The Student Center is just breathtaking. The student areas they have now are very, very nice.
Gleaming, glass-enclosed classrooms.
Comfortable furniture.
Beautiful art on the walls.
To nearly 30 retired Milwaukee Area Technical College employees, MATC Downtown Milwaukee Campus certainly has changed.
The retirees, members of the MATC Retiree Association, returned to their old workplace on Wednesday, July 16, to tour the campus, sip some coffee, and chat with MATC President Dr. Anthony Cruz.
Dr. Cruz greeted the group outside his office in the Main Building, then embarked on a tour led by Marwill Santiago, the college’s director of recruitment and the call center, and recruiter Jessica Solorzano.
They walked through parts of the Main Building, the S Building, the C Building and the T Building.
Many of the retirees were impressed with not only the cosmetic changes to the campus, but to the way services now are more streamlined, more intentional and more impactful for students.
In the Main Building, Santiago pointed out the furniture in the hallways and the varied community art, including many pieces done by MATC students, that hangs on the walls in almost every campus building.
“We want being at MATC to be a great experience for everyone, but especially our students,” he told the group.
In the S Building, Santiago showed them the newly-created Admissions Center on the first floor, where students get information on admissions, financial aid and scheduling. Many of the retirees marveled at the freestanding, wending staircase in the building’s atrium that was remodeled last year.
“The Student Center is just breathtaking,” said Cheryl Randall, who worked at MATC for nearly 30 years in human resources and grant writing. “The student areas they have now are very, very nice. We didn’t have anything like that when I was here.”
The group also admired the new cafeteria space and student lounge area on the S Building’s third floor.
“This is outstanding,” said Charles Bruders, who worked in maintenance for nearly 40 years, of the student area. “This open space you have developed here is really wonderful.”
In the old days, Bruders and his fellow crew members piled into the basket of a lift to change lightbulbs at the top of the S Building. “Sometimes it was shaking,” he said. “It wasn’t that far down, but when you were in that basket, it sure seemed like it.”
Bruders worked at the Downtown Campus and Mequon Campus. He watched the college expand the Mequon Campus and helped install the geothermal heating system at the campus.
During the tour, many of the retirees ran into still-working colleagues and shared a chat and a hug.
In the C Building, the retirees saw the glass-enclosed classrooms used by the Animation program and the STEM Education Center that opened in September 2023.
Jim Walsh, who worked at the college for 32 years and served as provost, wondered if the Milwaukee PBS television studios were still in the C Building. In fact, they are. “For some reason, those were always so hard to get to,” he recalled.
The tour concluded in the T Building, where retirees enjoyed coffee, water and treats in a classroom overlooking the Al Hurvis/PEAK Transportation Center, which opened in 2020 and houses MATC’s transportation servicing programs.
Dr. Cruz told the group about the college’s recently-adopted strategic plan, Ascend Together, and his goals for the next five years. By 2030, he wants enrollment at 12,000 full-time equivalent students – nearly 3,000 more than then current 9,000.
“We were there at one point, we can get there again, and I believe this community needs that,” he said.
He also said he wants to increase the economic mobility of MATC graduates, by getting more students into programs that pay more money.
“This is a critical piece of what we provide,” he said. “Thanks to folks like you, we have been doing this for more than 100 years. But we have to step it up.”
About MATC: As Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. More than 30,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 180 academic programs — many that prepare students for jobs immediately upon completion and others that provide transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 40 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.