Recognizing Disability Independence Day

Jul 26, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

July 26 is National Disability Independence Day, a federally recognized day to celebrate the 1990 signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). View a sample of books in the library, films on Kanopy and podcasts that recognize Disability Independence Day below.

Books in the Library

Born at the Right Timeby Ron McCallum
Ron McCallum has been blind from birth. When he was a child, many blind people spent their lives sheltered, but Ron’s mother had other ideas for her son. She insisted on treating him as normally as possible. Ron recounts his social awkwardness and physical mishaps and shares his early fears that he might never manage to have a proper career, find love or become a parent. He has achieved all this and more, becoming a professor of law at a prestigious university and committee chair at the UN.

If at Birth You Don’t Succeedby Zach Anner
Comedian Zach Anner entered the world with cerebral palsy and an uncertain future. But he lives by the mantra: when life gives you a wheelchair, make lemonade. Whether recounting a valiant childhood attempt to woo Cindy Crawford, encounters with zealous faith healers, or the time he crapped his pants mere feet from Dr. Phil, Zach shares his fumbles with unflinching honesty and characteristic charm. If at Birth is a hilarious memoir about finding your passion and your path even when it’s paved with epic misadventure.

The Trouble with Illnessby Julia Segal
This book explores the effects a challenging disability or illness can have on the mind and personal relationships, and how friends, family and professionals can help. Illness or disability can isolate people. Friends and family can find themselves saying the wrong thing or awkwardly avoiding topics as a result. The insights and advice offered in this book can help children and adolescents overcome anxiousness caused by a parent’s condition, improve communication between partners and family members, and increase friends’ awareness of how their disabled friend feels about their situation.

T elling Deaf Lives: Agents of Changeby Kristen Snoddon
Deaf community historians share diverse stories of deaf individuals in this collection. Melissa and Breda describe the Cosmopolitan Correspondence Club, a group of deaf individuals who corresponded in the early 20th century from Australia to Western Europe to the United States; Ulla-Bell recounts first-hand growing up deaf in Sweden and her process in authoring six memoirs; Tatiana writes about her deaf family’s experience during the World War II siege of Leningrad; others look at the evolution of ASL poetry by analyzing works of prominent ASL poets Valli, Cook, and Lerner.

Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Educationby Thomas J. Tobin
Advocates for the rights of people with disabilities have worked hard to make universal design in the built-world “just part of what we do.” For example, captioned instructional videos benefit learners with hearing impairments but also the student who worries about waking her young children at night. This book is aimed at faculty, disability support providers, student-service staff and campus leaders who want to strengthen the engagement, interaction, and performance of all college students.

HandiLand: The Crippest Place on Earthby Elizabeth Wheeler
A look at young adult novels, fantasy series, graphic memoirs, and picture books in which characters with disabilities take center stage for the first time. These books take what others regard as weaknesses — for instance, Harry Potter’s headaches or Hazel Lancaster’s oxygen tank — and redefine them as part of the hero’s journey. HandiLand places this movement from sidekick to hero in the political contexts of disability rights movements. HandiLand moves through the public spaces young people with disabilities have entered, including schools, nature, and online communities.

Golem Girlby Riva Lehrer
In 1958, Riva is one of the first children born with spina bifida to survive. Her parents and doctors are determined to “fix” her, sending the message over and over again that she is broken. That she will never have a job, a romantic relationship, or an independent life. Enduring countless medical interventions, Riva tries her best to be a good girl and a good patient in the quest to be cured. Everything changes when, as an adult, Riva is invited to join a group of artists, writers, and performers who are building Disability Culture. 

eQuality: the Struggle for Web Accessibility by People with Cognitive Disabilities by Peter Blanck
Never before have the rights of people with disabilities aligned so well with information and communication technologies. This book is about the lived struggle for disability rights, with a focus on the web, for people with cognitive disabilities, like intellectual disabilities, autism or print-related disabilities. The principles derived from the right to the web – freedom of speech and individual dignity – are bound to lead towards full and meaningful involvement in society for persons with cognitive disabilities.

