Profile: Central Wisconsin

Dr. Shelly Mondeik - Mid-State Technical College

Mid-State Technical College Season 2 Episode 8

On this episode of Profile, Michael and I visit with Dr. Shelly Mondeik, president of Mid-State Technical College.  Right out of high school, Shelly went to technical college, got her degree and took a job as a medical secretary.  But through hard work and an eagerness to take every opportunity, she advanced in the organization learning new skills and taking on leadership roles.  Fueled by a passion to teach others, she took a position as a technical college instructor.  It wasn’t long before she was promoted to Dean and the VP of Learning.  Then in 2017 she was welcomed as the president of Mid-State.

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00:00:00 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I think I would say I'm just a student for life and I think to be able to learn more or to change your thoughts you have to listen.

00:00:09 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And you know, long time ago, somebody had told me and I use this quote.

00:00:13 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Sometimes:  If you give me a dollar and I give you a dollar, neither one of us are richer.

00:00:19 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But if you share an.

00:00:20 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Idea and I share an idea.

00:00:21 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We're both richer.

*break in interview*

00:00:29 Ben Nusz

Welcome to Profile Central, Wisconsin.

00:00:32 Ben Nusz

A podcast about the origins of the organizations that make our community thrive.

00:00:37 Ben Nusz

I'm Benjamin Nusz, host and the campus Dean of Mid-State Technical College’s Stevens Point campus and I'll be joined by co-host.

00:00:44 Ben Nusz

Michael Witte, executive director of the Portage County Business Council on this episode of Profile, Michael and I visit with Doctor Shelley Mondeik, President of Mid-State Technical College.

00:00:56 Ben Nusz

Right out of high school, Shelly went to Technical College, got her degree and took a job as a medical secretary.

00:01:03 Ben Nusz

But through hard work and an.

00:01:04 Ben Nusz

Eagerness to take every opportunity she advanced in the organization, learning new skills and taking on leadership roles fueled by a passion to teach others.

00:01:14 Ben Nusz

She took a position.

00:01:16 Ben Nusz

As a Technical College instructor, but it wasn't long before she was promoted to Dean and then on to the VP.

00:01:22 Ben Nusz

Of learning.

00:01:23 Ben Nusz

In 2017 she was welcomed as the president.

00:01:26 Ben Nusz

Of Mid-State.

00:01:27 Ben Nusz

Now this is a podcast where we get to learn origin stories and hopefully get inspired by our guest’s success.

00:01:34 Ben Nusz

This is a special episode for me because I.

00:01:37 Ben Nusz

Get the chance.

00:01:37 Ben Nusz

To interview someone.

00:01:38 Ben Nusz

Who inspires me on a daily basis.

00:01:41 Ben Nusz

I'm sure you'll enjoy Shelley journey of lifelong learning.

00:01:45 Ben Nusz

And in telling her.

00:01:46 Ben Nusz

Own story.

00:01:47 Ben Nusz

She tells the story of so many Mid-State students.  Illustrating the ultimate potential of what someone can do with a technical degree from Medical Secretary to College President.

00:01:59 Ben Nusz

To tell her story, here's Shelly.

00:02:08 Ben Nusz

Did you grow up in in Central Wisconsin?

00:02:11 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I did, I did. I actually graduated from Merrill High School back in 1987, so then everybody can do the math and know exactly how old I am.

00:02:20 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But yeah, I had a mother who was from Merrill, a dad that was from Antigo and ended up marrying a gentleman from Gleason.

00:02:27 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So yep, have always been in Central Wisconsin, Northern Wisconsin.

00:02:32 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'm truly a mid, Midwest girl.

00:02:33 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I usually say that I'm.

00:02:35 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Everything Wisconsin from I love the Packers.

00:02:38 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I love the Badgers.

00:02:38 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I love the Brewers, so yes.

00:02:41 Ben Nusz

So, I know you have strong connections with your parents is.

00:02:44 Ben Nusz

There something that you learned from them that maybe left a lasting impression?

00:02:50 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Yeah, you know my parents were special people.

00:02:53 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know I lost my dad about two years ago and I think after you lose a parent you think about, you know, I think that relationship even more, hard working people very much.

00:03:03 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I think taught me that.

00:03:04 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But you have to have that positive really kind of can-do attitude, which is something that I think I very much grew up witnessing.

00:03:13 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

My dad worked construction and my mom was able to be a homemaker and really just saw how Mom kept it together at home and and Dad was always moving on to another job.

00:03:25 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And you know he started as a laborer and construction and ended up being a Superintendent and.

00:03:30 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I saw that advancement, I think through my life and the joy that he had, he loved his job and but it was always about a, you know, be the best you can be and what can you do.

00:03:41 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Not only for your employer, but also what can you do for.

00:03:44 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Your community?  And.

00:03:45 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, I think a a lasting thought that I continue to carry with me is.

00:03:51 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

They were supportive and it really didn't matter if I wanted to try out for that class play or I wanted to go to an extra thing on the weekend.

00:04:00 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

My parents were always able to make that happen.

00:04:03 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Now I was an only child, and sometimes there's some stigma that comes with with only being an only child.

00:04:09 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But I was also an only grandchild.

00:04:11 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

On one side, because my mom was an only child, so family was important.

00:04:15 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, when we had birthdays or we went out for a Friday fish fry.

00:04:19 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

The grandparents were along and so very close knit.

00:04:22 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We went on vacation together.

00:04:23 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We ate dinner together we we was just um yeah and I think you know trying to raise my own children.

00:04:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know you have those values, right?

00:04:32 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And family is important.

00:04:34 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So yeah, I hope I hope they.

00:04:36 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Would be proud of me.

00:04:37 Ben Nusz

So, you mentioned.

00:04:38 Ben Nusz

That you graduated from Merrill.

00:04:41 Ben Nusz

Tell us about one of your first choices.

00:04:42 Ben Nusz

I understand you picked a Technical College.

00:04:45 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I did I, which was an excellent choice for me, and I think you know, being in the Technical College system.

00:04:51 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I many times will start a speech that I maybe I'm asked to give to really say I stand before you as a Technical College graduate.

00:04:59 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I really have had the life that I would hope all of our graduates live, which means that I've never worked a day in my life and I I say that a lot and you hear that story.

00:05:08 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But when you find the right niche, it's really, really true.

00:05:11 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And so, when I was in high school, I was a pretty good student.

00:05:14 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, I was a class officer.

00:05:15 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I always had my hand up.

00:05:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

If somebody needed a volunteer, but back in the day I was a member of the future, FBA: Future Business Leaders of America.

00:05:23 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And so, I was pretty good at typing in those business skills and all that kind of stuff.

00:05:28 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And we had a Co-op program.  And my Co-op.

00:05:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

The employer was Merrill Medical Associates and so I got to go there after school and work, and that's really how I fell in love with health care and I had a lady there I’ve often.

00:05:44 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Told, she just inspired me.

00:05:47 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

She was the office manager.

00:05:48 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It did not matter if the doctor had a question or the toner was out of the printer or she was the person that people went to and I thought you know, I.

00:05:57 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I want to be like I want to be like her.

00:06:00 Ben Nusz

The go to person.

00:06:01 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

They go to her name is Jeanette and back in the day.

00:06:04 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

In the late 80s.

