Thank you from NMC’s Smart Commute team!

Jun 12, 2017 | Intercom, Student News

NMC had a great showing for Traverse City’s 23rd Annual Smart Commute Week—a record 141 commuters enjoyed breakfast in the beautiful Health & Science Building atrium!

A special thanks to the Wellness Team for providing day-of volunteers as well as sponsoring Sodexo’s beautifully catered breakfast. It was a great success! Thanks, too, to The Dennos and NMC Extended Education for generously donating prizes for Friday’s finale celebration at Oryana.

NMC’s 17-member team included Alan Beer, Ann Geht, Brian Sweeney, Cari Noga, Craig Mulder, Dave Weaver, Dennis Schultz, Hillary Voight, Jason Dake, Judy Druskovich, Lisa Molmen, Lynn Geiger, Mary Beeker, Meg Young, Michele Howard (team captain), Rochelle Hammontree and Shayrrl McCready.

Thanks to TART Trails, and the Smart Commute planning committee, for organizing another great week of events and congratulations to all of the teams involved!

For a complete list of team rankings, visit traversetrails.org/smart-commute/team-rankings. Hope to see you next year!

Where Great Powers Meet: America and China in Asia

Jun 10, 2017 | Intercom, Student News

TRAVERSE CITY —  Dr. David Shambaugh,  director of the China Policy Program at George Washington University will speak at a June 28 International Affairs Forum global hot spot event on the current state of U.S.-China relations.

Shambaugh opened a 2014 conference convened by IAF, bringing together 40 experts on foreign policy, business, education, art and culture to debate what China’s emergence would mean for northern Michigan. Since then, China’s economic, military and political clout has grown enormously. Shambaugh has just returned from an extended study tour of key Asian countries and will discuss how the continuing growth of China’s influence is shifting the dynamics of U.S. and China relations. 

In addition,  NMC President Tim Nelson will provide an update on connections between northern Michigan and China. What has grown? What has withered? And what are the “next big things” between our region and Asia. 

The presentation is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Hagerty Center. Reception begins at 5 p.m. Tickets are $15 for IAF members and $20 for non-members and available at MyNorthTickets.com.

NMC student wins Oakton Community College Short Play Contest

Jun 8, 2017 | Intercom, Student News

NMC student Taylor McLain’s ten-page one-act play Evilla recently was one of the 5 winning submissions to Oakton Community College’s Playwriting Festival: Play On 2017, in Des Plaine, Ill. The play is currently in production and will be performed July 24, 25 and 26. Taylor hopes to be in attendance and will receive a $200 award at that time. He created the play to fit the requirements for a fractured fairy tale in ENG 210.

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