Inside Story for Monday, December 05, 2011

Printing information

As of Dec. 2, 2011, College printers have been set to charge the same amount for students, staff, faculty and the public. This means you will see a negative balance reflected in your PaperCut icon located on your desktop once you start printing. Staff and faculty will not be charged for printing at this time. You should expect to see negative balances. The thought process is that seeing the dollar amount for printing will help MCC staff and faculty think about ways to reduce printing. MCC is committed to environmental sustainability.

If you have any questions, contact the Help Desk at 402-457-2900.

Holiday gifts ideas from ICA

Season with Sage Cookbook

Chocolate and Carmel Mouse Stacks

Butternut Squash and Bacon Canapés

Sound delicious? Purchase the Season with Sage cookbook for only $24.95 + tax, and you can enjoy these dishes or better yet, give the cookbook as a gift! Purchases can be made online or at the Sage Student Bistro, Category One Gifts & Gourmet, The Bookworm, Lo Sole Mio Italian Restaurant, Blue Sushi Sake Grill Old Market and Slattery Vintage Estates. 

The cookbook was created by the students and faculty at MCC's Institute for the Culinary Arts in honor of their friend and fellow student, the late Brandon Thomas. All proceeds are donated to the Brandon Michael Thomas Culinary Arts Memorial Scholarship at MCC. In his memory, his family created this scholarship and underwrote the printing for the cookbook.

Sage Student Bistro Gift Cards

Give the gift of food. Purchase a gift card to the Sage Student Bistro, located at MCC's Institute for the Culinary Arts, Fort Omaha Campus, anytime from Dec. 12-22, Monday-Thursday, 
8-10 a.m., 11 a.m.-1 p.m. or 6-8:30 p.m. Gift cards (available in increments of $5) can be used for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

You are also welcome to join us at any of the dates and times listed above for a delicious meal. Chef Oystein Solberg and the Fine Dining class would love to cook you dinner to celebrate the holidays. Reservations are appreciated and can be made at www.mccneb.edu/bistro. 

And don't forget you can always host your breakfast meetings at the Bistro. We would love to have small groups of 8-25 enjoy our student's egg cookery. Contact Chef Steve Bell at 402-457-2578 to make group breakfast reservations.

Everyday Extraordinaire Noncredit Classes

Give the gift of learning. Register yourself and a friend/family member for the classes below-a great evening out and a perfect holiday gift. Learn from our award-winning faculty and industry professionals as they lead you through hands-on, fundamentally sound culinary lessons inside the state-of-the-art Metropolitan Utilities District demonstration theatre at the Institute for the Culinary Arts. These classes are a perfect way to learn and practice new skills, plus enjoy tasting your finished product.

Register for the classes at www.mccneb.edu/ce/ or by calling 402-457-5231.

Holiday Hors D'oeuvres

COOK-102N-70 (synonym 179685) 

Make your holiday gatherings a culinary delight this year. Learn to prepare and sample unique appetizers. The instructor is MCC Chef Brian O'Malley. The class will be held Wednesday, Dec. 7 from 6-9 p.m. The cost is $50.

Classic Hearty Soups

COOK-103N-70 (synonym 179688)

Learn to prepare classic hearty soups for those cold winter days when a warm bowl of soup hits the spot. The instructor is MCC Chef Brian O'Malley. The class will be held Wednesday, Jan. 25, from 6-9 p.m. The cost is $50.

Ethics class fights global hunger

MCC's Entrepreneurship Program works with other disciplines in hopes of spreading the word that entrepreneurship can be an active part of any curriculum. The entrepreneurial spirit has a very real social component, and last quarter at EVC, an Introduction to Ethics course certainly embraced that spirit. The class voted to support an entrepreneurial endeavor that would also fight global hunger. The class collected more than $200 to purchase two goats and a sheep, plus shares of a llama, a goat, a sheep, a flock of chicks and honeybees. These gifts will not only provide an immediate source of nutrition but the individuals will receive education and instruction providing them with an opportunity to prosper. The class made these purchases through Heifer International and Save the Children.

Training and Development workshops

Find new ways to develop personally and professionally. Take the time to invite a colleague to a Training and Development workshop to foster new skills. Enroll at WebAdvisor or call ext. 8518 (402-457-5231). All listed workshops are noncredit, term: 12/JA.

Take control of holiday stress

TRDV 133N 01 (synonym 180144)
Wednesday, Dec. 14, 10 a.m.-noon, EVC, Room 105
Facilitator: Rita Bartlett, MS, president, RESPONSE-ABILITY Resources Leadership Development & Life Skills Management Training

'Tis the season to be _________. You fill in the blank. Do the holidays find you feeling jolly as you deck the hall with boughs of holly? Or does "Ba-humbug" become an all too familiar guest during your holiday preparations? The holidays are times of comfort and joy, but they can also be very stressful. And those very people and things that bring you that comfort and joy are also often responsible for the stress. Managing stress during the holidays is not only important to enjoying the season; it is also vital to your health!

