Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
April 13, 2022
Entrepreneurship is poised to take a giant leap forward at NMC this year, with five student teams in the final stage of developing products they’ll pitch during Northern Michigan Startup Week.
The student pitch competition is one of many events planned for NMSW May 9–15. It’s the region’s largest endeavor to date to teach and promote entrepreneurship, showcase local talent and foster a culture of entrepreneurship.
In the process, students practice experiential learning, an impactful and engaging learning style that NMC has embraced collegewide as part of its strategic plan.
Marine technology student Max Streeter, 21, and engineering technology student John Monaghan, 35 (left and right), are partners on one of the products. It’s a color ink cartridge – tentatively named the Prism – and kit that allows customers to adapt clear, 3D printer filament to the color of their choice.
The idea originated with Streeter, a longtime 3D printer user. Through five different iterations in which they focused on making the Prism more user-friendly, adaptable to multiple printers and less expensive, however, it’s truly become the pair’s joint venture. (The photo to the right shows the kit, installation and results.)
“It wouldn’t be where it is today without someone to bounce things off of,” Streeter said.
“He could take this to be the Amazon of 3D printing,” said Monaghan.
Monaghan and Streeter are enrolled in a special topics course sponsored by the NMC Foundation through an innovation grant. The course requires a problem or issue to be selected, customers to be identified, a solution to be created, and value to be validated. Keith Kelly is the instructor. He said students have embraced the spirit of NMSW in their work this semester.
“There is so much great work around ideation, design thinking, project management, and communication,” he said.
A start-up weekend was held in 2014. This year’s week-long event reflects the growth of the area’s entrepreneurial culture since then, with many partners and collaborators.
“Community engagement has been huge,” Kelly said.
“You don’t need to be working at a startup to attend these events,” said Keri Amlotte, director of marketing at 20Fathoms and spokesperson for Northern Michigan Startup Week. “Everyone is invited and the events will be of interest not only to startup veterans, but to anyone who is curious about entrepreneurship, has an idea for a new business they want to explore, or those who simply want to learn about some of the exciting things happening in our local startup scene.”
Besides the pitch competition, other events include Space Night at the Hagerty Center, a “Funding Innovation” lunch, a Startup Expo at 20Fathoms in downtown Traverse City, and a showcase of startups from Michigan universities. The NMC Innovation Center will also host the final event, TechStars, on May 13–15. The experience of building a startup will be condensed to a weekend. Peruse and register for all NMSW events here.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
November 23, 2021
On Monday, culinary student Michelle Carrizales brought home something besides books and her knife kit to her family in Harrietta — a Thanksgiving meal, courtesy of an NMC business class which organized and executed the meal drive as a class project.
The meal means that the Carrizales family of four will get to spend a stress-free holiday together. Husband Richard is home after working out of state for a few months. Michelle gets a breather from juggling work and school and her hour-long one-way commute to classes in Traverse City. Their two kids will be on school break, and will lend her a hand cooking the meal that Carrizales didn’t have to scour stores for sales or coupons in order to put on the table.
“It’s been a pretty stressful last couple of months,” said Carrizales. “We’re just looking forward to sitting down and not doing anything.”
The Carrizales family is one of more than 125 who received donated meals from the business class, taught by Kristy McDonald, (pictured right, far right.) This was the eighth year McDonald’s class has completed a meal or food drive as an experiential learning project. Recipients were selected through Big Brothers Big Sisters and the NMC Food Pantry. Marking its fourth anniversary this month, usage is at its highest level since it opened. NMC counselor Paul Kolak, a member of the food pantry committee, said the college is always trying to improve the service, and just this month added an ordering system from Costco.
“We’re trying to step up our game and offer more fresh and frozen options,” he said.
The pantry served 164 and 196 people in September and October, respectively. Those are the two highest months for utilization since the pantry opened in November 2017. So far this academic year average monthly people served, at 146, and average monthly orders, at 11, are both significantly higher than the 2020–21 academic year, when the pantry averaged 102 people served and 4 orders per month.
Being a student is the only requirement to use the food pantry, Kolak said. An online order form is available 24-7, and orders are packed for pickup five days a week. He said the pantry’s support from donors and its continued use are both gratifying.
“Seeing how students have latched onto it and are thankful for it, and keep using it,” strikes Kolak the most about the past four years. People can donate at nmc.edu/give by typing “food pantry” into the “designate my gift” field.
“Once they heard about the need, they helped fulfill the need. That’s been huge,” Kolak said.
Carrizales said she has accessed the food pantry from time to time, when her own pantry is running low or on a week in between paydays.
“It means a lot that the school does these programs,” she said. “I’m very grateful.”
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom
August 29 2018
The Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center, among NMC’s most transformative capital projects, will take a major stride forward this semester when the old building is demolished.
Following a multi-year planning process begun after state matching funds were initially approved in June 2016, the $14.4-million project entered its active construction phase this summer with utility and other site preparation work. When completed, the new building will serve as a campus centerpiece not only physically but in terms of instruction, the student experience and environment.
- Instruction – The building’s design of flexible classrooms and workspaces enhances experiential learning, which flips higher education’s traditional “learn to do” style of instruction into “do to learn.” EL emphasizes interdisciplinary, project- and team-based learning and skill development as well as community and business partnerships.
