Recent retirees, employees celebrating milestone service anniversaries and a newly joined department were honored, Wednesday, April 17 at Northwestern Michigan College’s annual retirement and recognition event.
The staff of Student Financial Services were this year’s Foundation Excellence Award winners.
Student Financial Services was created by combining the former Financial Aid office with the Cashier’s office. Their first task was to research how to transition the two departments to work as one in the eyes of students while remaining compliant with federal regulations. The outcome was a new service model —Student Financial Services—that utilized the strengths of each department to benefit the students.
Some of the improvements they made in their first year include:
- They offered financial aid awards three months earlier than ever before, enabling students to make better informed decisions to attend NMC.
- They reduced financial aid processing time from three months to approximately four weeks (during peak time) thanks to new automation procedures
- They refocused the financial aid web pages to focus on the scholarship search engine. Applications are now available online for students and scholarship awards are activated and deactivated as necessary and based on requests from the academic areas.
Nominated by their director, Pam Palmero, the honorees were: Linda Berlin, Kelly Carlton, Georgenia Hromada, Judy Arnold, Julie McAllister, Jessica Johnson, Kim Gourlay, Kristi Hallet, Nancy Bruns, Cheryl Sullivan, Cindy Deemer, Fatoumata Hanne, Vicki Cook, Chris Weber and Amy Klei.
Eight recent (or upcoming) retirees were honored:
Bob Chauvin, Technology Coordinator, Educational Media Technologies
Bill Donberg, Aviation Adjunct Instructor
Martha Griggs, Secretary, Public Relations and Marketing
Bill Hardy, Custodian
Suzanne Hutchcraft, Bookkeeper, Payroll Services
Kathy Sedlacek, Administrative Assistant, Records/Registration/Testing
Nancy Summers, Bookkeeper, Accounts Payable
Steve Westphal, Purchasing Manager
Employees celebrating milestone employment anniversaries were:
40 Years
Frank Snyder, Social Sciences Instructor
35 Years
Rita Kucera, Student Services Specialist
Sheila Stafford, Humanities Adjunct Instructor
Steve Westphal, Purchasing Manager
25 Years
Mike Cochran, Social Sciences Adjunct Instructor
Dori Creighton, Assistant, Accounting
Sue DeCamillis, Director of Business Academic Area and NMC Academic Affairs
Doug Domine, Humanities Instructor
Keith Kelly, Business Instructor
Susan Odgers, Social Sciences Adjunct Instructor
John Pflughoeft, Science/Math Instructor
Deb Pharo, Science/Math Instructor
Jan Root, Office Manager – Communications Academic Area
20 Years
Marjory Smith, Communications Instructor
Mark Smith, Communications Adjunct Instructor
Philip Tarczon, Humanities Adjunct Instructor
15 Years
Anna Bachman, Senior Programmer/Analyst
Jenny Barnes, Curriculum and Scheduling Coordinator
Teri Brady, Health Occupations Adjunct Instructor
Cindy Duby, Office Manager – Social Sciences Academic Area
Margaret Fox, Office Manager – Health Occupations Academic Area
Bob Keller, Science/Math Adjunct Instructor
Dee Morrison, Health Occupations Adjunct Instructor
Jan Neumann, Office Manager – Resource Development
Patty Olson, Social Sciences Adjunct Instructor
Keith Tampa, Physical Education Adjunct Instructor
10 Years
Mary Beeker, Librarian
Fred Cook, Custodian
Patty Cron-Huhta, Front of the House Coordinator – NMC Great Lakes Culinary Institute
Sandy Harrand, Custodian
Lori Hodek, Talent Management Coordinator
Gary Howe, Social Sciences Adjunct Instructor
Georgenia Hromada, Financial Aid Specialist
Rebecca Jones, Health Occupations Adjunct Instructor
Amy Klei, Programmer/Analyst
Mark Lyon, Social Sciences Adjunct Instructor
Brian McCall, Humanities Adjunct Instructor
Joan Richmond, Humanities Adjunct Instructor
Julie Sheerin, Science/Math Adjunct Instructor
Frank Simkins, Business Adjunct Instructor
Ethel Vandenberg, Health Occupations Adjunct Instructor
Rob Weiler, Social Sciences Adjunct Instructor
5 Years
Kim Anderson, Health Occupations Adjunct Instructor
Joan Buchanan, Health Occupations Adjunct Instructor
Todd Casperson, Construction Technology Adjunct Instructor
Kathy Connor, Health Occupations Adjunct Instructor
Mike Davis, Humanities Adjunct Instructor
Mary Lou Deutsch, Business Adjunct Instructor
Jane Ditri, Health Occupations Adjunct Instructor
Lisa Dohm, Communications Instructor
Tim Dunn, Maritime Academy Adjunct Instructor
Tom Dunn, Aviation Maintenance Technician
Lee Elston, Health Occupations Adjunct Instructor
Robin Fisher, Physical Education Adjunct Instructor
Robin Fitzgerald, Desktop Computer Support Specialist
Robert George, Culinary Arts Adjunct Instructor
Robert Hall, Social Sciences Adjunct Instructor
Bill Hardy, Custodian
Constanza Hazelwood, Water Studies Institute Education and Outreach Coordinator
Conrad Heins, Construction Technology Adjunct Instructor
Jo Hendrix, Health Occupations Instructor
Richard Hoadley, Health Occupations Adjunct Instructor
David Hosler, Business Adjunct Instructor
Anita Hunt, Communications Adjunct Instructor
Jill Markoski, Social Sciences Adjunct Instructor
Sharon Mayer, Social Sciences Adjunct Instructor
Mella McCormick, Humanities Instructor
Karen Miller, Science/Math Adjunct Instructor
Troy Robertson, Culinary Arts Adjunct Instructor
Craig Shattuck, Custodian
Larissa VanderZee, Communications Adjunct Instructor
Duane Wright, Social Sciences Adjunct Instructor