These employees recently started working at the college. Let’s welcome them to the NMC community!
The 29th Annual Smart Commute Week is June 5–June 9. The week consists of events that promote cycling, walking, taking the bus and carpooling—anything creative and human-powered that gets you where you need to go! There will be designated ‘Smart Lots‘ around town for Smart Commuters to safely park and ride/walk/carpool/bus from there. You may legally park in any of these lots during Smart Commute Week.
Free daily breakfasts are hosted at various locations around town from 7–9 a.m. for smart commuters. You don’t have to sign up for the smart commute challenge to enjoy the free daily breakfast, but when you sign up you are eligible for sweet swag and prizes.
Every year community members challenge each other to a friendly competition known as the Commuter Cup Challenge. The Challenge is open to ALL and FREE to participate. Custom trophies will be awarded to challenge teams with the highest scores at the awards ceremony breakfast held at Oryana on Friday, June 9. Bonus points will be used as tiebreakers and for a chance to win additional prizes (must be present to win). Please contact team captain Dave Weaver at dweaver@nmc.edu if you choose to participate.
For more information, visit the TART trails website.
TRAVERSE CITY— Northwestern Michigan College congratulates the 927 students who made the spring semester Dean’s List, earning a grade point average of 3.5 or above out of a possible 4.0 while taking five or more credits.
The full list is available here.
Diana Fairbanks
Associate Vice President of Public Relations, Marketing and Communications
dfairbanks@nmc.edu
Media on deadline, call or text (231) 392-6082
Non-deadline inquiries: (231) 995-1020
NMC’s International Affairs Forum concludes its 29th season on Thursday, June 8, 6:30 PM at the Hagerty Center with a timely discussion on nuclear weapons and nonproliferation. IAF will welcome Thomas Countryman for this in-person event with livestream available.
Thomas Countryman is Chairman of the Board of the Arms Control Association. The ACA, founded in 1972, is a nonpartisan NGO which analyzes key security issues and advises the executive branch, Congress and the public on choices to promote global security and reduce the risk that weapons of mass destruction will be used. Countryman retired from the Senior Foreign Service in January 2017 after 35 years of service. At that time, he served simultaneously as acting Undersecretary for Arms Control, and as Assistant Secretary for International Security and Nonproliferation, a position he held since September 2011. The ISN Bureau leads the US effort to prevent the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. After serving in Belgrade, Washington and Cairo, he advised Ambassador Albright on Middle East affairs at the US Mission to the United Nations, and was Director for Near East affairs at the National Security Council.
Jack Segal, a former senior U.S. diplomat and former IAF Board co-chair, will moderate the discussion. Segal has had a long career in arms control and nonproliferation. He served at the NSC as Director for Nonproliferation and Export Controls from 1999-2000. Prior to that, in Moscow, he was responsible for implementing a variety of arms control agreements. From 1986-87, he served as a State Department representative to the strategic weapons talks of the START negotiations with the USSR in Geneva. While there, he drafted the Agreement on Nuclear Risk Reduction with the USSR which was signed in 1987 and which continues to be honored by the U.S. and Russia today despite the current state of our relationship.
The event at the Hagerty Center is open to the public and will be available to livestream, including public Q & A. The event includes a welcome reception with light appetizers at 5:30 PM.
In-person tickets are required and available for purchase at TCIAF.com or at the door for $15 per person. Students and educators attend free in person. Registration is required to livestream.
For in-person tickets, livestream registration, and all event details, visit TCIAF.com.
TRAVERSE CITY— Northwestern Michigan College will host a carnival, a story hour and offer free admission to the Dennos Museum Center on Saturday, June 3 as part of Up North Pride’s Pride Month events.
Diana Fairbanks
Associate Vice President of Public Relations, Marketing and Communications
dfairbanks@nmc.edu
Media on deadline, call or text (231) 392-6082
Non-deadline inquiries: (231) 995-1020
The NMC Board of Trustees will hold its regular monthly meeting Monday, May 22 at 5:30 p.m. in Room 106/107 in the Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center on NMC’s main campus. More information is available here.
For more information, please contact the President’s office at (231) 995-1010.
TRAVERSE CITY — Forty-eight cadets from Northwestern Michigan College’s Great Lakes Maritime Academy plus a chef intern from the Great Lakes Culinary Institute will depart aboard the T/S State of Michigan on the first of three training cruises this Saturday, May 20. The ship is expected to depart the Great Lakes campus harbor at 6 p.m.
