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.
- NMC’s first Open Classroom Week took place the week of Feb. 26. Sixteen faculty members volunteered to open their face-to-face and online classrooms to their colleagues as a way to promote contemplation and conversation about teaching and learning at NMC. This event was sponsored by CIE. (IE1, IE4)
- The Advising Center held a training session and created a training video resource for faculty advisors to refresh their skills using MAP (My Academic Plan) and Plans. As we continue to scale up use of these important advising tools, faculty have been excellent partners in helping students access and learn how to use MAP to track their degree progress, as well as use Plans to create semester-by-semester plans for goal completion. (IE2, IE3)
- In May, NMC will launch a revised and improved model for New Student Orientation. The Advising Center, working closely with Student Life, met with academic areas to discuss and plan for how advising will be structured with this new model. Responding to student feedback from previous orientation years, academic advising will now take place in each individual academic area to give students a better overall experience. Faculty advisors will introduce students to their program area, show them how to use MAP and create a first-semester Plan. There will be opportunities for students to meet others in their program area and have a more positive first advising experience at NMC. (IE2, IE3, IE5)
- Instructional Librarian Ann Geht, reports that 100% of this semester’s English Composition students received information literacy instruction from Osterlin librarians. All NMC students learn critical thinking skills and the ability to find and assess reliable sources of information thanks to a long-standing partnership between the library and the Communications Department. (IE1, IE5)
- Thirty-nine faculty saved students $149,500 this semester by choosing to teach with free or low- cost (<$40) textbooks. This brings the total saved since fall 2015 to $809,600. This accomplishment was acknowledged and celebrated during Open Education Week, March 5-9, in the library. A list of OER faculty and their courses can be found at nmc.libguides.com/freeandopen/textbookheroes (IE1, IE2, IE3)
- The Hagerty Center hosted the Distinguished Service Award Luncheon and the Annual Celebration Gala for the Traverse City Chamber’s Annual Celebration week. Both events were a huge success and really showcased the capabilities of the Hagerty Center to the community. (IE2, IE5)
- Training began March 1 for the first of five Industry Lead Collaboratives (ILC) including participation from thirteen companies from manufacturing, food processing and service industries. The ILC’s are funded under a special program within the Michigan Skilled Trades Training Fund (STTF). (IE2)
- The NMC Technology Help Desk (THD) posted 3 new Knowledgebase (KB) sites. There is a student KB, an Employee KB and a Tech KB. These resources are all tip sheets related to typical THD questions and issues for the client group. The supplemental THD staff created all of these materials. The THD will continue to add and modify documents in each KB. An example of a KB is the employee one which can be found at employees.nmc.edu/depts/tech- support/ . (IE3)
- Music Department accolades:
- Congratulations to NMC music student Shauna Shattuck. Because of her hard work and diligence, she has been hired as a worship leader (vocalist) in a large local church. Shauna, one of our many talented music majors, is involved in music courses, Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and Chamber Singers.
- Congratulations to NMC Music Faculty member Dorothy Vogel on her performance in two chamber music recitals with members of the Traverse Symphony Orchestra. She appeared on January 23 with principal violist Renee Skerik and principal clarinetist (and fellow NMC faculty member) Jeanmarie Riccobono, and on February 15 with principal bassist Gary Gatzke. The concerts took place in the Cordia Theater in Traverse City.
- Congratulations to NMC music faculty member Laurie Sears! Laurie has maintained a busy performance schedule outside of her teaching (including applied music for flute and saxophone, and directing the two NMC Jazz Bands) including performances for the Broadway touring show production of the musical “Chicago” at the Midland Performing Arts Center; regularly performing Thursdays at the West Bay Beach Holiday Inn, Traverse City, with the Jeff Haas group; and performances with the Grand Rapids Symphony on their “Symphony with Soul, a Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald.”
- Congratulations to the NMC Concert Band and Grand Traverse Chorale, and their directors John Campbell and Jeffrey Cobb, on a successful Winter Concert. This performance of works for band and choir included works by John Rutter and John Williams, and featured special guest musicians from the Interlochen Arts Academy and our own Dorothy Vogel on keyboard. The Concert Band and GT Chorale were greeted by an enthusiastic audience of 300+ community members in Milliken Auditorium.
