Calling for assistance from all office managers to help coordinate the removal of outdated Mission/Vision/Values plaques located throughout NMC’s campuses. If you could please notify the Facilities team of plaque locations, they can assist with removal and any needed wall repair. Please email requests to CampusServicesAdministration@
We are working on a plan to highlight our new NMC Next Mission/Vision/Values across our campuses. More to come!
TRAVERSE CITY — NMC’s music performance ensembles present four upcoming concerts. Details are as follows.
Tickets are available online or call the box office at (231) 995-1340.
A suggested donation of $20 includes complimentary food and wine. The Grand Traverse Circuit is located at 225 W. Fourteenth St.,Traverse City.
Jeffrey Cobb
NMC Director of Music Programs
jecobb@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1338
TRAVERSE CITY — NMC’s music performance ensembles present four upcoming concerts. Details are as follows.
Tickets are available online or call the box office at (231) 995-1340.
A suggested donation of $20 includes complimentary food and wine. The Grand Traverse Circuit is located at 225 W. Fourteenth St.,Traverse City.
Jeffrey Cobb
NMC Director of Music Programs
jecobb@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1338
Do you want to have a file or a folder in two places in Google Drive? Check out this video on Creating Shortcuts in Google Drive! ensemble.nmc.edu/hapi/
Workspace is the application you use to access remotely the S: and Q: Drives. Follow this basic guide to get you familiar with this cloud application. employees.nmc.edu/
Two swinging afternoons of big band jazz are coming to the Grand Traverse Circuit! The first is with the NMC Jazz Big Band on Sunday, March 6 at 3 p.m.
The second event is with the NMC Jazz Lab Band on Sunday, March 13 at 3 p.m. A suggested donation of $20 includes complimentary food, wine and great music!
The Circuit is located at 225 W. Fourteenth St., Traverse City.
Join the International Services and Service Learning Department Wednesday, Feb. 23, 9:15–10 a.m. as we sample unique teas from around the world while getting together in a casual setting to make connections.
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.
When Maritime Met Culinary: Inside NMC’s One-Of-A-Kind Partnership
The Ticker, February 13 (more…)
Thank you to NMC Fine Arts student Gavin Bebb and instructor Glenn Wolff for designing and pulling together the Voices Project, an experiential education project to bring awareness to Black Americans as part of NMC’s Embrace the Dream program. The results of their collaboration can be seen in the poster-size portraits of Black Americans hanging in NMC academic buildings and corresponding to their subjects’ fields — from journalist and NAACP co-founder Ida B. Wells-Barnett to Captain Hugh Mulzac, the first Black merchant marine naval officer to command an integrated crew. Learn more about the Voices Project here.
Registration is open for the next session of the library’s discussion series, Curiosities: Voyages Beyond the Stacks!
Curiosities is a ‘book club’ for those of us who are wary of a cover-to-cover commitment but still want to meet up and talk about interesting stuff with fellow lifelong learners. We welcome students, staff, faculty, and community participants!
Each session meets once a week for four consecutive weeks, discussing material ranging from podcast episodes to articles to mini-documentaries. Our next session, At the Intersection of Art & Activism, will run March 3–24, meeting on Thursdays from noon–1 p.m. via Zoom.
We are presenting this session in collaboration with NMC’s student chapter of Phi Theta Kappa. As part of their research, these honors students set out to interrogate the relationship between creative expression, political action, and social change. Based on their findings, this student-led session explores Art as Resistance, Protest, Influence, and Healer.
REGISTER HERE FOR CURIOSITIES: AT THE INTERSECTION OF ART & ACTIVISM
Priority Health has established a process where you should just be able to take the tests to the pharmacy window and have them run it with your insurance card. Please note, not all network pharmacies may have the capacity or processes to run it through their pharmacy window, so they may still require members to pay upfront and seek reimbursement.
Access the reimbursement form here and on the NMC benefits webpage.
