Wisconsin technical college grads
landing jobs
Salaries tick up from previous year
May 3, 2012
MADISON – If last year’s outcomes are any indication - this year’s technical college graduates have promising futures. Despite Wisconsin’s current economic challenges, a survey of 2011 technical college graduates revealed 88 percent of graduates were employed within six months of graduation and most of them (71 percent) were employed directly in their field of study.
According to the annual Graduate Follow-up Report the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) is releasing, 86 percent of respondents indicate they are working in Wisconsin.
"This is a bright spot in Wisconsin’s economy," said Dan Clancy, president of the WTCS. "Our graduates are employed within Wisconsin’s borders and are contributing to the economic recovery in our state. The results show that the curriculum aligns with industry skill needs and that employers value our graduates’ abilities."
The technical colleges attribute this success in large part to advisory committees established in each program area. The committees are comprised of local business and industry representatives in their respective fields. They advise the colleges on various matters based on first-hand knowledge of supply and demand in addition to skills desired for today’s job market.
Median starting salaries have increased slightly over the previous year. The median salary for all new graduates is $31,822 ($31,198 the year prior) with those earning associate degrees receiving a median salary of $36,033 ($35,616 for 2010 grads). The fields with the highest median starting salaries are utilities engineering technology, technical studies-journey worker, fire science, biomedical electronics, automated manufacturing systems technician and applied instrumentation and process control automation. Several program areas have median starting salaries of $60,000 or higher.
Females represent 63 percent of the 2011 WTCS graduates and minorities represent 11 percent. Graduates in the 20-24 year age group represent 30 percent of the total and 36 percent are over 30 years of age.
The Wisconsin Technical College System includes 16 technical college districts throughout Wisconsin, offering more than 300 programs awarding two-year associate degrees, one and two-year technical diplomas and short-term technical diplomas. In addition, the System is the major provider of customized training and technical assistance to Wisconsin’s business and industry community. More than half of all adults in Wisconsin have accessed the technical colleges for education and training.
Walker Lies & Here is the Proof!
MATC Students in Demand,
Striving for Success
April 24, 2012
Post From MATC President, Dr. Michael Burke's Blog
Last month’s vigorous debate over and subsequent approval of Senate Bill 275 during the legislative session will lead to both a new board composition and a new appointment process for the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) District Board. That debate also included several mischaracterizations that demand a reasoned response.
An accusation was leveled that MATC graduates are not as good as those of our neighboring colleges. No facts were offered as proof, just rumors heard on the wind. The actual facts belie this criticism. According to a 2009-2010 Graduate Follow-Up Report, 89% of MATC’s graduates were employed or furthering their education within six months of graduating from MATC. The plain, simple facts prove that local employers seek our graduates: 71% are employed within the MATC district and 97% are employed in Wisconsin. To throw thousands of MATC graduates under the bus to support a legislative agenda is, to put it mildly, bad public policy.
Attacking our students is particularly galling, especially when you actually know them. In daily conversations with my students, I find they are working diligently to earn associate degrees or technical diplomas, or are seeking additional industry certification to solidify their employment in these tumultuous times. Many students are parents who work so they can support their families and attend college on a part-time basis. They come to MATC to improve their lot in life, and they should be admired rather than scorned.
Also repeated in Madison was the familiar refrain that MATC’s relationship with area businesses needs improvement and the college needs to be more responsive. I am committed to strengthening our business partnerships, but am troubled by these accusations because they seem to ignore the facts. For decades, the college has partnered with hundreds of local business leaders (over 800 at last count) who volunteer to serve on our advisory committees in each of our degree and diploma programs. These advisory committee members are on the front line when it comes to making recommendations about curriculum and the industry skills needed for the workplace of tomorrow. Generally speaking, the broader the paintbrush one uses, the sloppier the paint job, and to paint this community’s technical college in such broad strokes is, at best, sloppy.
Finally, the MATC District Board and the college’s administration (me included, I presume) have been called dysfunctional. While I may be mistaken, it seems to me that the college’s Moody’s Aa1, or very strong, bond rating speaks for itself. Despite dramatic cuts in state aid (now at 9% of the total college revenue), we have a healthy fund balance and continue to add new programs of study for our 47,000+ students. Perhaps we, as a community, need to work on our definition of “dysfunctional.”
I suspect that in today’s politically-charged climate we have become inured to inaccurate, “pants-on-fire” statements. I invite anyone who is interested in improving MATC to visit our campuses, classrooms, and labs, where true innovation occurs, and meet with our students, faculty, and business partners. Sitting in judgment from afar and making sweeping (and inaccurate, I submit) statements about our students and the college is no longer acceptable, in my humble opinion.
