GRCC Students win Accolades in Michigan College DECA Conference

This past weekend Collin Donnelly a business student from GRCC and Austin Benner former GRCC busines student and now Davenport (3 plus one) student competed at the Michigan College DECA Conference. Collin placed third in the Retail Management Event and was a State Finalist in Sales Manager Meeting. Austin placed first in the International Marketing Event. Both students have qualified to attend the College DECA International Conference at Salt Lake City, Utah the end of April.

They were competing against Students from University of Michigan, Michigan State, Grand Valley, Keddering, Central Michigan, Davenport, Northwood and six other colleges.

Congratulations to TRiO-Student Support Services Scholarship Winner Jasmin Perez

TRiO/Student Support Services has another scholarship winner! Jasmin Perez was selected to participate in the COE 2012 Keith Sherin Global Leaders Program in Salamanca, sponsored by the Council for Opportunity in Education and Travel & Education. She has been awarded a $2,500 Keith Sherin Global Leaders Scholarship to support her participation in the program. Thank you to Anna Maria for encouraging her to study abroad and assisting her in the application. She will leave May 31st and return June 30th.

Condolences to Dr Debora DeWitt and Family

Condolences to Dr. Debora DeWitt and her family on the loss of her son William Christopher “Chris” DeWitt. From the obituary:

William Christopher “Chris” DeWitt William Christopher “Chris” DeWitt lost the good fight and went to be with his grandfathers, grandmother and the angels on Friday, February 3, 2012, after a long battle with Cancer. He is the son of William and Debora DeWitt of Grand Ledge, Michigan. Born in Lansing, Michigan at St. Lawrence Hospital on January 9, 1986, Chris grew up in North Manchester, Indiana where he attended Manchester High School and Manchester College, studying Art. Chris was not only a talented artist, but an outstanding musician, both vocally and on the guitar. Also well-traveled, he toured with the Manchester College A Cappella Choir performing a composition by his mother, “Prayer for Peace,” in Italy, Austria and Carnegie Hall. (More)

Visitation for Chris will be on Tuesday, February 7, 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. at Holihan-Atkin Funeral Home Grand Ledge. A Funeral Service will be held Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 11 a.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Grand Ledge with visitation starting at 10 a.m. Memorial gifts may be made to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (www.lls.org). Condolences may be shared atwww.holihanatkin.com or at www.caringbridge.org/visit/wChrisDeWitt.

Those interested in passing along their condolences may contact Kathy Kolehouse at #3940

When Does $500 Feel Like $5 Million? – Sabbatical Opportunities for Faculty

When it comes from your colleagues, $500 can easily feel like $5 million.

All three of this year’s sabbatical recipients were honored with $500 research stipends from the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning fund (SoTL).  This stipend is designed to assist faculty with expenses related to sabbatical research and study as part of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

The GRCC Foundation fund grew from a faculty need to support each other and our institution’s highest faculty focused professional development award. Sabbaticals allow faculty to pursue life-long learning goals through scholarship, teaching and learning designed to impact both our community and our college.

Sabbaticals allow faculty to express their Practitioner-Scholar attributes through pursuing of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.  More importantly, sabbaticals have the potential to represent the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning as described by The Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) Higher Education Program:

Sabbaticals seek “to support the development of a scholarship of teaching and learning that: 1) fosters significant, long-lasting learning for all students; 2) enhances the practice and profession of teaching; 3) brings to faculty members’ work as teachers the recognition and reward afforded to other forms of scholarly work.”

The fund is supported by individual contributions from anyone interested in supporting faculty scholarship, teaching, and learning endeavors.

If you have any questions regarding this fund please feel free to contact Mursalata Muhammad, Sabbatical Committee Chair, at ext 4950 or mmuhamma@grcc.edu.

GRCC in the News – 2/7/12

Ready Now seminar gets job-seekers ready for workforce
By STEPHEN KLOOSTERMAN | The Holland Sentinel | Posted Feb 06, 2012 @ 11:36 PM

Holland — About 30 strangers linked arms and embraced the awkwardness of a team-building exercise Monday — all in expectation of eventual job interviews. [...] The seminar is being sponsored by Ottawa County Michigan Works!, Lakeshore Advantage and the Holland and Zeeland chambers of commerce, Grand Rapids Community College and the Thompson M-TEC educational facility.  (More)

Grand Rapids Community College instructor receives eLearning award
Published: Monday, February 06, 2012, 5:59 PM | Grand Rapids Press

A Grand Rapids Community College instructor is being honored for his use of instructional technologies and providing students with quality distance learning. Garret Brand, a professor in GRCC’s business department, has been awarded the “Outstanding eLearning Faculty” award from the Instructional Technology Council, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that aims to improve distance education.  (More)

Grand Rapids Community College Green Jobs training program is expanding
Published: Monday, February 06, 2012, 10:45 AM | Grand Rapids Press

Rob Wright, a 42-year-old father of one, was struggling to get by on a minimum wage job when he decided to enroll in Pathways to Prosperity, a federally funded program at Grand Rapids Community College that aims to prepare low-income residents for jobs in fields such as renewable energy. (More)

Presentation to explore legacy of Jaycees founder
by Grand Rapids Historical Society (Sharon Hanks) on Monday Feb 6th, 2012 11:14am | The Rapidian

A Central High School principal’s extraordinary leadership among his Grand Rapids students during the early 1900s will be explored Thursday during a presentation about Dr. Jesse B. Davis, a multi-faceted visionary whose positive impact on the community continues today. [...] In 1914, under Davis’s leadership, the board of education organized the present-day Grand Rapids Community College with Davis serving as its first president. (More)