Biederman family commits $1 million to NMC

Jun 8, 2017 | Intercom, Student News

TRAVERSE CITY — The Les and Anne Biederman Foundation and Ross and Brenda Biederman have announced a $1 million gift commitment to Northwestern Michigan College.

The Biederman Foundation’s $500,000 gift, the largest single grant in its history, will support NMC’s Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, helping ensure that students are prepared for future careers in water-related fields, train industry professionals, and cultivate generations of Great Lakes stewards.

The balance of the gift includes $250,000 toward scholarships for accounting, business, nursing, and maritime students from the foundation, and a $250,000 personal gift from Ross and Brenda Biederman to the NMC Annual Fund, providing unrestricted support to meet the college’s greatest needs. The gift was announced Wednesday at the 2017 NMC Fellows dinner, where the Biedermans were presented with NMC’s highest honor, in recognition of their decades of philanthropy and support of the college.

“Making the gift was an easy decision,” said Ross Biederman. “The college is important to our whole community.”

President Timothy J. Nelson said, “The Biedermans have always been supportive of what’s going on here at the college and in the community, especially when it comes to water. We are grateful for this gift and all that it will make possible for NMC and our students.”

The Biederman family’s connection to Northwestern Michigan College dates back to Ross Biederman’s father Les, a leader in the effort to found the college in 1951 until his retirement from the Board of Trustees in 1981.

A 1959 NMC alumnus, Ross Biederman has continued that support both with his wife Brenda and through the family’s namesake foundation. The Biederman family has helped establish a culture of generosity in the Grand Traverse region—particularly in support of natural resources and higher education. The Water Studies portion of the gift combines those passions. In recognition, the Water Studies labs, both inside the Great Lakes Campus and aboard the research vessel Northwestern, will be named for the Biederman Family Foundation.

Release date: June 8, 2017

For more information:

Rebecca Teahen
NMC Foundation
(231) 995-1855
rteahen@nmc.edu

Success Story: NMC instructors will debut courses in China

Jun 7, 2017 | Intercom, Student News

June 7, 2017

NMC officials tour the Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute campus in 2014NMC instructors will pioneer NMC courses in Chinese classrooms next week, the culmination of a partnership five years in the making.

They’ll teach two Water Studies courses and two basic construction courses to about 40 students at the Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute in Kaifeng, China. The two-week courses are the first in a sequence to be completed later this year. Scott Swan and Brian Sweeney will teach in English with interpreter support.

“We are delivering our courses there for the ability to augment their training with our coursework,” said Hans Van Sumeren, director of NMC’s Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, who’s traveled to China twice since 2015 as NMC has nurtured the partnership with the three-year technical school. Van Sumeren and Construction Technology director Dan Goodchild will round out the NMC contingent to plan delivery of the second part of the sequence, set for late fall or early winter.

“They’re very well positioned to do the terrestrial mapping,” Van Sumeren said. “We bring the competencies needed to work in and under the water.”

The June courses are Blueprint Reading, basic carpentry, Underwater Acoustics and Sonar and Great Lakes Research Technologies. Besides connecting with a school with a growing enrollment – Yellow River’s surveying program enrolls about 1,800 students – Van Sumeren said the partnership could afford NMC students both a study abroad opportunity and a chance to apply their coursework in a completely different geographic environment.

China’s large, fast-flowing rivers flood frequently and catastrophically, Van Sumeren said. The Yellow River alone has flooded 1,500 times in last 2,500 years, wiping out millions of people. NMC students could study what the Chinese have done to turn floodplains into protected cities.

“Those are things we can’t show students in Grand Traverse Bay or other Great Lakes waters,” Van Sumeren said.

Both instructors, who are making their first trip to China, said they’re looking forward to the teaching experience.

“It’s going to be incredibly different,” Sweeney said. “I thought it’d be a fun adventure.”

“It’s an opportunity that not only can further the goals of the college, but for me to expand as an instructor, branch out beyond the comfort zone,” Swan said.

Read more about the NMC-Yellow River partnership’s development »

Success Story: NMC instructors will debut courses in China

Jun 7, 2017 | Intercom, Student News

June 7, 2017

NMC officials tour the Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute campus in 2014NMC instructors will pioneer NMC courses in Chinese classrooms next week, the culmination of a partnership five years in the making.

