fowler, Margo Hood, Gayle Winkelman,
and my boss, Beate Wahl, who were all great help and support to me in this project.
Thank you,
Diana Grigsby
T HE P LAIN BR OWN R APP ER
Spokane Falls Community College
By Lisa Antonietti
Well it seems like forever since the last
Rapper report. I hope everyone had a
wonderful summer!
Another year has come and gone and
that means that the CCS Classified Staff
Training and Development Committee
(CSTD) held their annual election. On
behalf of the CCS CSTD committee I
would like to congratulate the new officers: Theresa Snyder, Chair; Laura
Roper, Chair Elect; and Joan Shepard,
Secretary. I would also like to welcome
new committee members Shannon Stegman, IEL-Worksource; Tamara Sparaco,
IEL-Lodge; Diana Biddison, District;
and Gayle Smith, SCC.
The 2005 annual STTACC conference
was hosted by Community Colleges of
Spokane on the Spokane Falls Campus
August 3 & 4, 2005. The conference
was directed by STTACC President
Elect Aline Uber-Leslie who along with
her great team— Lisa Antonietti, Paula
Bresnahan, Candice Denowh, Coulette
Kuespert, and Mikiko Sandmeyer—did a
superb job of organizing this outstanding
event! This year’s theme was
“Enriching Ourselves Enriches our Students”.
Highlights included two great keynote
speakers. Wednesday, August 3, started
off with Margo Long, Associate Professor of Education and Supervisor of Secondary-level Education Students for the
School of Education at Whitworth College, presenting “Energizing for Tomorrow”. She described the conditions that
perplex our lives and the workplace.
Margo also described current management theories and the skills to cope with
constant challenges as well as how to
maintain the quality of the work we
value. Margo’s enthusiasm was very
energizing! Thursday, August 4, began
with “Hilarity Therapy” presented by
John Irvin, founding president of Lifestyle Enhancement Services. He demonstrated how the ability to see the positive
side of things is essential to our vision,
our relationships, productivity, problem
solving and our health. John was hilarious! His own positive attitude and humor is an excellent example of how
essential they are in promoting our own
personal growth. Other highlights
included: Six fabulous break-out sessions ranging from such hot topics as
Civil Service Reform and Gender
Communication to Fitness/Health and
Gardening. Other exciting events included an awards banquet followed by
“Casino Night Entertainment”. Participants were able to relax, network with
other classified staff within the Washington State Community and Technical College system, and have some
fun! Next year’s conference is a joint
conference with the Association at
Bellevue Community College.
PAGE 7
Last year Dr. Palek, SFCC President
secured $3,000 for SFCC classified staff
to use for professional development.
The classified council established a
mini-grant request process. Any classified staff wanting to request money from
the mini-grant funds can do so through
the established process. So far eight
mini-grants have been awarded. This
year a new allocation of $3,000 from the
CCS Foundation is available for classified staff to use.
Until next time……..have a great fall!
Following is the schedule for the
CCS Classified Staff Training & Development quarterly trainings for
2005-2006:
Quarter
Fall 2005
Location Date
SCC, Friday,
October 21, 2005
Winter 2006 SFCC,Friday,
February 24, 2006
Spring 2006 SCC, Friday,
April 21, 2006
At this year’s fall training we will be
offering a Ticky-Tacky sale and accepting pre-orders for the 2nd helping
of “Cookin’ With CCS” cook book.
The SCC Cosmetology Department
has donated gift certificates for a
drawing. Tickets for the drawing can
be purchased for $1.00. The proceeds
from all three of these sales will go to
the CCS Classified Staff Training &
Development Committee scholarship
fund. The purpose and goal of this
scholarship is to encourage and support classified employees by providing
financial assistance in the form of tuition, books, and related costs to attend
college courses leading to a program
certification, AA, baccalaureate, or
master’s degree.
The committee received thirteen applications for this scholarship last year
and was able to award two scholarships. The scholarship recipients for
2005 are Jennifer Achziger and Jean
Simon. Congratulations and good
luck to you in continuing your education!