The training ship will be at sea through Oct. 27, providing an opportunity for about 110 cadets to earn required sea time. Cadets must earn 360 days of required sea time during their four-year program. GLMA and GLCI have also collaborated for several years to offer internships to NMC culinary students during the sailing season. GLCI students who have completed an underway internship are in high demand by the shipping industry. A Culinary Maritime certificate that will expand opportunities for students in this specialty area will be offered in Fall 2023.
As one of only six state maritime academies, Northwestern Michigan College’s Great Lakes Maritime Academy educates and trains deck and engineering officers for the U.S. Merchant Marine. Graduates earn a bachelor’s degree, and an unlimited tonnage/horsepower merchant marine license. Read more about the Academy and see the cruise itinerary at nmc.edu/maritime.
RADM Jerry Achenbach
Great Lakes Maritime Academy Superintendent
(231) 995-1203
gachenbach@nmc.edu
Editors: For departure time updates on Saturday, contact Chuck Miller at (702) 281-1063.
Traverse City — The Building & Site committee of Northwestern Michigan College’s Board of Trustees will meet at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, August 17 in the President’s Conference Room of the Tanis Building on NMC’s main campus, 1701 E. Front St., Traverse City. The official meeting notice is available here.
For more information, please contact the President’s office at (231) 995-1010.
The following is this month’s Emergency Management article concerning hazardous material spills or releases. (more…)
The following college events and stories have appeared in the media recently. We want to share your media involvement too. Please send information about your NMC-related interview or appearance to publicrelations@nmc.edu. If possible, please include a link to the piece and information about where and when it was used.
Please note access to some stories may be limited by paywalls set up by the media outlet. This includes the Traverse City Record-Eagle, which limits free clicks to five per month. You may also read Record-Eagle articles in the print edition at the NMC Library.
A day at the museum
Record-Eagle, May 13
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Thanks to International Services and Service Learning staff Jim Bensley and Marina Call for organizing and the instructors who are leading four study abroad trips, three of which are currently underway: Guatemala, led by Jacob Wheeler and Alissia Linguar; Iceland, led by Nick Roster and Tammy Coleman; and Spain/Portugal, led by Jim Morse and Patty Cron-Huhta. In June, Bensley will lead a trip to Morocco. These trips offer students opportunities for experiential learning and cross-cultural awareness development and exploring new perspectives.
Who’s been a Hawk Owl Helper or Hero for you? Let us know at publicrelations@nmc.edu!
The following employees are celebrating an anniversary soon. Please join us in congratulating them!
Kudos to all of the commencement volunteers! Thank you to all of the volunteers who were a part of commencement. We would not have been able to pull everything off if it wasn’t for you! We appreciate you taking time out of your weekend to be there on such an important day for our graduates!
Kudos to Megan Holtrey and Maria Ulrich! Thank you to Megan and Maria for all of the help planning and organizing commencement – especially helping us to continue to make adjustments to the staging as the RSVPs for commencement continued to roll in. You both were a huge part in making commencement as successful as it was and we appreciate all of your help!
Kudos to Joan Sodini and PRMC! A huge shot out to Joan and the rest of PRMC. With their guidance and vision, they helped make the visuals of commencement so beautiful. We are so appreciative! It was lovely to see the NMC branding as a huge part of commencement and wonderful to see the graduates and families enjoying the venue and displays. We loved watching this vision for commencement come to life!
Kudos to Katie Sommer-Ford! While there were a lot of people who helped make commencement wonderful, Katie went above and beyond to help make the day as amazing as it was. She was always willing to pitch in on any project, she helped to answer a million questions, and she brought some pretty great ideas to the table. Katie did all of this while reimagining and planning Honor’s Convocation. She is truly a rockstar and we are so thankful for her and all of her assistance with commencement.
Kudos to Chad Schenkelberger and Esther Nance! Thanks so much to Chad and Esther for helping out CIT IT Olympics with a very last minute coffee order. I literally reached out to Chad at 5:08pm the evening before the event to see if there was any way the Hawk Owl Cafe could put together a last minute order for coffee for the next morning. The cafe is officially closed for the summer but Chad immediately responded and let me know they could get that done for us. The volunteers at IT Olympics can’t thank you enough!
Kudos to Laura Mashburn! In preparation for the hosting of EES culinary classes, Laura cleans the Oleson Center bathrooms and kitchen after the day care closes for the day. This is not an easy task, and we in EES appreciate her making the space ready for our NMC community of lifelong learners. Thank you, Laura!
