Education Notebook

HealthForce Minnesota grants $25k for nursing program, $50k for mobile science lab

Two local organizations have received thousands of dollars to develop healthcare careers and innovation, as HealthForce Minnesota has awarded $50,000 to Southeast Service Cooperative and $25,000 to Rochester Community and Technical College.
Eight statewide grants, totaling $320,000, were awarded to programs that demonstrated an ability to improve healthcare practice, education and research, while fostering a strong connection between education and the healthcare industry.
RCTC has been awarded the grant for creation of an innovative model advancing baccalaureate nursing education in Minnesota. The curriculum will be designed after the Oregon Consortium of Nursing Education model and will lead to the advancement of a dual-admission nursing program between RCTC and Winona State University.
Southeast Service Cooperative has been awarded a K-12 vision for youth grant and will partner with Mayo Clinic and Rochester Area Math Science to develop a second Mobile Science Lab for use by high school teachers.
The Mobile Science Lab allows students to utilize thousands of dollars of scientific equipment without leaving the classroom. It was created in association with Mayo Clinic, the Rochester Area Math and Science Partnership and funded through a $75,000 grant by HealthForce Minnesota. The trailer is outfitted with roughly $50,000 of equipment.

In a release, HealthForce Minnesota staff said the group seeks new collaborative models that integrate health science education and practice, and have the potential for sustainability and awards grants accordingly.

LINK: HealthForce Minnesota (Web site)

RCTC names new executive director

The RCTC Foundation, which offer scholarships to students among other charitable acts, has named a new executive director.

Lisa Baldus will replace Jean Jech, who has left for a job at Eastwood Bank. The Foundation Web site shows the breadth of the group's work.

Release below:  

Lisa Baldus has been named the RCTC Foundation Executive Director. Baldus a graduate of RCTC and Winona State University plans on focusing on building the scholarship base to assist more students in achieving their academic and career goals. She also intends on strengthening alumni relations with a greater emphasis on alumni events.  Prior to RCTC, Baldus worked for three years at Premier Bank as a vice president. Previously she he also worked in sales and marketing as an account manager with Procter & Gamble. She has served on the RCTC Foundation and is its past president.

Her first planned alumni event is an, “All Years Sport Alumni Event” scheduled for April 16th at the Eagles Club from 5:30 to 9:00 pm in the Eagles Club Hall. Prior to the event tours of the Rochester Regional Stadium and the Bubble will be available from 4:30 to 5:30 pm. The  Lost Faculties Band will be playing later in the bar area. Past RCTC sports alum and friends are invited to the evenings activities. There will be Door Prize Gifts  and sports memorabilia for sale .  For further event information, contact Lisa Baldus at (507) 281-7770 or lisa.baldus@roch.edu.

/end PR.

LINK: RCTC Foundation Web site

 

Article: Rochester Math and Science Partnership honors notable teachers

Three area teachers have been highlighted by the Rochester Area Math and Science Partnership for what that organization calls dedicated leadership and commitment to helping students.

This year's award winners are: ViAnn Olson of Rochester Community and Technical College, Beverly Nelson of Stewartville Public Schools and Anne Solberg of Zumbrota-Mazeppa Public Schools.

"They really push their students to excel and they have high expectations for their kids," RAMSP Executive Director Kim Norton said.

Continued...

Also, here is more information from the press release about each teacher. (Text
unedited from release):

Anne Solberg:  Ms. Solberg has been teaching 6th Grade in the Zumbrota-Mazeppa Middle School since 1990.  She has had previous teaching experience in the area of Special Education.  She also shares her love of music with students by co-directing 20 years of school musicals and as a volunteer piano accompanist for middle school vocal performances.  Mr. Solberg instructs all 6th grade students in math as they use a rotation system.  When benchmarked against the 13 other schools in the Hiawatha Valley League Conference, her students have continued to achieve the highest math scores of all schools – with more students reaching proficiency.  Additionally, the number of students reaching the proficient level in math has increased as they move from 5th to 6th grade.  Her nominator attributes her success to maintaining high expectations and rigor for every student – 91% of her Title 1 qualifying students were able to reach the proficiency level.  She motivates students in a quiet, supportive manor and instills confidence in their ability to become “good” at math. Ms. Solberg serves on the curriculum committee, helped identify “gold standards” for their math curriculum and was one of the first teachers to request and utilize Smart Board technology in her classroom.  She partners with IBM in their mentor and Engineers programs and has attended RAMSP trainings.  – Nominated by Supt. Richard Meyerhofer
 