00:06:05 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

To be an office manager or to kind of be that Jack of all Trades, Medical Secretary was really the the pathway.

00:06:13 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And the Technical College North Central Technical College, which was our local college, had that program.

00:06:20 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And so, I was able to take some of the classes that I had had in high school, transferred them into the Technical College, and I knew that I probably would not end up there.

00:06:30 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I think my dream would be to be a president of the hospital.

00:06:34 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Or something of that sort.

00:06:35 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I mean, I always thought probably pretty big because my parents told me that if you work hard, you know sometimes you can achieve those dreams.

00:06:42 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And so yes, I went to North Central and.

00:06:45 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Got involved there.

00:06:46 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I was the first female thinking about this.

00:06:48 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I was the first female student governing board president.

00:06:52 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Because I was that SGB President, I sat at A at the same conference table representing students and when I went back there, you know, many years later I got to sit in that same room.

00:07:03 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But at that time I was representing more, you know, administration, and then was, you know, able to kind of move up so some people would probably tell you.

00:07:12 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I've had a pretty Cinderella story but.

00:07:15 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I, I think I've had to work for everything along the way, but yeah, so the Technical College served me well and I did what I again believe.

00:07:23 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Many of our graduates do.

00:07:24 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I got a job because part of my program at the college was doing an internship and at that time my internship was with.

00:07:35 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Two of the cardiologists in Wausau that were Leon Engelmeyer Cardiology there was not the big cardiology groups like there are now and had done my internship and they offered me a full time job and I accepted that.

00:07:50 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And really worked in that medical secretary job for probably only about six months and I had one of the cardiologists, Dr Engelmeyer, who I am forever grateful for.

00:08:01 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Took me in the office and said we looked out the window and he said:

00:08:05 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Do you see that hill up there?

00:08:06 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And I said yeah, he goes.

00:08:08 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'm going to put up a building.

00:08:09 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

There and I really want you to move over to the side of the house of doing some direct patient care.

00:08:15 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Are you interested?

00:08:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And I was always a girl that was up to.

00:08:18 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It; up to learning more.

00:08:20 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I said, what does that mean?

00:08:21 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

He said, well, we want you to learn ultrasound.

00:08:23 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We want you to do stress testing all of those things, but you're probably gonna go back to school, have to go back to school.

00:08:29 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And we'll be there to support you along the way, but we want you want, you know, on that foundational team.

00:08:33 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So, I came in. I think I was like employee #6 when I left it was, you know over 80.

00:08:40 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And they did.

00:08:42 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I went back and got a Anatomy and Physiology.

00:08:45 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Went to the UW Marathon in Wausau, you know?

00:08:48 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Had the university training as well and sent me out to New York and did some training with Doctor Jaffe so I could really kind of be the the best of what I could be bringing some new things to Wausau.

00:08:59 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And we did move into that building, and at the end, you know I was a technical director, so I did oversee the functions and and helped them develop some of the other clinics that have kind of popped up.

00:09:12 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I was, I've been a student, a lot of my life.

00:09:16 Ben Nusz

So, what were you doing there in?

00:09:18 Ben Nusz

In that job you said you started off doing ultrasounds is that correct?

00:09:22 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Yeah, you know, I started out doing.

00:09:25 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Even before that I did phlebotomy, so they taught me, you know, I went to classes to know how to draw blood when you're in the clinic, you typically also get certified to be able to test the blood.

00:09:36 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

They they run their own specimens, so I was able to do that. Learn simple cardiology things such as you know EKG's did.

00:09:45 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

All of their major procedure scheduling from a heart catheterization up to working with the surgeons for their open heart surgery.

00:09:52 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

A lot of facilitation.

00:09:53 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

With the hospitals with the surgeon, physician offices, a lot of patient instructions and and being alongside that patient, then we started getting into the Nook Med and stress testing and echocardiograms, which is the ultrasound of the heart.

00:10:11 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And so again, back in the 90s.

00:10:13 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

If you.

00:10:14 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Who did so many cases you could sit for your registry boards and so.

00:10:18 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So, I became registered and still hold those credentials today so industry credentials.

00:10:23 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Are very very.

00:10:23 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Important, but I got registered in cardiology and vascular and because I I I did pretty well.

00:10:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I was able to get my fellowship, so I have the FASE after my name, which is what many cardiologists have and just.

00:10:38 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Really loved loved it.

00:10:40 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Just loved it.

00:10:40 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I I kind of you know, thinking about this now as we talk I I hope the people that I work.

00:10:46 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

With would have thought that I was maybe the Jeanette that I had.

00:10:50 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, many years ago and in a very different level, never really thought I would leave health care.

00:10:55 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I had many times told people it was my my really.

00:10:59 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

My first love but but then you know opportunities come.

00:11:02 Michael Witte

You left there as a technical director.

00:11:04 Michael Witte

What was the progression?

00:11:05 Michael Witte

How many years was it that you were there?

00:11:08 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

That yeah, I think it was 13 years, so this was yeah it was.

00:11:13 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It was long.

00:11:14 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know a lot of what I.

00:11:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Learned and what I was taught.

00:11:18 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It doesn't just happen overnight, but yeah, I was there for 13 years I think.

00:11:23 Michael Witte

So, you're technical director of this cardiovascular group.

00:11:27 Michael Witte

And you know, really, you know progressing.

00:11:31 Michael Witte

You know quite quickly.

00:11:33 Michael Witte

What was, what happened next?

00:11:36 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Well, you know I people saw that part of me being the technical director was I got to work with a number of students that would come into the.

00:11:44 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Clinic so I was working with Saint Cloud, you know, Technical College, the local technical colleges, universities so we would have students that would come in for rotations.

00:11:54 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So, if it was anything from drawing blood to doing an EKG to the medical secretary program, and we we just, I mean that was part of what I did.

00:12:03 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I loved working with students.

00:12:05 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Because I would think.

00:12:07 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You might know me it would be I'd stay late.

00:12:09 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I would.

00:12:10 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, maybe do some extra stuff, loved it and I said to the receptionist one time and this is a true story.

00:12:17 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, if I could just work with students all the time, that would be like my dream job.

00:12:22 Ben Nusz

They're like there.

00:12:23 Ben Nusz

There's a job for that!

00:12:25 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And you know what a few months later this is.

00:12:26 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And this is so true.

00:12:29 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

This her name is Judy and Judy passed away, but she brought me the Vasa Daily Herald newspaper clipping.

00:12:37 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

That North Central Technical College was going to.

00:12:40 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

They were wanting to have ultrasound instructors and it was they did not have that program and they wanted to bring someone in to start the program with another Technical College be the main instructor.

00:12:51 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Really be the face of the program and she brought it to me and she said, hey I saw this and I thought of you.

00:12:57 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And I can't imagine anybody better anybody better in the region than.

00:13:01 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You do this.

00:13:03 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And uhm, I went home that night.

00:13:05 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I remember and I said to my husband.

00:13:08 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Look at what Judy brought me.

00:13:10 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And my husband read it and he said, wow, so like what do you think?

00:13:15 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And I said, you know I.

00:13:17 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I don't know and he says you, Shelly, you're a natural.

00:13:22 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You've been a natural teacher, your whole.

00:13:24 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Life you need.

00:13:24 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

To do this, and you know I had.

00:13:27 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I taught Bible school I'd you know then can be in many community leadership type roles.