- Student experience – The library will move to the new building, and will be open 24–7 to facilitate learning on demand. It will also be home to food services, making it a true hub for all student needs.
- Environment – The building’s innovative function is reflected in the choice of renewable geothermal energy as its power source. Costing an additional $400,000 initially, the system has an expected payback period of 14.5 years and continued savings to the college for at least 30 years.
Project rendering by J. Scott Smith Visual Designs, inc.During construction, all NMC departments and services have been relocated. Among the most-visited, Dining Services has moved to the Oleson Center and the NMC Bookstore to the Health & Science Building.
A formal groundbreaking event is set for late September, when NMC will also rededicate the Osterlin Fine Arts Building, renovated during 2017–18.
On its Aero Park Campus, NMC also received news that the Aero Park Labs building has been formally LEED-certified, meaning it meets standards for leadership in energy and environmental design.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
August 24, 2022
Entry-level salary: $60,000.
Entry-level vacation: Six months.
That’s what students who graduate with NMC’s new Culinary Arts certificate with Maritime emphasis, a specialty field with high industry demand, can expect.
Approved by NMC’s Board of Trustees Monday, the one-year certificate formalizes an internship program that’s existed for about five years. Students in NMC’s Great Lakes Culinary Institute have interned as cooks aboard the T/S State of Michigan, the training ship for NMC’s Great Lakes Maritime Academy. All have been immediately employed upon graduation, including 2021 intern/2022 graduate Megan Cook (above).
She anticipates finalizing her job offer this week, after wrapping up a second short-term gig in the training ship’s galley. Cook will sail on the Great Lakes for the May–January shipping season, working a 60 days on/30 days off schedule. She’ll earn a salary of between $60,000 and $70,000.
“This is such a great program. It’s going to be amazing,” said Cook, 20, originally from Sylvania, Ohio. “It makes me so happy that all my hard work paid off.”
The shipping industry hopes to find more cooks like Cook. To meet that demand, NMC hopes to enroll 20 students in the certificate program during the first year, 2023–2024.
“Skilled culinary staff is critical to a well-managed vessel. The maritime industry continues to see this need across all areas. I would 100 percent encourage any culinary student who is seeking adventure while honing their craft to pursue a career at sea,” said Jenny Johnson, director of Labor Experience and Recruitment at Crowley. The Florida-based company has hired past GLCI graduates for its shipping division of more than 200 vessels, in addition to recruiting graduates of NMC’s Great Lakes Maritime Academy.
GLCI student Carolyn Fairchild (left) interned aboard the ship this summer. She says she’s 90 percent sure she’ll seek shipboard employment after she graduates in spring 2023.
“I really like traveling. It was something different than a normal restaurant,” said Fairchild, 20. A Flint native, she transferred to GLCI from Michigan Tech after discovering how much she enjoyed the hands-on and creative aspects of cooking on a prep cook job.
“You can be cooking every day, but not make the same thing for months, and that’s really appealing,” Fairchild said.
Creation of the certificate is an objective within NMC’s strategic plan. It originated in a yearlong reimagining project for the Great Lakes Culinary Institute, which sought to increase enrollment and improve GLCI’s future sustainability.
“This certificate creates a unique offering that will distinguish the Great Lakes Culinary Institute from other programs. It also gives our students more options and meets the needs of industry,” said NMC President Nick Nissley.
It combines and repackages existing curriculum in both the culinary and maritime programs and maximizes assets like the State of Michigan when it is not at sea. Students will take a specialized galley cooking course in the spring semester, the only new course.
“It’s challenging, spacewise and inventory-wise,” Cook said of working in a galley. The course as well as help obtaining maritime credentials will give certificate students a big advantage.
“They’ll get a huge kickstart to being able to sail on a ship,” she said.
More culinary news:
- Farm-to-table dinners at Lobdell’s Teaching Restaurant: September 15, September 29 and October 6. Reservation line opens Aug. 30: (231) 995-3120.
- November and December happy hours at Lobdell’s, hosted by GLCI’s Beverage Management class. Subscribe to the GLCI newsletter to be notified of dates.
- New curriculum emphasizing sustainability: Limited waste, local food, and green cuisine.
- New curriculum emphasizing health and nutrition: Plant-based, gluten-free, and dairy alternatives.
- New content delivery–two short sessions per semester. Students will take fewer courses at the same time, allowing more concentrated learning and quicker goal achievement.
- Lobdell’s lunches are paused for fall semester but will return in February 2023.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom
March 2, 2016
From sweet sixteen to top ten, Northwestern Michigan College is pushing its study abroad standing ever higher.
In 2014, NMC ranked sixteenth among community colleges nationwide for student participation in short-term study abroad experiences, according to the Institute for International Education. Using 2015 numbers NMC would rank tenth, placing among colleges whose enrollments are double or triple, said Jim Bensley, director of International Services and Service Learning.
An increased emphasis on study abroad is part of NMC’s strategic direction to ensure that learners are prepared for success in a global society and economy. This year, 60 students from a dozen academic disciplines will travel to six different countries on three continents, all in the month of May. Here’s a May Madness preview:
Greece
Humanities students are headed to the cradle of Western Civilization for the first time May 9-20. Visual communications student Jennifer VanderVlucht will be along, too, documenting the experience by creating a daily, 60-second video of their travels to Athens and its historic sites, Olympia, Delphi and more.
