President’s Update for August 14, 2017

Aug 15, 2017 | Intercom, President Updates

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

Notable Accomplishments provided by Faculty and Staff

This section recognizes the good work being done and linkages to the Strategic Directions (SD) and Institutional Effectiveness Criteria (IE) are provided where possible.

  • I would like to, again, thank our NMC team and legislators for the successful state approval of the state funding supporting our West Hall 21st Century Innovation Center project. Construction on this project will begin in 2018 and architects are preparing an exterior design to present to the Board at the regular August meeting.
  • The Great Lakes Culinary Institute, in partnership with Munson Medical and Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, planned a culinary medical conference designed to enlighten doctors and medical professionals about eating and cooking healthy food. The conference will be held from Sept 22–24. (IE1, IE2)
  • Admissions, Financial Aid, Records and Registration and Student Accounts offices completed a three-month transition to combine customer service into an Enrollment Services one-stop for students. Creating a shared work environment in Enrollment Services allows staff to more effectively help students. They are able to more efficiently handle phone calls, walk-ins, and emails during the peak processing time of payment due date. During the 6-day period, the 26 staff members in Enrollment Services had 2,131 customer contacts by phone, email, and in person. This is more efficient for students, as well as staff, to be served by one person instead of needing to contact multiple offices. (IE1, IE2, IE3, IE4, IE5)
  • Approximately 30 people attended the Summer Counselor Summit with Michigan Association for College Admission Counseling (MACAC); 6 of which stayed in East Hall overnight. Enrollment Services staff participated in the event from coordinating the set-up, participation on the Admissions Counselor Panel, and a campus tour. The attendees were impressed with NMC and the beauty of the campus and school offerings. (IE2, IE5)
  • The Great Lakes Maritime Academy training ship now has a small lending library to give cadets resources to learn and relax when out on the lakes. Maritime Training Ship Instructor Joe McGuiness and Librarian and Maritime Academic Liaison Michele Howard recommended a variety of titles including books on personal finance, interpersonal relationships, mental health, and literary classics. Purchases included an annual subscription to full text online access to the Wall Street Journal, which is accessible to all students, faculty, and staff. (IE1, IE2, IE3, IE4)
  • Online purchasing card training has been launched through the SilkRoad Human Resources system. This will allow for ongoing training and the ability to track who has successfully completed the training. (IE5)
  • Human Resources, Information Technology, and the Business Office completed an Overtime Calculation project. This project allows for the system to automatically calculate if an employee should be paid overtime based on total hours worked. This will eliminated re-work by the payroll department in processing bi-weekly payroll. (IE5)
  • The Facilities area reports the following accomplishments:
    • Supporting the opening of the new North Hall.
      • Hydro seeding maintenance
      • Furniture moves
      • Building training, touring with the Fire Department and the Police department
      • Completed all of the annual sprinkler inspections with Brigade
      • Completed all of the kitchen hood cleaning with Bay Spray
    • Supported the annual art show and the Rotary picnic.
    • Completed the sealing and stripping of the parking lots.
    • Completed several concrete walkway replacements.
    • Supported the consolidation move for Student Services. (IE5)
  • Annual Giving Specialist Katharine Zurek, and the NMC Foundation team, increased the amount of donors to NMC’s Annual Fund by 10% in fiscal year 2017. The NMC Foundation is proud to enhance NMC’s partnerships by engaging more community members in supporting NMC and its students. The Foundation is proud to be a champion for NMC by educating donors on the importance of the Annual Fund’s flexibility, which allows them to meet the needs of students and support essential NMC operations. (IE2, IE3)
  • As spring semester ended at NMC, Scott Swan and Brian Sweeney were boarding a flight to Beijing to deliver the first generation of courses in marine technology and construction management to students at Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute (YRCTI) in Kaifeng, China. Dan Goodchild, Construction Technology Coordinator, and Hans Van Sumeren, Director, Great Lakes Water Studies Institute accompanied them for the first few days to initiate preparations for additional course delivery this fall and next spring. Our agreement with YRCTI establishes student cohorts (of about 40 students/cohort) enrolling in an intensive, competency-based program in construction management or in marine technology. Fifteen to eighteen contact hours are being delivered as part of an articulation agreement focused on the NMC associate’s degree. The experience has been exciting and exhausting, packing full-day teaching into a three week mini-term. Fall program delivery will focus on completion of the marine tech courses. We are anticipating a winter completion of the construction management track. (IE1, IE2)

Activities of Note: Tim

  • On July 21 we welcomed to campus representatives from the city of Traverse City and Holland, Michigan. Diana Fairbanks, executive director of public relations, marking, and communications, and I greeted the group of 16 people and gave a brief presentation on the college.
  • Thank you to trustees Kennard Weaver, Chris Bott, Rachel Johnson, Janie McNabb, and Michael Estes for attending this year’s MCCA Summer Institute on Mackinac Island. Other executive staff was in attendance as well. The conference is always well done with a president’s institute, trustees institute and general sessions with exceptional speakers pertaining to community college issues within the state and nation. U.S. Educational Secretary Betsy DeVos was able to meet with the entire attendance, as well as the smaller group of college presidents. The MCCA Summer Institute will be held in Traverse City the next two years.
  • U.S. Senator Gary Peters held his office staff retreat here in Traverse City and I was honored to speak with them as they enjoyed dinner at Lobdell’s.
  • Rotary Charities of Traverse City held their weekly meeting here on campus on Tuesday, August 1. It was a beautiful day and the group seemed to enjoy being on our campus, as well as the wonderful food.
  • A team of 10—comprised of staff members, faculty, and executive staff—attended this year’s CQIN Summer Institute in Chicago, Illinois, at the beginning of August. The theme of “Developing Talent for Organizational Transformation” was explored. Following the conference sessions and team discussions, attendees expressed how beneficial the experience had been.

Legislative Issues

State

With the summer district work period in full swing, the state House and Senate will only convene for 1 day in August before returning to Lansing for regular session following the Labor Day holiday. During this recess period, NMC has been engaging with Representative Inman and Senator Schmidt to discuss the upcoming NMC Aviation 50th Anniversary as well as other items that impact the college. We have also engaged with Lt. Governor Calley as part of a business roundtable hosted by the Traverse City Area Chamber where there was a focus on NMC’s efforts to support workforce training and new jobs training in the region.

Federal

Much like the state, the federal legislature is also on a recess period, working in their districts and states. Congress will re-convene in September and has a significant list of items to tackle this fall, including a FY18 budget, debt ceiling increase, Perkins Reauthorization and many other issues. We have taken this recess period to ensure that we are engaging with our federal delegation including working with Senator Stabenow on her New Skills for New Jobs Act, working with Congressman Bergman and Congressman Mitchell on the College Transparency Act and working with Senator Peters on an issues related to a Coast Guard Center of Expertise.

Miscellaneous

  • NMC College-wide Picnic — Monday, August 21, 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.
  • North Hall Ribbon Cutting and Open House — Monday, August 21, 1–6 p.m.
  • Regular Board Meeting at Oleson Center — Monday, August 28 (Board to arrive at 4:45 p.m. for group photo)