00:13:32 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And so I thought you know, OK, but I've never formally taught, but I think I had done a lot of informal.

00:13:37 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Teaching, so I threw my hat in the ring, went through the process and was offered the position so started as a full blown full time teacher and had all of those learning things that you have to do.

00:13:51 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

When you do that from writing curriculum and I was inheriting, I was not inheriting a program.

00:13:57 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I had to create a program.

00:13:58 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We were doing that with Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay.

00:14:02 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

They had hired one instructor.

00:14:04 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

North Central had hired one instructor and we were supposed to develop the systems via degree program and and we did and I loved.

00:14:10 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I loved writing curriculum on the detailed person and and got to set up all the clinical sites and.

00:14:17 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, brought in our first class, and you know if I took you over to my office, I have a scrapbook that when I moved out of the teaching role after six years, the students had put together a scrapbook for me and you know, to so many highlights from that experience.

00:14:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I loved teaching, really, the only reason I left there was I was really.

00:14:37 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Asked to do something else, and because there was an opportunity and they needed someone and they thought I was the right person and and I think you know, for me it's always been about.

00:14:48 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Where can I make the greatest impact?

00:14:50 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Or maybe the biggest difference.

*break in interview*

00:14:57 Ben Nusz

More from Shelly in a moment.

00:14:58 Ben Nusz

Just a quick break to share some brief announcements.

00:15:01 Ben Nusz

The spring term at Mid-State is now underway, but we always have a great slate of continuing education courses available that are refreshed every week from learning conversational French to updating your CPR certification.  Our continuing.

00:15:15 Ben Nusz

Education Department has a lot to offer.

00:15:18 Ben Nusz

The courses are designed for both personal enrichment and professional development. Sometimes what you need to succeed is just a little more learning or the next credential and Mid-State can help you on your way. Check out upcoming classes at mstc.edu/continuing-education.  

00:15:37 Ben Nusz

Now let's hear more of the story of.

00:15:38 Ben Nusz

Mid-State Technical College with Shelly.

*Interview resumes*

00:15:45 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I knew that I had left Engelmeyer cardiology in a much better place than I knew that teaching I could have another, maybe greater impact after teaching.

00:15:57 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

There was a position that was open moving into a Dean role in public safety, which is another different school of the College.

00:16:04 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

They needed someone and so I kind of, you know, got called in and said hey, we could really use your leadership over here or are you willing to move back into administration and.

00:16:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Probably one of the hardest decisions because I really felt I had my calling. Being with those students. But then my husband reminded me that in this role, Shelly, you're going to not only be able to affect those, you know 24 students, that you gotta have every year, but now you'll be able to. Your decisions are going to be able to affect, you know, 500.

00:16:35 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Students a year.

00:16:37 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And so, I loved being in management.

00:16:39 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'm I'm a relationship person, I'm about partnership.

00:16:42 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'm about growing.

00:16:44 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'm about continuous improvement.

00:16:46 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And so, I sat down and they said, if we want to move you over to the Dean, I said, let's go, let's do it.

00:16:52 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Sometimes you you just don't know what.

00:16:54 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You don't know.

00:16:54 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But I loved that. I learned.

00:16:57 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So much EMS and paramedic underneath me.

00:16:59 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So, my healthcare background, that was kind of home to me, law enforcement and fire was definitely not.

00:17:06 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I learned so much. I was.

00:17:10 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Again, if you would go in my.

00:17:12 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Office you would see.

00:17:13 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I have a full blown fire helmet that says Mondeik.

00:17:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I had been given that by the fire departments, hopefully because they felt that I was a a friend and an advocate to them and I have so many people that walk in my office and say “oh you were a firefighter?” and I'm like “no, I’m just, I’m a wannabe!”

00:17:30 Ben Nusz

I’m an advocate

00:17:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'm an advocate.

00:17:32 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I wanted to be, but, um, really loved that because that gave me the chance to oversee other faculty.

00:17:37 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We oversee the curriculum that we were developing, overseeing the partnerships, and.

00:17:43 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Really, we had.

00:17:44 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Some needs definitely out of that area, which was putting up a kind of a bigger complex, public safety complex, and was able to maybe help be part of that team to make something.

00:17:57 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Like that happen.

00:17:58 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And so, it was a great project.

00:17:59 Ben Nusz

While you were an instructor, you've got a Bachelors degree in career and technical education.

00:18:04 Ben Nusz

And you then followed.

00:18:05 Ben Nusz

That very shortly thereafter, with a with a Masters degree.

00:18:07 Ben Nusz

What kind of advice would you have for someone who's working in the field working full time?

00:18:12 Ben Nusz

I know how hard it is to be an instructor on how consuming it is, but you then are also going to school full time.

00:18:19 Ben Nusz

What advice?

00:18:19 Ben Nusz

Would you have for someone in that position?

00:18:22 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Do it today, not someday, and that's really.

00:18:25 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I had a patient that told me.

00:18:27 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

That many years ago.

00:18:28 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And that was something I think that I really embraced, and I tell that to people.

00:18:33 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Now:  make it work.

00:18:35 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Find the right program for you.

00:18:37 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I knew I could not do a daytime program.

00:18:41 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I needed to have a weekend program because I was raising a child and I was working full time and I found that program through UW Stout.

00:18:48 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

For me, so I would travel to be able to take those classes on Friday night and Saturdays and Sundays.

00:18:54 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I was lucky.

00:18:56 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know you have to spend some time planning.

00:18:57 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I had a supportive husband that could, you know, serve those tombstone pizzas.

00:19:02 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

My kids will tell you that they never ate so many pizzas during those four years of education, but it's still a joke today: that’s daddy’s cooking.

00:19:10 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It's it's it's.

00:19:12 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

There's support out there, and even if it's not your immediate.

00:19:14 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Family I think there's always people there that will assist.

00:19:18 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I got lucky, you know I I did that bachelors program with teaching and an associate degree.

00:19:23 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I needed to get that bachelors degree to be able to meet those accreditation requirements and just had a wonderful cohort.

00:19:30 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Really was not intending to.

00:19:32 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Go on after that, but again, I think I have that love of learning and had a great cohort and there were a few of us.

00:19:38 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

That said, let's let's keep going, and because I knew at that point, I think moving into that Dean role that you know maybe a Vice President.

00:19:47 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, maybe I'm maybe that's where I where.

00:19:50 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I could go next and.

00:19:52 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Knowing that education is a part of that, I just thought let's let's keep going and again was able to find the Masters program had it, it was weekend.

00:20:00 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

As well, and was able to do that and and it's just funny what when I think back now you know how do you.

00:20:07 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Make it work?

00:20:08 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You make it work a day by day, week by week, month by month.

00:20:12 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I celebrated every class I celebrated every semester and maybe that was just getting, uh, you know, going out for dinner with my husband, but.

00:20:21 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Yeah, and I.

00:20:22 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Think it was good for my kids.

00:20:23 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

My kids saw that, you know I was working right with them, so there'd be times that they'd be at the kitchen table.

00:20:28 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I had doing their homework and I was sitting at the kitchen table doing doing my homework and.

00:20:33 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know I would hope part of that drive and perseverance that they've seen in me.

00:20:38 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I hope they you know that will be something that they will say.

00:20:42 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Hopefully that I inspired them.

00:20:44 Michael Witte

You have a very positive can-do attitude.