Kudos to Chad Schenkelberger, Scott Williams and Dining Services Staff: The Dining Services staff did a tremendous job on the food offerings for the Embrace the Dream “Food for the Soul” event from 4 pm to 6 pm in the Hawk Owl Cafe on Thursday, February 3, 2022. Those who attended enjoyed the food and the commitment to detail that was made in the selection.
Kudos to Lori Hodek: Lori Hodek did an excellent job facilitating the Embrace the Dream campus events. She held collaborative and informative meetings, maintained critical documents and spreadsheets, and provided necessary follow-through.
Her coordination with community partners, faculty & staff made the outstanding variety and quality of events possible.
Kudos to the Nursing faculty: Congratulations to the nursing faculty, NLEX pass rates (ADN: 95.74%; PN: 90.90%) for 2021 were exceptional!
Kudos to Hans VanSumeren, John Lutchko, Phil McCuien, Brian Sweeney, Cindy Deemer, Cathryn Claerhout, Jordan Smith and Georgenia Hromada: Kudos to Hans and John for delivering marine technology courses to the Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute (China). Hans and John provided livestream coursework on ROVs and hydrographic surveying. Students then put these skills to practice during classwork and lab exercises on their home campus.
Kudos to Phil and Brian for delivering construction-related courses to the construction trades program at Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute (China). NMC provides education around wood framing and finishing that is not available at their institution. Students supplemented their online learning with hands-on practice at their home institution.
Due to a 13 hour time difference, both the marine and construction courses had to be delivered late at night, sometimes well past midnight in order to accommodate the learners in China. They also had to complete the training before the Chinese New Year, which put added stress on the instructors. A big thank you also needs to be extended to Cathryn Claerhout and Cindy Deemer for admitting and registering students, Jordan Smith and Georgenia Hromada for scheduling students, and others who supported contracts and delivery. It was a true team effort. This is the fourth year of this partnership.
Kudos to Elizabeth Sonnaband, Laura Matchett and Ed Bailey: Kudos to Elizabeth Sonnaband, Laura Matchett, and Ed Bailey for their work in creating the Workforce Development series, the program is a set of courses designed to meet the specific needs of the region’s employer and a direct response to the work TC Connect Skills Gap Survey completed in late 2021.
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!
Welcome to NMC!
Dear Colleagues:
The college is seeking nominations for a staff member vacancy on NMC’s Policy Council.
The term of office is three years, with a limit of two consecutive terms. Therefore, the term for this position may commence immediately and serve through August 31, 2025. Further criteria for service and responsibilities for Policy Council are available here.
Your active participation in our shared governance system is greatly encouraged. You may also nominate a colleague other than yourself for council membership, but must have the nominee’s permission before submitting their name.
Please send your interest, nominations, or questions to the President’s Office by responding to this email address by Friday, Feb. 18, 2022.
Thank you,
President’s Office
1701 E. Front Street
Traverse City, MI
Phone: (231) 995-1010
Do you want to access your NMC email from a mobile device? Here are step-by-step instructions on how to add it to Android and iOS devices: employees.nmc.edu/
Interested in a discount on your cellphone bill or do you need free Microsoft Office 365 for home use? Visit our Discount Programs site for more information: employees.nmc.edu/
Great Lakes Maritime Academy alumnus Richard Gray (’14) passed away in a tragic accident this winter while working aboard a Great Lakes ship. Through the month of February, the Women on the Water student organization is leading a cans & bottles fundraising drive in his honor. All proceeds will go directly to Mr. Gray’s wife and three young children.
Donations of empty cans and bottles may be dropped off in bins located near the Hawk Owl Cafe and the NMC Bookstore on Main Campus, or in the student enclave at the Great Lakes Campus.
Contact Brittni Moore (moore669@mail.nmc.edu) if you would like to make a larger donation and need to coordinate a pickup.
Sound Bytes is a student-produced project put on by NMC’s Audio Technology Program. These livestreamed musical productions include professional level recordings and performances giving students, local bands and musicians the opportunity to showcase their skills.
The livestreams will be available on the Audio Technology Program’s YouTube channel and Instagram feed.
