A letter from President Ender

Good Morning!

I know that this is an extremely busy time of the year for all of us as we work hard to serve the needs of our students and begin thinking about preparing for the Thanksgiving holiday that is just around the corner. We, at GRCC, have much to be thankful for this holiday season. Unfortunately in our community, many are not as lucky as we are and, thankfully, United Way is here to help our community in these difficult economic times. By now, you have all received your United Way pledge forms, and I thank those of you that have already completed those forms and turned them back into your team captains. For those of you who have not had the opportunity, I encourage you to take the time to fill out your pledge form this week. Your contribution to United Way is a gift to our community and I thank you in advance for giving. Our United Way Campaign ends this Friday and it would be wonderful if we could have 100% participation at GRCC this year!

I wish you and yours a very safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday.

Steve

Plan ahead for winter semester course packs

Print Solutions is here to help you make your Winter Semester successful.

The staff at Print Solutions is looking forward to helping you get your printed course material for Winter Semester in a very timely manner. If you have already received your course assignments, please have your course pack orders turned in as soon as possible to ensure that they are ready and in the bookstore well in advance of the first day of classes.

Full-time Faculty deadline is November 30
Adjunct Faculty deadline is December 8

The dates provided are guidelines. We will accept orders after the suggested due dates, however, while we will make every attempt, we cannot guarantee they will be complete for the start of the semester.

Copyright Materials:
Please provide document sources and authors of any material that will require copyright clearance. Information, resources and proper forms can be found at http://cms.grcc.edu/library/facultyresources. The Library is available to assist you on how to obtain copyright permission. We can not process your printing without the proper copyright forms/permission.

Now is also a great time to put your quick copy orders in for course related materials for Winter Semester.

We would like to offer you a few useful tips:

1) Please send your quick copy orders to psEprint@grcc.edu – this address should be used for course related materials only.

2) Please use appropriate names in the subject line that pertains to the material being sent – No generic naming such as “Test” or “Syllabus”. Example would be: Jones-Eng 101 syllabus, or Smith-Math 100 test 2

3) To avoid any confusion, please submit only 1 order per email.

4) It is ok to submit quick copy orders for the entire semester, however, due to the high demand for printing that we experience at the beginning of every semester, please extend your due dates to when you truly need the materials.

5) Please double check your order form to make sure that all the information is accurate before you send it.

6) Due to the high volume of orders we will be processing in the month of December, please plan ahead to allow for delayed time in getting your printing. At the start of each semester (and a few weeks preceding) all orders are processed on a first come first serve basis. About a week or two into the new semester, we will go back to our regular quick copy schedule.

For those of you who will have trouble getting us your printing needs early, please consider uploading your information to Blackboard to ensure that you have material for you students to look at while we complete your order.

DLIT event successful; more planned

On Wednesday from 8:30 to 10 in 347 Main, the department of Distance Learning and Instructional Technologies hosted a “Donuts and Distance Learning & Blackboard and Bagels” event.  Essentially this is an informal gathering of the DLIT staff and faculty.   We provide the rounds, and you arrive to enjoy, discuss, ask questions, share stories, and learn more about distance learning and Blackboard at GRCC!

Thank you to Frederick van Hartesveldt, Lori DeBie, Garry Brand, Meegan Willi (Lillis), Jose Mora, Eric Kunnen, Pat Ingersoll, Szymon Machajewski, Liz McCormick, Karen Niemchick, Aimee Kunnen, Cora Beute, Dominic Matone, Aleta Anderson, and Bertha Chivis for attending, for the great discussion, and for

Save the date: The next donut event is scheduled for Friday, December 9 from 8:30 to 10  (Drop by anytime – stay as long as you would like!)

Dominic Mattone, an adjunct in the Math Department writes:

“Eric and Staff,
Thanks for hosting the gathering this morning. I learned several new items about Blackboard as I continue to improve my use of the system. Thanks again and I will come in to see you for some assistance in the future for help in putting videos on Bb.  Have a happy Thanksgiving holiday.”

Photos from the event can be viewed here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.217248731681775.53017.104472242959425&type=1

* Don’t forget to follow DLIT on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/grccdlit to stay connected and up-to-date for events such as this one!

Equal Employment Opportunity and Non-Discrimination Policy Updated

GRCC’s Equal Employment Opportunity and Non-Discrimination Policy has been updated.  The changes made include:

  • Updated to include newly protected characteristics (”genetics”)
  • Includes investigation procedure (modeled after procedure set forth in harassment policies)
  • Includes links to relevant statutes (state and federal)
  • Clearly prohibits retaliation for filing or participating in an investigation
  • Includes policy holder: EEO Officer (Eric Williams)
Access the policy here, or on the Policies website at www.grcc.edu/policies

Energy Program Continues to Yield Savings for GRCC

GRCC’s energy savings have climbed to over $2.5 million after three years with the national Energy Education program. Here are the numbers:

  • Cost without Energy Management (what GRCC would have spent before instituting energy savings practices) $9,469,262
  • Actual Cost with Energy Management $7,732,451
  • Cost Avoidance 18.3%
  • Special savings from rebates through local utilities $915,764
  • Total Savings $2,652,575

This is an energy reduction impact of 126,330 MMBTU or 13,253 equivalent metric tons of CO2

This equates to :

  • 2,379 passenger cars not being driven for one year or
  • 338,993 tree seedlings growing for ten years

If you have a question about the GRCC Energy Program please email energy@grcc.edu