They’ll teach two Water Studies courses and two basic construction courses to about 40 students at the Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute in Kaifeng, China. The two-week courses are the first in a sequence to be completed later this year. Scott Swan and Brian Sweeney will teach in English with interpreter support.

“We are delivering our courses there for the ability to augment their training with our coursework,” said Hans Van Sumeren, director of NMC’s Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, who’s traveled to China twice since 2015 as NMC has nurtured the partnership with the three-year technical school. Van Sumeren and Construction Technology director Dan Goodchild will round out the NMC contingent to plan delivery of the second part of the sequence, set for late fall or early winter.

“They’re very well positioned to do the terrestrial mapping,” Van Sumeren said. “We bring the competencies needed to work in and under the water.”

The June courses are Blueprint Reading, basic carpentry, Underwater Acoustics and Sonar and Great Lakes Research Technologies. Besides connecting with a school with a growing enrollment – Yellow River’s surveying program enrolls about 1,800 students – Van Sumeren said the partnership could afford NMC students both a study abroad opportunity and a chance to apply their coursework in a completely different geographic environment.

China’s large, fast-flowing rivers flood frequently and catastrophically, Van Sumeren said. The Yellow River alone has flooded 1,500 times in last 2,500 years, wiping out millions of people. NMC students could study what the Chinese have done to turn floodplains into protected cities.

“Those are things we can’t show students in Grand Traverse Bay or other Great Lakes waters,” Van Sumeren said.

Both instructors, who are making their first trip to China, said they’re looking forward to the teaching experience.

“It’s going to be incredibly different,” Sweeney said. “I thought it’d be a fun adventure.”

“It’s an opportunity that not only can further the goals of the college, but for me to expand as an instructor, branch out beyond the comfort zone,” Swan said.

Read more about the NMC-Yellow River partnership’s development »

NMC Trustee Marilyn Gordon Dresser Resigns

Jun 5, 2017 | Intercom, Student News

TRAVERSE CITY — The Board of Trustees from Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) is beginning the process of replacing Trustee Marilyn Gordon Dresser after she resigned from her position late last week. 

Gordon Dresser submitted a written resignation to the Board June 1, 2017, citing personal reasons.

Board Chair Kennard Weaver said, “We at NMC are appreciative of the service of Ms.Gordon Dresser, and we wish her well.”

Marilyn Gordon Dresser was elected to a six-year term to the NMC Board of Trustees in 2014. She served on several board committees during her tenure including the Barbecue Board, Policy Committee, Fellows Nomination Committee, and the Presidential Performance & Compensation Committee.

Trustees will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, June 6, 2017, at 12:00 p.m. to decide the next steps to fill the vacancy until the next NMC Board of Trustees election in November 2018, where voters will choose a candidate to serve the remainder of the term held by Marilyn Gordon Dresser which expires December 31, 2020.

Michigan law gives the college 30 days to fill this position.

Release date: June 5, 2017

For more information:

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

Message from the NMC President regarding Retirement Incentive Program

Jun 1, 2017 | Intercom, Student News

Dear NMC Campus Community:

After reading the article in the Record Eagle on Sunday, May 28, regarding our proposed retirement incentive program I need to comment on certain statements that do not reflect my or NMC’s position. The article reported that the vice president of the NMC faculty union asserted by not replacing full-time faculty, or replacing them with adjunct faculty, a decline in quality would occur at NMC. I believe this reported assertion is patently false. While I hope this was misreported, I still am compelled to comment.

I have consistently stated publicly, and on campus, my belief that every individual that works at and volunteers at NMC is a member of a team committed to learner success. I want to specifically recognize all of NMC’s adjunct, part-time faculty, and teaching staff and administrators for all you do for our learners and our college. Your dedication to your discipline and commitment to student success at NMC is critical to our future.

Rhetoric of the type reported can feed into a perception that the way to enhance one’s own value is to diminish the value of others. This path is not the path that we should expect or accept at NMC. Our collective task is to find ways to celebrate the value each of us bring to our efforts in pursuit of learner success.

Our most innovative employees include people from all employee classifications. Many in our full-time faculty started their NMC careers as adjunct faculty or staff members. Our adjunct faculty and teaching staff include retired generals, retired university faculty, national authors and presenters, nationally known staff members, and more. What they add to our campus and our student experience is significant and cannot be discounted.