00:20:47 Michael Witte

Did you ever at any time say I don't know if I can do this?

00:20:51 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Oh my gosh, I said that I said that at every step along the way!

00:20:55 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Yeah, even when I was, you know, learning how to draw blood or needing to learn this test, I would go home and say Pete, you know my husband, I I'm not going to do this.

00:21:06 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I can't.

00:21:06 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'm not going to learn this and he'd say yes.

00:21:08 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You will and then I would do it and then the next thing would come that I had to learn and I'd go.

00:21:13 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Oh my gosh, I'm never going to be able to do this and he would say yes.

00:21:15 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You will, and he'd say 'cause you're going to apply yourself.

00:21:19 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And and I've had, you know some things in life that have not gone my way, but I choose us not to have those things define me.

00:21:30 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I just don't want it to define me, so it's about I choose to be positive.

00:21:33 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I choose to be happy.

00:21:34 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I choose to.

00:21:35 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I have my days.

00:21:36 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Oh my gosh, we're all human and I always I even say to the managers here:

00:21:40 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You can have a day, but not two days, you know, because when you're in leadership, you gotta keep it together, I think.

00:21:46 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And if you really want to be that role model, you've got, uh, you know.

00:21:49 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It's not just about talk.

00:21:50 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You have to live your values.

00:21:52 Ben Nusz

So is there a.

00:21:53 Ben Nusz

Certain point where you saw yourself as a leader?

00:21:56 Ben Nusz

Where were there indicators along the way that let you know you were on the right track?

00:22:01 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, I think so.

00:22:02 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, probably the older you get, right?

00:22:04 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We're supposed to become wiser so I can look back.

00:22:07 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I think I always had that ability to.

00:22:10 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I always stepped up right?

00:22:12 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So I think in some ways because I stepped.

00:22:14 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Up, you know if the.

00:22:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So, we needed to do something like who's going to put it together.

00:22:19 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

My hand would go up so I'd have to get the people together and we'd have to figure out what we're going to do.

00:22:23 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Or, you know, there was a volunteer that they needed something for.

00:22:27 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

This my hand would go up.

00:22:28 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And so, and we usually accomplished.

00:22:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know whatever the outcome was.

00:22:33 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I had the ability, for whatever reason, to have people.

00:22:36 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And we want to work work with me and and I.

00:22:40 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I hope people would say I I work alongside people I I.

00:22:44 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

That's a trait that's very important to me.

00:22:46 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I've I've told some other, maybe leaders that I I've witnessed and they say, gosh, you know, I just I don't have the following.

00:22:53 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Like you know, I want to be this leader and I'm like well, yeah, a leader can't be a leader if you have no followers.

00:22:58 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know you have to treat people well.

00:22:59 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You have to.

00:23:01 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You have to walk the talk.

00:23:02 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You have to be able to motivate and inspire, and if you if you're if you're not, you can be a good manager of task, but it doesn't mean you're a leader, and so I don't know, Ben.

00:23:13 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know.

00:23:14 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Even today am I a leader?

00:23:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I think I am.

00:23:17 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I think people would say that, but I just see myself.

00:23:21 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

As a person who works really hard to do good things.

00:23:25 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And and I think that if I can inspire others to do good things, then the world is a better place.

00:23:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And so that's really what it's about.

00:23:34 Ben Nusz

While you were in the.

00:23:35 Ben Nusz

Role of Vice President of Learning you once again go back to school and get a Doctor of Education degree in educational leadership.

00:23:43 Ben Nusz

I actually I talked to students about this idea of career pathways and life lifelong learning a lot, and I think that you should be.

00:23:50 Ben Nusz

On the poster and.

00:23:52 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I've had people tell me that yes *laughs*

00:23:54 Ben Nusz

You know, because I often tell high school students your story, and I think that's that's why it's so important.

00:23:59 Ben Nusz

We're capturing it here.

00:24:00 Ben Nusz

Today.  You you go from an associate degree and a position as Medical Secretary to an Ed D and college president right?

00:24:11 Ben Nusz

You're an inspiration to to so many others.

00:24:14 Ben Nusz

Was there something specific that.

00:24:15 Ben Nusz

Inspired you along along the way to constantly be learning and constantly.

00:24:20 Ben Nusz

Be striving for more?

00:24:22 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, I think sometimes in those positions.

00:24:26 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

When I would see maybe decisions that were being made by the people that had that power.

00:24:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

To make decisions.

00:24:32 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I would have made a different decision and I think that helped me give me the drive to want to continue to have that greater impact because I could see sometimes how those decisions affected people.

00:24:47 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And so you know, I, one of the things that I had said when I was leaving my Dean group I was supervising as a vice president.

00:24:56 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I said, you know, I think I've been a pretty good Vice President and I hope I'm not a sucky president.

00:25:00 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And I mean that.

00:25:01 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And I think when I was a faculty member and I moved into the Dean role, I said, you know, I think I was a pretty good instructor.

00:25:06 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I hope I'm not.

00:25:07 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Going to be a bad.

00:25:07 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Dean.  And, and that's really I think just what's kept me grounded.

00:25:14 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

What's kept me having I think a purposeful life, but it was because I saw that.

00:25:21 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

How decisions affect people and I would have made different decisions that I felt like the only way that I can maybe.

00:25:29 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Have something to do with an environment that can be different is if I can.

00:25:34 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Make all those decisions, not just some of them and that kind of kept me going.

00:25:40 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And when I made that decision to go back back for my doctorate, I very much.

00:25:45 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Did then at that point want to think about being a president.

00:25:49 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I again had to find a program that I could do on the.

00:25:52 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Weekend and found a great program through Edgewood.

00:25:56 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So, you heard me talk about when I give a speech and many times I start out that I'm a Technical College graduate.

00:26:01 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I actually am not only a Technical College graduate, I'm a University of Wisconsin graduate.

00:26:06 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And I'm also a private college graduate, and in all three times in my life that was the right choice for me, and I always tell people that you have to look at everything that is.

00:26:17 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Out there when I graduated with my doctorate, it was the same time that my son graduated from high school, which was kind of a kind of a special thing that's for sure.

00:26:26 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But no, I I had my sights on that.

00:26:29 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I wanted to move into a Presidency role and then right when it all happened and I knew that I would want to stay in the Midwest.

00:26:38 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Because that's the the area of the country that I love and I love the four seasons and and.

00:26:43 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Then yeah, then.

00:26:44 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Mid-State had an opening who would have ever thought right?

00:26:47 Ben Nusz

So, this brings us to Mid-State now and Mid-State’s part in your journey. 2017 you come to Mid-State and take over as the college president.

00:26:57 Ben Nusz

As someone who's been here for a long time and has a tremendous fondness for this organization.

00:27:01 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

How am I doing Ben?

00:27:02 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I hope I'm doing OK *laughs*

00:27:04 Ben Nusz

We are so.

00:27:06 Ben Nusz

Fortunate to have you here, I'm I'm just.

00:27:09 Ben Nusz

Wondering what what?

00:27:10 Ben Nusz

Drew you to Mid-State was its location with the availability of the position in this community.

00:27:15 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

All of the above.

00:27:17 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It was.

00:27:19 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

The opportunities that I think I saw that I thought that I could bring to Mid-State that I think was the first curiosity.

00:27:28 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Point is, what could Mid-State be?

