Showcasing NMC’s leadership in water issues

Thanks to Lisa Cooper, Ed Bailey, Nathan Bootz and all who participated in the Water Leadership conference in Traverse City March 8-10. The event was part of the AquaHacking the Great Lakes Challenge, an entrepreneurship competition, and brought six Canadian and four U.S. finalist teams to the region. The winners of $35,000 in seed funding will be named May 10. Like the Freshwater Research Center, the weekend showcased NMC’s leadership in water issues.


Who’s been a Hawk Owl Helper or Hero for you? Let us know at publicrelations@nmc.edu!

Media mentions for March 18, 2024

The following college events and stories have appeared in the media recently. We want to share your media involvement too. Please send information about your NMC-related interview or appearance to publicrelations@nmc.edu. If possible, please include a link to the piece and information about where and when it was used.

Please note access to some stories may be limited by paywalls set up by the media outlet. This includes the Traverse City Record-Eagle, which limits free clicks to five per month. You may also read Record-Eagle articles in the print edition at the NMC Library.

Old Mission filmmakers celebrate history arthouse theaters in ‘Marqueetown’

Old Mission Gazette, March 18
(more…)

On the menu: Daily specials at the Hawk Owl Café

The Hawk Owl Café serves specials daily on Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 4:30–6:30 p.m. The protein option is $9.99 and the vegetarian option is $7.99.

Monday, March 18

Entrée: Sausage & mozzarella pasta bake or roasted vegetable tortellini bake
Sides: Broccoli and garlic crostini

Tuesday, March 19

Holi celebration menu
Entrée: Tandoori Chicken thighs or tandoori braised tofu with basmati rice
Sides: Indian spiced roasted root vegetables, grilled naan bread and tzatziki sauce

Vegan samosas will be available all day!

Wednesday, March 20

Entrée: Chicken or tofu coconut curry with jasmine rice
Side: naan bread

Thursday, March 21

Entrée: Spaghetti with meatballs or red lentils & roasted vegetables
Sides: garlic bread & green beans

Friday, March 22

No daily special offered. The Hawk Owl Café will be closing at 2 p.m. for spring break.

Upcoming Extended Education classes for employees

NMC’s tuition waiver benefits extend beyond credit classes—take a fitness class, learn a new hobby, or even enjoy a date night with your partner. Check out these upcoming classes! Place the class in your shopping cart in order to see the discount. Need help setting up your profile? Look for “EES” in the Help Desk drop down menu.

Want to view upcoming classes at a glance? View the NEW Calendar of Classes.

Developing the Dream: Writing Any GenreNMC EES writing class 
6 sessions; Thursdays, April 4–May 9; 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Employee price: $22 (Public price: $149)
New! A writing class to focus, refine and produce a rough draft of your story no matter what genre. The class is a workshop that includes extensive writing exercises and sharing. No matter where you are in your writing process-ready to publish or simply start-this writing class will support, challenge, and extend your current project.
Register here

Gentle YogaNMC Extended Education Gentle Yoga 
12 sessions; Tuesdays, April 9–June 25; 10:30–11:30 a.m.
Employee price: $25 (Public price: $155)
Find out why so many have found that yoga improves flexibility, strength, posture, and balance, as well as physical and spiritual wellness. Gentle yoga is designed for people of any level of physical ability who prefer a more mindful, gentle practice.
Register here 

Baking Masterclass: Pizza & FocacciaNMC Baking Masterclass
Saturday, April 13; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Employee price: $43 (Public price $199)
Want to level up your pizza making game? With the help of Chef Eckert, discover the secrets of making artisan pizza and focaccia at home. Learn to make and stretch your own perfect dough from scratch. Create the ultimate sauce and learn how different toppings complement each other. Plus, focaccia!
Register here

 

Need help setting up your profile? Look for “EES” in the Help Desk drop down menu.

EES Help Desk

Kudos!

Kudos to Dan Gentry, Dan Wasson, Lindsey Lipke and Danielle Quinlan. Kudos to Dan Gentry, Dan Wasson, Lindsey Lipke, and all of the people who worked on a recent security issue related to data. Kudos also to the EES Team and Danielle Quinlan for fielding all of the phone calls during this event.

Kudos to the Advising Team and Career Planning. Kudos to the advising team and career planning for reaching out to students in our classrooms. This is a great way to promote these services to our students.

Kudos to Shannon Croll. NMC Advising and Admissions have been collaborating on efforts to bring more resources and information to our dual-enrolled students, their parents, and school counselors. Shannon Croll took the lead on developing several draft course pathways, based on careers/majors, to help inform class choices for dual-enrolled students. These draft pathways are divided into introductory and “deeper dive” courses to help students appropriately sequence their choices. They include a recommendation for dual-enrolled students who start before 11th grade, or with a high school GPA below 3.0 to take EDU100 – College Success as an introductory course. Shannon has used her incredible attention to detail and worked tirelessly to have these pathway guides ready for our first information sessions this week. Thank you Shannon!