Dr. ViAnn Olson: Dr. Olson has12 years of teaching experience at the high school level and 21 years teaching in the Mathematics Department of the Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC).  Dr. Olson has taught everything from developmental math through second year Calculus, Differential Equations and Linear Algebra.  Among Dr. Olson’s many activities and achievements is as a 20-year host for the MathCounts competition for area middle schools.  She had developed workshops on Math Anxiety and programs on how to use the Cybertablet tool and new curriculum models.  She has demonstrated a commitment to staff development, including work to revamp the WSU teacher Education curriculum and worked with department colleagues to assess the needs of struggling math students.  She is open and accessible and provides group study sessions if additional learning opportunities are needed.  – Nominated by Dr. Barb Mollberg
 
Beverly Nelson:  Ms. Nelson teaches High School Biology, Advanced and AP Biology,  Anatomy & Physiology, and Biotechnology in the Stewartville Public Schools.  She has been with the district for 16 years and has 5 years of pervious experience at Wyckoff High School.  Her experiences include teaching summer school, curriculum writing, Dept. Chairperson, Senior Class advisor and work on the Student Scholarship Committee.  She also supports the school as an announcer at track meets, a scorer in gymnastics meets and has been an assistant Speech coach.  Her strengths include imbedding reading and math skills as part of the science content area and uses strong continuous improvement components and tools in the classroom including: L to J strategies, tracking” essential key concepts” of students, uses pre & post testing strategies, PDSA, plus-delta, graphing and more. Her students consistently score above the state average in Science on the ACT test and she was recently nominated by a student for the U of M Outstanding Science Teacher Award.  Ms. Nelson participated in the Mayo summer fellowship and Molecular Biology summer class programs, was one of the first teachers to “book” the Mayo/RAMSP Partnership Mobile Science Lab, and participates in the IBM Engineer Day.  She also uses the IBM learning program, the MN Learning Village Partnership.
 

Article: Dome goes up at RCTC

Here's the article, but I really want to draw attention to this picture from the installation (because it's awesome). Hat tip to the P-B's Jerry Olson.

RCTC dome goes up... (streaming live camera)

Take a look here as the dome on RCTC's regional stadium goes up. The dome will cover the field, allowing teams to practice/play during the winter months.

RCTC Camera (Courtesy of Knutson Construction)

As of right now, there isn't too much action. But the cool feature is the time lapse photography, which I could watch for days on end. Hat tip to Knutson Construction, which also made a Web cam for construction of Gibbs Elementary School.

Trend: More community colleges offering four-year degrees, don't expect RCTC to join

Community colleges in Minnesota are becoming more popular -- with our local Rochester Community and Technical College experiencing record enrollment growth lately -- but in Florida, schools are taking the community out of their name.

From an article in the Tampa Tribune:

Of the 28 community colleges across Florida, 14 offer full, four-year diplomas, and at least three others are seeking the state's approval to start. Several have shed the "community" in their names.

Manatee Community College is now the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota. It offers only one bachelor's program, in nursing, but has proposed adding five more, including degrees in early childhood education and health care administration.

I find this interesting because RCTC obviously has a strong nursing program and continues to grow. But I wouldn't expect them to shed the community college label. I talked to college officials about that several months ago and the idea of having four-year degrees didn't seem to move them at this point. RCTC already has a strong partnership with Winona State University, which has a Rochester campus on the RCTC site Students can earn a Winona State degree without ever setting foot on the Winona campus.

So it wouldn't make too much sense for RCTC to go at four-year degrees on their own. But in a few years, who knows?

LINK: Community colleges offering four-year degrees

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities report historic enrollment growth

My regular reader might recall my article last week about college enrollments moving upward, and here's the official numbers from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

For those of you who like numbers, the .pdf will all of the numbers is below.

LINK: Enrollment figures (.pdf)

[PB]

Release:

 More students poured into the 32 Minnesota State Colleges and Universities this fall than ever before, resulting in the largest increase in the number of students since the system began, officials said today in releasing enrollment figures.

  The state colleges and universities system now has 198,792 students or 12,641 more students than last fall when 186,150 students were enrolled. That’s nearly a 7 percent increase. Previously, the largest increase in the fall headcount was 9,023 additional students in 1999. Also, this is the fourth consecutive year that the system’s fall enrollment has set a record high.

  Enrollment increases were particularly strong at the system’s 25 community and technical colleges. Thirteen colleges had increases greater than 10 percent.

  “We know the economy was a major factor driving this enrollment boom,” said Chancellor James H. McCormick. “This unprecedented growth comes at a time when budgets have been cut at the state colleges and universities so faculty and staff are working harder than ever to serve students.  We especially welcome the opportunity to serve displaced workers seeking to retool and upgrade their knowledge and skills.”

  Enrollment was up in nearly all categories. The number of students of color this fall grew by 18.7 percent, from 27,446 to 32,585, while enrollment of white students was up 8.6 percent. In recent years, the colleges and universities have expanded programs to recruit and retain more students from groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education - students of color, low-income students and students who are the first in their families to attend college.

