Welcome our newest hire
Leslie Bilbey recently started working at the college as the EES Community Coordinator. Welcome to the NMC community!
Kudos!
Kudos to Lexi Wilkins for going above and beyond and volunteering her time to assist in the clean up the Outdoor Classroom space between Les Biederman and Health Science Buildings. We lovingly refer to this area as the PIT and we want you to use it this summer for lunch, breaks, class, and enjoyment! Last fall we planted some daffodils and tulips, stop by and check them out today!
Kudos to Nick Roster & Nicole Speelman for initiating and hosting the First Annual Science & Research Symposium at NMC. The student displays were impressive, and we look forward to this event growing in the future!
Kudos to Caroline Schaefer-Hills and the Visual Communications Studio students for presenting at the 4th Annual NMC ELI Learning Symposium Reflective Table Talk session! Their work was creative, clever, and professional. The students engaged with NMC faculty and staff and shared their portfolios from their semester projects. Way to go!
Kudos to Jim Bensley & Charles Macphee. Thank you to Jim Bensley, Co-Advisor of the Multicultural Club, and Charles Macphee, Adjunct Technical Division, for supporting their students who presented at the 4th Annual NMC ELI Learning Symposium Reflective Table Talks. The Multicultural Club shared the events they participated in and hosted. Charles’s student presented his honors project on construction management. Way to support your students and NMC!
Kudos to Kristy McDonald & Charles Macphee for opening their student presentations to NMC and the community for the 4th Annual NMC ELI Learning Symposium. Kristy’s BUS 231, Big Little Hero Race Reflection, and Charles’s EGY 105, Final Presentations, were outstanding!
Kudos to Tait Ricks. A big shout out to Tait Ricks for jumping into her new role and filling in for many of my duties while I was out on medical leave. Tait went above an beyond expectations!
Kudos to Carol Rocheleau, Tony Sauerbrey & Matt Hirsch. Carl, Tony and Matt supported the Skyline & Shoreline: West Bay Aerial Mobility Showcase on Tuesday, May 6 at Discovery Pier in Traverse City. This live demonstration event, led by Traverse City and the Michigan’s Advanced Aerial Mobility Activation fund featured three real-world drone missions over West Grand Traverse Bay — including: Search & Rescue with the U.S. Coast Guard, Water sampling using overwater drone tech, and LIDAR-enabled bathymetric mapping of the lakebed. It also brought premier drone companies to the region that are developing the next generation of drone and enabling technology.
Kudos to Betsy Boris, Tam Livengood and Meghan Light. The Munson Trauma Service successfully hosted its first Advanced Life Support course at the NMC Health Science building. This collaborative event would not have been possible if it was not for the great work from all three entities of Munson Healthcare, NMC, and GVSU. In prior years, this course was held in Petoskey without the use of live actors and required transportation of equipment from Grand Rapids. Relocating the course to Traverse City significantly reduced logistical strain on instructors and staff and made the experience more accessible for the 16 providers (Physicians, NPs, and PAs) who participated. NMC was critical in this effort by providing the necessary lab equipment and support to make this possible. Betsy and Meghan coordinated with Munson to outfit and update the lab properly. Tam and Meghan helped lead the day of operations. Others from the nursing program were instrumental in this, especially at the end of the semester. Thank you for collaborating with Munson to make this happen.
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!
- Eli Stallman – Student – Library Assistant
- Evan Daniels – Supplemental – GLMA Vessels Deck Crew (AB)
- Seamus Callaghan – Supplemental – Tutor
- Elise Schultz – Supplemental – EES Grant Project Manager & Marketing Coordinator
- Sherry Streeter – Supplemental – TSSOM Culinary Intern
- Waled Al Kharbi – Supplemental – TSSOM Culinar Intern
- Brianna Linderholm – Supplemental – GLMA Vessels Deck Crew (AB)
Kudos!
Kudos to Ali Thornton, Justin Guillard, Chris Little, and Tyrel Stott! Ali, Justin, Chris and Tyrel consistently go above and beyond during orientation, always ready to help with a smile on their face. The first orientation for students entering NMC this summer or fall 2025 brought a unique set of challenges, especially with the added responsibility of ensuring multi-factor authentication (MFA) was properly set up for all incoming students.
Kudos to Beth Norconk! Beth single-handedly configured the 30+ PCs for the upcoming IT olympics event. This was a massive help and a big load off our plates.
Kudos to Chelsie Niemi, Liz Celeste and the rest of the Dennos team! The Dennos Museum partnered with Student Success, Up North Pride, Pride Student Group and two stores in town to host and plan a clothing swap for Earth Day. Thank you for not only hosting, but also taking the primary planning role, facilitating the clothing donations and helping sort everything for an amazing event! We were able to have over 300 students and community members attend this free event and make a massive donation of clothing to area non-profit thrift stores.