- Bravo to our NMC Audio Tech students, and NMC Audio Tech Faculty (David Chown, Jack Conners, Brady Corcoran, Jonah Powell, and Patrick Niemisto), for their fantastic work at the Great Indoor Folk Festival at Building 50 on February 25. Our students, with our faculty’s support and supervision, ran sound for three different stage locations for over 100 musical acts. Bravo NMC Audio Tech students!
- Bravo to members of the NMC Children’s Choir, Chamber Singers and Canticum Novum who shared the stage on February 25 for a wonderful concert of choral music from around the world. Over 300 (!) NMC singers took the stage to share American folk songs and music from India, Haiti, Denmark, Canada, and France. It was an amazing event involving singers from age 8 to 80!
- Congratulations to the NMC Chamber Singers and Canticum Novum and their director, Jeffrey Cobb, on their wonderful performance as part of the 6th Annual Pure Acappella Concert. These talented singers shared the stage with other groups from the Grand Traverse area in a benefit concert funding music scholarships for young singers.
- Bravo to our NMC Audio Tech students, and NMC Audio Tech Faculty member Jonah Powell, and their successful run at the Picnic at the Opera concert series. Our students, under Jonah’s supervision, have run sound for this live, televised event. This is a fantastic opportunity for real-world work for our Audio Tech students – they have made us all proud! (IE1, IE2, IE3, IE4)
Activities of Note: Tim
- I had a chance to meet Patti Brandt Burgess, reporter covering NMC news and events for the Traverse City Record Eagle. Patti comes to the Record Eagle after several years on the Leelanau Enterprise staff. Prior to that she worked for downstate newspaper.
- NMC hosted Michigan Department of Talent & Economic Development Director Roger Curtis and Chief Deputy Director Jeremy Hendges at the Parsons-Stulen building on March 1. This visit gave us an ability to showcase the investments made in equipment throughout the Michigan Community College Skilled Trades Equipment Program grant, as well as discuss how community colleges might continue to work with the Governor on his Marshall Plan for Talent. It was a productive visit and we enjoyed hosting the Director on campus.
- A team from NMC recently attended the AFIT (previously CQIN) conference in Kansas City, MO. The focus of this session was planning for the upcoming 2018 Summer Institute with the theme of Reinventing the Higher Education Business Model. One of the learning partners for the summer institute is Saul Kaplan, CEO of the Business Innovation Factory, a real-world laboratory for exploring and testing new business models and social systems. Some of NMC’s Experiential Learning AQIP project team members were among those attending from NMC. It was a true plan, do, check, adjust experience to best prepare for the other upcoming sessions planned for our EL team members, as their work guides us to shrift our lens to that of our learners to best meet their needs and expectations for success. The team will be attending another session in April.
Legislative Issues
- On March 2, NMC hosted a legislative breakfast in the Osterlin building on central campus where we had a chance to present NMC’s 2018 Advocacy Agenda to state and federal elected officials and their staff. This event was well attended and focused on the need to support investments in community college infrastructure, people, institutions and our future. We also focused on the need for State Capital Outlay funding for renovations to the Osterlin building, as well as provided an update on our 21st Century Innovation Center and new North Residence Hall. We received positive feedback on the event and look forward to continuing this dialogue with our elected officials.
- We have also been tracking several legislative items in Lansing and Washington that are moving currently. This includes legislation at the State level, which would allow community colleges better access to student data. After months of advocacy in support of these bills, they were finally passed by the House and Senate and now go to the Governor for his signature. There is also legislation that was recently introduced in Lansing that would extend the authority on bonding under the Michigan New Jobs Training Program through December 2023, something that we support. Currently the bonding authority expires after December 31, 2018.
- Building on the success of the Michigan New Jobs Training Program (NJTP), at the federal level, Senator Stabenow recently introduced legislation that would create a federal New Skills for New Jobs program which would leverage and match state investments. In rolling out this bill, Senator Stabenow held a press conference in Traverse City and featured Marguerite Cotto as a speaker to highlight the success that NMC has had with the NJTP.
- Finally, we continue to track the State Appropriations process and are advocating for a 2% increase for community colleges over the governor’s proposed amount. We are also hopeful that our Osterlin Building Learning Support Services Renovation Project will be considered to be included in our state legislature’s capital outlay bill this year.
Miscellaneous
- The NMC Retirement & Recognition Reception is April 11 at 4:30 p.m. at the Hagerty Center.
- Commencement is May 5, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. at Traverse City Central High School.