“It will help me use the skills that I’ve learned,” said VanderVlucht, 30, of Traverse City. “This will be an awesome, challenging experience.”
She’s also anticipating the day student will spend helping Syrian refugees through a Greek humanitarian agency. She’s hoping to capture the refugees’ point of view directly.
“We only hear what the media tells us,” she said.
Ghana
Social work and psychology students are headed to this first-time destination May 6- 18. Students originally planned to go to Brazil, but began seeking an alternative due to concerns about the Zika virus spreading throughout South and Central America. The destination switch offers students a lesson even before departure: Expect the unexpected.
“The world’s an ever-changing place,” Bensley said.
Ecuador
A contingent of culinary and business students will visit here May 6-16. (Zika is not a concern on this trip since the mosquitos that spread the virus don’t live at the higher altitudes students will visit.) They will spend much of their time in Yunguilla, an eco-tourism cooperative.
Culinary student Nick Berden is excited to learn about feeding a community whose remote location forces it to be self-reliant. There won’t be a GFS or Sysco to fall back on.
“Everything’s from where it’s planted to its cultivation and production,” said Berden, 38.
Traveling for the first time outside the U.S. or Canada, he hopes the trip also triggers a desire to see more of the world.
“Everything about the trip interested me,” he said.
South Africa
Pre-med student Shelby Christensen will join a group of nursing students visiting South Africa. She aspires to become a pathologist and work for Doctors Without Borders.
“It’s important to me to understand the other cultures,” she said. “I see this as an opportunity to become a well-rounded person.”
Christensen, 21, was awarded a Global Opportunities scholarship and also raised money on the GoFundMe crowd-funding site to cover the cost of her trip, her first out of the United States.
Read more about study abroad opportunities at nmc.edu/study-abroad »
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
September 28, 2022
As a first-generation college student attending NMC, Alex Walsh had a lot of company. As an NMC graduate, he became one of a rarified few who transfer to an Ivy League college.
Now, with his 2022 Harvard University diploma adorning the wall of Walsh’s office in NMC’s Student Success Center, he’s eager to help more students complete paths like his, taking advantage of NMC to make a degree both more affordable and achievable.
“I want to help fellow community college students,” said Walsh, right, a college completion coach. He joined the Success Center staff in June through NMC’s partnership with the Michigan College Access Network (MCAN), and specializes in working with first-generation students from Antrim and Kalkaska counties.
Specifically, MCAN is aimed at achieving Michigan’s goal that 60 percent of residents have a post-secondary degree by 2030. Reaching more first-generation students like Walsh, 30, is key to that.
“The heart of MCAN is all about increasing access to higher education,” said Walsh, who graduated from NMC in 2012 and then enlisted in the Navy before starting at Harvard in 2019. “I saw it as a really good opportunity to come back to NMC. I’m definitely happy to be here.”
This is NMC’s second year as part of the MCAN coaching network. Walsh’s position is funded through AmeriCorps. In its first year, the program exceeded all its goals, notably the number of students who persisted in their educational journey or completed it.
“Partnering with the state to receive some of the funding for this position has allowed us to have our first full-time coaches on campus. They work as an integral part of our coaching team,” said Sally Smarsty, NMC’s Student Success Coordinator.
“We have valued NMC’s investment in the partnership and were excited to award a second coaching position at NMC,” said Trisha Caldwell, AmeriCorps program director for MCAN. “NMC has created a welcoming environment where coaches have felt welcomed and valued at the college; ultimately, providing opportunity for strong collaborative efforts to support students as they navigate their college journey.
Coaches help students develop a support network, an academic plan, a financial plan, and time management skills. They are a newer part of the support service network NMC offers to all students, in addition to instructors, advisors and tutors.
As living proof transferring can be done, Walsh plans to encourage students to aim high while they’re at it. Seeking to diversify their student bodies, some historically elite colleges are now offering generous financial aid to students from community college or first generation backgrounds, Walsh said. The University of Michigan’s Go Blue Guarantee, for instance, offers free tuition to students whose families earn $65,000 or less. Harvard’s income threshold is $75,000 and Princeton’s is $100,000.
As a veteran Walsh also aims to work with fellow coach Bob Hammond to reinvigorate services to veterans, as well as NMC’s chapter of Student Veterans of America.
Walsh’s own academic journey isn’t done, either. While serving as a coach he plans to take both the LSAT and GRE exams as he considers law school or graduate school.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
January 20, 2021
Comprehensive student support and the value of community colleges within higher education overall are topics NMC faculty and staff believe might come up during dinner conversation in the White House starting today.
Photo courtesy NOVA Community CollegeWhile her newly-inaugurated husband works in the Oval Office, Dr. Jill Biden (right) will teach English at Northern Virginia Community College, where she’s taught since 2009. Prior to that, she taught at Delaware Technical & Community College. Having a 28-year veteran of community college classrooms as First Lady presents a unique opportunity for NMC and the 1,100 community colleges nationwide over the next four years.
“Dr. Biden will have a nuanced understanding of our open access mission, and she’ll know that our mission is fulfilled when all students are supported, not just admitted,” said NMC instructor Janet Lively (left), who teaches English like Biden. “She’ll know tuition subsidies are helpful but not enough. She’ll know that a community college education is accessible to everyone when everyone has access to childcare, housing, transportation, health care, and healthy food.”