Kudos to Charles Schneider. CJ provided assistance and resources to a student in need who was seeking on-campus employment. CJ took time out of his schedule to assist the student who appreciated his efforts.

Kudos to Kristy McDonald and Brandon Everest. Kudos to Kristy McDonald and Brandon Everest, Co-Directors of the ELI, for having 16 NMC employees sign up for EL 101’s spring cohort. It is exciting to have a large number of faculty and staff members wanting to learn more extensively about experiential learning and creating Experiential Learning Opportunities (ELOs) for their courses!

Kudos to Elizabeth Sonnabend. NMC Extended Education & Training is now offering Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) training to workers and employers to help reduce the risk of workplace hazards. A group of eleven students recently completed the MIOSHA 6-Day Level II Bootcamp. Four students finished their Level II Certificate by attending. One of the students, originally from Detroit, is a Safety Training Officer for the Atlanta airport and is just a few classes away from an Environmental Health and Safety degree from Oakland University. Since she moved out of state, it was more affordable for her to fly to Traverse City (twice because the training was 6 days, 3 days a week, two weeks apart), get a hotel, and register for the bootcamp than it would be to take the classes from Oakland University. She will earn her Level II Certificate which will transfer as 11 credits to OU. Elizabeth Sonnabend went above and beyond to accommodate the students’ needs during the two weeks that the training ran. She even picked up the Atlanta student from the airport and drove her to the class when her flight was delayed because of a snowstorm.

Kudos to all Faculty. Thank you to all the faculty that allowed the Advising department to come into their classrooms over the last few weeks for visits. Between talking to students about registration, advising services and the Career Fair, we completed over 40 classroom visits in the month of February! We appreciate your support and the opportunity to connect with your students.

Kudos to Lisa Thomas, Jeremy Heinlein and Katy Knight. On Sunday, March 3rd, Lisa, Jeremy, and Katy hosted the Spring Semester 2024 Induction into Phi Theta Kappa at the Milliken Auditorium. Eleven new members were on hand as representatives of their class of 90 NMC Students joining into membership of this honor society for two-year colleges. As a team, they did a wonderful job honoring the late Dr. Kari Kahler, Associate Dean of Learning Services and long-time PTK advisor, while making additions to the already impactful and formal induction for these students. Wonderful job, team!

Kudos to Lisa Baldyga. At last week’s Launchpad Quick Start event, a former high-school student in Lisa’s JMG program met the Michigan Reconnect Navigators and then NMC’s Admissions team. It was Lisa’s years of communication and encouragement that led him to finally begin his higher education journey with NMC this year. “I am so happy to be here taking this step”, he said. “Lisa is the reason I am here; she never gave up on me.” Great work Lisa. You are constantly improving the lives of young people in our region!

Kudos to Amber Marsh. Amber volunteered so much time and gave so much information to our PTK induction crew over the past few weeks. This was the first induction since we lost Kari Kahler, so her help was paramount to the success of the program. Thank you, Amber!

Kudos to Hollieanne McHugh & Jennifer Ewing. Hollieanne and Jennifer are assisting Extended Education & Training with custom curriculum development for Sara Lee. In addition, Hollieanne toured the Sara Lee facility and provided input on the delivery of content. Jennifer Ewing is designing a curriculum around leadership & management while Hollieanne is developing a curriculum for manufacturing training. This training will be delivered over the next year. Thank you, both!

Kudos to Joan Sodini, Steve Kellman, Cari Noga, Taylor Wolf and Emily Crull. Thank you to the PRMC team for their extra support and efforts with publicity for the Career Fair this year. We had our best year since covid and they no doubt played a role in that success. Special shoutout to Joan and Emily for their creativity and quick communication in coming up with unique materials for both students and the community. We appreciate you!

Kudos to Lisa vonReichbauer, Rorie Kawula, Cathryn Claerhout and Traci Heidbreder. HUGE thank you for the incredible effort and attention you all exhibited in the fall, as huge turnover affected the Admissions area. You all went above and beyond to keep everything rolling, all while making time to train and welcome the new admissions recruiters. A huge shout-out to all of you!


Experts suggest maintaining an “attitude of gratitude” increases positivity for yourself and for others. Please encourage your colleagues by submitting a KUDOS. Let them know you appreciate their hard work and are thinking of them!

Welcome our newest hires

These employees recently started working at the college. Let’s welcome them to the NMC community!