Films in Kanopy

Explore movies in Kanopy for free. Go to nmc.kanopy.com and login using your NMC ID and password.

Beyond the Library: Podcasts

This is life from a disabled lens. Hosted by San Francisco night owl, Alice Wong, featuring conversations on politics, culture, and media with disabled people. If you’re interested in disability rights, social justice, and intersectionality, this show is for you.
Disability Visibility is a production of the Disability Visibility Project, an online community dedicated to creating, sharing, and amplifying disability media and culture.

This is a podcast that looks at disability stories. It’s like sitting down with a really close friend to have real conversations about disability, sexuality and everything else about the disability experience that we don’t talk about; the things about being disabled that we keep in the dark.
The show is hosted by disability awareness consultant Andrew Gurza.

The Accessible Stall is a disability podcast hosted by Kyle Khachadurian and Emily Ladau that keeps it real about issues within the disability community. Because they each have different disabilities and mobility levels, they approach everything from two unique viewpoints, offering a fresh insight into how differences in disability can color your experiences and perspectives. They never shy away from offering our honest opinion. Even if they go against the grain of the disability community at large, they always speak our minds.

Library Book Recommendations – July, 2021

Jul 20, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

To find these selections and many other new titles, see the NMC library catalog.

Non-Fiction

The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind by Raghuram Rajan

Raghuram Rajan, University of Chicago professor, former IMF chief economist, head of India’s central bank, and author of Fault Lines, has an unparalleled vantage point onto the social and economic consequences of globalization and their ultimate effect on our politics. In The Third Pillar he offers up a big-picture framework for understanding how these three forces–the state, markets, and our communities–interact, why things begin to break down, and how we can find our way back to a more secure and stable plane.

Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert.

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction returns to humanity’s transformative impact on the environment, now asking: After doing so much damage, can we change nature, this time to save it? In Under a White Sky, Elizabeth Kolbert takes a hard look at the new world we are creating. Along the way, she meets biologists who are trying to preserve the world’s rarest fish; engineers who are turning carbon emissions to stone in Iceland; Australian researchers who are trying to develop a “super coral” that can survive on a hotter globe; and physicists who are contemplating shooting tiny diamonds into the stratosphere to cool the earth.

Homie: Poems by Danez Smith

Homie is Danez Smith’s magnificent anthem about the saving grace of friendship. Rooted in the loss of one of Smith’s close friends, this book comes out of the search for joy and intimacy within a nation where both can seem scarce and getting scarcer. In poems of rare power and generosity, Smith acknowledges that in a country overrun by violence, xenophobia, and disparity, and in a body defined by race, queerness, and diagnosis, it can be hard to survive, even harder to remember reasons for living. But then the phone lights up, or a shout comes up to the window, and family–blood and chosen–arrives with just the right food and some redemption.

Wisdom Engaged: Traditional Knowledge for Northern Community Well-being edited by Leslie Main Johnson

Wisdom Engaged demonstrates how traditional knowledge, Indigenous approaches to healing, and the insights of Western bio-medicine can complement each other when all voices are heard in a collaborative effort to address changes to Indigenous communities’ well-being. In this collection, voices of Elders, healers, physicians, and scholars are gathered to provide a critical conversation about the nature of medicine; a demonstration of ethical commitment; and an example of successful community relationship building.

Muslim American City: Gender and Religion in Metro Detroit by Alisa Perkins

Drawing on more than ten years of ethnographic research in Hamtramck, which boasts one of the largest concentrations of Muslim residents of any American city, Alisa Perkins shows how the Muslim American population has grown and asserted itself in public life. Her in-depth fieldwork incorporates the perspectives of both Muslims and non-Muslims, including Polish Catholics, African American Protestants, and other city residents.

Fiction

The Other Black Girl: a Novel by Zakiya Dalila Harris

Get Out meets The Devil Wears Prada in this electric debut about the tension that unfurls when two young Black women meet against the starkly white backdrop of New York City book publishing. Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she’s thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. A whip-smart and dynamic thriller and sly social commentary that is perfect for anyone who has ever felt manipulated, threatened, or overlooked in the workplace, The Other Black Girl will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last twist.

