Daily Archives: December 5, 2013

GRCC In the News, 12-5-13

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Former GRCC President Richard Calkins, who led school for 23 years, dies

Dec. 4, 2013; MLive

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Former Grand Rapids Community College President Richard Calkins, who led the college for more than two decades and oversaw a period of tremendous growth, has died.

Former GRCC President Richard Calkins passes away

Dec. 4, 2013; WZZM

GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) — The Grand Rapids Community College family is mourning the loss of its former president.

GRCC mourns death of President Emeritus Richard W. Calkins

Dec. 4, 2013; News International

Dec. 4, 2013 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids Community College faculty and staff are mourning the Nov. 29 death of President Emeritus Richard W. Calkins, who led unprecedented campus expansion and the college’s transformation as an independent institution.

Teacher Who Died In Crash Left Lasting Impression On Former Students

Dec. 4, 2013; FOX 17

HAMILTON, Mich. — High school teacher Joshua Hoppe was on his way to an early morning meeting at the high school when he was involved in a fatal crash near the Tulip City Truck Stop.

… “I go to GRCC and I was balling my eyes out right before class,” said (Raelyn) Prikasky. “I feel it really hasn’t sunk in yet.”

Schools improve building energy efficiency with auditing services

Dec. 4, 2013; strategicsourceror.com

Schools in Grand Rapids are set to benefit from an energy audit provided by the Michigan Department of Energy’s Rebuild Michigan program, according to MLive.

… Other school districts in the state as well as Grand Rapids Community College have used auditing services to enhance the sustainability of their operations. Out of the district’s 43 buildings, Hesselink said the committee will look into aging and more recent buildings to be part of the audit, which will begin by collecting 12 months of energy data to serve as a baseline.

Records: Ferris State football coach shook player before suspension

Dec. 4, 2013; The Detroit Free Press

BIG RAPIDS — Records show that Ferris State football coach Tony Annese shook a player and struck two others on the shoulder pads in a locker room outburst that led to an eight-day suspension last month.

… Annese, whose team was 8-3 this season, was suspended with pay and forced to miss the Bulldogs victory at Northwood on Nov. 9. He previously coached at Muskegon High and Grand Rapids Community College.

Ferris State coach Tony Annese’s suspension: Readers debate if actions justified discipline

Dec. 4, 2013; MLive

BIG RAPIDS, MI – Ferris State’s Tony Annese is widely known as an emotional and passionate coach who has a long resume of leading winning football programs.

He is also one of the most well-known coaches in the state, with 22 years of high school experience – at Montrose, Ann Arbor Pioneer, Jenison and Muskegon along with three state championships – and three successful years at Grand Rapids Community College before he took over at Ferris State two seasons ago.

Retired professor hosts book signing

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Roger Schlosser, a retired GRCC social sciences professor, is hosting a book signing for his new book trilogy! The books are written under his Irish name  — Ruairi O’Cashel — and are titled Erin Go Bragh I: The Beginning 1969-1973; Erin Go Bragh II: The Middle of an Era 1975-1982; and Erin Go Bragh III: The End of an Era 1995-2002. You can find them here.

The signing will be 1-3 p.m. December 8 at the Barnes & Noble in the Woodland Mall, 3195 28th St. SE.

Don’t forget about his first work under his American name: Family History, Stories and Other Lives.

Math seminar to look at significant digits

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The Grand Rapids Community College Mathematics Department will host its last Mathematics Seminar of the Fall 2013 semester on Thursday, December 5, 3:00 – 4:00 PM in 107 Cook.  Our presenter, GRCC Mathematics Instructor Dana Sammons, will discuss the importance of, and the mathematics behind, significant digits.

The mathematics in this seminar will be accessible to anyone with good number sense, and should be of interest to those who wish to accurately represent the results of mathematical analyses of real-world problems.  Everyone in the greater GRCC community is welcome.

Pop and cookies will be served at 2:45 PM.

Significant Figures: The Mathematics Behind Their Significance

 Significant Figures are:

  • those digits that carry meaning contributing to its precision (Wikipedia)
  • the number of important digits in an expression (Whatis)

Just as many people believe what they read on websites like Wikipedia and Whatis when it might not be justified, often people believe that numbers are significant without carefully considering whether they deserve it.

In “The Pedagogy of Poverty vs. Good Teaching,” M. Abraham suggests we should provide students with a meaning-driven curriculum. If we are to analyze, discuss and interpret the meaning of the results of calculations with any integrity, we must know with what precision we should assign the numbers.

This talk will look into the mathematics behind the “rules” associated with significant figures, including some of the suggested improvements people have made over time.