“She has that first-line, real time experience, and she can bring that experience to the White House and advise the president on what should be done,” agreed Stephen Siciliano, NMC’s vice president for academic affairs. “We can look at statistics and we can look at reports, but there’s something really valuable about that experience, which enables our leader to have that connection.”
Beyond her teaching career and a dissertation that focused on community college retention, Siciliano noted that Biden officially promoted community colleges while Second Lady during the Obama administration. Under her leadership, that administration “elevated the image and focus on community colleges,” he said.
“I’m very hopeful that there will be a continued focus on community colleges, and the role of community colleges in rebuilding the economy,” he said.
The American Association of Community Colleges, of which NMC is a member, has enumerated multiple policy priorities for the new Biden administration, from economic and workforce development to financial assistance for students to investing in rural community colleges like NMC. In addition, Jill Biden’s classroom role will be a daily reminder of the essential function of education.
“It is easy, as a leader, to get caught up in crisis or to lose one’s bearings in a sea of endless administrative challenges. But time invested in the classroom can bring clarity and remind you that teachers transform lives and help enable students’ dreams,” said NMC President Nick Nissley. “The First Lady’s investment in continuing to serve as a teacher is a direct investment in our students’ futures.”
NMC English faculty member Dr. Cathy Warner (right) said Biden’s first-hand knowledge of the varied identities of community college students, including non-traditional older students seeking retraining, military veterans, and parents, bodes well for an overdue broadening of college readiness beyond four-year university preparation.
“As a community college, we are able to translate education into the needed skills and certifications our economy needs – and our national economy is going to need these contributors in order to recover from the many concurrent challenges our nation faces,” said Warner, who won NMC’s teaching excellence award in 2019.
Siciliano agreed that President Joe Biden will have “an overflowing plate,” making Jill Biden’s access invaluable.
“To have his partner be able to speak directly to an important part of higher education is going to be really great,” Siciliano said.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
September 12 2018
In another effort to remove barriers to student success, NMC this week launched Transfer Tuesdays, a drop-in advising opportunity aimed at the 25 percent of full-time students who will start their degree path here, but finish elsewhere.
“Our goal is to help students save time and money at NMC by helping them to identify their career pathway and academic program as soon as possible, so they don’t spend unnecessary time and money,” said Lindsey Dickinson, director of the Advising Center.
In 2016-17, 708 transfers occurred from NMC. The Advising Center organized the seven universities, including six NMC University Center partners, that set up shop in NMC’s Health & Science building for the first time Tuesday.
Victoria AlfonsecaIt was exactly what Victoria Alfonseca needed. She’s in her last semester at NMC and plans to transfer in January. As the mother of a 10-year-old daughter, she wants to stay in Traverse City.
“My family’s here, I was basically raised here, so I’m really glad they offer the University Center here,” said Alfonseca, 30, who chatted Tuesday with a representative from Ferris State University at the UC, where she plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in business. “It was definitely helpful to get face-to-face, have an actual person to talk to.”
Simply saving students the drive to the UC campus for the meeting knocks down a barrier.
“Sometimes even that small physical barrier is hard to overcome for our students,” Dickinson said.
Carley Hooper of Traverse City said Transfer Tuesdays will help map her path to a veterinary degree. She’ll earn her associate degree from NMC next spring, and needs a bachelor’s that offers specific science classes before she can apply to Michigan State’s graduate program in veterinary medicine. Also a parent off young children, ages 2 and 7, she’s hoping to find online and local classes that will meet her needs, enabling her to postpone an East Lansing move as long as possible.
“I’m definitely interested in a lot of these places,” said Hooper, 27, who was especially intrigued by a Central Michigan University bachelor’s in business program that could help her with her own practice down the road. “I’ll definitely be looking into a lot of these programs to see if they offer the prerequisites for the veterinary program.”
Transfer Tuesdays will continue throughout the fall semester, from 11 a.m.–2 p.m. The drop-in structure eliminates the barrier of scheduling, too. Other NMC services, like math tutoring, have found a drop-in structure, vs. scheduled appointments, increases usage and student success.
NMC will still hold admissions-focused Transfer Fairs twice a year. Transfer Tuesdays allow students to actually meet with advisors at their destination school and make personal academic plans.
“What we really saw was a need to build awareness with our students that transfer planning starts as soon as your first semester here,” Dickinson said.
As she wraps up her NMC career, Alfonseca has some advice to other students to maximize their tuition dollars and time.
“Try to take as many classes as you can at NMC,” she said.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
June 12, 2019
As a pastry chef, petit fours and artisan breads are Les Eckert’s favorite things to bake, but as the new director of the Great Lakes Culinary Institute, she expects to focus on numbers and people.
Eckert, 51, (right) began her tenure at GLCI last week with a clear list of priorities: Increase enrollment, continue to improve student retention, get to know her team and insure GLCI is matching industry needs.
“We have to make the program so added-value that it’s attracting students from across the state, across the country,” said Eckert.
In taking the GLCI helm, she’s done so herself. A Florida native, Eckert studied, taught and managed programs at three campuses of the International Culinary Schools, in Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and most recently, Raleigh, N.C.
