Campus attendance maps reveal wide areas of service

MCC's office of institutional research and assessment recently conducted an analysis of the area from which students are drawn to each of MCC's five campuses, and the results might surprise you.

Using attendance data from the Spring 2011 semester, the research office created a map for each campus that uses a small dot to indicate the location of every student's residence in relation to the location of the campus. The maps, which can be accessed using the links below, illustrate that each campus serves students far beyond its specific geographic service area.

MCC-Blue River attendance map
MCC-Business & Technology attendance map
MCC-Longview attendance map
MCC-Maple Woods attendance map
MCC-Penn Valley attendance map

Mo. Higher Ed Commissioner visits MCC

David Russell, commissioner of the Missouri Department of Higher Education, visited MCC last week for the first time since taking office last summer.

Commissioner David Russell and MCC leaders stop by the MCC-Longview automotive technology department as one stop on their four-campus tour of MCC.

Russell visited four of MCC's five campuses during his trip to Kansas City on Thursday. After meeting with MCC officers for briefings on a number of district-wide initiatives, the commissioner toured the MCC-Penn Valley Health Science Institute, then traveled to Longview, Business & Technology and Blue River. Time constraints prevented him from visiting MCC-Maple Woods but he received an overview of the campus during his meeting with the officers.

Russell was very complimentary of MCC throughout the day and appreciated being introduced to many of MCC's programs and initiatives, said Associate Vice Chancellor Tom Vansaghi, who hosted the commissioner's visit.

To see addition photos of the day-long whirlwind MCC tour, visit the photo album on MCC's Flickr page.

Board of Leisure Issues License to Chill - MCC-BTC's Kenny Shelton Retires

After 22 years and 7 months of service at Pioneer, Penn Valley, and Business & Technology campus, Kenny Shelton is hanging up his tool belt.  "Over the years Kenny has always had the same motto," said Facilites Manager, Tom Hulett.  "'At least once a day Kenny says, 'I'm here for the students.'"

Kenny trades work boots for Party Shoes!  The Board of Leisure has issued Kenny Shelton an official License to Chill in the State of Euphoria.

MCC Opens Free Public Computer Centers

MCC has opened four new public computer centers (PCCs) and will open two more at the end of August. The PCCs, which will be free and open to the public, will give under-resourced residents access to computers for training to help them in the job market and in their personal lives.

“The PCCs will function as one-stop technology centers for launching new opportunities, new careers and personal enrichment, with a specific focus on the unemployed and underemployed populations,” said Rich Prather, PCC director.

The PCCs will be located on each of MCC’s five campuses and at the Pioneer location, a satellite extension of the Penn Valley campus.

The establishment of the PCCs is part of a state-wide Pathways to Broadband Access and Technology Education at Missouri’s Community Colleges project facilitated by the Missouri Department of Higher Education. Funding is provided by

MCC's FabLab Featured in KC Business Journal: FabLab helps connect budding entrepreneurs, tradespeople

Read more about FabLab in this weeks issue of the Kansas City Business Journal

See NEW System Trainer In Action! Career Exploration Tonight at MCC-Business & Technology

See MCC-BTC's NEW Integrated Manufacturing Assembly (IMA) trainer in action at tonight's Career Exploration Night.   This simulated production line sorts component bases by size and weight and adds springs and a top to create a multi-component device.  Students who master these technologies can easily transition to building cars or working on automated sorting lines at the U.S. Postal Service.

KC Business Journal: BTC's Tom Wheeler Talks about Manufacuring Trends and Worker Skills

Tom Wheeler is dean of instruction at Metropolitan Community College's Business & Technology Campus. MCC is beginning to examine revising its curriculum to coordinate with a national certification system.

Check out the article here.

LV Cashier Supervisor Celebrates Retirement

Queen Pam Weston celebrates upcoming retirement with colleagues during Cashier Supervisor meeting/Retirement Luncheon June 28, 2011.  From left: Michelle Allen, Tomislav Plecas, Rene Bennett, Cindy Ingram, Brenda Wagner, Pam Weston (crowned) Sherry Skinner, Emily Thompson, Sherry Muirhead and Kathy Mercer.