I value each individual who works for this college – full-time faculty, adjunct faculty, part-time faculty, staff, administrators, maintenance, custodial, supplemental, executive, and volunteers. It takes all of us to make NMC a great place for learning. We do not live in a zero sum world. We are all responsible to show respect for each other and value everyone’s contributions.

Thank you all for everything you do to help our learners succeed.

Tim

Timothy J. Nelson, President
1701 E. Front Street
Traverse City, MI
Phone: (231) 995-1010

Summer concerts by Canticum Novum, NMC Concert Band

May 31, 2017 | Intercom, Student News

TRAVERSE CITY — NMC’s choral ensemble, Canticum Novum, and the NMC Concert Band will get your summer off to a toe-tapping start with a series of three concerts each.

Canticum Novum presents choral music featuring masters old and new: Mozart, Brahms, Fauré, Lauridsen, Whitacre, Paulus, and Swingle. The varied cultural program includes the music of Germany, Latvia, India, Russia, France, and American spirituals and hymn tunes. Jeffrey Cobb directs. Suggested donations: $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors taken at the door. Donations will offset the costs of the choir’s trip to Carnegie Hall in New York City.

• June 9: 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Traverse City
• June 10: 7 p.m., St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Beulah
• June 30, 7:30 p.m., Immaculate Conception Church, Traverse City

NMC Summer Concert Band presents the following free concerts featuring marches and highlights from your favorite musicals. Pat Brumbaugh directs.

• June 21, 7:30 p.m., Traverse City Senior Center
• June 24, 7:30 p.m., Milliken Auditorium – with Northport Community Band
• July 4, 6 p.m., Northport Marina, Northport – with the Northport Community Band

Release date: June 1, 2017

For more information:

Jeffrey Cobb
NMC Director of Music Programs
jecobb@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1338

Success Story: Orchards, vineyards, fields and classrooms host innovative training

May 24, 2017 | Intercom, Student News

May 24, 2017

Brandon Krohn of Bad Axe was one of eight students to take part in unmanned aerial systems in agriculture training at NMC’s facility in Yuba.Future farmers from around the state converged in Traverse City this month for the culmination of a first-of-its-kind training in unmanned aerial systems applications for agriculture.

Eight students co-enrolled in Michigan State University agriculture certificate programs and partner community colleges participated in a two-week training taught by NMC UAS instructors. Using four different drones, they conducted flights over a range of crops, collected aerial imagery and integrated sensor data, and then analyzed it for potential applications in the agriculture industry

It was the finale of an innovative, semester-long course that met in Muskegon, Traverse City and online and offered students elective MSU credit, remote pilot certification from the FAA, and a certificate in UAS in agriculture.

Currently, regulations limit most of the applications to imagery. Drones can’t yet be used to spray or treat crops. But the students, who came from farms that raised everything from dairy and beef cattle to row crops like corn and wheat to specialty crops like asparagus and Christmas trees, said they learned plenty to take home.

“It’ll be useful for counting trees, seeing which ones are ready for harvest,” said Micah Woller of Montague, who works on a Christmas tree farm in winter.

Nathan Beyerlein of Frankenmuth works for Star of the West Milling Co. in addition to his family’s corn, sugar beet and cucumber farm. He foresees using aerial imaging as a scouting tool, using imaging data to make traditional crop protection — on-the-ground spraying and fertilizing — more effective.

“For crop health, and getting a visual of the whole field, being able to pinpoint where a disease is, or water damage,” Beyerlein said.

Brian Matchett, coordinator of NMC’s plant science and viticulture programs, which partners with MSU’s Institute of Agriculture Technology, said he foresees huge demand for the training. This first course was only open to students enrolled in two-year MSU partner schools including NMC, Delta College, Muskegon Community College and Southwest Michigan Community College.

“We’re just scratching the surface,” Matchett said.

The course was taught in three parts: A five-day UAS build and flight training course in January at Muskegon Community College, a 12-week online training in remote piloting, and the two-week hands-on training in Traverse City earlier this month, at sites including apple and cherry orchards, vineyards, and hops, corn, soybeans and wheat fields.

Visit nmc.edu/uas for more information.