    • Lucas Guevel – Adjunct Certified Flight Instructor
    • Collen Mglanga, student employee – Enrollment Services Office Assistant
    • Taylor Rinke, student employee – Tutor
    • Elizabeth Czubak, supplemental – Banquet Server
    • Megan Peltier, supplemental – Banquet Server

Planned power outage March 28

NMC will be conducting a planned power outage at the Front Street Campus on Thursday, March 28 from noon to 4 p.m. This outage will allow NMC Facilities and Traverse City Light & Power (TCLP) to conduct preventative maintenance work on the College’s primary electrical distribution system to address vulnerabilities that led to recent campus power outages in November and February. The work will be conducted during spring break to minimize disruption for students and staff, and will result in total loss of power for the following buildings:

    • Dennos Museum
    • Scholars Hall
    • Osterlin Building
    • Tanis Building
    • Biederman Building
    • Health & Science Building
    • Founders Hall
    • Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center
    • East Hall
    • Fine Arts Center
    • PE Building
    • Front St. campus buildings not affected by the outage:
    • Beckett
    • Oleson Center
    • Apartments
    • North Hall
    • Facilities
  •  

If you are scheduled to work in one of the affected buildings on Front Street Campus that afternoon, please treat this situation as you would under the College’s inclement weather procedure which is to work remotely, if possible. If you can’t accommodate remote work that afternoon, and you fill out a timecard, please use the code SNO for time that is not worked that afternoon.

Aero Park, Great Lakes, University Center, and Observatory campuses will not be impacted. If you have any questions, please reach out to your supervisor. We apologize for this inconvenience.

Gala to Give: The Garden Gala

Dress up and enjoy a night of glamour, laughter and entertainment at the second annual Gala to Give. Organized in 2023, Gala to Give was created by NMC students for the NMC community. It’s a time to celebrate achievement, perseverance, and the sense of community that makes NMC great! 

NMC Gala to Give

This year’s event, The Garden Gala, brings together students from across campus and features performances from Audio Tech students and refreshments provided by the Multicultural Student Club. The Garden Gala is a unique opportunity for students to plan and execute an elegant event, using creativity and imagination to create a very special evening. During the gala, there will be dancing, refreshing mocktails and drawings for raffle prizes (tickets available for purchase during the event),

The Garden Gala will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 5 in the Dennos Museum Center. Tickets are limited and all proceeds raised will be designated for the NMC Food Pantry. Tickets are $10 for current NMC students and $30 for guests, alumni and NMC employees. Sponsor packages are also available.
Purchase tickets and become a sponsor at nmc.edu/gala.

Northern Michigan Startup Week

Northern Michigan Startup Week will be held on April 22–25. The annual event promotes entrepreneurship, innovation and the growing startup community in Northern Michigan. The following events will take place on NMC’s campuses:

Northern Michigan’s Rural Health Landscape: Innovation and Higher Education Engagement in Building Thriving Communities
Tuesday, April 23; 10 a.m, to 12 p.m.
Osterlin Building, Front Street Campus

 

The Office of Possibilities (OOPs) Innovation Network
Thursday, April 25; 9–11 a.m.
Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center, room 106/107, Front Street Campus

 

Shifting Mindsets: Extending Health Spans Through Innovation
Thursday April 25; 3–6:00 p.m.
Aero Park Laboratories, Aero Park Campus

 

Northwestern Michigan College is a proud partner of the annual weeklong event. For more information and the full schedule of events, visit Traverse Connect’s website.

 

Media mentions for March 11, 2024

The following college events and stories have appeared in the media recently. We want to share your media involvement too. Please send information about your NMC-related interview or appearance to publicrelations@nmc.edu. If possible, please include a link to the piece and information about where and when it was used.

Please note access to some stories may be limited by paywalls set up by the media outlet. This includes the Traverse City Record-Eagle, which limits free clicks to five per month. You may also read Record-Eagle articles in the print edition at the NMC Library.

Help wanted: NMC Career Fair draws 70 would-be employers
Record-Eagle, March 8
(more…)

NEOED training

Wish using NeoEd was easier? Want additional support and tips to simplify your life?

Bring your questions and join us at an upcoming NEOED training session. We will answer your questions while demystifying how you can use NEOED Recruit, Onboard, Perform, and Learn to hire, onboard, complete performance reviews, add goals and register for professional development courses. 

Follow these instructions to register.

For questions, contact hr@nmc.edu.

We hope to see you there!

Kudos!