00:27:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

What could I bring to Mid-State?

00:27:33 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But then it was the people, Ben.

00:27:35 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So once I applied and and met our board.

00:27:39 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And got to meet some of the people through the community listening sessions.

00:27:44 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I saw that many people wanted Mid-State to be more.

00:27:48 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And I felt that that I could do that for them.

00:27:54 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And you know, it's about leaving something better than how you found it.

00:27:59 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And as I came in and met with people and the good ideas people had and.

00:28:08 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, I made that commitment to do some community listening sessions and best best choice that I ever made.

00:28:15 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It's just it really guided me.

00:28:18 Ben Nusz

I'm going to read an excerpt from your LinkedIn profile that I found.

00:28:22 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Oh boy, that was written probably.

00:28:24 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

A long time ago.

00:28:27 Ben Nusz

*laughs* And so this is the.

00:28:29 Ben Nusz

Quote: My personality allows me to rapidly gain the trust of both employees and students because my enthusiasm for student success overflows into everything I do.

00:28:38 Ben Nusz

I actually want to share a story about the first time that we met.

00:28:41 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

OK.

00:28:41 Ben Nusz

So so you came, and you had these listening sessions with every single member of our staff.

00:28:48 Ben Nusz

And it was such a smart decision.

00:28:51 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

226 to be exact.

00:28:52 Ben Nusz

226 and and they weren't particularly long sessions. I think they're about 20 minutes, and I came in and I remember at the end of it I was like Shelly: Can I give you a hug?

00:29:07 Ben Nusz

And and I've left this room and I was like I don't know how she did it like.

00:29:11 Ben Nusz

I felt heard.

00:29:12 Ben Nusz

In this in this.

00:29:14 Ben Nusz

Organization and and and I was like.

00:29:16 Ben Nusz

This is such a great moment.

00:29:18 Ben Nusz

My question for you is like: how did you become such a good listener, right?

00:29:22 Ben Nusz

Because something about you in this in this in this role made you an active listener that you make other people feel heard.

00:29:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I think I would say I'm just a student for life and I think to be able to learn more or to change your thoughts you have to listen.

00:29:40 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And you know, long time ago, somebody had told me and I used this quote sometimes that you know if you give me a dollar and I give you a dollar, neither one of us are richer.

00:29:51 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But if you share an idea and I share an idea, we're both richer.

00:29:55 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And I think I just I had people that listen to me and me that I observed that a lot and felt that support and so I I really do care.

00:30:08 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I I not only care about people, but I care what they think.

00:30:11 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I I want to know, tell me more, you know why?

00:30:14 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Why do you think?

00:30:15 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

The way you think I it makes me think about am I missing something?

00:30:19 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, I'm a very reflective person.

00:30:21 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I've been a reflective person my whole life.

00:30:23 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know I get in my car if it's a half hour drive or a 15 minute drive and I think about my day and I think about how.

00:30:29 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Did I do today?

00:30:30 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, I could've listened.

00:30:32 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Better at that meeting I shouldn't have jumped in.

00:30:34 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Maybe at that other meeting, and then there's some days I I go home and smile and.

00:30:38 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Go, you know what I think.

00:30:38 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I did pretty good today!  But but I think you know as as a leader I guess especially of a big organization.

00:30:46 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I think being reflective is key because you always have to do those self-checks because otherwise I think you can just get so about so many things.

00:30:54 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

That you've become something or someone you don't.

00:30:57 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Want to be.

00:30:59 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And so I am.

00:31:00 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'm very reflective and most days there's something that I can say.

00:31:04 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I wish I would have said that I wish I would have said that differently.

00:31:08 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I wish I would have said that better.

00:31:10 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But I think that's healthy.

00:31:13 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I think that's healthy and you know, having those listening sessions, Ben.

00:31:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It was.

00:31:18 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, I, my biggest fear was that people would not trust me enough 'cause why people didn't know me.

00:31:24 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Are they going to be honest with me?

00:31:26 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Because if people were only going to give me lip service, it wasn't going to really garner the information that I wanted to really know.

00:31:33 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

What are people thinking?

00:31:35 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So you know, I think it was kind of those four main questions.

00:31:37 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Just tell me about yourself and you're so right.

00:31:39 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

For I I tried to to relate to whatever somebody told me if someone had kids I could say, you know I have a son.

00:31:47 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

If somebody told me they liked the Packers, I was like, you know, I do too.

00:31:50 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So I I that's how I want to remember how I get to know people and.

00:31:55 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Make that relationship.

00:31:56 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I think the second question was what do you think the strength of Mid-State is and I had some people that told me some very specific things, but I also had some people that couldn't tell me.

00:32:08 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

There wasn't something that came to mind so that also told me some things.

00:32:13 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Third question was really about opportunities.

00:32:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

What do you what do you see for opportunities and so that really helped create where I felt like we needed to go and then that fourth question.

00:32:23 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I always say that was the loaded question.

00:32:24 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It was what do you think I need to know?

00:32:26 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

As the new president at Mid-State?

00:32:28 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And I got the good.

00:32:29 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I got the bad I.

00:32:30 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Got the ugly.

00:32:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But people were.

00:32:32 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Honest, and I've done my best to try.

00:32:36 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

To act on.

00:32:37 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

A lot of those ugly things that I would say I think I have most of them crossed off.  There's still some we're working on.

00:32:44 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Some of it is timing.

00:32:45 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You can't always.

00:32:46 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Uhm, you gotta keep the institution moving, so there's some still some changes I'd like to like to do, but it just hasn't been the right time.

00:32:54 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

To do it.

00:32:55 Ben Nusz

So, in those listening sessions with the faculty and staff and the public, what are some of the things that you heard and what have you done about it?

00:33:03 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Oh my gosh.

00:33:04 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I coined em kind of the four pillars of opportunity and it was really around.

00:33:09 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I heard a specific information about our programs, programs that were highly respected, some that maybe we that weren't so respected in the community.

00:33:20 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Or maybe people didn't feel like we had that need anymore for our employers.

00:33:24 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I heard a lot of need about things that we should be offering that maybe we were not just a lot.

00:33:30 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

A lot about a lot of companies had said that gosh, Mid-State hasn't been out visiting visiting us for years.

00:33:37 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

That definitely told me something.

00:33:39 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

K through 12 partners that we had some people that we're working with our K through 12 partners that when I asked the question, so when's the last time you've?

00:33:46 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Been out to.

00:33:47 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

That high school?

00:33:48 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, never.

00:33:49 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

They had never been.  So definitely some partnership, opportunity there.  Workforce and economic development.

00:33:56 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Our college really didn't have at that time.

00:33:59 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Have a central location where if you're an employer and you need your staff to have Excel training, they didn't know who to call at the college and so we really formed a workforce and economic development team which I have to tell you is has worked really well with with my visibility with the employers and the communities.

00:34:17 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And really, I brought back.

00:34:20 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Continuing ED.

00:34:21 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I brought back that for enrichment in learning.

00:34:24 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It's not always about a college class.

00:34:26 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Some people just want to take a course for enrichment until we brought that back as well.

00:34:32 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And I really use that as four things to set our first five-year strategic plan band and luckily.

00:34:38 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We have such a great district board here I I went to the board.

00:34:42 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I said I'd like to really have our strategic directions near where we're going, and so we wrote our full hour.

