{"id":800720,"date":"2019-10-25T14:15:27","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T20:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=373522"},"modified":"2019-10-25T14:15:27","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T20:15:27","slug":"mary-nelle-axelson-priorities-include-affordability-accountability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/mary-nelle-axelson-priorities-include-affordability-accountability\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Nelle Axelson: Priorities include affordability, accountability"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"798\" height=\"558\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/col-axelson-sdn-102819.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/col-axelson-sdn-102819.jpg 798w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/col-axelson-sdn-102819-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/col-axelson-sdn-102819-768x537.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 798px) 100vw, 798px\"><figcaption><strong>Mary Nelle Axelson<\/strong><br \/><em>Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Occupation:<br \/>\nretired CMC professor<\/li>\n<li>Hometown: Glenwood<br \/>\nSprings<\/li>\n<li>Years in<br \/>\nColorado: 39<\/li>\n<li>Family:<br \/>\nhusband, Bob; daughters, Emma Axelson and Molly Sustad; son-in-law, Greg Sustad;<br \/>\ngrandson expected any day; dogs, Sophie and Maggie; and granddogs, Olive, Kali<br \/>\nand Tot.<\/li>\n<li>Civic<br \/>\ninvolvement: CMC Vet Tech advisory board; P.E.O. Elegant Auction and<br \/>\nscholarship work, past president; RE-1 district committee work, parent<br \/>\nvolunteer; Glenwood Springs High School Governance Council, past chair; Frontier<br \/>\nHistorical Society, past president; and Glenwood Springs Historic Preservation<br \/>\nCommission, past chair.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Education has been a constant in my life since kindergarten. I<br \/>\nbelieve that learning brings understanding and focus. Besides \u2026 it\u2019s fun. I<br \/>\nhave been most fortunate to live in a wonderful community and work in a meaningful<br \/>\njob I love. In addition to teaching developmental studies, history, education<br \/>\nand learning lab, my job experience encompasses extensive committee work both<br \/>\ncampus- and collegewide in budget, curriculum, mentoring, strategic planning<br \/>\nand developing mission. I retired after more than 30 years as a full-time faculty<br \/>\nmember at Colorado Mountain College, and I have continued to teach, tutor and<br \/>\nvolunteer. Every board needs a diverse composition, and I bring a student-focused<br \/>\nperspective and a knowledge of higher education that will be beneficial to the<br \/>\nColorado Mountain College Board of Trustees.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Priority No. 1: Affordability<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CMC, through the incredible support of mill levies and the<br \/>\nbacking of our district counties, has offered our communities the possibility<br \/>\nto pursue and meet goals that educate teachers, nurses, EMTs, veterinarian<br \/>\ntechnicians, accountants, law enforcement and some 120 more certificates and<br \/>\ndegrees. All of these possibilities plus classes for personal growth and<br \/>\nlifelong learning are available while living in the college district. To remain<br \/>\nstudent-centered in these evolving times, CMC must continue to offer an<br \/>\naffordable quality education. The college has been a leader in keeping students\u2019<br \/>\ncollege costs affordable, and in my service on the Roaring Fork Campus<br \/>\nScholarship committee, we worked to help students with the many financial<br \/>\nchallenges that arise. CMC has long worked to offer financial assistance to<br \/>\nstudents who need it, most recently with a new source, graciously backed by<br \/>\ndonors, named Fund Suenos (Dream Fund) as an option for students not eligible<br \/>\nto receive federal financial aid. We must continue to help our diverse<br \/>\npopulation gain education and strengthen our society.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Priority No. 2: Preserve quality while planning for<br \/>\nthe future<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the learning environment, CMC must strive to remain nimble to<br \/>\naddress ever evolving student goals and community workforce demands. The<br \/>\ncollege\u2019s faculty and staff must be supported to sustain and grow the programs<br \/>\nand degrees now offered. We need to build the faculty. It is critically important<br \/>\nfor the college to attract, hire and support innovative faculty. The addition<br \/>\nof four-year degrees at CMC has been an amazing step, and while the college must<br \/>\ncontinue to be open to expanding new programs and degrees, any new areas must<br \/>\nfollow a well-constructed process of research and planning that includes input<br \/>\nfrom community members, college employees and state offices.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Priority No. 3: Accountability<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Through thoughtful stewardship, students, staff, faculty and programs must continue to be supported as future opportunities and challenges arise. Student-centered decisions must drive resource allocation as the college expands. With the continued demands on funding, fiscal transparency and increased communication are not only desired but necessary for continued public support in our college district. CMC has values and guiding principles that stress integrity, responsibility and accountability, and these must dominate our future direction and decisions.<\/p>\n<p><em>Find more election coverage at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/election\/\">SummitDaily.com\/election<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/opinion\/mary-nelle-axelson-priorities-include-affordability-accountability\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mary Nelle AxelsonCourtesy photo Occupation: retired CMC professor Hometown: Glenwood Springs Years in Colorado: 39 Family: husband, Bob; daughters, Emma Axelson and Molly Sustad; son-in-law, Greg Sustad; grandson expected any day; dogs, Sophie and Maggie; and granddogs, Olive, Kali and Tot. Civic involvement: CMC Vet Tech advisory board; P.E.O. Elegant Auction and scholarship work, past [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-800720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 14:24:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}