MATC was founded as 100 years ago as the school for the “forgotten children of Milwaukee” who were not protected by child labor laws. Sadly, a century later, there are still “forgotten children” in our midst who see a technical college education as a pathway to a better life. I submit we could all benefit by addressing the larger, systemic issues in Milwaukee. At the end of the day, and at the end of the legislative session, we remain America’s fourth-most impoverished city.
-Dr. Michael Burke
Refund MATC and Public Education Rally Make the 1% pay their fair share
Tuesday, April 17, 5 pm
Student Service Building Plaza
Speakers: MATC students, public educators
March to Metro Milw. Assoc. of Commerce HQ to follow
Legislature Approves
Hostile Takeover of MATC
March 19, 2012
On Friday, March 16, SB275 was passed by the Wisconsin Assembly. The bill disbands the MATC District Board and recreates it under new requirements with a new appointing authority that gives disproportionate power to the County Executives from Washington and Ozaukee. Those two counties contribute only 18% of MATC’s funding and 6% of its students, but will now have 50% of the appointment authority. The City of Milwaukee, home to 57% of our students, has no voice in the new board selection process.
The two employee board seats have been eliminated entirely. So workers who have been represented on the board since the college was established in 1911 will no longer have any voice in the affairs of the state’s largest technical college.
The bill will now go to the Governor for signing.
The Assembly Democrats who held up the bill on the floor of the legislature for more than 31 hours won only one small concession when the legislators agreed to allow 6 of 9 current members to continue serving under the new law.
The compromise was not an adjustment to the bill but a side agreement.
This bill will echo for a long time, perhaps for as long as there are technical college district boards and technical colleges. This is a watershed moment. The state legislature has agreed to remove the governing body of a vital local government and its’ appointing authority. It was done without public hearings and without the time or inclination to review and weigh the true facts and real data. It establishes a chilling precedent that the state can dismiss local unit of government representatives without cause.
There is no legitimate reason for this hostile takeover. The college is well managed. It has maintained a high, Aa1, bond rating. Unlike the state of Wisconsin it has healthy reserves. MATC’s graduation rates are higher than other Southeastern Wisconsin technical colleges including Morriane Park which is in the district of the bill’s author, Glen Grothman.
The college works closely with business leaders. The chair of the current board is a Manpower Inc. Vice President. Another board member is the owner and CEO of a small manufacturing firm. Three other board members worked in the manufacturing sector and more than 800 business leaders serve on advisory committees.
This was nothing more than a raw power play designed to eliminate a college where the unionized faculty worked cooperatively with the board and administration. The success of MATC challenges the Walker administration’s narrative that teachers’ union are the source of the state’s economic problems and that public sector unions need to be eliminated.
SB 275 is now the law. But the battle for MATC has just begun. No justice. No peace.
The Battle Continues.
March 6, 2012
On Tuesday, the Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee meeting was canceled because the bill authorizing a hostile takeover of MATC, AB353, did not have enough votes to pass. Rather than lose the vote, the Republican led committee canceled the meeting. This is a victory. But the Metropolitan Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce (MMAC) is continuing to pursue a hostile takeover of the college. The battle continues.
MATC students and others who traveled to the Capitol to fight for their college.
MATC community rides the bus to the Capitol
Hundreds Rally at MATC Against Bill to Dismantle MATC District Board
Wisconsin Technical College District
Boards Association Against Bill Assembly
Committee
Vote
Delayed
on
Bill;
Vote to take place as early as next Tuesday 3/6
March 1, 2012
The Wisconsin Technical College District Boards Association released a report today, commenting on the bill to disband MATC’s District Board.
“This is a set of bad bills representing an attack on our largest college’s board that will have statewide consequences. One of the precedents that will be set is that the Legislature knows better than either our local appointing authorities or our representative local community board members as to how technical colleges should be governed and who should be allowed to serve on the board. Another precedent will be set that a local special interest group can successfully insist the Legislature completely disband and re-cast a local government authority with which that group does not agree.
It may not be long before such take-overs spread to other boards, regardless of which party controls state government. If you believe in local control, our 100-year history of local board governance, and in members being appointed, removed and replaced locally in the district, we need you to oppose these bills as vigorously as possible.”
