June 3, 2010 – The daily employee newsletter of Grand Rapids Community College

GRCC aims to improve student success through Achieving the Dream program

Rapid Growth Media, By Sharon Hanks

Thursday, June 03, 2010

To help its students succeed, Grand Rapids Community College has joined a nationwide initiative that helps pinpoint barriers hindering student achievement and offers proven solutions to overcome those problems.

GRCC will begin participating in a program called Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, an initiative that recognizes community colleges as being in the national forefront of the college completion movement. Through a two-year grant from the Kresge Foundation, GRCC will obtain assistance from Achieving the Dream with the expansion of its data collection and analysis, identification of barriers to student retention and graduation, and the selection and implementation of strategies that help students achieve success.

http://www.rapidgrowthmedia.com/innovationnews/GRCC0603.aspx

Moss Ingram, Director of Sustainability, with Mark Champion, IRP Information Analyst, and Bill Fluharty, Design and Innovation Strategy Consultant, will be interviewed this morning at 10 a.m. on the WGVU Morning Show with Shelly Irwin. Moss, Mark and Bill will be speaking with Shelly about the Keller Future Center’s origins, relationship with the college, the Urban Agriculture demonstration project, and what’s next.

Listen at http://www.wgvu.org/wgvunews/index.cfm?id=tms

Liz McCormick, Director of Innovation (currently in Ireland with a group of GRCC students), Moss Ingram, and Mark Champion are leading the new Keller Future Center, a research and innovation center whose purpose is to help students and community members develop competencies for the 21st century.

The Center brings college students, business professionals, and citizens together to participate in a process that includes future trend analysis, innovation, integrative thinking, research, and design. Using these tools and techniques, participants create possible solutions to a current regional issue that has environmental, economic, and social impacts. The processes used allow for new thinking that leads to new knowledge.

The Keller Future Center’s current project focuses on urban agriculture in West Michigan. A blend of students from GRCC, GVSU, Aquinas, and Kendall – representing the disciplines of finance, health communications, sustainability, visual arts, business, and psychology – are participating on this project team. Along with Liz, Moss and Mark, six GRCC faculty and staff members are participating in this project: Felix Pereiro, Business Professor; Sara Yob, Training Solutions and Sustainability; Nick Antonakis, Visual Arts Professor; Robyn VanRoyen,Visual Arts Professor; Deb Chivas, Business Adjunct Instructor; and Michael Schavey, Academic Service Learning.

Learn more about the Keller Future Center at:

www.grcc.edu/futurecenter

http://www.grcc.edu/urbanfarming

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Future-Center-Urban-Farming-Demonstration-Project/118398648185784?created