FabLab Father's Day Present Build Time: 1.5hrs / Induced Smiles: 150hrs

During his lunch break yesterday, Alex Grigsby, a mild craftsman, built his father's day present in MCC-BTC's FabLab.  (Message safe here; he doesn't have internet or a computer)  The younger Grigsby feels sense of pride and accomplishment from making a tangible thing.  Older Grigsby feels sense of pride because his son has capacity to run a miter saw and drill and didn't grow up a total flop.  Father expected to say, "Son, didn't you build me this same birdhouse when you were twelve?"  Answer: "Yes"

Entire bluebird house made from single 1X6 board - fancy FabLab logo in picture above burned with laser engraver.  Plans downloaded from Missouri Department of Conservation website - http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/how/woodworking.  Learn more about FabLab here.

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver applauds MCC

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver  praised Metropolitan Community College this week in his regualr emailed newsletter to supporters and constituients in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

The letter followed statements made by President Barak Obama and Vice President Joe Biden about the need to increase high-quality job training and encouraged Americans to support their local community colleges.

Here is what Cleaver wrote:

This week, the (Obama) Administration outlined the importance of manufacturing to our economy’s future, and the role community colleges, like Metropolitan Community College, play in creating a well-prepared workforce, ready to take on well-paying jobs. I strongly agree on the importance of manufacturing, which supports millions of middle-class families, drives innovation and productivity across our economy, and is crucial to America’s international competitiveness. That’s why I’m such a strong supporter of the Make It In America agenda, which focuses on rebuilding our manufacturing strength.

The initiatives the Administration announced today incorporate core elements of three Make It In America workforce training proposals: the JOBS Act, a bill I support, which builds job-training partnerships between advanced manufacturers and community colleges like Metropolitan Community College; The America WORKS Act, which focuses on the importance of portable credentials; and The SECTORS Act, which strengthens business-labor-education partnerships across many sectors, in addition to manufacturing. I hope Congress will take action on these bills soon so we can put more people back to work.

Graduation at MCC-Business & Technology

MCC-BTC's 2011 graduates toss their hats in celebration, Friday, May 20.   BTC graduation highlights include: Fredward, the robotic Graduation Marshall, handing degrees and certificates to well-deserving students, and witnessing the entire staff and student body dance to Black Eye Peas, "I Gotta Feeling."  Click here to see more pictures from graduation.

BTC Selected One of Top 120 Colleges in US

MCC-Business & Technology has been honored as one of the 120 community colleges eligible for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.

An expert panel has identified BTC as eligible to apply for the $1 million prize based on institutional performance, improvement, and equity on student retention and completion measures.

Business & Technology is the only MCC campus to be selected, and one of five Missouri colleges – joining Linn State, Crowder, North Central and Missouri State University-West Plains.

Applying for the next round will require documenting how we use data to continually improve student success, program offerings and our responsiveness to workforce needs. The Aspen Institute hopes that “by focusing on student success and lifting up models that work, the Aspen Prize will honor excellence, stimulate innovation, and create benchmarks for measuring progress.”

The $1 million will be awarded in December 2011.

Read more about the Aspen Prize here - http://www.aspeninstitute.org/policy-work/aspen-prize/eligibleinstitutions

MCC team attends HLC academy



Academy attendees included (l to r): Penny Tepesch, Anne Dvorak, Greg Sanford, Mindy McCallum, Kimberly Glackin, Cynthia Sexton Proctor from MCC and Robert Mundhenk, HLC mentor.

A team of faculty and administrators from MCC took a trip to Lisle, Ill., last week to participate in the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) Academy for Assessment of Student Learning.

HLC, the accrediting body for colleges and universities in and around the Midwest, includes student learning as one component of its accreditation process. The academy provides

MCC and FIRST Robotics: Building Future Engineers and Technicians

Team Up Next (3528) posing in one of the classrooms they are using at MCC-Business & Technology Campus during the 2011 FIRST build season.  The 13 home-school students have designed a robot that will defend the field rather than score points at FIRST robotics regional competition March 10, 11, & 12.

FIRST robotics is a nation-wide varsity sport in science.  Its goal is to inspire young people to be math, engineering, science and technology leaders through the intensive, deadline-driven process of building a competitive robot.

“It is the bonding of personalities and lifelong friendships, not channel iron and electronic circuits, that make FIRST such a special experience for our participants, volunteers, and sponsors,” said Robert Dumler, FIRST regional planning committee member and MCC-Business & Technology engineering technology instructor.  

