Kudos to the following people and departments!
- Esther Haven does everything she possibly can to help anyone out. She is always nice; no matter what the situation is. She always focuses on her job and makes sure it gets done correctly. She is always willing to learn new things. Not only that, but she always pays attention to the little things like filling the pen jars each day. Esther is a really unique person at heart. She is a very easy person to talk to and connect with. She always seems to try her best to go above and beyond. Esther always seems to have a positive attitude and a smile on her face! 🙂
- Ashley Darga always makes returning and/or new students feel welcome in the Success Center. Works very well with others. Goes above and beyond the call of duty for Student Success, Always looks at the glass as being half-full. Up-beat, focused, dedicated, bright and cheerful.
- Kudos to Cindy Duby- As an incoming faculty member for fall 2015 I have had many questions regarding the onboarding process, and where to find the right resources in the event that I have a questions. Cindy has gone above and beyond in helping me transition
- Kudos to Marcus Bennett- During my short time here, I have witnessed Marcus regularly go out of his way to welcome new faces on campus. He has consistently demonstrated his passion about innovation and improving the experience of our students. He has an open door and as such is acutely aware of the concerns of the students and advocates for their feasible suggestions and requests to keep making this a desirable place for all. He takes great care in providing accessibility to our international students and continuing to make our campus and dormitory more able to meet their cultural needs. He volunteers for many committees and is always striving for new ways to reach out and positively impact the students and life at NMC.
- Ed Bailey has gone above and beyond the duties and responsibilities of his job this summer as he served as “project manager” for the construction and remodeling projects at Parsons-Stulen and Aero Park labs. As part of the CCSTEP award, NMC was able to transform the existing MakerSpace, Welding, and High-Bay area of the Parsons-Stulen building into a hybrid lab consisting of an improved MakerSpace, a new electronics lab and a freshwater tank for Marine Tech. Based on this, welding had to be relocated to Aero Park Labs complete with a new classroom/lab for improved learning. This relocation was a full-time job in and of itself. However, Ed was able to perform it with humor and great leadership even during stressful times. . During the process, he kept his entire team informed of the changes and worked through the challenges of such a large-scale project. He sought input from all parties involved and really wanted this to be a “we not me” project. I don’t think many people could have implemented this on such tight timeline while keeping everyone involved, informed and most importantly, happy.
- Rochelle Hammontree initiated a project to digitize the college newspapers, starting with the very first issue (called “What’s My Name?”) and continuing on to the various iterations of the paper (Northwestern Reporter, Nor’Wester, and finally the White Pine Press). After scanning all of the issues, she’ll use optical character recognition software to make them available for keyword searching. They’ll then be added to our institutional repository on dSpace, where they’ll be available to everyone, and should appear with a simple Google search. Rochelle Hammontree saw the need for students, alums, and others to be able to easily research our 63 years of student publications. She has shown integrity and personal responsibility, spearheading this project on her own, while also exhibiting the openness and trust required to consult with archives and electronic resources librarians to ensure that every detail is done correctly. Rochelle’s drive to digitize this collection is in line not only with NMC values, but also the library’s mission to “provide timely access to recorded information . . . and, insofar as possible, to share resources with those outside the college.” This initiative is an excellent representation of responsible stewardship, making our historical resources widely available on a stable, permanent online platform. Her work with the archives, periodicals, and reserves also illustrates her commitment to thoughtful stewardship of information. Rochelle has persisted in her scanning efforts, spending over 103 hours so far this summer. This is above and beyond her regular duties at the reference desk, inter-library loans, supply orders, etc. She is often the first to volunteer to cover librarians shifts at the Reference Desk, allowing others flexibility for professional development, teaching, or other responsibilities.
- Kudos to Rob Rider, Dennis Schultz, Alan Beer, Colin Kreh, and Albert Buchanan who were able to significantly upgrade seven classrooms and install two new classrooms during the summer “break”. We planned out the seven upgrades last spring which was an aggressive timeline in its own right. Two new classrooms were added in May bringing the total to nine classroom projects. We managed to complete all of this with vacations, logistic changes, technology failures, a few sleepless nights and most importantly, never compromising the level of support we offer to our colleagues and customers. I am very proud of the commitment my team has shown to NMC and its stakeholders.
- Kudos to Jim Szczechows for finishing the Tri Up North Triathlon on September 12th in Frankfort. Great job Jim!