The Board of Trustees for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system today appointed Jessica M. Stumpf as interim president of Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Coon Rapids and Cambridge and Shari L. Olson as interim president of Anoka Technical College.

Stumpf, 57, is vice president of academic affairs at Minnesota State College - Southeast Technical, with campuses in Red Wing and Winona.

Olson, 49, serves as a system director in the Office of the Chancellor, coordinating projects related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and dislocated worker training.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees today appointed Scott R. Olson to be the interim vice chancellor for academic and student affairs.

Olson, 51, is the provost and vice president for academic and student affairs at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

The Board of Trustees for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system today appointed Beth H. Buse as the executive director of internal auditing.

Buse, 45, has been deputy director of internal auditing for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system since 1998. Previously, she was senior system development auditor for Norwest Audit Services and audit director of the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor.

Riverland Community College is introduces a new certificate in Business for students who are interested in entering the workforce or updating their existing skills. Students interested in the Business Certificate take 22-credits of business classes during two consecutive semesters starting this fall. The curriculum includes 12 required business credits and students select the remaining business credits based on interest or employment needs.

Riverland Community College recently announced Cycles for Success, a new scholarship program that is a milestone in the history of the college and especially significant because of its transformative effect on education locally.

The Hormel Foundation helped make the program possible by funding the new Cycles for Success scholarship program with $1 million over the next five years.

Doherty Staffing Solutions sponsored the Fourth Annual Doherty Scholarship Golf Classic to raise funds for Riverland Community College student scholarships. The event included an 18-hole tournament in a four-person scramble format.  A social hour, dinner with program and prizes followed the tournament.

Amber Engebretson (Bricelyn), John Jorgenson (Austin) and TJ Lynch (Hayfield) became national champions for Crime Scene Investigation. These law enforcement students showed superior skills working as a three-person team to process a crime scene. The judged criteria for competition required the team to legally search for, properly collect and remove evidence from an established crime scene scenario. One member of the team was required to lift a latent fingerprint from a pre-selected item of evidence. After the scene was processed, the team wrote their report, drew a crime scene sketch and marked all evidence.

The Riverland Community College Diesel Technology program on our Albert Lea Campus and our Collision Repair program on our Austin Campus have received certification by National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF) and The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE).

Riverland Community College begins its 70^th academic year of classes on August 23. With this milestone comes the knowledge and pride that as a college we have successfully educated thousands of students for transfer and career training. Our recent academic strategies ensure that we will continue that tradition of excellence in teaching and learning.

Riverland Community College and the Vital Aging Network have partnered to offer an ALVA Leadership Develop class for people over 50, beginning in October then meeting once a month through May. To learn about the program, Riverland is hosting informational sessions on Monday, August 16 at the Austin Campus and Owatonna Campus.

The Vital Aging Network’s ALVA Leadership Development program is for people 50 or older who want to make a difference in the world. Participants will be a part of a great group of people who share interests in learning, taking action, and want to make a difference.

In July, we named Steve Bowron as our new Dean for Institutional Advancement. We developed this new role to reorganize our administrative structure in light of the recent budget challenges, to elevate the position to oversee the college foundation, government relations, grants and student housing.

Riverland Community College business and office technology instructor Sheryl Barton has received national recognition from Quality Matters™ (QM) for the online course she developed, Medical Terminology. Barton’s is the third course at Riverland to receive this distinction.

Several community colleges have chosen to remove the word “community” from their official names. Riverland Community College, however, works hard to retain the community part of its name. Perhaps this name-change trend relates to college marketers’ need to make a college title's length more manageable or a clever strategy to mask some outdated stigmas community colleges face.

The Office of the Chancellor for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will reduce its budget by $4.2 million and eliminate 41 positions by July 1, 2011. The budget change is due to an anticipated reduction in state funding for fiscal year 2012, and it comes on top of budget reductions to the system office made in five of the past 10 years. This represents a 10 percent reduction from the current fiscal year.

According to the American Association of Community Colleges, two-year colleges contribute more than $35 billion annually to our nation’s economic growth – representing seven percent of its Gross Domestic Product. Community colleges have added more than $620 billion to the current economy, representing roughly six percent of the nation’s average annual growth. The Return on Investment is impressive.

Continued stellar results are in jeopardy, however. Enrollments skyrocket as students seek affordable education and training, but state and local funding continues to decline.

Alonso Sierralta's sculptures are simultaneously fascinating and strange, creating a sense of both harmony and disharmony. A Chile immigrant at age 14, the artist channels his experience of cultural transplantation into powerful organic metaphors. According to the artist, "(t)he spreading of seeds, roots, pollen, etc. are the basic inspiration for the sculptural form, disparate materials are then selected to create the sense of tension and forced metamorphosis."

As you are preparing for special time with family and friends this holiday season, giving may be on your mind. Whether a gift for a family member or friend or to a favorite charity, giving to others helps us feel the spirit of the season. As you contemplate ways to make a difference for others this year, please consider a tax-deductible financial gift to the Riverland Community College Foundation.

Riverland Community College, Adult Basic Education (ABE) in Austin and Albert Lea, and Workforce Development, Inc. (WDI) will offer FastTRAC programming again this spring. The 2011 FastTRAC offers eligible student an opportunity to complete five college credits toward a Production Technician I certificate with no cost for tuition or textbooks.