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

After being rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, Marian and Jamie Graves are raised by their uncle in Missoula, Montana. There, Marian commences her lifelong love affair with flight. A century later, Hadley Baxter is cast to play Marian in a film that centers on Marian’s disappearance over the South Pacific. Her immersion into the character of Marian unfolds, thrillingly, alongside Marian’s own story, as the two womens’ fates collide. Epic and emotional, meticulously researched and gloriously told, Great Circle is a tremendous leap forward for the prodigiously gifted Maggie Shipstead.

Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi

When Otto and Xavier Shin declare their love, an aunt gifts them a trip on a sleeper train. They seem to be the only people onboard, until Otto discovers a secretive woman who issues a surprising message. As further clues and questions pile up, and the trip upends everything they thought they knew, Otto and Xavier begin to see connections to their own pasts. A spellbinding tale from a star author, Peaces is about what it means to be seen by another person–whether it’s your lover or a stranger on a train–and what happens when things you thought were firmly in the past turn out to be right beside you.

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the church’s double standards and their own needs and passions.

Finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction.

A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul

The early masterpiece of V. S. Naipaul’s brilliant career, ‘A House for Mr. Biswas’ has been hailed as one of the twentieth century’s finest novels.

Shuttled from one residence to another after the death of his father, Mr. Biswas yearns for a place he can call home. But when he marries into the domineering Tulsi family, Mr. Biswas embarks on an arduous-and endless-struggle to weaken their hold over him and purchase a house of his own. A House for Mr. Biswas masterfully evokes a man’s quest for autonomy against an emblematic post-colonial canvas.

Summaries adapted from publishers.

COVID-19: NMC moves to Stage 4 of reopening plan July 19

Jul 20, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

TRAVERSE CITY — As our region continues to see an increase in COVID-19 vaccination rates, and updates to state and federal health guidelines, starting Monday, July 19, NMC is moving to Stage 4 of its 4-Stage Reopening Plan.

More activity is allowed on campus including:

• Reopening of the NMC fitness center for students and employees
• Summer course delivery will continue as planned
• Fall course delivery will continue to be offered as listed. More in-person sections may be added if demand increases
• In-person meetings and gatherings are allowed
• On-campus work is allowed
• Employees no longer need to use the Campus Clear app
• Employees who can work from home may continue
• Some activities may not yet be available yet for a variety of reasons, including staffing levels.

NMC Human Resources is finalizing updates to the remote work policy. The “Reimagining Work” committee will collaborate with Leadership Council on addressing the needs and opportunities to support flexible work while continuing to meet the needs of our students.

The Delta variant of COVID-19 is spreading quickly throughout the country and may pose a greater risk for unvaccinated people, including young people. Some symptoms are similar to the original strain including:

• Headache
• Fever
• Sore throat

Cough and loss of smell may be less common symptoms of the Delta variant. Vaccines are effective and widely available for those 12 and older. To schedule an appointment near you please visit vaccines.gov.

We will continue to communicate with you on the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our campus community. You can find more information and resources at nmc.edu/covid-19. Thank you to everyone who helped keep our NMC community safe during the pandemic, and your continued support.

Release Date: July 19, 2021

For more information:

Diana Fairbanks
Executive Director of Public Relations, Marketing and Communications
dfairbanks@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1019

COVID-19: NMC moves to Stage 4 of reopening plan July 19

Jul 19, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

TRAVERSE CITY — As our region continues to see an increase in COVID-19 vaccination rates, and updates to state and federal health guidelines, starting Monday, July 19, NMC is moving to Stage 4 of its 4-Stage Reopening Plan.

More activity is allowed on campus including:

• Reopening of the NMC fitness center for students and employees
• Summer course delivery will continue as planned
• Fall course delivery will continue to be offered as listed. More in-person sections may be added if demand increases
• In-person meetings and gatherings are allowed
• On-campus work is allowed
• Employees no longer need to use the Campus Clear app
• Employees who can work from home may continue
• Some activities may not yet be available yet for a variety of reasons, including staffing levels.