Falk Announces ‘Invest in Success’
Plan for Wisconsin Plan Restores Walker Cuts to Job Training Technical Colleges By Closing Corporate Loophole
February 22, 2012
Madison – Kathleen Falk, Democratic candidate for governor and former Dane County Executive, announced her “Invest in Success” plan for Wisconsin which would restore tens of millions of dollars in critical funds Gov. Scott Walker took from the Wisconsin’s Technical College System. Falk would pay for her plan by closing a corporate tax loophole the governor opened, which is costing taxpayers $46 million over the next two years and will grow to a $40 million annual loss in 2013. In 2011, Gov. Walker signed $2.3 billion in tax breaks over the next decade for the few and the state now has a $208 million deficit.
“My ‘Invest in Success’ plan will create jobs and spur economic growth by supporting what worked in Wisconsin for 100 years – investing in education and training workers through our technical college system,” said Falk. “Gov. Walker made wrong choices when he gutted our technical colleges and opened this corporate tax loophole. Under Gov. Walker, Wisconsin has lost jobs for six months straight. Gov. Walker’s Way has failed Wisconsin.”
Direct resources to immediate job training for openings in Wisconsin.
Create partnerships that connect worker training to available Wisconsin jobs.
Provide a funding mechanism that will not increase the state’s deficit.
In his own State of the State address, Gov. Walker admitted employers cannot find the skilled workers needed to grow our economy and create new jobs. Nearly 33,000 job openings in Wisconsin are currently unfilled, largely because employers cannot locate the skilled workers required for those positions. [WI DWD, 2/20/12]
Falk’s plan is fully funded. Gov. Walker opened a new corporate tax loophole at a cost of $46 million in his biennial budget, which will rise to an annual cost of $40 million. To make this badly needed investment in the state’s technical college system, Falk will close this controversial loophole, which allows multi-state corporations to avoid paying Wisconsin taxes on profits generated in Wisconsin, and reinvest these funds back into the state’s technical colleges. This current loophole is unfair for other businesses that are paying their taxes.
Areas such as skilled manufacturing, health care, and sustainable industries continue to see growing demand in Wisconsin, yet do not have workers ready to fill these openings. According to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, various industries have grown more than 20% in the past ten years alone:
Business and financial operations: 45% growth
Computer and mathematical enterprises: 32% growth
Personal care and service: 31% growth
Health care support: 24% growth
Health care practitioners and technical occupations: 21% growth
“Gov. Walker promised the people of Wisconsin he would create 250,000 jobs, but the record shows his way has failed,” said Falk. “Gov. Walker’s tax breaks for the few have failed. Gov. Walker’s cuts to education and health care have failed. We must remove Gov. Walker from office now, so we can meet the urgent need of investing in the people of Wisconsin.”
President Obama Proposes
Major Investments in Two-Year Colleges.
February 14, 2012
From Inside Higher Ed
President Obama has proposed spending $8 billion on job training programs at two year colleges over the next three years, part of his budget for the 2013 fiscal year that also would increase spending on Education Department programs and some scientific research.
The president outlined the job-training proposal in a speech at Northern Virginia Community College yesterday. Unlike past calls to spend more on community colleges, this proposal is aimed squarely at an election-year message of “jobs, jobs, jobs” rather than the administration’s goal of increasing the number of Americans with college degrees.
The proposal builds on job training programs already in existence -- especially the Trade Act Assistance Community College Career Training Program, which began making grants to community colleges in September. If approved by Congress, the president’s proposal would provide $1.3 billion each per year to the Education and Labor Departments, on top of the trade act grants.
While it’s unclear whether the money would create new federal programs or build up existing ones, the funds would be spent at two year colleges that train workers for jobs in high-demand fields. Programs that are especially successful at finding jobs for their graduates, or at placing those who traditionally have difficulty finding work, would be eligible for additional money.
Local 212 Member Kenneth O'Reilly
Writes New eBook
Local 212 member Kenneth O’Reilly, an MATC instructor of U.S. history, political science, and Native American history, has written a new eBook, “Holy Cow 2000: The Strange Election of George W. Bush.” It is O'Reilly's fifth book. O'Reilly came to MATC from the University of Alaska Anchorage.
AFT Local 212’s Retiree Chapter
Holds Meeting on Threats to
Wisconsin Retirement System
On Friday, December 9th more than two hundred retirees met to learn about threats by the Walker administration to the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS). AFT Local 212’s retiree chapter hosted the meeting which was chaired by Jennifer Madej, a Local 212 retiree. Panelists, including Keith Roberts, MATC’s former Director of Research and Strategic Planning, explained that the WRS is fully funded, but that the Walker administration’s anti-public employee actions have caused a surge in retirements that will require the system to begin providing pensions to many more retirees than expected. As a result, Walker may propose privatizing the system. That would threaten the pensions of current and future retirees. Attendees were encouraged to contact their elected representatives to protect their hard earned pensions.