Kudos to Steve Kellman, Emily Crull, and Joan Sodini. With the announcement of the new dual enrollment tuition rate for students from outside Grand Traverse County ($160 vs. previous rate of $261) PRMC has been going above and beyond to provide Advising and Admissions collateral materials, website updates, and media support. Steve Kellman created a new page with clean formatting to display Advising’s dual enrollment course pathways, including making a last minute after-hours push to update content. Emily Crull created Canva templates for printed versions of the dual enrollment pathways to hand out to students and their families. Joan Sodini brought polish and brand cohesion to the presentation that is being used to help inform families about dual enrollment. A big thanks to this team’s efforts to help NMC shine and for this “full court press” effort to get things ready for our first information and advising sessions this week.

Kudos to Amy Burns Bailey for bringing back Ken Scott for a Lunch & Learn around Transformation Coaching. There were 19 students and staff who attended the session at Parsons-Stulen. Everyone was engaged and students asked great questions!

Kudos to Marcus Bennett. Shoutout to Marcus for his awesome collaboration with the Civic Center! The ice skating event was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended. It was a very unique way of getting students engaged in community building and with others, while also getting some fun physical activity. Such a wonderfully orchestrated event with tons of laughs and smiles… and only a few sore muscles.

Kudos to Corbin Thompson for Corbin’s constant energy and enthusiasm for residents! Whether it be helping them to utilize resources for academic and/or personal growth, overseeing the Critt Happens (D&D) student group, or his fun sense of humor which livens the room. His openness and honest insights allow him to connect well with our students and build fantastic rapport.

Kudos to Kaitlyn DeBoer. A GINORMOUS shoutout to Kaitlyn as she works tirelessly to learn and understand our StarRez system! She has put in so much effort into understanding the under-utilized potential of this software so that both our residents and our department can have a more effective and efficient experience with it. She has been so innovative in finding ways in which she can grow her StarRez knowledge-base, whether it be working with other higher-ed professionals to help answer questions, earning free training hours from the company’s personnel, or watching hours of YouTube videos on the software (just to name a few). Thank you, Kaitlyn, for all that you have done and continue to do, as well as for your commitment to excellence!


Experts suggest maintaining an “attitude of gratitude” increases positivity for yourself and for others. Please encourage your colleagues by submitting a KUDOS. Let them know you appreciate their hard work and are thinking of them!

On the menu: Daily specials at the Hawk Owl Café

The Hawk Owl Café serves specials daily on Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 4:30–6:30 p.m. The protein option is $9.99 and the vegetarian option is $7.99.

Monday, March 11

Entrée: lamb gyros or falafel on pita
Side: lemon rice

Tuesday, March 12

Entrée: Chicken or bean and roasted poblano quesadilla
Sides: Spanish rice and refried beans

Wednesday, March 13

Entrée: sesame chicken tofu stir fry with basmati rice 
Side: egg roll

Thursday, March 14

Entrée: smoked BBQ baked chicken 
Sides: mashed potatoes and broccoli or roasted sweet potato with kale

Friday, March 15

Entrée: buffalo crispy chicken or roasted cauliflower with mac & cheese
Side: asparagus

Upcoming Extended Education classes for employees

NMC’s tuition waiver benefits extend beyond credit classes—take a fitness class, learn a new hobby, or even enjoy a date night with your partner. Check out these upcoming classes! Place the class in your shopping cart in order to see the discount. Need help setting up your profile? Look for “EES” in the Help Desk drop down menu.

Want to view upcoming classes at a glance? View the NEW Calendar of Classes.

Date Night: Food & Wine PairingNMC Wine pairing 
Wednesday, March 13; 6–7:30 p.m.
Employee price: $84 per couple (Public price $199)
Whether words like acid, fat, tannins, heat and sweet are familiar or foreign to you, when skillfully combined in food and wine, they can orchestrate a symphony of flavors that delights the senses. Join wine expert Brian Lillie to unravel the fundamentals of this exquisite art.
Register here

How to Play Piano By EarNMC EES class at NMC  
Saturday, March 16; 9–11:30 a.m.
Employee price: $22 (Public price $89)
Learn one of music’s deepest mysteries: how to play songs without relying on sheet music. Join a practical presentation of music theory that includes predicting chord progressions, learning from recordings, and transposing–all expressed in everyday language.
Register here 

Baking Masterclass: Pizza & FocacciaNMC Baking Masterclass
Saturday, April 13; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Employee price: $43 (Public price $199)
Want to level up your pizza making game? With the help of Chef Eckert, discover the secrets of making artisan pizza and focaccia at home. Learn to make and stretch your own perfect dough from scratch. Create the ultimate sauce and learn how different toppings complement each other. Plus, focaccia!
Register here

 

Need help setting up your profile? Look for “EES” in the Help Desk drop down menu.

EES Help Desk