NMC Human Resources is finalizing updates to the remote work policy. The “Reimagining Work” committee will collaborate with Leadership Council on addressing the needs and opportunities to support flexible work while continuing to meet the needs of our students.

The Delta variant of COVID-19 is spreading quickly throughout the country and may pose a greater risk for unvaccinated people, including young people. Some symptoms are similar to the original strain including:

• Headache
• Fever
• Sore throat

Cough and loss of smell may be less common symptoms of the Delta variant. Vaccines are effective and widely available for those 12 and older. To schedule an appointment near you please visit vaccines.gov.

We will continue to communicate with you on the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our campus community. You can find more information and resources at nmc.edu/covid-19. Thank you to everyone who helped keep our NMC community safe during the pandemic, and your continued support.

Release Date: July 19, 2021

For more information:

Diana Fairbanks
Executive Director of Public Relations, Marketing and Communications
dfairbanks@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1019

Disability Pride Month

Jul 6, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

July is Disability Pride Month. You can mark the occasion by creating accessible events, using inclusive language, and realizing that disability is simply part of human diversity.

For information about NMC’s Disability Support office, go to nmc.edu/disability-support.

What’s Next? Career Workshop Series, Wednesdays, July 7-28

Jul 1, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

The Academic & Career Advising Center will host virtual workshops available for students that seek guidance on identifying their career path and goals. Students that attend will be entered to win raffle prizes such as Apple AirPods, Hammocks, Gift Cards and more!

The sessions will be held Wednesdays in July from 5–6 p.m. unless otherwise noted below.

• July 7: Forward Focused- Begin searching for your career path
• July 14: Learning About Careers- Explore positions within your chosen career path
• July 21: Making a Career Decision- Identify next steps in getting to your career goal
• July 28, 3–6 p.m.: Virtual Drop-in’s with Employment Readiness- Resume review, interview prep & more!

RSVP HERE!

Free shipping online from the NMC Bookstore

Jul 1, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

Get free shipping July 1-August 20 on all online orders from the NMC Bookstore! No minimum order, and no code needed.

Order your fall books early and save!

NMC Board of Trustees approves balanced budget; most students to pay less in 2021-22

Jun 29, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

NOTE: The International 2021-22 Tuition figure in the table below has been corrected since the news release was first published.

TRAVERSE CITY — The Board of Trustees for Northwestern Michigan College voted unanimously to approve a balanced budget and set tuition rates and fees for the fall 2021 and spring/summer 2022 semesters during its regular monthly meeting June 28.

NMC was one of only a few colleges to freeze tuition for the 2020–21 academic year. While general tuition rates for residents will increase by $3.00 per contact hour for in-district students, from $109 to $112, elimination of the Flexible Learning Online Fee will result in most students paying less for an average semester at NMC by reducing online course costs by $20 per contact hour.

“I am proud to see our college community develop a budget plan that is not only fiscally responsible, but will actually mean most students will end up paying less for their classes. It’s this kind of creative problem solving that we want to inspire in our students, by modeling ourselves,” said Dr. Nick Nissley, president of Northwestern Michigan College. “When many other colleges and universities are costing families more, NMC is making college even more affordable. With that, great state programs like Michigan Reconnect and more scholarship money available through the NMC Foundation, I hope more people take the opportunity to get ahead with NMC.”

For 2021–22, NMC’s revenue will be 24 percent from state aid, 27 percent from local property tax, 44 percent from tuition and fees and five percent from other sources.

NMC now has the 6th lowest in-district tuition of the state’s 28 community colleges, down from 8th in 2019.

NMC will continue to offer courses in a variety of formats this fall to best meet the needs of students. Two months remain to apply and register before fall classes begin Aug. 28. Still, enrollment to date shows that students find value in flexible learning formats, including online and hybrid, which increased during COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, only about 15 percent of NMC classes were offered online.

Registration for fall classes began in March. Currently 44 percent of enrolled fall class sections will be offered virtually (50 percent in the spring), 35 percent face-to-face (28 percent spring) and 22 percent hybrid (21 percent spring.)

