Community College Implements Decisive Changes to Restore Health

 

Metropolitan Community College
Image: blogs.mcckc.edu

As Chief of Staff to the Chancellor and Associate Vice Chancellor of Human Resource at Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City, Missouri, Kathy Walter-Mack serves as principal staff to the chancellor of the community college system. Among Attorney Kathy Walter-Mack’s accomplishments are developing and executing strategies that harmonized financial plans with available resources, helping to arrest worsening financial conditions.

In 2010, Metropolitan Community College installed a new chancellor, Mark James, who faced the prospect of having the institution’s financial reserves depleted in five years due to less state support, rising health benefits, rising utility bills, and lower enrollment. James quickly tapped Kathy Walter-Mack as his right hand person to develop strategies and implement decisive changes and actions to address the situation. This included termination of a popular early retirement plan, reconfiguration of the health benefit plan, IT audit and reconfiguration, physical structures assessment, refinancing of an existing bond, lobbying for more state support, and implementing zero-based budgeting.

These changes resulted in cost savings (freeing up cash) and additional funding which were used to improve and repair building facilities, acquire IT equipment which are now bulk purchased and fully compatible, among others. The college was also able restore the annual salary increases to its 900 employees as well as its professional development fund. With improved planning and resource utilization, the college is now on sound financial footing.

Metropolitan Community College awards third annual MLK Chancellor Schoalarship

During the third annual Martin Luther King Chancellor’s luncheon,  18 year old MCC student Chebet Buckner was awarded the 2017 Chancellor’s Scholarship

The event was designed to give Metropolitan Community College employees in the greater Kansas City area time to focus and reflect on Dr. King’s legacy.

Keynote speaker for the Chancellor’s Martin Luther King Jr. Luncheon was Alonzo Jones, associate athletic director at Arizona State University. Jones, in presenting some biographical tidbits about King, urged educators not to deify the civil rights leader but to portray him as a human being, flaws and all, with whom students can identify.

The vision for this initiative was developed by Kathy Walter-Mack, the MCC chief of staff. The event was sponsored by the Chancellor’s Office and  planned by Robert Page, the executive director of inclusion and engagement. This year’s event was also sponsored by the KU Edwards Campus and KU Medical Center.

Chebet Buckner, student at MCC and Kansas City Public Schools’ Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, will receive both her high school diploma and an MCC associate degree in May. The “wonderfully impassioned” and “highly gifted” Early College Program student just turned 18.

After being presented the award by MCC Chancellor Mark James, an emotional Buckner said the MCC-Penn Valley campus has been her home for the past two years.

At MCC-Penn Valley, Buckner is president of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society — another unusual feat for a high school student.

Her list of honors includes the Spirit of Activism Award presented by the Urban League of Greater Kansas City for taking part in a peaceful protest against police brutality. She was also inducted into the National Honor Society at Lincoln.

In her essay for the MLK scholarship, Buckner writes that one injustice she has observed is a lack of mentors: “A mentor can often times be the difference between someone reaching their goal or throwing it away. I hope to one day use my skills and experiences to help a young adult navigate the various decisions and issues that will occur during their lifetime.”

Kansas City’s Metropolitan Community College Hosts The Juncture

The Juncture
Image: mcckc.edu

Kathy Walter-Mack serves as the chief of staff to the chancellor and associate vice chancellor of human resources at Metropolitan Community College (MCC) in Kansas City, Missouri. In that position, Kathy Walter-Mack has helped advance several of the college’s programs and initiatives. Recently, her office was the primary sponsor of The Juncture, an annual professional development symposium she helped launch in 2015.

Hosted by MCC’s Office of Inclusion and Engagement, The Juncture is an interactive event that focuses on helping women in higher education improve their professional practice and meet the needs of students. The symposium features panel discussions and small-group activities that explore professional ethics, mentoring, networking, and collaboration. The Juncture also highlights the different journeys and paths women take on their way to careers in higher education and features presentations from MCC faculty members and local business leaders.

The most recent Juncture symposium took place October 14, 2016, at Metropolitan Community College. Over 100 women participated in the event, which focused on changing student demographics, professional growth, and the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. The symposium program featured presentations from speakers such as Dr. Andrea Hendricks, the assistant vice president of human resources at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and Ellen Heffernan, a partner at The Spelman & Johnson Group.