She said the opportunity to direct an American Culinary Federation-accredited program following former director Fred Laughlin’s retirement was a major attraction of the NMC position. In both Tampa and Raleigh she went through the ACF process. Valid for five years, accreditation assures students that a program meets a set of standards and competencies for faculty, curriculum and student services.
“It’s an incredible feeling when your team has worked that hard,” Eckert said, adding that accreditation should serve as a beacon to students, distinguishing GLCI from other culinary schools.
“That is a huge deal for a culinary school. Chefs in the industry… when you are a graduate of a program that has it, they know you have a solid background,” she said.
As most GLCI students do, Eckert initially earned an associate’s degree. She then went on to earn a bachelor’s in culinary management and an MBA with a concentration in hospitality management. She hopes to cultivate a desire for career advancement among GLCI students, too.
“When you start building on those degrees, it really opens doors for you,” she said.
Building upon traditions like the annual Great Lakes, Great Chefs dinner where GLCI chef alumni return to cook a fundraiser dinner alongside current students, Eckert would like to see alumni return as mentors, internship partners and speakers.
As a Floridian, she’s also planning to try snowshoeing or cross-country skiing as a means of embracing her first northern winter.
“I’m just super excited to be here,” Eckert said.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
August 30, 2017
North Hall ribbon cutting ceremonyNMC’s fall semester will be bookended by celebrations of new campus facilities, with last week’s opening of the North Hall residence hall and a grand re-opening of an expanded Dennos Museum Center targeted for November.
“It’s an exciting time at NMC as we see years of hard work begin to materialize and we continue to invest in the future of education,” said President Timothy J. Nelson. “These projects will increase NMC’s ability to serve our learners and the community, while also updating outdated campus infrastructure.”
The $8.8-million, 135-bed North Hall is the first new student housing on campus in more than 40 years and was built in response to demand, since on-campus housing has been at capacity for four years. Units are designed in quad suites with shared kitchen and living space. (See a 360-degree view of the shared space.) Laundry facilities and study or meeting space is available on each floor, with a fitness center on the ground floor.
Located on the eastern end of main campus, North Hall has also been designed with a flexible format where sections could be used for workforce development housing in off-peak times.
In July, the Dennos Museum Center re-opened on a limited basis, with exhibitions in the Sculpture Court and Inuit gallery. Admission is reduced while the rest of the 15,000-square-foot expansion is completed. Construction of two new galleries and other renovations are scheduled to be finished this fall, with a grand re-opening of the entire museum planned for November. The expanded galleries were funded by generous donations from Richard and Diana Milock and Barb and Dudley Smith.
Meanwhile, construction of the Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center is set to begin in May 2018 after funds were committed in the state of Michigan fiscal 2018 budget.
Once complete, the center will combine state and NMC investments of more than $7 million each for renovations and modernizations of the 50-year-old West Hall into a new multi-story library and flexible learning space.
“Combined, these projects show the dedication of our NMC employees, donors, community, business and governmental partners all working together to help ensure our learners are successful,” Nelson said.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
November 20, 2019
Updates to NMC’s longstanding engineering partnership with Michigan Technological University designed to increase student success and reduce costs will receive statewide recognition this week.
Faculty members Jerry Dobek (seated) Jay Smith (right) and NMC adviser Deb Maison (center) will receive the 2019 Innovation in Transfer Award on Thursday at a statewide conference.
The trio’s work to establish a “2 + 2” program with MTU in seven different engineering specialties is especially significant as more universities seek to enroll students for all four years, rather than accepting them as transfer students from community colleges. NMC was also ahead of others in the state in terms of a transfer pathway specifically for engineering.
“Michigan Tech is acknowledging the quality of our courses, the quality of our instruction, and the quality of our students with this agreement,” said Lindsey Dickinson, NMC director of advising, who nominated the trio for their 18 months of work. Students who complete NMC’s engineering certificate with a 2.75 GPA are guaranteed admission to MTU, entering as juniors to complete their bachelor of science. The agreements are expected to increase NMC’s enrollment pipeline to one of Michigan’s leading engineering schools, located in Houghton, Mich.
“Our engineering program here is in a growth period, which should only be aided by agreements like these,” Smith said.
The first seven agreements became effective this fall. Another 12 are in the works, Dobek said. They plan to work with other schools, including Kettering University, Grand Valley State University and Western Michigan University, to establish more engineering options.
Other community colleges are also seeking NMC’s advice on how to replicate the agreements, Dickinson said.
NMC-MTU engineering articulation agreements date to 1990. The new agreements reflect how engineering programs have changed and how graduation requirements have become more specialized. Read more at nmc.edu/engineering.
Beyond engineering, NMC has articulation agreements in place with 35 educational institutions for more than 100 programs. Read more at nmc.edu/transfer.
Read more about it
Read about more success stories like the NMC-MTU partnership in the next issue of Nexus, the NMC magazine. The next issue mails Dec. 16 with a cover story on retiring president Timothy J. Nelson’s legacy, a feature on NMC’s reality TV stars, and much more. Call (231) 995-1021 to have one sent to your mailbox!
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
December 6, 2017
Commuters hurrying home along Eighth Street these dark evenings will find a bright spot, thanks to a collaboration between NMC and Roost.
NMC’s solar power trailer is lighting up the Roost prefabricated tiny home located at 444 E. Eighth, opposite Family Video. The home is illuminated from 5–8 p.m. nightly.