Fall is the final semester that students who are eligible for the Futures for Frontliners scholarship can begin classes. The Michigan Reconnect program offering free in-district tuition to adults over age 25 without a college degree is also available this fall.

Release date: JUNE 29, 2021

For more information:

Troy Kierczynski
Interim Vice President of Finance and Administration
(231) 995-1147
tkierczynski@nmc.edu

NMC Board of Trustees approves balanced budget; most students to pay less in 2021-22

Jun 29, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

NOTE: The International 2021-22 Tuition figure in the table below has been corrected since the news release was first published.

TRAVERSE CITY — The Board of Trustees for Northwestern Michigan College voted unanimously to approve a balanced budget and set tuition rates and fees for the fall 2021 and spring/summer 2022 semesters during its regular monthly meeting June 28.

NMC was one of only a few colleges to freeze tuition for the 2020–21 academic year. While general tuition rates for residents will increase by $3.00 per contact hour for in-district students, from $109 to $112, elimination of the Flexible Learning Online Fee will result in most students paying less for an average semester at NMC by reducing online course costs by $20 per contact hour.

“I am proud to see our college community develop a budget plan that is not only fiscally responsible, but will actually mean most students will end up paying less for their classes. It’s this kind of creative problem solving that we want to inspire in our students, by modeling ourselves,” said Dr. Nick Nissley, president of Northwestern Michigan College. “When many other colleges and universities are costing families more, NMC is making college even more affordable. With that, great state programs like Michigan Reconnect and more scholarship money available through the NMC Foundation, I hope more people take the opportunity to get ahead with NMC.”

For 2021–22, NMC’s revenue will be 24 percent from state aid, 27 percent from local property tax, 44 percent from tuition and fees and five percent from other sources.

NMC now has the 6th lowest in-district tuition of the state’s 28 community colleges, down from 8th in 2019.

NMC will continue to offer courses in a variety of formats this fall to best meet the needs of students. Two months remain to apply and register before fall classes begin Aug. 28. Still, enrollment to date shows that students find value in flexible learning formats, including online and hybrid, which increased during COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, only about 15 percent of NMC classes were offered online.

Registration for fall classes began in March. Currently 44 percent of enrolled fall class sections will be offered virtually (50 percent in the spring), 35 percent face-to-face (28 percent spring) and 22 percent hybrid (21 percent spring.)

Fall is the final semester that students who are eligible for the Futures for Frontliners scholarship can begin classes. The Michigan Reconnect program offering free in-district tuition to adults over age 25 without a college degree is also available this fall.

Release date: JUNE 29, 2021

For more information:

Troy Kierczynski
Interim Vice President of Finance and Administration
(231) 995-1147
tkierczynski@nmc.edu

Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center wins architectural award

Jun 28, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

TRAVERSE CITY — Northwestern Michigan College’s Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center has won a statewide Michigan American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2021 Honor Award for Design Excellence.

Designed by Cornerstone Architects of Traverse City, the project combined state investments of more than $7 million for renovations and modernizations of the West Hall building with NMC-funded investments of more than $7 million to create a 54,000-square-foot, multi-story library and flexible learning space. The building will mark its 60th year in service on NMC’s main campus in 2023.

The award jury commented: “The volume of this enlarged and renovated building is well-balanced inside and out, through a skillful integration of materials and massing. The interior is warm and filled with natural light, while the flowing plan successfully reflects its flexible function. Finally, the jury greatly appreciated the design team’s goals of equity and minimal environmental impact.”

West Hall originally opened in 1963. Groundbreaking for the new building was in September 2018. The NMC Library was the first department to occupy the renovated facility, moving into its second-floor space June 9, 2020. A formal opening ceremony was held in September 2020.

Cornerstone was also the architect for NMC’s Great Lakes Campus, the Health & Science Building, and the North Hall student housing development.