Kudos to Colleen Burry and Alyssi Irani! Commencement has always been and continues to be the punctuation point of students’ academic experience. Our 2023 NMC commencement ceremonies were more than an acknowledgement of our students’ accomplishments, they were a true celebration of our graduates and the bright beginning of their next stage of life. Alyssa Irani and Colleen Burry led efforts to curate a day that truly honored our newest alumni and provided an exclamaition point to their NMC experience. From volunteer coordination to logistics, they moved through the day witih poise and leadership. Alyssa and Colleen assembled the Commencement Committee that brought forward experience from past events and new ideas. Kudos also for the strong collaboration with our dynamic PRMC team to create new banners, decorative elements, cohesive branding, and special touches that brought gravitasse to the day. Hats off to Alyssa and Colleen, and the many key players and participants including: Katie Sommer-Ford, Joan Sodini, our student speakers, flag bearer Lieutenant Watrous, and faculty and staff volunteers. Thank you Alyssa and Colleen for your tireless work!
Kudos to Tracy Welch! Thank you to Tracy for coordinating the NMC ELI Learning Symposium. The events that made up the week long symposium were outstanding! The symposium provided students, faculty and staff the opportunity to celebrate their 2022-2023 accomplishments.
Kudos to Amy Burns-Bailey and Stephen Siciliano! Thank you to Amy Burns-Bailey and Stephen Siciliano who attended almost every session at this year’s Learning Symposium. The ELI appreciates your time and support in attending student and faculty presentations.
Kudos to Jim Bensley, Brady Corcoran, Caroline Schaefer-Hills, Tony Sauerbrey, Brandon Everest, Kristy McDonald, Kamsang Riddell, Rick Mathis! Thank you to those who presented or had their class present at the 2nd Annual NMC ELI Learning Symposium: Jim Bensley (Study Abroad Student Panel), Brady Corcoran (Audio Tech), Caroline Schaefer-Hills (Visual Communications & Van Gogh Exhibit), Tony Sauerbrey (UAS Drones), Brandon Everest (SOC 210 Modern Social Problems), Kristy McDonald (BUS 231 Big Little Hero Race), Rick Mathis (Independant Welding Students), and Kamsang Riddell (NMC Motorsports Club). The Experiential Learning Institute appreciates all your time and support!
Kudos to Hollianne McHugh, Carolyn Andrews, Brady Corcoran, Lisa Baldyga, Ali Thornton, and Sally Smarsty! Thank you to our presenters for their time and support during the Learning Symposium Reflective Table Talks session. Hollianne McHugh brought her manufacturing students to share their final presentations, Carolyn Andrews shared the HBA Build a Better Homes series, Brady Corcoran shared video and information about the Audio Tech program, Lisa Baldyga shared information about Jobs for Michigan Graduates, Ali Thornton presented info from SCARy cyber security, and Sally Smarsty’s Student Ambassadors shared pictures and details about events they put on this past year. Their tables were interesting and provided insight to the many wonderful programs here at NMC!
Kudos to Katy Knight and the Testing Center Staff! When finals week kicked off on Monday morning, the testing center was inundated with a class of students who came all at once to take their final test. Katy Knight, John Walker, Dan Isola and Ann Isola (Proctors) were all-hands on deck, helping students to get logged in and situated quickly. They worked efficiently as a team and gave kind service to the students present. Thank you, proctors for the work that you do!
Kudos to Scott Goethals and Abbie Papcun! Both Scott and Abbie have done a great job handling a most difficult situation. By putting in the effort to help as many students as possible, both have been scheduling students for at least the CIT computer testing. Other tests have been supplied as they were scheduled prior to scheduling the testing center for temporary closure once again. Their help and efforts has been above and beyond and greatly appreciated as we decide how to continue to fund the Professional Testing Center at the Parsons-Stulen builidng.
Kudos to Shelly Grant! Shelly Grant created a practical and accessible dashboard providing critical information on student enrollment data. The EES Workforce & Professional Development team can utilize the information to submit NMC programs to the MITC (Michigan Talent Connect) website which allows potential students to access MIWorks funding such as WIOA and MILeap.
Experts suggest maintaining an “attitude of gratitude” increases positivity for yourself and for others. Please encourage your colleagues by submitting a KUDOS. Let them know you appreciate their hard work and are thinking of them!