STTACC
Now Has Its Own
LISTSERVE
Go to this URL
http://sttacc.ctc.edu/sttacc_listserv.htm
Complete instructions are waiting for you.
•
•
•
Great opportunity to network with peers
all over the State!
Discuss your training ideas!
Learn more about other colleges training ideas!
T HE P LAIN BR OWN R APP ER
E
Region Coordinator:
Cindy Cannella
Pierce CC
ccannella@pierce.ctc.edu
Green River Community College
By Ellen Royal-Ward
We would like to say goodbye to our
outgoing committee members Brian
Gary DeLay,,Micki Wells ,Marcy
Maurer Oksana Knyaz , and Danna
Davis, and welcome new members
Abby Biggerstaff, Susan Evans, Ben
Gran, Dale Oberlander, Jeana Obom,
Ellen Royal-Ward, and Elizabeth Valdevia.
The committee is off to a great start
after a very productive retreat at the end
of Spring quarter. We are currently planning for our Harvest Festival and Food
Drive, and we have approved 14 training
requests for winter quarter.
Jean Carmack and Micki Wells, former
members of the CSTDC attended this
year’s STTACC conference held at Spokane Falls Community College August
3-4, 2005. The theme was “Enriching
Ourselves Enriches Students”. Jen and
Micki had a very enjoyable and learning
filled time and came back with a notebook full of new ideas.
We are very proud to report that our
very own past president Brian Rabold
was the recipient of the STTACC Exemplary Staff Award, Region E, Green
River Community College for his exceptional service in 2005.
Pierce College
By Brenda McKinney
What a great conference we had in
August in Spokane! Thanks again to all
the people that put their time and effort
into making it so successful! It motivated us so much that we decided we
wanted to host one ourselves and we
will be – in August 2007. So mark your
Calendars now – STTACC at Pierce
College in 2007. Guess we had better
get busy planning now!
In September we had our annual
planning/potluck meeting and came up
with some great ideas for the coming
year, starting with the idea of an “Open
House” so Classified Staff can meet
Training Committee members. The idea
behind this is that there may be some
people that do not know what we are
about and the way we work to help
bring training to staff employees. Some
of the things we plan to have are flyers
and information from past workshops,
explanations about how to request
training funding, and a form and Q/A
person for staff input and discussion on
what they would like to see us do.
Even before the terrible destruction
of Katrina and then Rita , our committee
had discussed having a workshop about
emergency planning and preparedness.
We had sponsored one a year or so ago,
bit it did not go into the depth of what
we felt most people want and need. So
Right now committee members are making contacts angathering information on
community resources to have come to
our campus to brief us on the latest recommendations for emergency preparedness.
Another proposal we plan to bring to
fruition is a series of Question and Answer sessions on a variety of topics.
These sessions would be held during the
lunch hour and staff could come and go
as needed. If one particular session
raised more interest than another we
could repeat it – or perhaps incorporate
that topic in a future workshop.
Well, guess that is enough for now.
Would be great to hear from you if you
have done something like this last paragraph (lunch Q?/A sessions) on your
campus.
PAGE 8
Olympic College
By: Unknown
Olympic College Classified Staff Development Committee has started this
year out with a bang! In July we offered
a 1st Aid & CPR course. We were looking for a larger turn out, but 5 of our
staff did attend and become certified. In
August we offered a workshop on “How
to Hire Student Employees”. The workshop taught everyone the procedures and
policies to hire students and was such a
great success that we had to offer it
again for those who couldn’t come to the
first session.
Every year our classified staff hosts
the opening day’s potluck. This year
was well attended by classified staff,
faculty and administrators.
In October we are planning to have a
presentation on “Creating Healthy
Workplaces” presented by Dr. Gary
Namie. The CSDC is committed to creating and maintaining a positive atmosphere here at OC. We are starting to do
this by bringing our community together
to build better working relationships.
Another activity that we have started is
the “Classified Staff Scrapbooking and
Craft Club.” The committee provides a
room on two Saturdays a month where
the staff can gather with their scrap
booking or other craft activities. This
has been going great so far with a lot of
positive feedback. Even though this
activity reaches out to a small group of
people, we are hoping to add other activities that staff might be interested in.