You are living your future

I am often in meetings where someone, without fail, says “in the future we will need workers who have global skills …”  The more we think the solution rests in the future, the further behind we will be in actually addressing the need for global skills today.

We are living in the future.

The knowledge and skills needed by today's employers is greater than ever before.  At Gateway, technical skills are benchmarked against local and national industry standards.  The skills demonstrated are designed to prepare students to compete for jobs – skills that can help keep local employers competitive in a global marketplace.  

The skills of the future are the skills needed today.

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Gateway to begin
offering logistics training

Gateway now offers the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council’s (MSSC) industry driven training and assessment program which addresses the core competencies of high-skilled, front-line material handling workers. The trailing is delivered through two seminars, Certified Logistics Associate and Certified Logistics Technicians.

The courses provide competencies for workers across the supply chain, from entry-level to the first line of supervision positions.

The first level, Certified Logistics Associate, includes the following topics: global supply chain logistics life cycle, material handling equipment, safety principles, quality control, teamwork, mathematical reasoning and adaptability to change. These courses are held Feb. 9, Feb. 16, Feb. 23, March 1 and March 8. All courses held 8 a.m. to noon. Participants must attend all classes to qualify for the certification. Participants must attend all classes to qualify to take the MSSC certification exam, which will be offered during the last class.

The second level, Certified Logistics Technician, includes product receiving and storage, order processing, packaging and shipment, inventory control, safe handling of hazardous material, evaluation of transportation modes, dispatching and tracking operations, demand and supply, EDI, reverse logistics and contract management principles. These courses are held March 22, March 29, April 5, April 19 and April 26. All courses are held 8 a.m. to noon. The prerequisite for this course is completion of the Certified Logistics Association program. Participants must attend all classes to qualify to take the MSSC certification exam, which will be offered during the last class.

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Elkhorn Campus remodels
Student Services, library

Gateway opened the newly constructed Student Services and library on its Elkhorn Campus in an effort to better serve its students and the community. The library also has been named the Alice J Morava Library in honor of the former longtime Gateway Technical College Board of Trustees and Walworth County community leader.

“As a resident of Walworth County, it’s important to me that it be known that our Gateway Elkhorn campus provides magnificent opportunities for learning,” said Morava. “Being on the Gateway Board of Trustees was one of the highlights of my life. Education is my foremost love and I believe it can be the most important of life’s pursuits.”

The addition to the North Building officially opened in November and is part one of a three-phase effort to improve the campus.

The library was moved to its current location within the North Building. The former library space will be renovated to house a learning success center that will consolidate many student support services under one roof, just down the hall from the new addition. Space freed up in the South Building, where Student Services formerly was housed, will be remodeled to house an expanded student commons, classrooms, community meeting room and faculty offices.

Work is also being done to the campus grounds, including improved lighting, parking lot resurfacing and an expanded walking trail with exercise stations.

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Morava establishes scholarship
for Walworth County students

Gateway Technical College Foundation Inc. will soon begin offering two $1,000 scholarships per academic year through the newly established Alice J Morava Scholarship.

Morava donated $50,000 to the foundation to establish the scholarship, which will be given out annually to students who are Walworth County residents, are enrolled in at least eight credit hours, have completed at least 12 credit hours, carry a grade point average of 2.5 or higher and demonstrate financial need.

“This endowed scholarship will provide Gateway students living in Walworth County the opportunity to pursue a gratifying career,” said Morava.

Gateway Technical College Foundation, Inc. will offer the Alice J Morava Scholarship for the first time during in the Fall 2012 application period.

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Gateway offering adult high school
courses in Racine, Elkhorn

If you are at least 18 years old and a few credits short of earning your high school diploma, Gateway can help you succeed.

Gateway offers its adult high school program during the day on the Elkhorn and Racine campuses — night courses are also available at the Racine Campus. Students can attend at either location and don’t have to be enrolled in a secondary school district to attend courses.

Those interested can obtain a program application at Student Services offices at all three campuses to begin the process.

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Gateway student selected
as president of state group

Gateway Technical College student Rebecca Gement was elected president of Wisconsin Student Government. WSG calls itself “a strong statewide organization that opens the lines of communication between the 16 technical college districts. WSG addresses political and other issues that affect students, faculty, the system’s financial concerns, and its existence.”

Gement is enrolled in Gateway’s Information Technology-Computer Support Specialist program as well as the Programmer/Analyst program. Gement graduated from Gateway’s Information Technology-Network Specialist program in May. She currently serves as the Vice President of Gateway’s United Student Government on the Kenosha Campus

“I look forward to meeting with legislators to let them know how important the success of our technical college system is to the state of Wisconsin’s economy,” said Gement. “Technical colleges touch on every aspect of the working class. They give young students the hands-on training necessary to enter the workforce with real-world skills, they give older, displaced worker students the opportunity to garner new skills in a timely fashion to return to the workforce and offer the opportunity for current workers to take specialized classes needed for them to continue on their career path.”

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Gateway community attends
centennial time capsule burial

Gateway Technical College staff, students and public gathered for the commemoration ceremony to bury the 2011 Centennial time capsule behind Centennial Rock on Gateway’s Racine Campus. The burial of the capsule is one of many ways Gateway has been celebrating its 100th anniversary as the first publicly-funded technical college in America.