These employees recently started working at the college. Let’s welcome them to the NMC community!
TRAVERSE CITY — Northwestern Michigan College has recognized the following employees for excellence in the 2022–23 academic year:
Mike Skarupinski, President Nick Nissley, Les Eckert and Jim Morse (high resolution image) Great Lakes Culinary Institute, Team Excellence Award
Led by director Les Eckert, the team includes Patty Cron-Huhta, Mike Skarupinski, Jim Morse and Dean Haselton. Together they restructured the culinary program’s operating plan and developed a new model focused on long-term sustainability. Key components of the plan included shorter, 8-week sessions, which are more appealing to students; improving their financial performance by more than $200,000; creating new revenue-producing events that usually sold out in hours; and working with the Great Lakes Maritime Academy to create a new credential. The Culinary-Maritime certificate will train students to work as cooks on ships, a high-demand specialty field, beginning this fall.
Gail Kurowski ( high resolution image) Gail Kurowski, Staff Excellence Award
Director of the Police Academy since 2019 and a 1983 alumna, Kurowski led the program’s switch from a single, nine-month academy per year to two 16-week academies per year. Due to her efforts, the Academy will be able to double the number of students it serves starting this year. Had she not made these changes, it’s likely the Academy would have withered away due to competition from shorter options at other colleges. She also obtained new equipment for the program, including cars, firearms and a realistic simulation training program, the only one in Michigan.
Sarah Montgomery-Richards ( high resolution image) Sarah Montgomery-Richards, Adjunct Faculty Excellence Award
Chosen by a student selection committee, award criteria includes teaching excellence, rapport with students, innovation in the classroom and a sense of dedication. Student nominators said of Montgomery-Richards, a philosophy instructor, “In a class of 30 students, she makes it feel 1 on 1.” “Sarah is just so clearly passionate about teaching the subject matter that you can’t help feeling that same passion for that as well.”
The award was created in 1999 as a companion to the Imogene Wise Faculty Excellence Award.
Nick Roster ( high resolution image) Nick Roster, Imogene Wise Faculty Excellence Award
Chosen by a student selection committee, award criteria includes teaching excellence, rapport with students, innovation in the classroom and a sense of dedication. Student nominators said of Roster, a biology instructor, “His exams are innovative and involve applying our knowledge to real case studies and real- world situations rather than just regurgitating facts.” “He always ensures that his students fully understand the content they are studying. He adds his own personal podcasts on Moodle to help explain content even further.”
Initiated by a contribution from longtime NMC benefactors Harold and Imogene Wise in 1970, the award was first made to a full-time faculty member in 1971.
See a full list of all past faculty and adjunct faculty excellence winners at nmc.edu/cie.
Diana Fairbanks
Associate Vice President of Public Relations, Marketing and Communications
dfairbanks@nmc.edu
Media on deadline, call or text (231) 392-6082
Non-deadline inquiries: (231) 995-1020
Please join Canticum Novum in concert on Saturday, May 20 in the Milliken Auditorium as they share an emotional program featuring works by Brahms, Cobb, Hella Johnson, Mitchell, Rathbone, Runestad and more.
Suggested donations ($15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors) will be collected at the door. The performance will start at 7:30 p.m.
For more information, contact Jeff Cobb at jecobb@nmc.edu.
Volunteers welcomed the Class of 2023 to the Milliken Auditorium this past Saturday during three separate Commencement ceremonies. This year’s event saw more than a 50% increase in graduate attendance over last year. Thank you for helping usher graduates and their loved ones throughout the Dennos during this joyous day!
The teams who helped make this year’s event possible include the Commencement committee, Registrar, Dennos Museum Center staff, Facilities, NMC Bookstore, Phi Theta Kappa, Student Success, Alumni Relations and Public Relations, Marketing and Communications. We appreciate all of your work to help this vision come to life!
Who’s been a Hawk Owl Helper or Hero for you? Let us know at publicrelations@nmc.edu!
The following college events and stories have appeared in the media recently. We want to share your media involvement too. Please send information about your NMC-related interview or appearance to publicrelations@nmc.edu. If possible, please include a link to the piece and information about where and when it was used.
Please note access to some stories may be limited by paywalls set up by the media outlet. This includes the Traverse City Record-Eagle, which limits free clicks to five per month. You may also read Record-Eagle articles in the print edition at the NMC Library.
Cheers: To graduates
Record-Eagle, May 6 (more…)