The collaboration is designed to show what’s possible with solar energy, said NMC construction technology adjunct instructor Mike Schmerl.
“It does work, in northern Michigan, in the winter,” said Schmerl.
And it’s ideal for Roost, said Geoff Nelson, a co-founder of the company that created the 370-square-foot, finish-ready home that’s occupied the former vacant lot since June.
“There’s a great many people who want to live smaller, greener,” Nelson said. Roost’s other green features include renewable materials, a sustainable building process and tight building envelope to maximize energy efficiency.
Parked on the home’s west side with its solar panels tilted south, the trailer is only illuminating the home, not heating it or powering appliances. Still, it kick-starts consideration of solar, said Schmerl, whose own Traverse City home is 50 percent solar-powered.
“All things are possible,” Schmerl said. “What we demonstrate is expandability.”
NMC first developed the solar trailer in 2006. Schmerl updated it for the Roost project using equipment sold to the college at a discount.
“The technology has become more user-friendly, easier to understand, and more adaptable to people’s power requirements,” said Schmerl. “Using that trailer and our classroom skill set, we can adapt to almost any inquiries.”
As electric cars become more prevalent, Schmerl sees more opportunity for solar growth. The website Charge Hub lists 26 public charging stations in Traverse City, including at the Cambria Suites hotel, the original Meijer parking lot, and the Old Towne parking deck just down the street from Roost.
“Why wouldn’t they package the sale of an electric vehicle with the sale of the charging equipment, which would lead to the sale of the solar,” he said.
Nelson agreed that he’s seeing interest increase among all kinds of clients, from millennials to boomers.
“It’s been super encouraging to see the people responding to living smaller, greener, low-maintenance,” he said.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
November 22, 2017
In this season of gratitude, quality child care is near the top of the list for the young families fortunate enough to have found it.
This fall, one NMC alumna took a step toward filling that crucial community need by doubling her home child care capacity, including more desperately-needed infant care. Alison Burns’ Healthy Start Child Care in Traverse City also now employs two NMC child development students, (including Emily Spica, above) providing them valuable work experience.
A licensed provider in Michigan since 1996, Burns (right) originally chose child care as a way to stay home with her own three children. Until this year, her license limited her to six children in care simultaneously, only two of whom could be under a year old. However, Burns self-limited infant enrollment to one. She frequently had a waiting list, and felt badly for the families she had to turn away.
“There’s such a demand for infant care,” she said.
Then this fall, timing and preparation coincided, allowing Burns to help meet that demand.
Back in 2011, inspired to learn more about children with special needs after one came into her care, Burns enrolled in an Exceptional Child psychology class at NMC. Child development program coordinator and instructor Cheryl Bloomquist then persuaded her to complete the entire Child Development certificate course sequence — 32 credit hours. Even after practicing child care for 15 years, Burns found herself invigorated in the classroom.
“It reinforced what I already knew, (and) I learned so much,” she said. An Infant and Toddler Development class was especially beneficial, she said, bolstering her knowledge of best practices for that age group and confidence working with them.
She completed her certificate in 2013 and returned to running her six-child daycare home. She also made time to serve on Bloomquist’s Early Childhood Advisory Committee.
“Her input is so valuable, because I don’t always have a family home provider there,” Bloomquist said.
Fast-forward to this fall, when Burns’ youngest daughter left for college, creating more physical space for child care in their home. Simultaneously Burns was up for relicensing, and the lack of child care regionally had become an acknowledged obstacle to continued economic growth.
“Babies need care, and they need good care,” said Bloomquist. “They take up a lot of space and they take up a lot of employees.”
Burns decided to expand her license to allow her to care for 12 children, up to four of whom can be younger than 18 months. All those slots are filled, and in fact she cares for 19 different children over the course of a week, since some attend part-time.
She also turned to NMC to find staff. Both Kalee Lown, lead infant and toddler teacher, and Spica, lead preschool teacher, are NMC students. On a recent brisk morning, Spica played with preschoolers in Burns’ backyard while Lown and Burns each held an infant, and another napped.
“I get to apply the things we’re learning in class,” said Spica, who will graduate next spring. “A lot of (the work) coincides with the assignments we’re given.”
Burns empowers them to use their education on the job.
“These teachers are teachers. They’re not just waiting for me to tell them what to do,” she said.
“Now she is the mentor,” Bloomquist said. “It’s just been a really good fit.”
For information on Healthy Start Child Care, call (231) 933-7002.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
February 22, 2017
NMC math instructor Mary Burget and student Lauren HayesDriven to catch the Soviets in the space race of the 1950 and ’60s, black female NASA mathematicians solved the problem of putting astronauts into orbit, a story told in Hidden Figures, nominated for Best Picture* at this weekend’s Academy Awards.
Driven to offer NMC students more pathways to meet math graduation requirements, the math department solved the problem with Math 120, a class that, a la NASA, turns students into problem-solvers. Not just for the course, but for life.
“Our whole goal is that it’s more than math — they become good problem-solvers,” department chair Deb Pharo said of Math 120, added to the curriculum just two years ago as a way for liberal arts students whose programs don’t require additional math to fulfill graduation requirements.
But now and then a funny thing happens on the way to simply checking off the requirement: A student discovers a hidden passion for figures, and their whole career trajectory changes. Lauren Hayes (above, right) is Exhibit A.