00:34:49 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We wrote our strategic directions to really talk about all four of those pillars of opportunity, but we really put in a guiding sentence that I'm very proud of, and I think this is maybe.

00:35:00 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

One of the things that you know could be on my.

00:35:03 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

My tombstone someday about you know, you know, in the pursuit of excellence and continuous improvement you know.

00:35:09 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I mean, that's.

00:35:10 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I think Shelly Mandick has been on that road for years and I think that you know, as a college we can't become stagnant.

00:35:18 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I always I always joke that oh you know every fall semester I can get a new outfit to wear for the first day of school and people will you know I'll laugh and but I'm like you know there's something to be said about that because in education there are cycles.

00:35:32 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We're going to have another fall semester and the hope is we're going to do this fall semester.

00:35:36 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Even better than what we did the previous fall semester.

00:35:39 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And I think if we can have that mindset, we're never going to miss the mark.

00:35:43 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And we're going to continue to be.

00:35:45 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Refreshened and and because we have to stay connected to our communities like so many people say, how do you keep coming up with these good ideas like: Oh my gosh I can't.

00:35:55 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Take credit for.

00:35:56 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Any of those things!  When you're out and about and you're listening to people they tell you what they need.

00:36:02 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Our job is just to make it happen, so we can give.

00:36:04 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Them the solutions.

00:36:06 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But if I'm not about around and hearing what people need.

00:36:09 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We will not meet our community needs and then we won't be able to keep our community strong.

00:36:14 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So I have to be present.

00:36:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I have to be engaged and that means all the staff of Mid-State have to be to be the best that we can be.

00:36:22 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Because I want every employer out there that's in my 8 counties that when they have their meetings I want them to say we are so lucky.

00:36:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

That Mid-State Technical College is serving us because you know what our vision is here: to be the first choice when you're choosing that educational partner.

00:36:41 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

If we can do that, we know we're doing something right.

00:36:45 Ben Nusz

So, let's look at a case study of one of these examples.

00:36:49 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

OK.

00:36:49 Ben Nusz

So, our regular listeners have learned a lot about the Advanced Manufacturing Center that we're working on right now.

00:36:55 Ben Nusz

We've had a number of contributors to be guests in here, and they really spoke to to how this meets their need.

00:37:01 Ben Nusz

So, tell us about where you first heard about.

00:37:04 Ben Nusz

This idea about.

00:37:05 Ben Nusz

Bringing this type of training to the Stevens Point community.

00:37:08 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Sure, Oh my God, how much time do you have?

00:37:11 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Because that that's like, that's quite the story and and I think for our community.

00:37:15 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It's it's really, I think, how we approach you know everything that we hear about.

00:37:20 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It's about you hear the needs, right?

00:37:23 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We have to do our assessment, you know, look at some data and then we have to draw some conclusions.

00:37:28 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And then from those conclusions, we really put a solution to it and I heard.

00:37:34 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

All the time.

00:37:36 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

How we were really missing the boat.

00:37:38 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

To be honest with you around advanced manufacturing and and engineering technology and we do so good with apprenticeship.

00:37:45 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But how much more we could do, and you know, a program like mechanical design that we did not have and how our employers needed that and people were wanting us to partner with more with UW Stevens.

00:37:56 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Point and over some of the other UWs and so when we put it all down on paper to say. How can we solve this?

00:38:04 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

To really be able to do the best that it could be, it would be how could we put this programming in one location and when we looked at where should it be within our eight counties, we have some criteria we we talk about the five “r’s” here, right?

00:38:18 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Is that the right program with the right curriculum?

00:38:21 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, given at the right time?

00:38:23 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

How are we going to deliver it right?

00:38:24 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But then there's also the right location, and when we looked at that right location, it made sense to put this building.

00:38:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

If we were able to do it.

00:38:33 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

In the Stevens Point.

00:38:34 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Area and that is all about.

00:38:36 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And doing the hard work, talking to people, seeing if there are buildings that we could renovate, and we tried that.

00:38:43 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We couldn't find anything.

00:38:45 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Mayor Wiza I always give him credit connecting me with people that owned land and he he did introduce me to one of the landowners, Eileen Bushman.

00:38:56 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Who I found out was a Mid-State alum’ and the more we talked he came back to us and said:  Shelly I think I have some.

00:39:04 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Land, and I think it would be ideal with what you're looking for, and so when somebody donates 6 acres of land to the college, that that is huge for us.

00:39:13 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And then we said, OK, we'll put up the building.  How, how?

00:39:17 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

How big does it have to be?

00:39:18 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And we started talking with our faculty we and had some in kind work from some other partners.

00:39:24 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

In the community to to get a cost to it and how big would it be? And it turned out to be about a 53,000 square foot building and it was a price tag of 9,000,000.

00:39:32 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And you know, by State Statute we have 1.5 million that we can put towards a project. So, at the end of.

00:39:38 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Today we after we had to raise seven and a half million.

00:39:42 Ben Nusz

It just it seems daunting.

00:39:44 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Oh my gosh.

00:39:45 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Daunting, I went home at night.

00:39:46 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Ben, I thought: you are a crazy lady.

00:39:48 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I knew I knew I was.

00:39:49 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Like crazy, but I've also been a calculated risk taker and I believed in this need and I in my heart today.

00:39:57 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I believe that if we don't do this it is going to hurt our employers.

00:40:01 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It's going to hurt our region.

00:40:02 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It's going to hurt our college.

00:40:04 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

This is the right thing.

00:40:06 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And when you believe in your heart, you know it's going to be an uphill battle, but then you hear me say this.

00:40:12 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I always say on every project I do.

00:40:15 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You work it.

00:40:15 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Till the end.

00:40:17 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And sometimes when you work until the end, maybe.

00:40:20 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You can't get.

00:40:21 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

What you need you have to adjust, but you work it till the end and we've worked it.

00:40:26 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We've positioned it in a way where we have, as of yesterday, 90 partners, organizations, individual people who have donated financially to this project were almost.

00:40:36 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

At total now we're about 10.1 million. We also positioned this project well with the State of Wisconsin.

00:40:43 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We've also positioned it well with the federal government. We had a very Merry Christmas. We found out we were one of of the of the workforce innovation grants. Given only 12 given out over 200 grants. Written.  Governor Evers.

00:40:57 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Came to our Stevens Point campus to to award it to us. But what's really neat about that $9 million grant that everybody is hearing about?

00:41:05 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Well, probably one of the most things that I'm proud of. We not only got money 4,000,000 for the construction of the building and 1,000,000 for the equipment, but we got the rest of those dollars to support other entities in our area and entities that will support students and so create Portage County.

00:41:25 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And The Boys and Girls Club.

00:41:27 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And I mean, that's what the that's what the Technical College system does.

00:41:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It's about partnership, so I'm just as excited about what those partners are going to be able to do with those dollars to to work their initiatives.

00:41:40 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know synergy and and central to success, and I mean that's what we do.

00:41:44 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So what seems like such a daunting task…

00:41:48 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And was I worried?  I was, Ben.

00:41:50 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I mean I, I remember I said to one of the the first first couple people I was talking to.

00:41:55 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I knew coming in as the new president that if I failed.

00:42:00 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It definitely would make people.

00:42:04 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Maybe judge me, you know that I didn't know enough that this could not I.

00:42:09 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I couldn't get it done.