“This process of designing and building a functioning robot in six weeks does so much more than teach high school students about mechanics or electronics.  When the team depends on YOU to pull YOUR weight and complete YOUR piece of the plan, then we start getting into lessons of accountability and professionalism,” added Dumler.  “It is very hard to write curriculum to teach accountability!”

Badge Bound Troop 314 Visits BTC for CAD Lesson

Gordon Hendrix, age 12, smiles for the camera as he waits for help from instructor Chris Page.

“GRrrrrr.”
“Shoot!”
“The mouse doesn’t…”   

These are but a few of the murmurs that came from Boy Scout Troop 314 as they created a computer-aided drawing of a house – just one of seven steps this group of young men must complete to earn their drafting merit badges.

Campus closed Monday, adjusted business hours Tuesday

MCC campuses and business offices will be closed on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

On Tuesday, Jan. 18, the business offices will be closed because of inservice during the following times:
8 a.m. – 12 p.m. Blue River and Penn Valley
8 a.m. – 1 p.m. Maple Woods
8 a.m. – 2 p.m. Business & Technology and Longview

Farewell to Dennis DeLong

Pictured are BTC President Debbie Goodall, Retiree Dennis DeLong and Lab Tech Jennifer Dec.

Dennis DeLong was recognized Monday for his 25 years of service as an MCC Public Safety officer. He retired at the end of November, and was honored at a reception at MCC-Business & Technology.

A special farewell "card" was designed and created by Jennifer Dec, using a laser engraver on a cork surface to reproduce farewell wishes from MCC-BTC co-workers.

Precision Machining Career Exploration Dec. 14

A Precision Machining Career Exploration has been scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 14, at Metropolitan Community College-Business & Technology. This event begins at 6 p.m. and runs for about one and a half hours, beginning in Technology Center Room 101A.

MCC’s Precision Machining program features a state-of-the-art, 8,800 sq. ft. laboratory full of manual machining tools and computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines. MCC-BTC is a HAAS Technical Education Center, Mastercam software training facility, and a NIMS testing center.

Visitors will meet academic and financial aid advisors who can help them get started in college. They’ll also tour the lab with the program coordinator, learning how to prepare for a career in Precision Machining, and what the daily work is like.

Programs range from a one-semester job-ready CNC certificate to two-year Associate in Applied Science degree in Precision Machining, with a manual or CNC focus. Many Kansas City employers are looking for graduates with these skills. Learn more about this field at mcckc.edu/precisionmachining and at the local chapter of the National Tooling & Machining Association website, www.kcntma.org.

Individuals may register online at mcckc.edu/visitbtc, call 816.604.5200 or e-mail btc.admissions@mcckc.edu. Walk-ins are also welcome. MCC-BTC is located at 1775 Universal Ave. Kansas City, MO, and on the web at mcckc.edu/btc.

Two MCC-BTC students will represent Missouri in national competition

Aaron Troester and Dewitt Dixon, students at MCC-Business & Technology in the Cisco Networking Academy, are the Missouri champions in Cisco's 2010 NetRiders Skills Challenge. They will represent the state in the final round, a 60 minute online theoretical exam and 90 minute Cisco Packet Tracer activity and exam on Dec. 8. The top ten teams will be awarded prizes.

NetRiders is an interactive IT/Networking skills competition that will take place in multiple stages in the United States and Canada. The goal is to create a fun, educational challenge for students to compete with their peers across their state, the U.S., and Canada, in a real-time environment to showcase their IT/Networking skills. In addition, NetRiders helps to identify top talent for potential employment opportunities in the growing ICT and networking field.

The Winners: Grainger Tools for Tomorrow Scholarships

Two students at MCC-Business & Technology campus were awarded the Grainger Foundation's Tools for Tomorrow scholarship this week. Each will receive a $2,000 award and, in spring, a Westward tool kit valued at approximately $1,000. Grainger Foundation will award 150 such scholarships to students across the nation this year.

Pictured are Chris Jones, Grainger district branch services manager; Judah Schad, electronics & computer engineering technology student; Debbie Goodall, MCC-BTC president; Ryan McNary, electric utility line technician student; and Jari Allen, branch manager of Grainger's 18th Street distribution center.