Becoming a problem solver starts with students having confidence in their abilities. When she enrolled at NMC in 2015, Hayes, 27, didn’t. She failed her last math class before she graduated from Traverse City West High School in 2008 and wound up in a developmental math course. Her instructor, Mark Nelson, started building her confidence. In 120, officially titled Math Explorations, it took off.
“Math 120 made me feel proficient, like I could figure things out,” Hayes said. The course teaches students the “beauty and utility of mathematics” by presenting practical problems like personal finance and budgeting.
She enrolled in another math course, Probability and Statistics, which she’d been dreading. Instead, she “breezed” through it. Encouraged by Mary Burget, her 120 instructor, who turned to math herself after a first career in social work, Hayes switched her major from psychology to engineering.
“Once I had in my head that I was good at it, it was almost like I was,” said Hayes, who’s now enrolled in college algebra.
In fact, she’s craving more math than her engineering classes currently offer.
“I don’t really want to build things so much as understand how things work. I feel like math does that for me,” Hayes said.
That’s music to Burget and Pharo’s ears. While Math 120 exists so students can meet requirements, it’s also a practical, real-world course that can help students with lifelong decision making.
“It’s good for everybody. It’s a real class with real benefits,” said Pharo. “We want them to see it not as a math class, but something that’s more useful.”
Probability of Hidden Figures winning Best Picture - 1:25, per OddsChecker.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
November 27, 2018
On Tuesday afternoon, Alex Bernier toured the length and breadth of Africa, from Egypt’s pyramids to the east-central Serengeti renowned for wildlife to South Africa’s Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in prison. And he did it all within his two-hour World Cultures class, inside NMC’s Beckett Building, simply by putting on a virtual reality headset.
“It’s fantastic,” Bernier said of the technology, marveling at the improvement from elementary school, when his teachers rolled in TVs on carts.
Students download Google Expeditions, a free app, to their phones, and place the phones into the headsets, which offer a three-dimensional perspective — standing on the edge of Zambia’s Victoria Falls, for instance, or in the sightlines of a gorilla in Serengeti National Park. Instructor Jim Bensley serves as the guide, choosing where students will explore. This week’s whirlwind African tour also showed them the Namibian desert and slave monuments in Senegal.
“We’re trying to stay on the cutting edge of content delivery by using technology to enhance the subject matter,” Bensley said. “We use it to enhance that learning, to immerse the students into a landscape where those cultures exist.”
Students were unanimously enthusiastic.
“It’s pretty neat to see the places we’re learning about,” said Kaylee Annis.
“It gives you more of the experience you would get if you went to that place,” said Sam Wilkinson.
At $15 per headset, virtual reality is also a cost-effective way to achieve NMC’s strategic goal of ensuring that NMC learners are prepared for success in a global society and economy. Bensley has also used them to “take” World Cultures students to the Islamic world and Latin America. In his Introduction to Humanities class, he’s showed students the Baroque art and architecture of Europe.
Debuting this semester, it’s too soon to say if the headsets are improving academic performance. But Bensley said student engagement is high.
“It’s a great active learning tool. They enjoy looking around themselves,” Bensley said. While he guides the tours, students have a 360-degree field of vision and can zoom in to particular things that interest them.
“It gives you the freedom to look around,” agreed student Lucy Teubner.
For at least one student, it was also a preview. NMC is offering a study abroad trip to South Africa next spring, which will include World Cultures student Sunny Charpentier. It’s one of seven experiences scheduled for 2019.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
February 25, 2015
Back in 2012, as one of NMC’s pioneer students in Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Brad Kent found himself with a job offer before he’d even finished his training, and headed overseas for six-figure work as a civilian contractor. Now, as approvals for domestic use of UAS rise by the week, Kent and fellow former NMC students are poised to help guide the industry’s development into its second, commercial phase.
NMC was on the forefront of unmanned aircraft training, offering its first classes in the fall of 2010. Students like Kent (front row, second from right) and Darrell Trueblood (back row, far right) found getting in on the ground floor paid off, literally
“Before I even finished my degree I had placement in industry,” said Kent, 24, of Traverse City. He and Trueblood, 35, are among four NMC pilots now deployed in Afghanistan as civilian contractors with an Arizona-based manufacturer of UAS.
They provide force protection services to military, a job both see as worthy and important. Lengthy deployments and life on a military installation create a trade-off, however. “Balancing the benefits of income vs. the moments you miss with your friends and family becomes the tough part,” said Trueblood, who is married and a father to three. His wife and three children live in Tennessee.
“It puts a strain on relationships, it puts a strain on a social life,” said Kent, who still says it’s an “amazing experience” to work overseas.
UAS industry gets go-ahead to expand
Now, however, the strains and trade-offs are easing as the UAS industry gets the go-ahead to expand domestically.
Until 2014, the FAA strictly limited use of UAS vehicles in U.S. airspace. The first commercial exemption was granted in June 2014, allowing surveillance of oil fields in Alaska. Since December 2014, the FAA has approved more than 20 other exemptions for uses ranging from photography to agriculture.
Kent anticipates returning stateside later this year, to corporate headquarters in Tucson, Ariz. He’ll work on UAS research and development and train other pilots to fill the vast number of openings the industry expects as commercial permissions expand. “With pending FAA regulations for Unmanned Aerial Systems on the very near horizon, growth in this industry will be immense. Activities like movie production, agriculture monitoring, and infrastructure inspection will become an everyday occurrence, requiring trained professionals,” said Tony Sauerbrey, UAS program manager.