00:42:12 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But I believed in myself.

00:42:14 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I had raised money in the past.

00:42:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I've done some big projects, I just didn't know if the community, 'cause they didn't know me that well, would they?

00:42:21 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Would they trust me enough to support me financially?

00:42:24 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And then of course we have COVID.

00:42:26 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Come which we made the decision to do and but we kept on.

00:42:29 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I can't tell you.

00:42:30 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I think we're over.

00:42:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Somebody told me over like 140 meetings we've had and we we kept doing it virtually and and.

00:42:38 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

To sit here now, knowing that we've hit our $9 million mark, we're trying to get that number up to 11 million, because with COVID, we know the construction costs were planning for at least a 20% increase.

00:42:51 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I was just at Portage County.

00:42:53 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You were with me Ben last week and really asked Portage County to help bring it home so we can put up the building.

00:43:01 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I was just on two calls yesterday talking with welding companies to start talking about the equipment and it's just exciting and I think.

00:43:12 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I hope that this show is the community that if they have needs, we will do whatever we need to work hard to do what we can to try to come up with a solution.

00:43:23 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

This particular one is going to become a reality the next one if we can't quite get what we need, we're going to adjust to.

00:43:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Be able to find some solution and that's what the Technical College does, and that's what I'm hoping the managers on my team and I have 40 of them.

00:43:39 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'll see we're going to work until the end because that's why we're in our role.

00:43:43 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Our communities are relying on us.

*break in interview*

00:43:47 Ben Nusz

Hello listener, we'll get back to our interview with Shelly in a moment.

00:43:51 Ben Nusz

I just wanted to take a second to talk a little bit about the advanced manufacturing, engineering, technology and apprenticeship center and how Shelly’s leadership has brought us to where we are today so close to our fundraising goals.

00:44:06 Ben Nusz

Now, I'm generally not one for Latin, but I read a phrase the other day that immediately reminded me of Shelly Aut Inveniam viam aut faciam, which translates to.

00:44:17 Ben Nusz

I shall either find a way or make one.

00:44:20 Ben Nusz

And that about sums up this endeavor for me.  In the fundraising campaign for this project we often talked about the path to completion and I.

00:44:28 Ben Nusz

Can assure you that the way needed to be carved.

00:44:31 Ben Nusz

Not just followed, but what I've also learned is that to carve a path.

00:44:35 Ben Nusz

You need more than.

00:44:36 Ben Nusz

Just a fearless leader who selects the direction and the next steps.

00:44:41 Ben Nusz

Forges the way.

00:44:42 Ben Nusz

But you also need.

00:44:43 Ben Nusz

Followers willing to tamp down the path with their footsteps.

00:44:47 Ben Nusz

Otherwise the way is lost.

00:44:49 Ben Nusz

It takes a special leader to inspire such efforts and such trust with the finish line so far away and so out of sight.

00:44:59 Ben Nusz

So here we are now.

00:45:00 Ben Nusz

It's been a long road, but the end is finally insight, but we're not quite there yet.

00:45:06 Ben Nusz

We still need your help to get us that last little way.

00:45:09 Ben Nusz

If you too, are inspired to help us serve the community by bringing a top notch training facility to Central Wisconsin and helping to meet the workforce need.

00:45:20 Ben Nusz

Please consider contributing.

00:45:22 Ben Nusz

You can learn more at our campaign page.

00:45:24 Ben Nusz

Mstc.edu/partner.

00:45:27 Ben Nusz

Once again thanks for listening.

00:45:29 Ben Nusz

We can now get back to the story of Shelly Mondeik and Mid-State Technical College.

*interview resumes*

00:45:36 Ben Nusz

I you know, I I feel fortunate that I've had a front row seat to all of this.

00:45:40 Ben Nusz

You know, it's really a a master class in community building.

00:45:44 Ben Nusz

I remember in the first meetings the goal just seemed so ambitious and you're like this is plan A.

00:45:51 Ben Nusz

Yes, we have a Plan B and plan C, but we're not.

00:45:54 Ben Nusz

Talking about those yet and.

00:45:56 Ben Nusz

I remember sitting there being like.

00:45:58 Ben Nusz

Well, tell me how about how about?

00:45:59 Ben Nusz

Let's just let's just start talking about Plan B and plan C.

00:46:03 Ben Nusz

I'm sure they existed and I never want to know what they are, because yes, you just were were tireless in the pursuit of Plan A.

00:46:11 Ben Nusz

And I'm just thrilled, and I can't wait to see this building come up.

00:46:14 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I I can't either.

00:46:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But you know, this isn't.

00:46:18 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I think what I'm so proud about is it's not a, it's it.

00:46:22 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It started out as a Mid-State project.

00:46:25 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

This has became a district project to serve all of the needs and something that really Central Wisconsin can be proud of.

00:46:33 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

There will be people that will come.

00:46:34 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

From all over the state, and I'm hoping even in the country, if we get some of.

00:46:38 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Our specialized training.

00:46:40 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

That will be coming to our counties.

00:46:42 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

To be able to get you know quality education and will stay in our hotels and will opefully see what great employers we have here that will maybe even want people to move to our area.

00:46:52 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So, part of it is doing our part.

00:46:55 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We say that, you know, we have a workforce shortage.

00:46:57 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We we need to do our part with kind of trying to jumpstart the economy again.

00:47:02 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

If everybody does their part and I really think our college is doing what we can to try to help and we know what the workforce shortage automation is, one of those solutions it’s not the full solution, but we need to do more.

00:47:15 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Training and automation.

00:47:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So our employers who have less workers.

00:47:18 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

How can they maintain and grow with less workers?

00:47:22 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We have to be a leader and I take that, you know, maybe my voice changes when I talk about it, but I but I take that very seriously.

00:47:28 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know that is what my role is here is to.

00:47:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Make sure that I.

00:47:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Am meeting the needs and I never.

00:47:33 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Can lose sight of that.

00:47:35 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Uh, because.

00:47:37 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I can judge how I'm doing by how.

00:47:39 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

My communities are doing.

00:47:41 Ben Nusz

You know, I think that that's a great distinction when we talk about leadership.

00:47:44 Ben Nusz

You know when you say the term like community leader, you mean you're a leader of an organization in a community.

00:47:51 Ben Nusz

But there's a different sense when we talk about.

00:47:53 Ben Nusz

Being a leader.

00:47:54 Ben Nusz

Of the community and using every asset that this organization has to benefit the community.

00:48:00 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Yeah, thank you Ben.

00:48:02 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I I agree with that.

00:48:03 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know I think.

00:48:04 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know I had a great meeting last week.

00:48:06 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I think with the Community Foundation.

00:48:08 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know I'm on the Aspirus board of directors.

00:48:11 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I am on the YMCA board. I'm in Rotary. I mean it is that's important. It's important for the constituents here. The 172,000 people that we have that live in our eight counties.

00:48:24 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

They need to know who Shelly Mondeik is.

00:48:27 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

They need to know what Shelly Mondeik is about because that just brings more awareness.

00:48:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

To Mid-State!

00:48:32 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So, it's you know it's I'm doing my part.

00:48:35 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I hope to make sure our college is doing their part, and I know the communities will do their part and that's when you have the Cinderella story, I'm.

00:48:44 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'm living a dream in many ways and and as people know my story and we kind of talked about it, it happens to be my story, but it's the story of so many it really is.