Release date: June 28, 2021

For more information:

Troy Kierczynski
Interim Vice President of Finance and Administration
(231) 995-1147
tkierczynski@nmc.edu

Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center wins architectural award

Jun 28, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

TRAVERSE CITY — Northwestern Michigan College’s Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center has won a statewide Michigan American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2021 Honor Award for Design Excellence.

Designed by Cornerstone Architects of Traverse City, the project combined state investments of more than $7 million for renovations and modernizations of the West Hall building with NMC-funded investments of more than $7 million to create a 54,000-square-foot, multi-story library and flexible learning space. The building will mark its 60th year in service on NMC’s main campus in 2023.

The award jury commented: “The volume of this enlarged and renovated building is well-balanced inside and out, through a skillful integration of materials and massing. The interior is warm and filled with natural light, while the flowing plan successfully reflects its flexible function. Finally, the jury greatly appreciated the design team’s goals of equity and minimal environmental impact.”

West Hall originally opened in 1963. Groundbreaking for the new building was in September 2018. The NMC Library was the first department to occupy the renovated facility, moving into its second-floor space June 9, 2020. A formal opening ceremony was held in September 2020.

Cornerstone was also the architect for NMC’s Great Lakes Campus, the Health & Science Building, and the North Hall student housing development.

Release date: June 28, 2021

For more information:

Troy Kierczynski
Interim Vice President of Finance and Administration
(231) 995-1147
tkierczynski@nmc.edu

Cafe Lobdell’s opens

Jun 15, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

TRAVERSE CITY — Northwestern Michigan College’s Great Lakes Culinary Institute will operate Cafe Lobdell’s for the fourth consecutive summer from June 29-Aug. 5.

Cafe Lobdell’s is the capstone course in GLCI’s one-year Baking Certificate program. Culinary students will make and serve coffee and pastries for dine-in or takeout service in Lobdell’s Teaching Restaurant, on the second level of the Great Lakes campus, from 7-11 a.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. 

“We are excited to showcase the talents of our students as we welcome guests back to Lobdell’s,” said GLCI director Les Eckert.

Find out more about culinary programs at nmc.edu/culinary.

Release date: JUNE 15, 2021

For more information:

Diana Fairbanks
Executive Director, NMC Public Relations, Marketing and Communications
(231) 995-1019
dfairbanks@nmc.edu 

Cafe Lobdell’s opens

Jun 15, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

TRAVERSE CITY — Northwestern Michigan College’s Great Lakes Culinary Institute will operate Cafe Lobdell’s for the fourth consecutive summer from June 29-Aug. 5.

Cafe Lobdell’s is the capstone course in GLCI’s one-year Baking Certificate program. Culinary students will make and serve coffee and pastries for dine-in or takeout service in Lobdell’s Teaching Restaurant, on the second level of the Great Lakes campus, from 7-11 a.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. 

“We are excited to showcase the talents of our students as we welcome guests back to Lobdell’s,” said GLCI director Les Eckert.

Find out more about culinary programs at nmc.edu/culinary.

Release date: JUNE 15, 2021

For more information:

Diana Fairbanks
Executive Director, NMC Public Relations, Marketing and Communications
(231) 995-1019
dfairbanks@nmc.edu 

Bookstore closed the week of June 28

Jun 14, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

The NMC Bookstore will be closed June 28-July 2 for annual inventory. We will reopen on July 6.

Orders placed online will be processed on July 1, even though the store won’t be open.

NMC Foundation celebrates success of Be What’s Possible campaign

Jun 10, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

TRAVERSE CITY — Last night, the NMC Foundation announced that Be What’s Possible, the Campaign for NMC, has raised $38.9 million to date from more than 5,000 donors to support scholarships, programs, facilities and the greatest needs of the students and the college.

The Be What’s Possible campaign was launched publicly on October 9, 2019 with a goal of raising $35 million. This is Northwestern Michigan College’s first comprehensive campaign with gifts to all areas of the college and its programs as well as planned and cash gifts counting towards its success.

“Our team has been honored to work with so many generous donors who are dedicated to supporting education and the arts through the NMC Foundation,” said Rebecca Teahen, NMC Foundation executive director. “Alumni and community members have stepped up in extraordinary ways to make so much possible. I’d like to extend a heartfelt thank-you to all who have been part of this campaign.”

