Employee Anniversaries

The following employees are celebrating an anniversary. Please join us in congratulating them!

Bill Hardy Custodian 5 years
Phil Trowbridge Custodian 4 years

Kay Hall named Employee of the Semester

NMC President Tim Nelson (left) and Vice President of Finance and Administration Vicki Cook (right) present Kay Hall with the Employee of the Semester award.

Kay Hall, Office Manager of Auxiliary Services, was named the Employee of the Semester for Summer 2012 at the September meeting of the NMC Board of Trustees.

Vicki Cook, Vice President of Finance and Administration introduced Kay and said that she serves as an example of someone who applies the “see it, do it, solve it” concept.  She also credited Kay with renewing the college’s presence in the Cherry Festival’s Cherry Royale Parade three years ago.

Under her organization, NMC’s parade entry has grown every year since, and one of the most popular features are the brats that the Hagerty Center staff cooks along the route, with more than 2,000 brats handed out during this past summer’s parade.

Global Awareness Consortium: Gordon Henry, Anishinaabe poet & fiction writer

 On October 11, in the Olson Center from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Gordon Henry will perform with musicians Mike Gilmore and Mike Johnston.  The performance will include traditional Anishinaabe stories and songs, as well as poetry and prose from Henry’s work. For some parts of the performance Henry will sing with a hand drum; for other parts of the performance Henry will recite his work while accompanied by Johnston and Gilmore.

Henry’s novel, The Light People, won an American Book Award in 1995, and his poetry, prose and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies throughout the U.S. and Europe. His work is informed by long time participation in ceremonies and by his personal reflections on Anishinaabe life, place and relations. His most recent book, The Failure of Certain Charms and Other Disparate Signs of Life, published in 2007, is a collection of poetry and prose, combining the languages and imagery of dreams, songs, ceremonies, cultural memories, autobiography and Native American tales.

Gordon Henry is an enrolled member of the White Earth Chippewa Tribe of Minnesota. He received an MA in Creative Writing from Michigan State University and a PhD in English from the University of North Dakota. He is Professor of English at Michigan State University. Formerly director of creative writing for MSU’s English Department, he is currently director of MSU’s Native American Institute. He is also senior editor for the Native American Studies Series.

Crystal Bailey, Kay Hall certified as Lean Office Champions

TRAVERSE CITY — Two NMC staff members are among five individuals earning Lean Office Champion certification from NMC’s Training Services division who will now take the continuous improvement lessons learned into several of the region’s largest employers. The five certified in September are:

  • Crystal Bailey, Hagerty Center at Northwestern Michigan College
  • Kay Hall, NMC
  • Deb Kimball, Munson Medical Center
  • Amanda Rommell, Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital
  • Penny Saemisch, Kalkaska Memorial Health Center

During the six-month program, participants are trained to apply lean manufacturing principles to their office and healthcare workplaces.  Two sessions are hosted by each organization, the classroom training involves intensive hands-on activities, and each champion completes several continuous improvement projects in their workplace.

Rewards were evident before the program even ended.

“By applying lean principles to the process, we were able to shorten the lead time for Practice Pro, our newsletter for local physician practices, from eight weeks to less than four,” said Deb Kimball, physician liaison at Munson Medical Center.

Lean principles are based on the Toyota production system. Manufacturing was the first American industry that adopted its principles.  In the last ten years, lean has migrated from the shop floor into manufacturing offices, healthcare settings, and most recently service industries.

MC Training Services has been certifying lean champions since 2007. The objective of the program is to enable companies to build internal capacity to support their continuous improvement journey.

The next Champion certification opportunities will start in December 2012 for manufacturing and February 2013 for service industries, including healthcare.  For more information or to register, please contact Vicki Rumbach, 231-995-2218.  Additional information on Champion and NMC’s other, customized training services is available online.

MPSERS Election Now in Progress

What is MPSERS?  Am I a member of MPSERS?  If I only work part-time, I’m not in the state retirement system, am I?  You probably are if you are an adjunct, a supplemental employee, or a regular staff or faculty member working for NMC.

If you are an active member of MPSERS, you should have recently received notification from the Office of Retirement Services (ORS) either through your home mail, email, or both to let you know that you need to make an election on how you want your pension and/or retiree healthcare benefits handled going forward.  The online election period is 9/4/12 – 10/26/12.

Online through miAccount is the only way you will be able to make your election.

For more information or to access your miAccount, go to www.michigan.gov/orsschools, and click on the miAccount section.  Don’t wait – go online now and find out about the resources available to you to make your decision!

On-campus informational sessions are scheduled the week of October 1 – 5:

*Mon, 10/1/12        6:00-7:30 pm             PS 201-203*
Tues, 10/2/12        9:30-11:00 am            LB 35-37
Wed, 10/3/12         3:30-5:00 pm              LB 35-37
Thurs, 10/4/12       11:30 am -1:00 pm     O 113
Fri, 10/5/12             1:30-3:00 pm             UC 206

*Note that there is one after-hours session scheduled.

 

International exchange info session

Erase borders, develop peace and understanding and extend your family tree. Engage your family  with the international community by hosting an  international student or by encouraging your  student to study abroad!