“This career field will grow exponentially in the coming years, both with pilots and support staff,” Trueblood agreed. His advice to prospective students is to be open to change.
“What you know today may be different from what you learn tomorrow. Be willing to continuously learn and continue your education,” he said.
It was that kind of attitude that led Kent to enroll in the first UAS classes.
“At the time it was a couple classes that you could add on if you were going through the manned aviation program,” Kent said. “NMC was very cool in the fact that they were willing to offer classes like that, new technologies.”
Sauerbrey said NMC will continue to grow with the industry and plans to offer full UAS pilot certification once the FAA finalizes regulations. NMC will also continue to work with leading UAS companies to provide a conduit for students seeking to enter the industry.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
April 8, 2020
Over the last few months, in between her nursing shifts in a Kalamazoo hospital’s medical intensive care unit, Karissa Havens (right) followed the worsening COVID-19 epidemic as it swept from China to Europe to the United States.
The Traverse City West High School graduate, who attended NMC from 2013-2014 before transferring to Western Michigan University for her nursing degree, knew she had the skills to help both patients and overwhelmed hospitals in COVID-19 hot spots. She felt called to go where they were desperately needed.
Next week, she is. Havens, 24, has accepted a six-week traveling nurse position in a COVID-19 ICU unit at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. She was able to find a job within two days of deciding to leave Kalamazoo.
“I am completely humbled by this opportunity and ready to give everything I can to help fight this terrible virus,” Havens posted on Facebook announcing her move.
She will arrive in New York on the heels of 2015 nursing graduate and adjunct instructor Callie Leaman (left). Leaman, an ER nurse at Munson Medical Center, arrived in the epidemic’s epicenter Tuesday. She is working in midtown Manhattan at New York University Langone Health in a COVID-19 ICU unit.
Havens has not yet cared for any COVID-19 patients at her current hospital, Bronson Methodist, but she and her colleagues have researched how the disease has progressed in countries ahead of the U.S., studying patient presentation and care protocols.
“I don’t know if anything will really prepare me,” Havens said. For instance, Mount Sinai is establishing a tent annex in Central Park, directly opposite its building, to care for patients.
At NMC Havens took nursing prerequisite courses, including cell plant and ecosystem biology and chemistry. She remembers instructor Greg LaCross’s classes as among her favorites. She was also on the Dean’s List.
“I have no doubt she has made a difference in people’s lives, especially now, when our healthcare workers are so needed,” LaCross said.
She first considered going to Detroit, another hot spot, to help out her home state. But Detroit hospitals weren’t taking first-time traveling nurses. A licensing issue cropped up when she considered Chicago. But her qualifications were welcome in New York.
Havens begins work at Mount Sinai April 14. Her contract runs through May 31, though she expects it will likely be extended. It’s been most difficult to find affordable housing, though she thinks she’s found a temporary place. It’s a half-hour commute from the hospital, so she hopes the city keeps public transit running. She feels as ready for the challenge as she can be.
“I don’t have any kids, I’m not married. It’s just me and a dog. I’m the perfect candidate to go,” Havens said.
Her dog, Zaas, will stay with her parents in Interlochen. As for the general public, “Keep quarantining, and if possible, try and donate blood,” Havens said.
Do you know a helper or hero with NMC connections? Please share stories of students, instructors, alumni and community members stepping up during the COVID-19 epidemic by emailing publicrelations@nmc.edu.
Nov 27, 2022 | Intercom, Student News
June 13, 2018
Becky TranchellCulinary students in a new baking certificate program will cap off their studies in delicious fashion, opening the revamped Cafe Lobdell’s at the Great Lakes campus June 19.
Customers can enjoy coffee, pastries and breads three mornings a week through July 26. For the six-week cafe class duration, Lobdell’s Teaching Restaurant, located on the second floor overlooking West Grand Traverse Bay, will be converted from a table-service establishment to a cafe/coffee bar open from 7-11 a.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Comfortable furniture has been installed and newspapers will be on hand. Outdoor tables will also be available. Culinary instructor Becky Tranchell and service lead Kerry Fulcher will oversee daily operations.
“I’m hoping it’s a spot where people can come in and linger for a few minutes or an hour,” said Patty Cron-Huhta, front-of-the-house coordinator for NMC’s Great Lakes Culinary Institute. “The espresso machine is cranking all morning.”
Also on the menu: croissants, tarts, cookies, cakes, four different kinds of bread and a variety of coffee drinks for take out or dine-in.
The summer season operation will enable Lobdell’s to continue its commitment to use local foods, Cron-Huhta said, including Higher Grounds coffee.
She expects loaves of the multi-grain bread, popular during the restaurant’s fall and spring semester lunch service, to be a hot item. Customers will also be able to personalize cakes.
“This is our first run at this. We’re excited to see how it all turns out,” she said.
The baking certificate expands the offerings of the Great Lakes Culinary Institute, which already offers a comprehensive culinary certificate as well as a culinary degree. Institute director Fred Laughlin said it will serve the needs of a growing number of students interested specifically in baking and pastry.
Cafe Lobdell’s will be open from 7–11 a.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from June 19–July 26, except July 4.
