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.
- On February 11, 2016 approximately 50 students from NMC and the TBAISD Career Tech Center attended the CIT Industry Night Out hosted by Munson Hospital. Students had an opportunity to learn how Information Technology impacts every aspect of their operation. Students heard presentations about various technology areas and were also able to tour their datacenter. It was a great opportunity for students to learn about what a career in Health-IT is all about. (IE1, EI2)
- On Friday, March 11, the NMC CIT Department hosted a tour for students enrolled in the IT Academy and Web Applications classes at the TBA Career Tech Center. Approximately 90-100 students attended the event. Students were able to hear about our programs from prior TBA students, tour our facilities, and hear as well as participate in several learning activities. (IE1, IE2)
- The White Pine Press won second place for Best in Show among 2-year community colleges at the Associated Collegiate Press conference held in Los Angeles in February. The paper submitted its February 4 article, “Voices from Flint,” for the award. Advisers Jacob Wheeler and Kathy Schwartz took five student journalists to the conference. (IE1, IE3)
- To continue the focus on providing Guided Pathways, including assistance to students in determining their future career plans, the Advising Center offered the 10th Annual Career Fair on March 3. The event welcomed more than 80 employers from our service area recruiting for professional and seasonal positions. Attended by more than 200 NMC students, alumni, and community members, the Career Fair served to provide attendees with opportunities to talk directly with employers about positions available immediately. Thanks to the dedicated preparation and leadership of Learning Services Office Manager Irina Grougan, feedback from both employers and attendees was extremely positive and provided our students with opportunities to explore career possibilities as well as gain job seeking experience. (IE2, IE3, IE5)
- The Business Office went through the LEAN process for payroll processes. They were able to eliminate about 12 steps and 200 sheets of paper (each pay) by eliminating unnecessary items/reports and combining other reports. They are also now able to upload HSA deductions each pay into the bank program instead of hand-keying the information. This saves a couple hours each pay and another 4 hours twice a year. (IE4, IE5)
- NMC Extended Education continues to form partnerships to meet student needs. (IE2)
- NMC is now an authorized rectifier for Michigan State Continuing Education Clock hours. Last year they submitted for state certification approval, then using our online course delivery partnership with Ed2go, establish seven courses that certified teachers can complete that count toward their renewal hours. This allows teachers to take courses online. NMC EES certified their first student in December. Next phase is to increase the number of courses available to around 15 that can count toward their required renewal hours.
- NMC EES and Tech Division are working collaboratively to plan an HVAC training course onsite for the Grand Traverse Pavilions (GTP). GTP wants to train 10 employees on site. NMC EES is planning the course that will be delivered by Tech Division HVAC expertise in a non-credit format to meet their needs.
- Accessibility of online resources—EMT’s new Lunch and Learn Series and Teaching@NMC accessibility portal provide opportunities for faculty to learn how to make their course materials accessible for students with disabilities according to ADA guidelines. In addition, the EMT team reformatted the Course Syllabus Essential Criteria document to meet ADA guidelines and created instructions for faculty to re-format existing course syllabi to meet the same guidelines. The reformatted Course Syllabus Essential Criteria document has been approved by ESIMT and posted to the Academic Forms website along with instructions. (IE1)
Activities of Note: Tim
- Jim Bensley and I continue to have regular conversations, via conference call and face to face, with the MCCA Center of Global Initiatives group and consultant Carol Stax-Brown, working to establish opportunities for our students to gain global and cultural experiences both abroad and at home. Carol has been a great asset in establishing many potential connections for the MCCA community colleges.
- Corey Utley and David Nyberg of Governor Snyder’s northern office visited NMC on March 24 to tour some of NMC’s recent developments obtained through the recent CSTEP grant and our plans for requested state capital outlay funds. The visit went well and resulted in the Governor visiting Parsons-Stulen himself on April 21.
- I had an interesting conversation with an acquaintance, Jamie Kemler, at the GLCI Taste for Success event last month; which led to a another meeting in my office discussing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Traverse City and how technology plays a role in the economic development here. We also talked about our partnership with Munson with the Health Education Institute, as his background is in the medical technology business. Jamie is involved in volunteer mentoring of med tech start-ups at MIT, along with his role at Stryker in out-licensing intellectual property and technology into early stage companies. I have arranged for Jamie to meet with NMC’s Prsident’s Council to discuss the topic of intellectual property rights.
- Nancy and I attended the Dennos concert featuring Hanggai, an outstanding touring band from Beijing, China; and then I was able to meet with one of its members Ilichi Qimude and his wife Yang Ran who spent much of a day on NMC’s campus hosted by Gene Jenneman. It was a pleasure to spend time with them as they are a very interesting set of individuals, as well as a couple. They also visited Gary Howe’s World Regional Geography class and Jim Bensley’s World Cultures class.