  Enrollment of high school students in college courses, through the Post-Secondary Enrollment Options program, grew by 4.8 percent. Under Minnesota law, high school students can take courses tuition-free at the state’s public colleges and universities.

  The number of students taking online courses, which includes credit and noncredit courses, grew by 21.7 percent to 47,794 this fall. The system offers about 200 programs completely or predominantly online through Minnesota Online (www.minnesotaonline.org), the largest provider of online education in the state.

  Full-year-equivalent enrollment is projected to increase by almost 5.5 percent for the current year. (Full year-equivalent enrollment is calculated by adding the credits taken by all students and dividing by the number of credits considered to be a full-time course load - 30 credits per year for undergraduates and 20 credits for graduate students.)  The colleges and universities project a full-year-equivalent enrollment of 151,805 for the current year, compared with the actual full-year-equivalent enrollment of 143,924 for the 2008-2009 academic year.

  The numbers released today are the official enrollment count of students taking credit-based courses on the 30th day of the fall semester.

  The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system comprises 32 state universities and community and technical colleges serving the higher education needs of Minnesota. The system serves about 250,000 students per year in credit-based courses and an additional 140,000 students in non-credit courses.

Article: Local college enrollments continue upward

Here's an article from today's paper about local college enrollments continuing to grow...

By Elliot Mann / emann[at]postbulletin.com

Blame it on a slumping economy and workers driven to improve their skills, but colleges in southeastern Minnesota are again reporting enrollment increases.

More students have enrolled at Winona State University this fall than ever before in the college’s 151-year history, with 8,606 students attending school this year. That’s up from 8,450 last fall. Other schools are seeing similar trends.

Compared to last year, Rochester Community and Technical College is up 7.5 percent in terms of credits sold this fall. Riverland Community College in Austin is up about 13 percent in credits sold, while Winona State-Rochester has a student head count increase of about 11 percent.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system hasn’t released official 30-day numbers yet. They are expected to do so this week.

Riverland Community College President Terry Leas said the gains are multidimensional. “One is obviously dislocated workers coming for training so they can get jobs,” Leas said. “Also, there are students who ordinarily go from high school to a university, but their parents had college funds that may have tanked with the market, so they are using community college as a short-term option to save money.”

Another group enrolling at community colleges are those already employed, but are looking to better their job skills or training.

Rochester Community and Technical College Chief of Strategic Operations Dave Weber said he is hopeful that the growth can also be attributed to stronger recruiting measures. Now, the college offers customized communication with prospective students.

“We’ve gotten smarter with a lot of our management of student interest, and we’re converting higher numbers,” Weber said.

At Winona State-Rochester, the growth can also be linked to the jump of students at RCTC.  Of the 137 new undergraduate transfer students to WSU-Rochester this fall, 84 percent (115 students) came from RCTC.

Winona State Director of Undergraduate Admissions Carl Stange said that has been by design, as school staff have tried to forge strong relationships with the RCTC campus.

As for Winona State as a whole, the affordability of the school has been attractive in this marketplace, Stange said.

You have just been 'poked' by RCTC, local college creates Facebook page

Joining every other organization, club, school and business that is latching onto social networking -- or maybe they really want to see what type of vampire they would be -- Rochester Community and Technical College has created a Facebook page.

RCTC Chief of Strategic Operations Dave Weber said the school has tried to construct the page in a way that can engage students, rather than just regurgitate posting from other Web sources. (Like, for example, education blogs that rely on posting their own articles already published on the newspaper Web site, rather than originating genuine content.)

Since everyone and their dad is already on Facebook -- yes, my dad is on Facebook --  I assume my regular reader knows how to use the search function to find Rochester Community and Technical College's page.

The page is full of upcoming events, videos, pictures, if you have any interest in RCTC or local higher education, it's worth checking out. (You're probably on Facebook at work anyway -- I mean, you're reading this, right?)

No word on if the school will join you be a member of their mafia in Mob Wars.

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Build it and they will come -- RCTC begins fall semester

Colleges are starting up again and Rochester Community and Technical College began the fall semester today, with about 400 students more than last semester.

I could make a tasteless joke here about college students getting back to school and alcohol sales rising, but I won't. (I don't belong to a moral high ground, it's just that I'm really busy today and don't have time for it. Jokes.) I'll have a story in tomorrow's paper about it.

Enrollment at RCTC, and within the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System as a whole, has been up lately. In the summer, RCTC reported a historic summer enrollment, with 26 percent more students attending class than compared to the end of last year.

Anyways, congrats to the students starting college again -- later this week we'll have something about the first cohort of students at University of Minnesota-Rochester.

*Also, the ROC/No Child Left Behind stories got moved to tomorrow.