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!
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- Daniel Hoseit — Groundskeeper
- Jocelyn Joseph, supplemental employee — GLMA Culinary Intern
Learn to Navigate ClearCo Performance and Goals – What You Need to Know
NMC is implementing ClearCompany for goal management and performance reviews. Join Human Resources at one of the upcoming training sessions to receive an overview of the new system and get your questions answered. Training sessions will be held:
- Monday, April 28, 2–2:45 p.m.
- Thursday, May 1, 10–10:45 a.m.
- Monday, May 5, 9:30–10:15 a.m.
- Friday, May 9, 9:30–10:15 a.m.
All are encouraged to attend. Supervisors and reviewers are strongly recommended to attend. Those interested in attending can use these instructions to register for Learn to Navigate ClearCo Performance and Goals – What You Need to Know in NEOED Learn.
Kudos!
Kudos to Nancy Gray, Diane Bolton and Ann Hosler! On Monday, April 14, 2025, a student had a seizure on the second floor of Scholars Hall. Employees Nancy Gray, Diane Bolton, and Ann Hosler notified Emergency Services, Security, and comforted the victim until the ambulance arrived — remaining calm during the entire matter. These kind employees showed empathy during an emergency and excelled at notification and care. Kindly join me in commending these employees for a job well done.
Kudos to Michael Anderson! Professor Anderson took the time to meet with myself and a student who had questions and concerns about her English course. He kindly and patiently answered all of our questions and helped us to create a plan to help the student move forward. Professor Anderson made time to explain the NMC policies and the departmental policies in a way that was easily understood. He went over and above to help the student to connect to needed resources. Thank you. Your help and professionalism are very much appreciated.
Kudos to Jeff Cobb! Congratulations to Jeff Cobb and the Chamber Singers for their outstanding concert on April 12 at Kirkbride. Jeff is an exceptional leader, inspiring all who work with him. His unwavering dedication and talent significantly enhance the music program at NMC. Creating such an excellent singing group is no small achievement, and Jeff’s ability to attract additional high-caliber musicians further elevates the musical experience for both singers and audience members. Thanks to his stellar reputation, these musicians eagerly participate in the initiatives he leads. NMC has every reason to be proud!
Kudos to Ali Thornton! Thank you, Ali, for bringing new training to NMC! The AI training on Workflow was very helpful. I look forward to more training on AI and other technology areas in the future!
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!
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- Kyle Wingeier — Adjunct Certified Flight Instructor
- Benjamin Ertle — Adjunct Certified Flight Instructor
- Cameron DeBortoli — Adjunct Certified Flight Instructor
- Christian Smith — Adjunct Certified Flight Instructor
Welcome our newest hires
These employees recently started working at the college. Let’s welcome them to the NMC community!
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- Garrett Bock, supplemental employee – Peer Mentor
- Jennafer Perreault, student employee – Tutor
- Stacey Korycki, supplemental employee – Extended Educational Services
Staff and Team Excellence Award nominees announced
Congratulations to the following individuals and teams who received nominations for NMC’s Excellence Awards. The final award recipients for each category will be announced at NMC’s employee recognition event, You Made It Possible on Wednesday, May 14 at the Hagerty Center. We hope to see you there! Remember to RSVP!
Kudos!
Kudos to Kirk Waterstripe! Kirk is a member of the Grand Traverse Audubon Club and he helped the group set up a loon nesting platform on Boardman Lake where they have struggled to nest for years. Fingers crossed we’ll see some baby loons on the lake this year.
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!
Kudos!
Kudos to Traci Heidbreder! Traci spearheaded a project as part of her DEIB goals to replace the international flags in the Tannis atrium. The flags had significant wear and tear from the sun and were quite faded. Traci inventoried the flags, determined which of the flags needed to be replaced, listed the countries that are represented at NMC by students, faculty, and staff, and secured new flags. Jim Bensley from international services assisted by providing some flags that he had in storage. Traci found some flags that admissions had in storage, and she worked with Cathy Brown to purchase the remaining flags. Todd Haines from the maintenance department helped Traci hang the new flags, and she worked with PRMC to have a key developed to hang in the atrium to help visitors identify the flags. I want to thank Traci for her thoughtful project and excellent execution.
Kudos to Augusta Kummer! I want to thank Augusta for advising Phi Theta Kappa this year and for her success in coordinating the PTK induction ceremony last month. Augusta has demonstrated dedication and leadership in taking on the advising role and helping to keep the organization and events on task and schedule in challenging times. The PTK induction ceremony was a wonderful event. It was very thoughtful and well executed. I appreciate her effort. It was very enjoyable to watch the pride of the students and their families. Great work Augusta!