Course objectives:

• Define stress
• Understand the causes of stress
• Identify stress signals
• Examine the differences between positive and negative stress
• Identify healthy vs. unhealthy coping techniques for managing and reducing holiday stress
• Explore methods to manage professional and personal responsibilities during the busy holiday season
• Identify ways to care for yourself during the holidays and take control of potential holiday-related depression
• Recognize ways to help manage holiday stress in children
• Examine the role of relaxation in healthy holiday stress management

This seminar focuses on the importance of communicating clear expectations for others' performance and recognizing when certain laws (ADA, FMLA, FLSA) come into play. The class is designed to be participatory, giving you the chance to engage in a discussion of actual court cases. Some of the course material will be provided in advance of the class with the expectation that you will come prepared to participate in the discussion.

Learning objectives:               

• Understand how to use progressive discipline when undesirable conduct occurs
• Be able to describe the components of a clarification of expectations and other disciplinary memos
• Understand the relationship between progressive discipline and performance evaluations
• Develop a basic understanding of the Family Medical Leave Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, as Amended, and the Fair Labor Standards Act and know when to contact Human Resources or the College's legal counsel
• Recognize the importance of detailed, accurate documentation to establish a record of your efforts to help an employee dealing with performance issues and to support potential future disciplinary action

Learning objectives:

• Identify top five talent themes
• Understand characteristics of StrengthsFinder^TM talent themes
• Develop an understanding of how your talent themes impact the way you work and interact with others
• Learn how teams can better work and interact with each other from a strengths perspective
• Gain a better understanding on how talent themes can be leveraged at work
• Learn how individual strengths can be perceived by others
• Receive a step-by-step guide on how to communicate one-on-one with your staff regarding individual strength themes

Attending an activity during your scheduled work hours requires supervisor approval. It is your responsibility to obtain approval to attend a Training and Development event.

Contact Marilyn Cotten, coordinator of training and development, at 402-457-2507 with questions.

Congratulations Heather Nelson, 40 Under 40 Award winner

The Midlands Business Journal honored Heather Nelson, entrepreneurship instructor at MCC, as one of the 40 Under 40 Award recipients for 2011. The award honors 40 entrepreneurs, executives and business and professional men and women under the age of 40.

A breakfast was held on Friday, Dec. 2, at Embassy Suites Omaha-La Vista Hotel & Conference Center. In attendance were Nelson's parents, Dave Ho, vice president of academic affairs, Jim Grotrian, executive vice president, Pat Crisler, associate vice president of development, Pam Perry, coordinator grants, Eric Bremers, entrepreneurship instructor, Liliana Peterson, entrepreneurship instructor, Lori Lothringer, finance instructor and Daryl Hansen, dean of business.

Provide input for the next superintendent of Omaha Public Schools

Members of the Omaha Public School District and the greater Omaha community are invited to complete an online survey to indicate the desired characteristics and skills they would like to see in the next superintendent for the district.

Access the survey at www.ops.org by following the link Board of Education Invites You to Complete Survey Regarding Superintendent Search.  The online survey will be available through Tuesday, Dec. 13.

HR updates

New Employees

Stephanie Joneson       
Community Outreach Specialist 
FOC Building 21           
402-457-2563

Amanda Sladek            
Testing Technician        
EVC    
402-289-1278

Penney Weyrauch         
Testing Technician        
SOC CON        
402-738-4613

Changes

Robert Boyer   
Process Operations Technology Instructor         
WCC    
402-763-5964

Mary Rosenthal
Public Affairs Administrative Assistant  
FOC Building 30           
402-457-2369

Annie Spencer  
new name Annie Charbonneau

William Owen   
Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs

Separations 

John Click        
11/28/11

Christine Conn  
11/28/11

Weekly green tip

If you're planning to buy holiday decorations this year, consider a décor of seasonal plants (poinsettia, holly, pinecones), decorations that can be reused or donated, or vintage items from an antiques shop. Two-thirds of households buy new Christmas decorations each year and spend $7.5 billion. If these households diverted just $6 of their decorating budget to reusable items, the money saved could pay to heat 5.9 million New England homes for every hour between Christmas and New Year's Day.-The Green Book

Metro reads! Food Rules

“It’s not food if it’s called by the same name in every language. (Think Big Mac, Cheetos, or Pringles.)" p. 45

MCC is making news

What's the latest and greatest? Check out the latest news releases issued by Public Affairs to find out.

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