A number of faculty and staff members from all five MCC campuses also participated in discussions at The Juncture in 2016. For more information about the event, visit www.blogs.mcckc.edu.

Reach Out and Read’s AI/AN Initiative

Reach Out and Read
Image: reachoutandread.org

The chief of staff to the chancellor and associate vice chancellor of human resources at Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City, Missouri, Kathy Walter-Mack builds upon a long history of senior-level administrative experience and considerable legal training. Kathy Walter-Mack also has a history of community service that includes volunteer work with the children’s educational nonprofit Reach Out and Read.

One of Reach Out and Read’s special, targeted programs is the American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) Initiative. As a minority group, young people of American Indian and Alaska Native decent have the lowest test scores, high school graduation rates, and college matriculation rates in the United States. The AI/AN Initiative attempts to address these issues by providing Reach Out and Read services to Indian Health Service (IHS) facilities and other US medical clinics that serve native populations.

Reach Out and Read established the AI/AN Initiative in 2007 in partnership with the IHS and the American Academy of Pediatrics. The Initiative currently provides children’s books to medical providers at approximately 5,000 program sites nationwide. Medical providers at these sites distribute more than 120,000 books to children and their families on an annual basis.

Metropolitan Community College Cleared from the AAUP Censure List

 

Kathy Walter-Mack serves as the chief of staff at Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City, Missouri, where she also leads human resources projects and provides support to the College’s chancellor. In addition to those duties, Kathy Walter-Mack recently developed and implemented improved fiscal policies in her department. She also successfully negotiated the removal of the College from the  American Asssociation of University Professors (AAUP) censure list.

More than three decades ago, Metropolitan Community College faced serious financial woes. To help balance the budget, the school was forced to lay off some full-time professors. This action caught the attention of the(AAUP),which placed Metropolitan Community College on its censure list.

The AAUP considered the community college’s actions to be threats to academic freedom and tenure. It places institutions on the censure list as a way to warn prospective professors and other professionals that tenure and academic freedom may not be respected satisfactorily. Schools are responsible for developing policies that improve conditions, and the AAUP reviews cases every two years. Metropolitan Community College was finally removed from the list in July 2016, 32 years after initially appearing there.

Things to Consider When Developing a Crisis Management Strategy

crisis management

 

Since 2009, Kathy Walter-Mack has served as chief of staff and associate vice chancellor of human resources at Metropolitan Community College, where she acts as spokesperson for the chancellor to media and the public. In her career, Kathy Walter-Mack has become a leader in the realm of crisis management.

When developing a crisis management strategy, one of the first and most important steps is to actually anticipate what type of crises could occur. Gathering the team and engaging in a proactive brainstorming session helps to determine which problems can be avoided simply by changing existing methods and policies, and also in developing best and worst-case scenarios and strategies about how to respond to them. As a result, your organization should come away with a solid crisis response plan.

Secondly, it’s important to identify the key members who will make up the crisis communications team. This should be senior executives, preferably led by the CEO. Public relations personnel and legal counsel will also be important pieces of the puzzle. It may be necessary to contract outside public relations professionals if the in-house team is inexperienced in dealing with crisis situations.

Kansas City Hospice Names New CEO

Kansas City Hospice Palliative Care
Image: kchospice.org

Kathy Walter-Mack oversees staff at five Metropolitan Community College campuses in her role as chief of staff and associate vice chancellor of human resources. Outside of her professional life, Kathy Walter-Mack supports various local charities, such as Kansas City Hospice.

Kansas City Hospice & Palliative Care has named David Wiley its new president and chief executive officer. After conducting an extensive, nationwide search, the organization’s board tapped Wiley to fill the role left by the departing Elaine McIntosh, who is retiring after serving the organization for nearly 25 years.

In addition to his experience with Kansas City Hospice & Palliative Care, Wiley has also served in leadership positions at H&R block and is a graduate of University of Missouri-Kansas City, holding an accounting degree.

Along with its subsidiary, NorthCare Hospice, Kansas City Hospice has a presence in 10 counties throughout Kansas and Missouri, boasting two Hospice Houses that see some 450 employees and 600 volunteers come through its doors. The organization serves approximately 3,800 families a year.

