Riverland Community College honored current and outgoing faculty and staff at the College's annual Riverland Awards and Recognition Ceremony on May 13 held at St. Olaf Lutheran Church in Austin.

Riverland employees gathered to acknowledge staff members for their achievements through out the year including those who reached milestones of years of service and this year's retirees.

Last month, we explored how Riverland Community College has successfully completed specialized accreditation for its academic programs. This month, we examine how Riverland maintains regional accreditation using the Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP), an accreditation program of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) that encourages Riverland to employ continuous improvement strategies. The HLC, an independent corporation and one of two commission members of the 19-state North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), accredits Riverland.

Riverland’s Cycles for Success Scholarship program received the Innovative Partnering and Collaboration award. Cycles for Success, a private-public collaboration with Austin’s public and private K-12 system was created to increase high school and college graduation rates. The Hormel Foundation is contributing $1 million over five years for scholarships expected to assist about 200 students.

Effective July 1, 2011, Riverland Community College further restricted the use of tobacco on college property and became a Tobacco-free campus at all three of its locations in Albert Lea, Austin and Owatonna. The goal behind this new policy is not to punish smokers or tobacco users but to demonstrate Riverland’s commitment to creating a healthy, clean and safe learning and working environment for all students and employees.

Riverland Community College is pleased to announce the students whose academic achievement placed them on the 2011 spring president’s and dean’s lists. Riverland congratulates these individuals for their outstanding academic accomplishments.

Riverland Community College officials are relieved that the longest state government shutdown in recent history has ended but have deep-seated concerns about the four-year trend to cut public education.

Like all Minnesota State College and Universities schools, Riverland began its fiscal year July 1 using tuition revenues and cash reserves to operate through the summer and fall semesters. In other words, despite the government shutdown, Riverland attempted to concentrate on business as usual. Working with reserves was a temporary fix during the shutdown; however, now that it has ended and the ink is drying on the higher education bill, Riverland officials are still speculating on how the shutdown and budget cuts will affect its students and its enrollment.

Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) recently announced an award of $9000 to the Leading Entrepreneurs in New Directions (LEND) project. The grant was awarded is one of SMIF's Community Growth Initiatives (CGI) aimed at capitalizing on the assets of a community.

The project focuses on teaching business and technical skills to local immigrant entrepreneur students through a hands-on training program. Students will complete a business course at Riverland Community College, where they will identify and work on real problems and issues affecting the community.

Steven Rosenstone begins service today as the fourth chancellor of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

“I am energized and ready to get to work for the people of Minnesota,” Rosenstone said. “Students, families, businesses and communities across our state are counting on the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities - more than ever - to meet Minnesota’s pressing need for a better-educated workforce.

Recently, Riverland Community College, like all colleges in the Minnesota State Colleges and universities system, suffered a 10-percent cut in public funding after the state government completed the higher education bill. Our college expressed concerns that four straight years of cuts would pass a greater financial burden onto students.

Unfortunately, as national officials negotiate the debt-ceiling package, Pell Grants are at risk. The Pell Grant program is targeted because of recent increases in program costs.

If you or someone you know receive/received Pell Grants as financial aid or if you are concerned about Pell cuts, we encourage you to sign the Ed Trust “Stand Up for Students” online petition.

Riverland Community College names Lindsey Duoos Williams as the new theater instructor and director. She succeeds former director/instructor Jerry Girton, who retired in May.

Williams received a Master of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from San Diego State University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Southern California (USC) School of Theatre.

New Riverland Community College theatre director Lindsey Duoos Williams announced the theatre department’s 2011-2012 season today. The season includes a beloved classical musical, an exciting contemporary drama, a Pulitzer Prize winner and an old-fashioned comedy.

Riverland Community College’s search for new volleyball and softball coaches successfully ended in time for the fall volleyball season.

Sara Heim, the new head coach for Volleyball, joins the coaching staff after graduating from Ripon College in Wisconsin in 2010 and assisting at Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC) last season.

Besides Heim, the Blue Devils hired former Austin softball coach Al Eckmann, who was the head coach at Austin for 14 years and finished his high school coaching career with a record of 220-80, along with three state championships and five state tournament appearances.

We at Riverland Community College believe that success is a journey, not a goal.  We measure success by building every-day successes that lead to happier and more productive lives for our students. That objective is integral in our new “Success Starts Here” campaign that officially kicked off this month.

Our new campaign is more than a slogan or tagline. We are providing a tangible and essential college experience by living that slogan as a philosophy for personal and professional growth.

Watch as we share the successes of our students in ways large and small. Every success deserves celebration, and we at Riverland Community College believe that all students who balance education with their busy lives truly understand that success starts here.

Dan Swift, Riverland Community College head coach for men’s basketball, has resigned his position as a coach and instructor at Riverland to pursue a new career. Swift’s last day with the college will be today, Oct. 7. Riverland officially named Scott Koenigs, who currently serves as head coach for Riverland’s baseball team, as the interim coach for the men’s team.

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Chancellor Steven Rosenstone said Tuesday he is prepared to make tough choices and design new ways of doing business to keep tuition affordable.

He called for three new approaches - redesigning processes to focus on outcomes and incentives, empowering faculty and staff to be entrepreneurial and joining in new ways with businesses and others to better meet the state’s workforce needs.

Last month, Riverland started a new initiative to reduce energy usage and establish goals to reduce our carbon footprint and energy costs in our communities.

This initiative, called “Sustain Riverland,” is another in Riverland’s efforts to be good stewards of the taxpayer’s money. We believe stretching dollars and scarce resources further and still being effective and efficient is a worthy goal.

The Riverland Community College theatre 2011-2012 season opened Friday with the classic musical, The Fantasticks. The play’s opening also marked the inaugural production for new theatre director Lindsey Duoos Williams.

Billed as the longest running musical in the world, with book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt, The Fantasticks tells the story of a boy, a girl and the family feud invented by their parents to make sure the two children fall in love. The score, filled with classic songs like “Try to Remember,” “Much More,” and “They Were You,” helps create a timeless fable of love that is both nostalgic and universal. This musical is appropriate for all ages.

Riverland Community College will be one of the sites for a new statewide traveling exhibition that explores Minnesota’s native nations and the history of treaty making with the United States.

“Why Treaties Matter: Self-Government in the Dakota and Ojibwe Nations” opens Oct. 24 at the Riverland Library in the Austin East Building, where it will be on view through Nov. 23. Library hours are Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Fridays 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The exhibition will be open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.