In this edition of Chippewa Valley Technical College’s eNewsletter, you will notice a few changes: it has a new look, a new title, and a new format. Despite the changes, the purpose remains the same, to highlight our students, courses, programs, faculty, and staff and to show how they make a difference every day.

Read about Nancy Richardson and Mark Senti—CVTC graduates who have gone on to successful careers—and Belley Yang—a July 2010 Radiography graduate who is looking forward to that successful career! Read about our Industrial Mechanic and Machinist programs to find out how they are adapting to today’s manufacturing climate. Read about our faculty—you’ll learn about Susan Frame, our Horticulture instructor, who is a finalist in a national competition for New Career and Technical Education Teacher—and how CVTC faculty are the most honored in the state!

Bruce A. Barker
President

“I enjoy tax collection time,” says CVTC graduate Nancy Richardson, the repeatedly elected Pepin County Treasurer. "I enjoy visiting with the people. They tease me in fun. "

Even in recent years of economic downturn, almost all tax delinquencies from prior years among Pepin County property holders have been paid in full before the statutory time triggering county foreclosure. That’s an astounding record and a testament to the citizens of Pepin County and their treasurer.

CVTC graduate Mark Senti neared the center of the BP oil spill brouhaha in the Gulf earlier this summer.

Now the chief executive officer of Advanced Magnet Lab in Palm Bay, Florida, it was Senti’s co-founder and staff scientist Dr. Ranier Meinke that proposed a novel stopgap to the polluting offshore well: stanch it with powerful magnets!

Tim Tewalt, Industrial Mechanic instructor, takes in a new class of students every eight weeks teaching mechanics, electronics, programmable logic controllers and hydraulics/pneumatics.

The veteran instructor says the college affords the program a near ideal facility with well lit and equipped lab and classroom side-by-side at the CVTC Manufacturing Education campus on Eau Claire’s west side.

Horticulture instructor Susan Frame of Chippewa Valley Technical College has been named a finalist in the national competition for New Career and Technical Education Teacher sponsored by the Association for Career and Technical Education.

Susan Frame continues a long line of CVTC faculty to receive statewide honors. Steve Schreiner, Ron Keys, Sandy Hume and Carmen Iannarelli—like Frame—are all recipients of the New Career and Technical Education Teacher Award. And all but Schreiner are still on the CVTC faculty. The award was begun in 1992. And CVTC leads all other WTCS colleges in recipients.

Lead-based paint was banned for residential use in 1978. The 8-hour class can result in certification for individuals and companies.

Effective April 22, 2010, the state has required strict precautions for the removal of lead-based paint in a campaign to protect workers and others from toxic lead dust.

The skill set of the graduate machinist needs to be hiked, says Mark Hendrickson, dean of manufacturing at CVTC.

If you look at the top industries in Wisconsin, “it is only manufacturing that can be reasonably expected to remain competitive internationally, and that makes the sector absolutely crucial to the state’s future,” Hendrickson points out. So the fourth semester of Machine Tooling Technics is in for a revamping. There’s also the likelihood or possibility of a fifth semester requirement or a tightly related advanced technical certificate.

Belley Yang, a radiography graduate, was selected Summer Commencement speaker for the July 29 ceremony.

Yang came to the upper Midwest after a childhood in Texas. He is a second generation American. His dad is a veteran of the Viet Nam war. The radiography student told fellow graduates that acquiring a passion for a field or discipline is important.