Kansas City Hospice’s Supportive or Palliative Care Program

Kansas City Hospice Palliative Care
Image: kchospice.org

As the principal staff person to a five campus community college system, Kathy Walter-Mack attends to various functions in support of the chancellor’s objectives for the schools. Outside of her professional work, Kathy Walter-Mack pursues community work which has included such activities as volunteering to support Kansas City Hospice & Palliative Care (KHPC).

KHPC, a nonprofit, was founded in 1980 as the result of a meeting among hospital administrators and several physicians regarding Kansas City’s need for enhanced end-of-life-care. Today, KHPC serves Kansas City’s 10 counties with an award-winning staff and over 400 dedicated volunteers.

One of KHPC’s programs is Supportive or Palliative Care. Individuals who are being treated for serious illnesses may require extra support at home. Studies have revealed that palliative care or supportive care at home can help patients avoid visits to the emergency room and lessen time in the hospital.

Depending on the type of situation, palliative home care services range from one consultation to ongoing, regular visits. The services include making patients more comfortable through some of the following means: assistance with pain control, tiredness, shortness of breath and other symptoms; development of strategies for coping with uncertainty through a 24/7 questions and concerns lifeline; dedication to keeping patient independence through in-home services; and education of family members to help them understand how best to care for a patient.

KHPC also provides help in dealing with anxiety and fear through spiritual and emotional support to patients and family members. The service may also include handling the details of a patient’s case by coordinating care with the patient’s doctor and arranging for such needs as medical equipment.

In accordance with the program, an assigned registered nurse will coordinate the needed care. The majority of private insurance plans, Medicaid, and Medicare pay for palliative care.

MCC Chief of Staff’s work leads to removal of AAUP censure

Leaders of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) discussed several topics at the group’s annual June 2016 conference in Washington, D.C. One of the agenda items included the censure imposed on Metropolitan Community College in the 1980’s.

The academic association unanimously voted to lift the censure from 1984, which had been enacted over the termination of eight tenured faculty appointments.

Kathy Walter-Mack MCC Chief of Staff

Removal from the list “is welcomed by  MCC administration and faculty leaders,” said Kathy Walter-Mack chief of staff in the chancellor’s office,  who worked for a year with AAUP to get the censure removed. “Nobody wants to be on a censure list,” she said. “It is not the way we do business.”

 “We are appreciative of the objective review the AAUP conducted of our current circumstances and are pleased with the removal,” MCC Chancellor Mark James said.

“I would also like to commend the work of the late Mr. Jordan E. Kurland, AAUP associate general secretary, who worked diligently with Chief of Staff Kathy Walter-Mack to achieve this outcome.”

 

The AAUP said in lifting the censure that Metropolitan Community College has since made amends to the affected faculty members and adopted new policies intended to protect faculty rights.

At the time the censure was imposed, MCC leaders said they needed to eliminate the positions in response to financial difficulties and declining enrollments. The AAUP argued that enrollment had stabilized and that no state of financial exigency existed, and that the college’s real motive was to reduce the number of full-time faculty members.

Walter-Mack explained that being on the censure list blemished the College’s reputation. Not to mention, the College since successfully navigated through one of the deepest recessions in U.S. history and managed state reductions in higher education funding without layoffs.

“This was a legacy we did not need to leave on the books,” Walter-Mack said. “It didn’t seem right to have a legacy hanging out there that didn’t now accurately reflect the way we do business.”

Read more about the removal in the Kansas City Star.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article85752172.html#storylink=cpy

 

Supplier Diversity Expo at MCC is a success

More than one hundred businesses showed up for the third annual “Relationships to Partnerships” Midwest Supplier Diversity Exposition. The event held on May 18 at the Metropolitan Community College-Business & Technology campus from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. brought together minority- and women-owned businesses to showcase their products and services.

 Chris Kelly, MCC’s supplier diversity program coordinator said ” We had a large group of businesses from diverse fields who were able to connect and learn. As an educational institution, Metropolitan Community College, works to educate our community and business leaders about securing contracts and searching for opportunities to partner with diverse businesses.”

Kelly also wanted to thank  MCC’s Chief of Staff Kathy Walter-Mack for her support and guidance over the last several years. Walter-Mack  oversees the supplier diversity program.

To read more about the program click on the link below. And you can always visit http://mcckc.edu/supplierdiversity.

http://blogs.mcckc.edu/newsroom/2016/05/06/mccs-minority-and-women-owned-business-expo-may-18/Minority Diversity Supplier