President’s Update for November 16, 2015

Nov 16, 2015 | Intercom, President Updates

Thank you all for everything you do in pursuit of “Keeping Learning at the Center.”

Activities of Note: Faculty and Staff
This section recognizes the good work being done and linkages to the Strategic Agenda, Strategic Directions and Goals are provided where possible.

  • NMC has been certified as a gold-level Veteran-Friendly School by the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency. Please see attached documentation.
  • The CIT Department held two open advising sessions in October to help students with their advising needs for Spring 2016 semester. During these two-hour sessions they met with a total of 69 students, assisting both first year and second year students in selecting their courses for spring semester. Because of the success of this event, they are planning to do this again next semester with a goal to meet with as many students as possible and to ensure that each works with an advisor to schedule their classes. (IE1, E3)
  • CIT held their first Industry Night Out event on November 2. Frontier Computer Corporation, a local IT Solutions provider hosted a tour of their facilities and discussed what they do. The event was advertised to not only NMC students, but also students of the TBA Career Tech Center IT Academy. Approximately 30 students attended from the two groups, as well as some parents of the students from the CTC. It was a great networking event and provided NMC with an opportunity to connect with both a local company and future students from the CTC.  A video of the event can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJsLSwIU66k and future events are being planned to occur on a monthly basis with different organizations in the Grand Traverse area. (E2)
  • Senior executives from American Steamship Co., Great Lakes Fleet, Great Lakes Towing, The Interlake Steamship Co., Grand River Navigation, as well as representatives from the Lake Carriers Association and the GLMA Alumni Association held their annual Board of Visitors (BOV) meeting at NMC’s GLMA. Agenda items included support for GLMA, especially with respect to supply underway communication, internships and a program dedicated to facilitate a military veteran’s ability to transition to service in the U.S. merchant marine. The BOV also held a “closed door” with the cadets, with no GLMA faculty or staff in attendance. (IE2)
  • GLMA hosted representatives from Military Sealift Command (MSC), Grand River Navigation, and two of the Great Lakes Pilotage Associations to conduct recruiting visits. Each entity employs numerous GLMA alumni and are very interested in hiring graduates of the class of 2016. MSC is a division of the U.S. Navy and operates Navy owned civilian manned vessels, such as fleet oilers. Last year MSC offered well-paying jobs to every GLMA cadet who applied for a position as a ship’s officer. MSC also actively recruits Great Lakes Culinary Institute graduates. Later this month Crowley Maritime, McAllister Towing, and G& H (Galveston and Houston) Towing will hold recruiting events at GLMA. (IE3)
  • As of this November 4, GLMA has enrolled 22 cadets to begin their training in August 2016. More importantly, this number is evenly split between deck and engine (IE5)
  • The Admissions Office participated in the statewide initiative College Application Week, October 23-28, 2015. Admissions staff were out in several area high schools helping their staff and students fill out applications for fall semester 2016. NMC received 1,251 applications from over 189 different high schools across Michigan. The amount of applications received shows that the relationships NMC is building with the community and other schools across the State is growing and the interest in NMC is reaching far beyond our 6 county area. (Last year we received 870 applications, 589 were admitted and 223 ultimately enrolled.) (IE2, E3)
  • The Advising Center has taken a proactive approach to registration and conducted face-to-face outreach on main campus.  This is in addition to sending targeted email communications to students, following up with phone calls and on-campus marketing. In the week before registration opened, members of the Advising Center team set up tables in Health/Science and West Hall to give students information about spring/summer registration and to schedule appointments with academic advisors. Academic Advisors also held Express Advising in East Hall to meet the needs of resident students. These advisors introduced students to MAP (My Academic Plan) and helped them create academic plans for spring semester and beyond. (IE1, E3)
  • Disability Support Services hosted the Allies for Inclusion exhibit from St. Louis University October 18-20. This exhibit promoted awareness of civil rights and inclusion for those with disabilities. Bringing this traveling exhibit to NMC required partnering with outside agencies as well as several departments from NMC. Visitors included many middle school and high school students/staff, general community members, and NMC students/faculty/staff. (IE2, E3, E4)
  • The Student Life Office was awarded a $953.00 grant from the Campus Sexual Assault Grant program through the Michigan State Police Department. This grant will give funding for our counselors in the Student Life Office to provide trauma informed training and education to our NMC Police Academy students and NMC Campus Safety and Security staff. (IE2, E3, E4, E5)