Kudos to Rorie Kawula! I want to congratulate Rorie on completing the Leadership Grand Traverse program through Traverse Connect. Rorie started the program last August and spent time each month with her cohort developing leadership skills and learning about all corners of our community. Rorie did a fantastic job in the program and has brought much back to NMC. Rorie is a true leader on campus, and she has taken it further to become a leader in the larger community. Congrats Rorie!
Kudos to Kyle Ferrill! I wanted to recognize Kyle’s extra work and effort to overhaul the online orientation video. The orientation video that NMC had been using was developed at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Having an online orientation option allowed enrollment to continue throughout the pandemic. After using the video for a few years, we recognized gaps and areas for improvement. Kyle offered to take the lead on this and helped organize a plan to breakdown and review the previous video, send out requests to different departments to offer input. He helped rewrite the script, worked with different departments on campus to determine the best platform to record the video, recorded and narrated the video, added visual content and screenshots to the video, revised the video, and published it. The new online orientation video is comprehensive and very effective. I appreciate the effort and leadership that Kyle demonstrated on this project.
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!
Internal promotion
Angela Zirotte was recently promoted to Custodian. Congratulations, Angela!
Welcome our newest hire
Deanna Silkowski recently started working at the college as a Graphic Coordinator. Let’s welcome her to the NMC community!
Important tax information – W2’s and 1095-C’s
Digital versions of your W2 and 1095-C can be found in ADP by navigating to the “Myself” tab and then “Pay & Tax Statements”.
The Affordable Care Act requires Form 1095-C, which provides information about your health care coverage. Human Resources can provide a paper version of this form upon request if you were eligible and enrolled in health benefits in 2024.
Welcome our newest hires
These employees recently started working at the college. Let’s welcome them to the NMC community!
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- Phil Mosier — Custodian
- Zach Whitaker — Manager of Alumni Relations
- Cayce Hardwood, supplemental — Technology Support Assistant
Kudos!
Kudos to Admissions, Advising, ELI, Faculty, Financial Aid, EES, HR and EMT! Thank you to everyone that gave time out of their week to help with the set up, tear down and tabling at the Career & Majors Fair last week. We also owe a lot of thanks to those that helped us with planning workshops for students ahead of the fair. This year’s event was a campus effort and we could not have done it without the support of multiple departments.
Kudos to Admissions! Traci always holds down the fort during busy times for the department! While off-campus for college fairs, Traci ensures that everything is ready for the next event. Without her, last week, I would have had to come to the office on the weekend to ensure everything was taken care of for my next event! Every time we have a tour or fair, she is always checking in to see if she can help. She is so appreciated!!!
Kudos to Carolyn Andrews, Dan Goodchild and Megan Bylsma! Carolyn, Megan and Dan were instrumental in acquiring and implementing 3D concrete printing technology for the Construction Technology program. Carolyn kicked off the initiative by successfully winning the National Association of Community College Entrepreneurship’s Pitch for the Trades competition. This was followed by Megan successfully finding philanthropic support from NMC donors. Carolyn, Megan and Dan used this support to earn an IMPACT100 grant to fund this large scale printer. This printer will be used to teach NMC students the cutting-edge technology of building homes using 3D concrete printers. This technology will become more critical as we look to add more affordable housing (and the skills necessary to do so) to the region. Thank you to the Curriculum Committee for expediting this request during course development — classes will start this fall. This is a shining example of the Foundation and our academic programs working together to meet the needs of the community and better prepare our students for the jobs of tomorrow.
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!
Nominations open for Staff and Team Excellence Awards
Make a difference in the lives of your colleagues. Nominate them for the Staff Excellence Award and Team Excellence Award.
We are seeking nominations for:
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- Staff (full-time, part-time, or supplemental)
- Teams of two or more individuals (departments, cross-departmental collaborative groups, strategic project groups, initiative focused teams, etc.)
Click the forms below to complete your nomination(s) for the:
Whose work serves to inspire us all, and who:
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- Demonstrate NMC’s Values
- Exhibit commitment ‘above and beyond’ to the NMC mission, vision, values and strategic directions
- Made a difference at NMC over the past year (2024-2025)
Nominations must be received by April 4, 2025. Recipients will receive a monetary award and an engraved plaque which will be awarded on May 14, 2025 at the You Made It Possible celebration. Thank you for recognizing the great work of your colleagues and showing you care!
NMC Employee Recognition Committee: Marcus Bennett, Hollie DeWalt, Les Eckert, Kim Gourlay, Craig Hadley, Lori Hodek (Chair), Taylor Nash, Nancy Parshall