Positive Trends Happy New Year and welcome back for an exciting and challenging spring semester. Preparations reached a fever pitch in the second half of January. To update you: To make it easier for people to get in school, the college extended both the application and registration deadlines and held "deregistration" in abeyance. Enrollment is up. Especially encouraging is the big increase in applications for admission among students new to the college. Overall, program applications are up almost 13% compared to applications a year ago at this time. Many of these applications came from people who wanted to enroll immediately. But it also is a positive predictor for next fall. Our new ads have attracted a lot of interest, which included a highly positive article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The campaign branched out into Internet advertising and promoted new technical careers at ECAM, the Center for Energy Conservation and Advanced Manufacturing. Another enrollment driver - Smart Start - kicked off Jan. 15 and will continue through June. These one-hour overview sessions have been drawing upwards of 100 guests. Smart Start ties in with Smart Connect, a more focused series of orientations that highlight specific, divisional learning opportunities for prospective students. These combined efforts work toward two fundamental strategic goals. We are stepping up our commitment to help people better their lives. We are increasing our output of skilled workers for the local economy. I ask all of us to be ambassadors for this great college, reaching out to prospective students about the life-changing opportunities we offer. Have a great semester. Darnell E. Cole President

February 2008 Leveraging Outstanding Value TV frequencies licensed for educational use back in the '70s are proving to be a hot commodity.  Registration Update MATC and most other colleges have long wrestled with how to manage the problem of students who register for class but fail to pay tuition on time. Volunteers Offer Free Tax Preparation Those with an annual family income of $45,000 or less can receive free income tax return preparation at the Downtown Milwaukee and Oak Creek campuses. New Emergency Alert System We are implementing a fast, new emergency alert system called Streem. Initially to be used by employees, it shortens total distribution time to less than 30 minutes for college-wide alerts. Virtually Dazzling I'm very pleased to report that a new MATC-sponsored HIVE pod opened recently at Discovery World. Promoting Public Service We recently were the proud host of Governor Jim Doyle and about 300 area high school students attending the State of Wisconsin's Milwaukee Career Day. Poblocki Donates ECAM Sign My personal thanks to a longtime vendor, Poblocki Sign Company, for generously donating the entrance sign for ECAM, the Center for Energy Conservation and Advanced Manufacturing. Retirees Aid Registration In mid-January at the Downtown Milwaukee Campus, some friendly faces were back. Winners Step Forward Just before the holiday season, 328 employees decided to walk their way to fitness through the "Step It Up - Team Walking Challenge." Click here for top of Communique Click here for Printer-friendly version