Adam and proud Grandpa!
Well, whoever is in charge of the weather can now turn down the heat...please. I was told that Kentucky had "moderate heat" in the summer. I've now re-defined my understanding of "moderate". I’m also impressed with the way all our rain here can just hang in the air without hitting the ground, which makes it easy to take a drink of water, you just inhale.
On a personal note, I’ve had the very great fortune to have had time with all three of our grandkids this month, it was WONDERFUL. In case you are wondering: Molly’s loose tooth finally came out, and there is still money to be made from teeth; Jake’s corn is growing fine and he can walk fine on the stilts we built together; and Adam survived his first airplane trip to Kentucky in great shape, and does a great roll-over from his front to back. If you don't have your own grandkids, borrow some once in a while... it’s really fun.
Adam spent time getting to know the DELO staff during a July visit!
Several of you also took a bit of a break this month and I hope you enjoyed whatever you did. I have not put the DELO Highlights sheet together yet, but you all had some fantastic accomplishments this past year...I promise it will be out by the next letter.
I want to publicly express my personal appreciation, and the thanks from all of DELO, to Chris Rhynerson for the contributions and accomplishments that he has made in the year and a half he has been the (first) business manager for DELO. Chris has resigned effective August 31, to return to the St. Louis area. We will all miss Chris greatly, and we wish him the very best for continued success in his career and life ahead. He will always be a part of the Western Kentucky University family, as an alum, having completed his MBA from WKU just this summer. Congratulations again Chris.
August will be full of meetings and activities for most of us as we gear up for the start of the fall semester and the year ahead. Congratulations again to all DELO staff for the great record year we've just completed. Now the even better news is that we all have the opportunity to better our own personal times in the new "race" in the year ahead. Good luck to all of us.
Don
WKU-Owensboro has formed a Non-Traditional Student Organization, which is open to all students who are non-traditional, such as over age 25, married, working full-time or part-time, online students, graduate students, commuters, or anyone who considers himself or herself a non-traditional student. The first organizational meeting will be Thursday, September 14, 5:30 p.m. in the Learning Resource Center room 206.
Owensboro is hosting a Blackboard Training Session for teachers on Monday, August 21 at 4:00 p.m. in the WKU Owensboro Computer Lab (LRE 216). James McCaslin from the WKU Glasgow Regional Campus will lead the training.
The Nursing Program on the Owensboro Campus is booming! Our fall enrollment is running at full capacity.
Katherine Pennavaria
Glasgow Regional Center Librarian
Katherine Pennavaria, the Glasgow Regional Center Librarian, held a Professional Development Workshop on July 12, 2006. The workshop for the student workers at the Regional Center concentrated on Customer Service. Topics included “Who are your customers?” “What do those customers want?” and “What is expected of you?” The students got involved by acting out various scenarios and discussing situations they had experienced. It was a fun and informative session, as well as an opportunity to let the student workers know how much their hard work and dedication are appreciated by the faculty and staff.
Julie Gee, Ecology Camp Instructor, (back row, left) and the 2006 Beginning Ecology Camp students.
The July DELO eNews featured information on the Regional Science Resource Center (RSRC) of Western Kentucky University leading a Beginning and an Advanced Summer Ecology Camp at the Glasgow Campus. Topics of study included trees/forest ecosystem, insects, birds, stream quality, geology and the karst landscape. Eleven students were first time campers and fifteen returning campers attended the Advanced Camp.
This was the second year that WKU-Glasgow Regional Campus has had the privilege of hosting this great event for 5th and 6th graders.
Gabrille Tomblin, Ecology Camp Assistant, (back row left) and Julie Gee, Ecology Camp Instructor, (back row right) pose with the 2006 Advanced Ecology Camp participants.
A beginning camper places a blindfold on another camper so she can "Meet a Tree" using her sense of touch.
Two beginning campers check their dip net for macroinvertebrates during the day of stream quality monitoring.
Advanced campers check the dissolved oxygen level of the Green River as part of a canoe trip during Advanced Ecology Camp.
Campers had the opportunity to get up close to an Aldabra Tortoise during a behind the scenes tour at the Louisville Zoo for all the advanced campers.
Advanced Ecology Camp students locate and measure ginseng plants at Mammoth Cave National Park as part of a long term ginseng monitoring project.
Another step was taken to finish our landscaping. Flag poles with all our flags are now in place along with entry sidewalks.
Paul Haskins, cooking for everyone.
The faculty, staff, and student workers were treated to a cookout hosted by Paul Haskins, director of Glasgow Technology Campus. It was a great day for fresh corn on the cob and tomatoes straight from his garden. Thanks to Mr. Bayless, assistant chief, the hamburgers and brats were great too.
Enjoying the food!
The beginning of July saw Dr. Bayless take on an additional role. She has long been a member of the Glasgow Noon Rotary and July 1, she became the president of the club. Dr. Bayless has lead the Glasgow Campus to bigger and better things and we know she will provide excellent leadership for the Rotary Club as well.
For the last 3 years, DELO’s Center for Training & Development (CTD) has been providing quarterly, grant-supported training classes for employees of companies in the Bowling Green/ Warren Co. Industrial Consortium. Previously, the training schedule was shown on a static webpage which had to be manually updated. Consortium members emailed their requests to be enrolled in classes and the class rosters were manually entered into the record-keeping system.
Recognizing that a more efficient enrollment system was needed, CTD Director Manon Pardue requested that an online automatic enrollment system be developed. The new system utilizes a database connection between the CTD Consortium webpages and the WKU web server. It was developed and tested early this year and was rolled out for use on July 17 for the 3rd Quarter training classes.
The new system has numerous advantages. The training schedule is now dynamically generated based on the year and quarter selected. Separate webpages showing the training schedule for each quarter no longer need to be developed and maintained. The number of seats remaining in a class is automatically and immediately updated with each registration, so consortium members always have the most current information on class seating availability.
The new online class registration form submits enrollment information directly into the database. It has been set up to minimize typing, with class and contact information filled in automatically through the use of drop-down menus. Once an enrollment is submitted, confirmation emails are automatically sent to the company and to the CTD office.
As soon as the enrollment information is in the database, it is available for querying. This is the feature that consortium members seem to appreciate the most. After entering a password protected website area and selecting their query criteria, consortium members can immediately generate answers to questions such as which employees are enrolled in a particular class, how many companies are represented in a class roster, and what classes has an individual employee signed up for. Consortium members can also update or delete their own enrollment records if needed, thus saving CTD staff administrative time.
The Consortium members are enthusiastic about the updated system and added functionality. The advantages and efficiencies of the new enrollment system are evident to all.
The High School/Dual Credit website has recently been updated. Please take a few moments and look the new site over.
To view the Dual Credit website, click here. (http://www.wku.edu/dualcredit/)
The Correspondence Studies website has recently been updated. Please take a few moments and look the new site over.
To view the Correspondence Studies website, click here. (http://www.wku.edu/corrstudy/)
Gustavo Barahona joins the staff of the Carroll Knicely Conference Center as Events Assistant. Gastavo will assist the CKCC staff and clients in making events held at the center the best they can be. Please join in welcoming Gastavo to the DELO team.