- Diana Fairbanks and I both attended the Leadership Grand Traverse Education Day, and NMC’s human resources director is a participant in the current LGT program. I participated in the small group conversation rotation. It’s always a great opportunity to meet our future community leaders.
- Thank you to Kennard Weaver, Marilyn Dresser and Ross Childs, who were able to attend NMC’s annual retirement and recognition reception on April 13. It was a wonderful, heartfelt event recognizing the commitment and longevity of NMC employees, and the lasting friendships made and rekindled with NMC retirees attending.
- We had several NMC folks who attended the recent Higher Learning Commission annual conference held in Chicago last weekend. I attended the Presidents Program on Saturday and Joy Evans, Mark Liebling, Sue DeCamillis and Nick Roster all attended sessions throughout the entire conference. Attendees all seemed to return feeling it was a valuable, knowledge- building experience.
- I participated in a unique event co-hosted by Munson Healthcare and Michigan State’s College of Human Medicine called Project Medical Education. The event was designed to bring legislators, community stakeholders and educational leaders together at Munson Medical Center for a day of learning about what it takes to be a doctor (from medical school to residency program). As part of this day, I was “coated” with a white coat signifying my entrance into medical school, went on rounds with current MSU-CHM and COM medical students where we interacted with patients and participated in health simulation activities. Finally, we capped off the day by “graduating” from medical school, receiving our debt letter (staggering!) and being matched for a residency program. The experience was significant for me as it allowed me to gain a better understanding of the needs of medical students (and pre- med students like those at NMC) and the importance of maintaining a close partnership with Munson and MSU to ensure that we are training doctors and other healthcare professionals in rural settings to hopefully ensure that we have those doctors and professionals choose to stay and practice in northern Michigan.
- NMC is hosting the April 21-23 “Building Tomorrow” event at our APL building that is a hands-on construction career and college readiness event for high school students. I was able to stop by to witness students experiencing what it’s like to be an architect, a project manager, a mechanical engineer, as well as the industries of carpentry, welding, HVAC, electrical, concrete and plumbing through short, hands-on presentations from companies in the fields.
Legislative Issues
- Actively working with our partner Munson Healthcare and Munson Medical Center to advance a piece of legislation, SB 98 that would allow NMC to meet the demand for nurses holding a bachelor’s degree. Since 2009, Munson Medical Center has been requiring that every newly hired nurse achieve a BSN degree as a condition of employment. Today, only half of the 1,200 nurses at Munson Medical Center have a BSN and only about twenty five percent of the approximately 80 newly hired nurses have a BSN degree, resulting in a significant demand for a nursing baccalaureate program in the region. As it has been most recently proposed, the legislation would allow a community college to ask its local voters for approval of any baccalaureate degree program it would like to offer.
- In January NMC submitted a project for consideration as part of the Governor’s Economic and Education Summit Best Practices competition. The competition is an opportunity for the state to recognize home-grown programs that contribute to the development, attraction and retention of talent in Michigan. The awards recognize that leaders in Michigan’s private, public and non-profit sectors are dedicated partners who are making a positive impact on our communities. After much consideration, NMC submitted our Lean Manufacturing Champion Certification training program. As you may know, in 2007 NMC’s Department of Training Services, in partnership with six area employers and the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center, developed the Lean Manufacturing Champion Certification Program (LMCC). The employee training program implements an innovative Active Learning Model to ensure that the needs of both employees and employers are met while delivering project and placed-based lean manufacturing training. Partners also include Michigan WORKS! and the MEDC. The LMCC program works with business to enroll employees in either a 12 day over 6-month or custom boot-camp program that focuses on both organizational and learner outcomes using instructional design, blended and activity based learning, and on-site applications across multiple host companies. As a result, employees gain a practical, workplace and knowledge based application of lean principals. Since 2007 companies training Lean Manufacturing Champions have demonstrated growth and resilience, as noted through the following company reported impacts via a NIST third party survey: over $66,000,000 in increase and retained sales, 345 new and retained jobs, almost $6,000,000 in cost savings, over $15,000,000 in new investments, represents 45 unique organizations from 21 different counties, repeat company participation and intra-industry referrals. While, ultimately, this proposal did not win in the competition, I think it is a great highlight of the significant training work being completed by NMC. One of the quotes used in the application is as follows: “The NMC Lean Champion program has had a positive impact at Britten Studios in many ways. Not only has the program taught us how to improve our processes, but has helped us empower our employees through personal development and leadership opportunities, reduce or eliminate non-valued added activities and thus ultimately improve our bottom line.” (Melissa Kilbourn, HR Manager, Britten Studios)
Miscellaneous
- NMC’s Honors Convocation, on April 29, and Commencement Ceremony, on April 30, are fast-approaching. Holly will be providing more detailed information directly to trustees within the coming week.