State News Briefs: Technical college head to retire this fall

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The head of Wisconsin’s 16 technical colleges will retire this fall. Dan Clancy said yesterday he would retire September 14th, after eight years as president of the state’s Technical College System. He’s been with the tech schools for 16 years – the first eight as the system’s vice president for finance, planning, and policy. As president, Clancy helped the tech schools increase their enrollments by 40-percent, with a large expansion in the scope of technical schooling. Governor Scott Walker said he has known Clancy since his days in the Legislature. And the governor said Clancy has helped provide quote, “vital training aimed at addressing Wisconsin’s skills gap.” State public school superintendent Tony Evers said Clancy was well-attuned to the needs of employers, and he continually modified tech school programs to fit those needs.

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If you’re interested in enforcing the law, the state D-N-R has a job for you. The agency needs conservation wardens – and it plans to hire up to 15 of them by next March. Chief Warden Randy Stark says he’ll soon have up to 40 vacancies for game wardens, as a number of long-time employees are about to retire. Another round of hiring is planned for 2014. If you’re interested in applying, you can get more for information at the D-N-R’s Web site, accessible at Wisconsin-Dot-Gov. Applicants for next year’s class must complete an on-line exam by July 27th.

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Wisconsin manufacturers say they’ll keep growing, despite a new report that national factory activity dropped in June for the first time in almost three years. The Institute for Supply Management said production declined, and new factory orders took a big drop. But some Milwaukee area executives say they have backlogs for new orders that stretch into next year – and they’ll keep rolling in spite of national month-to-month trends. Mike Uzelac, who owns a metal fabricating plant in Greendale, said his upward production track could not change so quickly even if it wanted to – and he remains optimistic going all the way in 2013. The declines reported by the national Supply Management Institute came in spite of a glowing report for June by the Milwaukee area chapter of the same group. Its manufacturing index rose above 60, with anything above 50 showing growth. And the Milwaukee report also showed a growth in factory orders. Tim Hanley of the Milwaukee consulting office of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu said declining exports have cut into U-S manufacturing, as slowdowns continue in Europe and Asia. And Ken Brusda of North Star Asset Management in Menasha says it’s prudent for many businesses to be cautious until after the November elections, to see what the political climate will be on issues like taxes and health care.

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The federal government is rewarding Wisconsin for making sure that low-income Food-Share recipients get their proper benefits. The U-S Agriculture Department has given the state a two-point-one million dollar bonus for having the country’s fourth-best accuracy rate in its Food-Share payments. Sherrie Tussler of Milwaukee’s Hunger Task Force says the reward shows that the former food stamp program is well-run in that regard. State officials say they have not decided how to spend the bonus money.

Tags: news, wisconsin, education