“We are proud to be the stewards of technical education in Southeastern Wisconsin during this exciting year of commemoration,” said Stephanie Sklba, co-chairperson of the centennial celebration committee and Gateway vice president, Community and Government Relations. “We hope the items we place in the time capsule will help those who open this in the future better understand how Gateway serves our communities, our students, and our successes in its 100th year.”

Items in the capsule will illustrate how the college and communities celebrated the centennial and provide insight to future generations on how the college and students functioned in 2011. Wisconsin was the first state to pass legislation allowing for the creation of local continuation schools, which would later become technical colleges. The Racine Continuation School – the name predecessor to Gateway Technical College – was the first to be established in Wisconsin.

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Students experience Gateway
International Education Week

Gateway Technical College held a foreign film festival and a series of public events on all of its campuses the week of November 14 as part of International Education Week. The films featured in the series included “Departures,” “Howls Moving Castle” and “Children of Heaven.” The public events included discussing Gateway student experiences, traveling abroad and the value of world travel on a collegiate curriculum.

Gateway held the events to celebrate International Education Week and to show Gateway’s commitment to providing international education to students as a means to gain global marketplace knowledge and skills that make them more marketable to employers upon graduation.

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Gateway student chair-ity auction
featured literature theme

Gateway Technical College’s Interior Design student organization’s Ninth Annual Chair-ity Auction featured chairs with a literature theme, and was held Nov. 18 at the Southport Beach House in Kenosha.

The student-designed chairs, as well as accessories and items donated by area businesses, were auctioned at the event at a live auction. Each chair purchased included a related book to the winning bidder.

Proceeds from the event benefited the Kenosha Literacy Council and the Gateway Student Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers. Admission was half price with a donation of a new book to the Kenosha Literacy Council. The event began with a silent auction.

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Gateway begins new
student publication

Gateway has begun a new effort to communicate with its students through the Connect publication, which can be found in stands on each Gateway campus and online.

Connect is Gateway's new student news publication highlighting student successes, important announcements, news, and events on campus. The student-focused paper is published monthly during the fall and spring semesters. 

In addition to providing students with a valuable means of connecting with Gateway, the publication represents another way for students to receive hands-on training, using Technical Communication students as reporters.

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Gateway graduate
named alumni of year

Guy Bradshaw, Gateway Technical College graduate and Chairman/CEO of the Kenosha-based Bradshaw Medical, was recently honored with the Wisconsin Technical College District Boards Association 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award. At Gateway, Bradshaw earned a degree in Industrial Engineering and was the 2011 graduation commencement speaker for the college. He has also contributed financially to the college by establishing a scholarship for Gateway’s Surgical Technology program. Bradshaw earned his bachelor’s degree from Concordia University.

“Guy is a positive influence in our community and a role model for Gateway Technical College,” said Gateway Technical College President Bryan Albrecht. “The Gateway community could not be more proud of Guy for pursuing his dream in building Bradshaw Medical into one of our community’s fastest-growing companies.”

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Gateway welcomes German
students; to visit Germany

Gateway welcomed six students from Kaufmannische Schulen Haunau in Haunau, Germany, for a three-week exchange visit that provided them with several different business and apprenticeship experiences. In March, Kaufmannische Schulen Haunau will host six Gateway students for a similar experience.

German exchange student Carina Raab pointed to several goals sought to achieve while she was here in the United States, including improving her English and learning about another culture – its workplace as well as daily life.

“I think it’s good to know how other countries live and work, especially in our global economy today,” said Raab. “I want to gain insight into how other businesses operate – that’s the great thing about the exchange, the job shadowing component of it.”

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New resume service set up
for student/graduate job seekers

Gateway has begun providing another tool for employers to connect with highly trained and skilled students and gradutes.

Employers can connect with students and graduates can through Wisconsin TechConnect's new Resume Bank feature, which allows for resumes to be uploaded. When an employer posts a job on TechConnect that matches a student’s or graduate’s program of study, the uploaded resume will automatically appear in the employer's Resume Bank for that job posting.

This feature enhances the job search, puts your resume in front of the prospective employer – it doesn't get much easier than that,” says Gateway Tanya Burton, Gateway Student Employment Services counselor.

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Albrecht joins national board
to build future talent pool

Gateway Technical College President Bryan Albrecht has joined Corporate Voices for Working Families’ Community College Advisory Board to work with national-level business leaders on what’s needed to successfully build strategic partnerships between community colleges and industry.

The board reprsents a forum where higher education and national business leaders can interact, learn and share best practices to provide working learners with the skills and education needed to succeed in the 21st Century. Corporate Voices created the Community College Advisory Board as part of its Learn and Earn initiative, which seeks to identify, promote and encourage innovative partnerships between employers and higher education institutions to help today’s working learners complete their postsecondary education while working.

Corporate Voices for Working Families is the leading national business membership organization focused on public and corporate policy issues involving working families.

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Albrecht hosts Boy Scouts
Distinguished Dinner event

Gateway Technical College President Bryan Albrecht hosted the Three Harbors Council of the Boy Scouts of America event which recognized Nicholas T. Pinchuk, Chairman & CEO of Snap-on Incorporated, as its 2011 Distinguished Citizen.

The award ceremony was hosted and sponsored by Snap-on at its new IdeaForge auditorium.  Gateway Technical College was also an event sponsor. 

Established by the Boy Scouts of America, the Distinguished Citizen Award recognizes noteworthy and extraordinary leadership of Eagle Scouts who have distinguished their selves in communities across the United States. Pinchuk became an Eagle Scout at age 13.

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