00:48:57 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It's just it's figuring out what's the right path.

00:49:01 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Yes, and knowing that you know you heard me say I, I thought I was going to be a president.

00:49:06 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Maybe someday of a of a hospital, right?

00:49:08 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Or a healthcare system.

00:49:10 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Well, I was fortunate.

00:49:11 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I was able to get to that to that President level.

00:49:15 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'm very blessed.

00:49:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'm very blessed in so many ways and and even if I never would have been able to get to this level.

00:49:21 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Because let's be honest, many times you don't get that opportunity for whatever reason.

00:49:26 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It doesn't mean that you couldn't do it.

00:49:28 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Sometimes you're just not given the opportunity.

00:49:31 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

That's why I always put the word blessed in there.

00:49:33 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I was.

00:49:33 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I was able to.

00:49:35 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We have the opportunity to get to that next level and I always tell people that wherever you are in whatever role, even if you aspire to get to the next level, and fortunately that door hasn't opened for you, that doesn't mean that you can't do that.

00:49:49 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It just means you gotta do well with where you're at, and if you do really well where you're at and it does open up, you'll get the job.

00:49:58 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

But sometimes you have to have patience.

00:50:00 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Keep learning, keep building relationships.

00:50:02 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I can't tell you how many times I've been lucky that a Central Wisconsin girl could have the.

00:50:10 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Opportunity that I've been given.

00:50:12 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And really not have to move wow, right?

00:50:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

That doesn't always happen, so I've I've been very fortunate for that.

00:50:22 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I think I can just show you know, I went to to Midwest Midway Elementary school.

00:50:27 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know this… Gleason Wisconsin.

00:50:29 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, I, I don't think a lot of people would think that you know you can maybe get to a position that I'm in like this and you can.

00:50:39 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You can.

00:50:39 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

And it's not drinking the Kool Aid, it's just.

00:50:42 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

It's working hard, be good to people.

00:50:45 Ben Nusz

So what's next for Shelly Mondeik and for Mid-State Technical College?

00:50:49 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, I think what's next is we're just going to keep doing for the college.

00:50:52 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We're going to keep doing what we do.

00:50:54 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We're going to keep listening.

00:50:55 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We're going to keep trying to be nimble and responding.

00:50:58 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We're not going to let a pandemic slow us down.

00:51:00 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We're going to stay on task, and we're going to keep doing.

00:51:03 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know what.

00:51:03 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

We're what we're all about.

00:51:05 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Which is transforming lives.

00:51:07 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

What's next for Shelly Mondeik?  I love Mid-State; I love the communities.

00:51:11 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I love my job.

00:51:12 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'm hoping that I'll be here for quite some time.

00:51:15 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I don't have any.

00:51:16 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Uh, desire, and I've had some people say:  Do you want to go to Washington DC?

00:51:20 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Do you want to do some.

00:51:21 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Things like that?

00:51:22 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know, no, you know no.

00:51:24 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You know if an opportunity would come my way, will I look at it like I have any other opportunity?

00:51:29 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Yes, but but I'm I'm home, Ben, I really am and I think in many ways.

00:51:36 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Starting at a Technical College in my career as a student and now ending my career at a Technical College for me, just seems like that's the right thing to do and I'm a.

00:51:50 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'm a loyal person, meaning that things that I've built here or teams that I've developed.

00:51:56 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Uhm, I don't forget the loyalty that I have.

00:51:59 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

To those people I when you look at my career you know I was at Aspirus for 13 years.

00:52:04 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I was at North Central for 15 years, going to be five years here in June.

00:52:09 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'm loyal to my teams.

00:52:11 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I like what I see here and as long as I keep feeling like I, I do make a difference I.

00:52:17 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

I'm doing good.

00:52:18 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Uhm, sometimes people will say, how do you know when.

00:52:21 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You're doing good?

00:52:23 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You feel it.

00:52:25 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

You just feel it.

*interview ends*

00:52:31 Ben Nusz

Thank you for listening to Profile Central Wisconsin.

00:52:34 Ben Nusz

Special thanks to Doctor Shelly Mondeik from Mid-State and to Michael Witte for joining me in this conversation.

00:52:40 Ben Nusz

Profile is a production of Mid-State Technical College out of the Stevens Point campus you.

00:52:45 Ben Nusz

Heard Shelly’s story.

00:52:47 Ben Nusz

Of lifelong learning, she kept going back to school in order to take the next role.

00:52:52 Ben Nusz

At Mid-State 

00:52:53 Ben Nusz

We are ready to help you take that next step.

00:52:56 Ben Nusz

We have advisors who will work with you to transfer in or transfer out to your next endeavor.

00:53:02 Ben Nusz

We can even award credit.

00:53:03 Ben Nusz

For prior learning or for work experience, we are designed for helping students that are currently in the workforce.

00:53:11 Ben Nusz

In fact, 4 out of 5.

00:53:12 Ben Nusz

Mid-State students are working while they're going to school.  If you want.

00:53:16 Ben Nusz

To learn leadership skills like Shelly’s.

00:53:18 Ben Nusz

So that you too.

00:53:19 Ben Nusz

Can inspire others to accomplish great things.

00:53:21 Ben Nusz

Mid-State has a two year associate degree in leadership development.

00:53:26 Ben Nusz

This training is the type of program that Shelly could have completed while she was working with flexible delivery and both online and in person options.

00:53:34 Ben Nusz

It's the type of program made.

00:53:36 Ben Nusz

To help you advance.

00:53:38 Ben Nusz

Learn more at mstc.edu/programs.  To learn more about the Portage County Business Council and everything they're doing to connect.

00:53:45 Ben Nusz

And grow our business community visit portagecountybiz.com that's biz with a ‘z.’

00:53:51 Ben Nusz

Please be sure to subscribe to this podcast on Stitcher.

00:53:54 Ben Nusz

Apple Podcast Spotify.

00:53:55 Ben Nusz

Or wherever you consume your audio media.

00:53:58 Ben Nusz

You can also just ask your smart device to play the profile Central Wisconsin podcast to hear the latest episode.  Our podcast page.

00:54:07 Ben Nusz

Mstc.edu/podcast has all the latest information.

00:54:11 Ben Nusz

And all the ways to listen.

00:54:13 Ben Nusz

It's the mission of Mid-State Technical College to transform lives through the power of teaching and learning.

00:54:18 Ben Nusz

Help us work toward that goal by sharing this story.

00:54:22 Ben Nusz

Thanks for listening.

*interview resumes for final clip*

00:54:29 Ben Nusz

Shelly, in any time you address the entire college staff, you always tell some jokes.

00:54:36 Ben Nusz

Do you have any jokes for us today?

00:54:38 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Oh my gosh, you know it, probably.

00:54:39 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Would not be a conversation with Shelly without having a joke.

00:54:43 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

So OK, why couldn't the salad sleep?  Because it tossed.  You know where's the drum roll?

00:54:50 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Right when you need it, you know, let's see what's another one here, let me.

00:54:54 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Turn the page.

00:54:55 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Uhm, why shouldn't you write with a broken pencil?

00:55:00 Ben Nusz

*laughs* I don’t know Shelly.

00:55:01 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

Because it's pointless.

*group laughs*

00:55:02 Dr. Shelly Mondeik

*laughs* How can you not laugh?