Asked to name notable Black Americans, and a few relatively contemporary figures usually come to mind: Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey.
The Voices Project, a new experiential learning project in conjunction with NMC’s Embrace the Dream Martin Luther King/Black History Month programming, aims to elevate the recognition of lesser-known individuals throughout history, like Capt. Hugh Mulzac, journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett and nurse Mary Eliza Mahoney.
Taking place in campus hallways through the end of the month, the Voices Project is part open-access history lesson, part diversity and inclusion showcase and is aligned with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion area of NMC Next, the college’s new strategic plan. The poster-size portraits of Black Americans hang in the academic buildings corresponding to their subject’s field – from the first Black registered nurse (Mahoney) to the first Black merchant marine naval officer to command an integrated crew during World War II (Mulzac) to journalist and NAACP co-founder (Wells-Barnett) who was born into slavery.
The posters were designed by Fine Arts student Gavin Bebb.
“I think there’s a strong connection between art and social issues. I felt honored to be a part of the project and helping to bring awareness to others,” said Bebb, 21, of Traverse City. “These are unsung individuals who really changed how we progress in our world today.”
Fine arts instructor Glenn Wolff (right, with Bebb, far right) approached Bebb about the experiential learning project at the end of 2021. From a faculty-curated list of potential subjects, Wolff obtained images in the public domain or permission to use them. Bebb then created the Voices Project logo and edited the images into portraits, cropping, magnifying and manipulating small original files into the 30 x 40 posters.
“All the things I learned over the fall semester I put into these posters,” he said.
Each also includes short biographical text researched by NMC faculty, and a QR code that a viewer can scan for the complete list of poster subjects.
“To me a desired outcome is that students, when they view the posters in their various areas at NMC, discover these Black contributors and are inspired to learn more about, and reflect on, the importance of their stories, and the reasons for their relative absence,” Wolff said.
Wolff was able to obtain permission for 17 images. Other portrait subjects are research chemist Percy Julian, mathematician Gladys West and artist and illustrator Aaron Douglas. Wolff’s drawing students are now working on sketches for another five subjects for whom permission could not be obtained.
“It’s morphing into student artwork,” he said.
The Voices Project posters will be on display at least through February. Wolff envisions it becoming an annual event.
TRAVERSE CITY — In an innovative partnership aimed at meeting crucial statewide workforce development needs, Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) and Michigan Technological University (MTU) have collaborated to launch a series of professional development courses this spring.
The course offerings, which are aimed at survey, civil engineering and infrastructure specialists, will allow busy working professionals to earn credentials and fulfill their continuing education requirements. These convenient, short-format (around two hours) courses will cover topics in the following areas:
Registration is expected to open by the end of February. Prospective students can add themselves to the professional development series notification list online.
This is not the first partnership between NMC and MTU. The two universities have teamed up on multiple endeavors, with the most recent being a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on Great Lakes research. The Surveying Technologies series is an outgrowth of that important cooperative agreement.
Both schools are respected for their marine research. Northwestern Michigan College is home to the Marine Center, which offers comprehensive professional development solutions year-round to the marine, surveying and remote sensing industries. NMC also offers associate degree programs in surveying and engineering technology-marine as well as a bachelor’s degree in marine technology.
Michigan Tech’s Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) harnesses the interdisciplinary expertise of biologists, geologists, chemists, engineers, remote-sensing specialists and others to examine crucial issues in freshwater research including modeling for better forecasts and climate predictions and assessing the spread of invasive species. Home base for the Superior Supercomputer as well as the Marine Autonomy Research (MARS) Smart Ships Coalition, the first freshwater test bed of its kind, GLRC accomplishes much of its work on, above and beneath Great Lakes waters utilizing the latest technologies, from smart buoys to its fleet of research vessels.
Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, the university offers more than 125 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. Michigan Tech’s Global Campus offers a variety of graduate degree and certificate programs.
Ed Bailey
Program Director
The Marine Center at Northwestern Michigan College
ebailey@nmc.edu
(231) 995-1215