Activities of Note:  Tim

  • I attended the Munson Board Retreat on October 28.  As you know, I find these sessions extremely informative and beneficial as we consider the future state of higher education in this country and our area.
  • NMC and Traverse Downtown Development hosted an Economic Development Leadership Meeting at the NMC Hagerty Center on October 28 with directors of the various local taxing authorities.  The purpose of the meeting was to provide an overview of the success of a collective vision for downtown’s Old Town area that was realized with help from a 30-year development and tax increment financing (TIF) plan that created hundreds of jobs, dozens of new residences and an increased tax base, as well as to discuss how to continue economic growth in our community.  Input was received to develop strategies for other potential TIF areas, other approaches and the return on investment within the TIF area(s).
  • I traveled to Denver to attend the CQIN Executive Team meeting November 2-4.  Our summer conference will be held in Denver this year and will focus on results and predictive analytics.  I’m pleased that we continue to participate in this unique network.  It is the only group I know of that looks outside of higher education at other industries and organizations to learn lessons that can lead to learner success and institutional improvement.
  • I returned to Lansing to provide testimony on November 5 on postsecondary enrollment patterns at a join hearing of the community colleges and higher education committees.  The hearing was to discuss issues surrounding declining enrollments in higher education institutions, i.e. is it happening, what is the outlook, how are schools planning on addressing declining enrollment. We highlighted the fact that community college enrollments correlate very closely with unemployment rates, and note the increase in degree productivity on Michigan campuses.
  • While in Lansing, I also attended the first meeting of the budgetary task force reviewing community college performance funding on November 5 to present the MCCA recommendation.  The Senate has appointed Senators Darwin Booher and David Knezek; the House has appointed Representatives John Bizon and Henry Yanez. Dan Horn, Higher Education and Community Colleges Budget Analyst, participated on behalf of the State Budget Office. In general, participants were appreciative of the work MCCA did, although they would like to see a greater shift toward performance and away from sustainability.
  • At the MCCA Presidents Committee in Lansing on November 6 we reviewed updates, legislative issues and MCCA activities including the 60 credit hour transfer committee, veteran’s initiatives, and the progress of the Michigan Colleges Online registration improvements.
  • Nancy and I, along with Linda Laughlin, attended the Great Lakes Great Chefs dinner last Friday evening, November 6.  The event was sold out and the guest chefs (all but one a GLCI graduate) along with our chef instructors and student volunteers provided wonderful cuisine and a fantastic evening.  Everyone I talked with thoroughly enjoyed the night.
  • Thank you to all who were able to attend the annual Mariner’s Memorial on November 10 at the NMC Great Lakes Campus.  This is a wonderful event to honor those lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald, as well as other vessels, and this year the weather was very cooperative as well.
  • NMC also held a Veterans Day Event on November 11 that included a breakfast for veterans and a flag raising ceremony.  This year’s event included a Three-Volley Salute performed by the VFW Post 2780 Color Guard.  I’d like to thank the large group of participants this year who helped express gratitude to our veterans, and to Scott Herzberg for coordinating the event.

Legislative Issues

  • On Wednesday, November 4, the House Appropriations Committee took testimony on Senate Bills 70-71. The bills would lift the current $50 million cap on the Michigan New Jobs Training Program (MNJTP) as well as extend the sunset on borrowing ability under the current law. MCCA staff is working to ensure that there is adequate support, as the Committee is considering a vote on SB’s 70 and 71 in early December.
  • We continue to monitor and work with other groups regarding the “dark stores” tax issue that is a serious threat to local taxing entities.

Miscellaneous