Profile: Central Wisconsin
Profile: Central Wisconsin
Dr. Shelly Mondeik - Mid-State Technical College
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?