People from across the country attended the virtual closing celebration on June 9. There’s still time to join this historic effort by making a gift to the NMC Foundation by June 30, 2021. Find out more at nmc.edu/give.

Release date: JUNE 10, 2021

For more information:

Rebecca Teahen
Associate Vice President for Resource Development & Executive Director, NMC Foundation
rteahen@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1855

NMC Foundation celebrates success of Be What’s Possible campaign

Jun 10, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

TRAVERSE CITY — Last night, the NMC Foundation announced that Be What’s Possible, the Campaign for NMC, has raised $38.9 million to date from more than 5,000 donors to support scholarships, programs, facilities and the greatest needs of the students and the college.

The Be What’s Possible campaign was launched publicly on October 9, 2019 with a goal of raising $35 million. This is Northwestern Michigan College’s first comprehensive campaign with gifts to all areas of the college and its programs as well as planned and cash gifts counting towards its success.

“Our team has been honored to work with so many generous donors who are dedicated to supporting education and the arts through the NMC Foundation,” said Rebecca Teahen, NMC Foundation executive director. “Alumni and community members have stepped up in extraordinary ways to make so much possible. I’d like to extend a heartfelt thank-you to all who have been part of this campaign.”

People from across the country attended the virtual closing celebration on June 9. There’s still time to join this historic effort by making a gift to the NMC Foundation by June 30, 2021. Find out more at nmc.edu/give.

Release date: JUNE 10, 2021

For more information:

Rebecca Teahen
Associate Vice President for Resource Development & Executive Director, NMC Foundation
rteahen@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1855

Contingency plans created for GLMA cadet sea time due to repairs required on State of Michigan

Jun 7, 2021 | Intercom, Student News

TRAVERSE CITY — Thanks to a rapid, multi-agency response effort, Great Lakes Maritime Academy cadets are still expected to earn required sea time and remain on track to graduate despite an engine repair that has temporarily sidelined the training ship State of Michigan on what would have been its longest cruise season in several years.

The T/S State of Michigan departed Traverse City on May 18 for the first of four scheduled training cruises. On the evening of May 19, the vessel experienced mechanical problems while transiting the Detroit River. The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), owner of the vessel, has prioritized repairs to be completed at a Toledo, Ohio dock, and expects the ship to return to service by mid-July.

According to GLMA Superintendent Jerry Achenbach, due to the assistance of MARAD and the other state maritime academies, contingency plans were quickly developed for the cadets impacted. Cadets must earn the equivalent of 360 days sea time during the four-year program. The goal of NMC and GLMA is to ensure graduations are not delayed, and that every cadet has the ability to graduate per his/ her model schedule.

Plans for the 50 cadets aboard the vessel when it departed, as well as those scheduled for the second cruise, which was scheduled to begin on June 14, include earning required sea time through one of several options, including:

• Aboard the T/S Kennedy, the training ship of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy
• Aboard the T/S General Rudder, the training ship of Texas A&M Maritime Academy
• Aboard a commercial vessel in Great Lakes service.
• Aboard the State of Michigan in its third phase, scheduled to begin July 21 in Traverse City

Cadet transportation to and from another academy’s training ship will not be passed on to the cadets. This is thanks to the efforts of the NMC Foundation (nmc.edu/give) and MARAD.

More than 150 GLMA cadets will need to earn sea time this year. There is high demand for GLMA graduates, as well as the graduates of NMC’s Great Lakes Culinary Institute, who complete an internship on the ship.

The T/S State of Michigan is owned by MARAD, which will pay for repairs, and assigned to the Academy. Prior to its transfer to GLMA in 2002, it was the USNS Persistent, a T-AGOS class ocean surveillance ship operated by the U.S. Navy. It was built in 1986.

Release date: JUNE 7, 2021

For more information:

RADM Jerry Achenbach
Great Lakes Maritime Academy Superintendent
(231) 995-1203
gachenbach@nmc.edu