Dante Owens Jr. along with many more Secchia Intitute for Culinary Education Students interviewed today for a few premier spots at some of the world’s most prestigious resorts. The Glen Eagles and Saint Andrews are two of the locations at which our students have been working over the past several years. Chef Angus Campbell of SICE arranges these Skype interviews for the students with the Executive Chef Ian and Sous Chef Sharon every year. Our students perform so well for them over the extraordinarily busy summer months that they have gone from requesting 6 students per year to wanting 10 or more.

This summer we will have students in Scotland, Italy, Hawaii, California, and Florida to name a few locations. We feel that students that experience work and culture beyond our borders come back with more than just technical skill enhancement. They come back with their lives enhanced.

Written by Cheryl Kautz, Adjunct Faculty in Computer Applications | Instructor-student communication is just as important in online classrooms as it is traditional face-to-face classrooms. Online course effectiveness is determined in part by the quality and frequency of communication. The following are five ways to use technology to help ensure successful communication in the online classroom:

1. Provide timely communication for your asynchronous discussion boards; subscribe to them.
2. Invite your students to meet you and their classmates synchronously online with Blackboard Collaborate Web conferencing tool.
3. Offer synchronous, real-time communication, with Blackboard Instant Messaging.
4. Suggest students set up mobile phone preferences in Blackboard so that they can receive course notifications via text or voice message for class cancellations, announcements, posted grades, etc.
5. Allow students to provide anonymous course feedback at the end of the semester.

For detail and tipsheets on each of these tools, see the full blog post.

Although the above are excellent tools for communication in online classrooms, they are also effective communication tools for traditional face-to-face classes, allowing you to stay connected with your students between class meetings!

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The Upward Bound Staff would like to recognize Mary Kay and thank her for teaching the Upward Bound students and families the importance of filling out the FAFSA and about the process as well as answering any financial aid questions they had during the Upward Bound Senior FAFSA Night. Her passion for community outreach and post-secondary access was apparent as we watched her interact with our students and their parents. Thank you Mary Kay!

Jeff Johnson is renowned both for his conversations with world figures in the political, business and entertainment arenas and his grass-roots work seeking to inspire the next generation of leaders. Johnson is a trailblazing social entrepreneur and authentic voice for change. Sometimes called the “conscience voice” of BET Networks, Johnson looks for ways to merge the worlds of politics and popular culture, through broad-based communication, including as a contributor to the Tom Joyner Morning Show. He is the author of Everything I’m Not Made Me Everything I Am.

• All lectures begin at 7:00 p.m. at Fountain Street Church, 24 Fountain St. NE, Grand Rapids, MI
• Free and open to all
• On-campus parking $3.00 (with discount pass)
• ASL Interpreted

GRAND RAPIDS – When Grand Rapids Community College made the decision to discontinue its football program earlier this month, it didn’t affect Carlin Landingham’s future.  (More)

Grand Rapids-area companies encourage employers to hire former prisoners
Published: Sunday, January 29, 2012, 6:00 AM | Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS – When Jahaun McKinley landed a job earning $9 an hour making garbage containers, he considered himself lucky. [...] Now, he’s halfway through an associate’s degree in business at Grand Rapids Community College and has been promoted to a supervisory role at Cascade.  (More)

The Giant of Giants crowned in Grand Rapids
10:10 AM, Jan 29, 2012 | WZZM 13

GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM)-More than 700 people packed DeVos Place Saturday night to honor the African American leaders who have helped shape Grand Rapids. [...] The proceeds will go to the Milo M. Brown Memorial Scholarship Fund for Grand Rapids Community College students.  (More)

GRCC Honors Selfless Citizens with Giants Awards – Local African Americans are honored for their contributions to GR and inspiration
Darren Cunningham | FOX 17 Reporter | 11:02 p.m. EST, January 28, 2012

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.- Grand Rapids Community College honored some of the city’s most generous citizens at the 30th annual Giants Awards. “This is an awesome event. It was started thirty years ago, to recognize African Americans in this community who had made significant contributions,” says Faye Richardson Green, with the planning and selection committee.  (More)

Grand Rapids State of the City: Who’s who from DeVos Place
Published: Saturday, January 28, 2012, 1:50 PM | Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS – Almost 500 people, many of them invited and others admitted at their own request, heard Mayor George Heartwell’s 9th-annual State of the City address this morning at DeVos Place. [...] Bert Bleke, former Grand Rapids Public Schools superintendent and current Grand Rapids Community College trustee.  (More)

The Rev. Marvin Sapp receives 2012 Giant Among Giants Award in Grand Rapids (photos)
Published: Saturday, January 28, 2012, 11:05 PM | Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS – Many know the Rev. Marvin Sapp as an award-winning gospel singer or pastor of Lighthouse Full Life Center Church in Southeast Grand Rapids. But longtime friend Derrick Franklin knows the 44-year-old minister in another light. [...] It was Sapp’s inspiration that took center stage Saturday night when he received the Giant Among Giants award, the top honor at the 30th annual Giants Awards and Banquet, at the DeVos Place.  (More)

Adjunct Communications Professor Laura Michels had her class following Vice President Joe Biden’s live tweet interview follow-up to the State of the Union Address earlier this week.  The class tweeted questions to the VP and he responded to one of the students!

A full transcript and write-up of the event is available here.

• 2011 W-2’s will be available for pick up starting Thursday, January 26th through Monday, January 30th at the DeVos Campus Administration building in the 1st floor lobby.
• You will be required to show valid picture ID, which indicates your first and last name information.
• W-2’s will only be released to the employee. You will not be able to pick up W2’s for friends, spouses, etc.
• W-2’s that are not picked up by Monday, January 30th at 5:00 PM will be mailed on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 to the address on file for the employee.
• Lost, misplaced, destroyed, or W2’s mailed to an incorrect address will not be replaced until after March 1, 2012.
• There is a $10.00 service charge for any W-2 replacement copy requested.

For more information, visit www.grcc.edu/theater

Second, the Milo Brown Scholarship which is awarded to one African American male student who has at least a 2.75 GPA and has demonstrated a commitment to the community by engaging in volunteer and extra curricular activities.

Those who attended the “Donuts and Bagels” session this month were invited to bring their iPads. DLIT learned that faculty and staff (including some who couldn’t make it) have a real interest in using tablets for teaching and learning. One day later, we got to see the Apple Education Event. They announced:

• iBooks Textbooks for iPad
• iBooks Author
• A New iTunes U

DLIT is already downloading and testing the software!  For the complete blog post, go here. To see one of the first iTunes U videos – go here.

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