Join Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse  City Area Public Schools and local international exchange programs to explore the world of  international exchange. This informational evening  will include:

• Testimonials from current and former high school and college-age U.S. study abroad  students
• Keynote speaker
• First-hand experiences of host families and international exchange students
• Panel discussion with students and host parents followed by a Q & A session
• Opportunities to meet families, students, and exchange organization representatives.

Thursday, October 11, 2012 Milliken Auditorium at Northwestern Michigan  College’s Dennos Museum from 7 p.m. – 8 p.m.

For more information contact Jim Bensley, Director of Outreach Services at  (231) 995-2527 or jbensley@nmc.edu.

This Month in NMC History for September

50 Years Ago:

  • Enrollment expected to reach 900, with about 250 of these living in private homes scattered throughout the city.
  • Contracts were awarded for the new $800,000 dormitory-student center (West Hall).

25 Years Ago:

  • Student Government announced a schedule of talks by Mercury Morris (football great), Dr. Benjamin Spock (author- Baby and Child Care), and Larry Linville (Major Frank Burns on TV Series M*A*S*H), and others.
  • HEADLINE: “Record enrollment fills NMC dorms to capacity.”  Of 3800 students, 510 were living on campus.  One student reported “it’s crowded massively.”

From the NMC Archives at the Osterlin Library

Faculty and Staff: Giving to help students succeed

The NMC Adopt-A-Student fund began in 1992 with faculty and staff representatives Hettie Molvang and Adam Gahn.  The fund was established as part of the Annual Campaign as an opportunity for faculty and staff to help struggling students overcome some of the financial obstacles that often stand in the way of higher education.

Thanks to our generous faculty, staff and community, 687 students have received assistance in the amount of a half million dollars over the last 20 years through the Adopt-A-Student Fund.  The following quote is from one of our Adopt-A-Student scholarship receipents.

Your gift allows me to keep more my paycheck at a time when one textbook costs $231 and a math calculator $130.  By retaining more of my earnings I am able to weather increased fuel costs to commute to campus, pick up the occasional prescription that my mother can’t afford or just supplement our household food budget.  Like a lot of students and staff that I’ve met since returning to NMC, everyone has a story, everyone has a challenge to carry through life and mine is not different.  What is different is the occasional kindness we receive along the way.  Thank you for your donation.

The Annual Campaign is drawing near and we at the NMC Foundation and Resource Development are looking forward to helping you make student dreams a reality.

Thank you for your support.

 

New items at the NMC Bookstore

Several of these new items you might remember from our Opening Conference display. Here, they are shown in all colors available.
Don’t forget about your 10% employee discount.
Junior Foil T
Quarter Zip
Unisex Longsleeve
Unisex Tri-blend
Women’s Long Sleeve

Employment anniversaries

The following employees are celebrating an anniversary. Please join us in congratulating them!

Fred Cook Custodian 10 years
Carol Evans Director of Extended Educational Services 17 years
Carol Taberski Registrar 31 years
Kirk Waterstripe Lboratory Manager 14 years

 

Position vacancies

Following are positions currently open at NMC.  For detailed information on externally posted positions, please visit NMC’s web page at www.nmc.edu/jobs   Information on internal postings has been emailed.

 

OPEN POSTINGS

                        Adjunct Faculty

                                    Adjunct Instructor – Clinical Nursing (38-443)

                                    Adjunct Faculty-Physics Instructor (98-443)

                                    Adjunct Faculty-Physical Education Basketball (109-443)

                                    Adjunct Faculty-Biology (139-443)

                                                     

                                    Faculty

                                    HVAC/R Instructor (95-443) (Full time)

                                    Nursing Instructor – Mental Health (91-443) (Part time)

 

                        Professional Staff

                                    Master, T-S State of Michigan (99-443)

                                                                                         

                        Student Employee

                                    White Pine Press-Student Employee (66-443)

                                    Tutor-Student Employee (82-443)
Student Lab Assistant – Biology (129-443)

                                    Department of Learning Services Office Assistant (132-443)

                                    WNMC Radio Automation Assistant (141-443)

                                                                                                                                               

                        Supplemental Staff

                                    Banquet Server-Hagerty Center (41-443)
Student Financial Services-Front Desk Assistant (135-443)

                                    Financial Aid-Document Management Assistant (136-443)

                                    Supplemental Records and Registration Assistant (140-443)

Kudos to Michelle Autry

Michelle Autry of Educational Media Technologies is always helpful, pleasant and willing to go the extra mile! She is awesome at internal customer service. Thank you for your help with Moodle and with the student videos.

Kudos to Fred Cook and Tim Fader

We are so fortunate at NMC to have the best of the best. Fred Cook and Tim Fader have done an amazing job painting West Hall and creating a warm environment for our students. Their attitude throughout the entire project has been to make it work. Fred and Tim were always willing to make change if needed. Thanks so much guys, great job!

Kudos to Alison Thornton and Eileen Vaughn

Alison Thornton and Eileen Vaughn developed a way to use the Technology Help System to handle requests for security access for our enterprise systems such as Banner, and to route them to the appropriate approver. These changes streamline the process to make it more efficient and timely. Thank you, Alison and Eileen!

Kudos to Student Life

Kudos to the Student Life group for ‘throwing’ one of the most successful Pine Palooza events since its inception!! All booths were full and fully staffed by vendors and NMC Students and staff. The Pine Paloosa was well organized and well attended and a very fun event! Thank you Student Life!