President’s Update, January 18, 2013

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 Saturday, January 5, NMC hosted the 2nd annual FIRST Robotics kickoff event at APL. The mission of FIRST (http://www.usfirst.org) is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders. I provided the opening welcome and discussed NMC’s Engineering Technology degree and the opportunities for students at NMC. NMC’s unmanned aerial platforms and remotely operated submarine were on display for students to see along with representatives from many areas of the college. Twelve area high schools and a team from Sault Ste. Marie were in attendance. This event marks the beginning of the design and build season where teams learn the 2013 game for the first time, pick up a kit of parts for building the robot, and get geared up for the exciting competition season. I met a number of excited student teams and mentors at this event. NMC was one of 81 “kickoff” sites that were occurring worldwide. Traverse City will host a regional competition on March 1-2. Thanks to Kennard Weaver for attending. Special thanks to Technology Discipline, Water Studies and Aviation staff and faculty for their continued roles in this program. (SD1, SD2, SD4)
• Mid-year Opening Conference was held on Monday, January 7. Thank you to trustees (Bob Brick, Bill Myers, Ross Childs and Kennard Weaver), faculty and staff who were able to be part of this important day. This is one of the few events where the majority of NMC faculty, staff and trustees are all in one place together to both socialize and receive the same message about new and reassigned fellow employees, recognition on accomplishments and results of the work they do, receive college, regional, state and national updates, and a reminder as to the strategic directions and goals of the organization as a whole. The video and the PowerPoint may be viewed through the links on the MyNMC page. (SD1)
• At Opening Conference, I alerted you that we had 177 people who had not made their MPSERS election and we asked for volunteers to help contact them. Well done and thanks to all that helped! Carol Casper reported:We were able to reach either through face-to-face conversations, phone calls, voice mails, or emails, 95% of the 177 employees who had not yet made elections regarding MPSERS Reform. Many were able to make their elections within the last 3 days, some reported that they had not because they chose the defaults. It couldn’t have been done without the help of several employees, including Tami Livengood, Shayrll McCready, Jan Root, Fred Laughlin, Cindy Duby, Bonnie Shumaker, Ann Dane, Alice Sluss, and 2 students from the Help Desk Center, compliments of Ali Thornton.

Dates of Note * Please contact the President’s Office if you would like to attend.