How GRCC’s Board of Trustees evaluated its own performance
April 30, 2014; MLive
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The Grand Rapids Community College Board of Trustees is doing a good job focusing on student success and monitoring institutional policies, but still struggles with perceptions that its members are divided and weak on some issues.
Congratulations to our amazing, hard-working employees who have earned their master’s degrees this past weekend!
Congrats to Arthur Johnson, of the Provost’s office; MaryBeth Beighley, of Staff Development; and Leah Kicinski, of Service Learning!
Introducing GRCC’s first annual Wellness Student of the Year, Kelsea Erickson! Kelsea spent last summer studying Yoga in India. In India, Kelsea completed her 200 hour RYT Yoga credentials. When Kelsea got back to Grand Rapids, she immediately began to plug herself in volunteering her time teaching yoga in the community. She now teaches at a yoga studio downtown and has a steady following of participants. Kelsea is full of life, always positive, and looking to make a difference. Kelsea has been a star student in the various Wellness Classes she has taken at GRCC and plans to take the knowledge learned in her classes and turn her passion into a career! This past year at GRCC she began a running club, helped another Yoga 2 student plan her trip to India, and is a positive force among her colleagues, always looking to lend a hand. Congratulations Kelsea, you are very deserving of this award!
Arts Outreach music program invites you to attend their Suzuki Strings Spring Concert on Thursday, May 1 at 6:00pm! Performance will be held at First (Park) Congregational Church Sanctuary. Admission is free. Reception to follow. Violinists ages 4-14 will perform as a group variety of repertoire, from Classical Martini’s “Gavotte” to folk songs, finishing the concert with a festive arrangement of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Suzuki Strings ensemble performed outreach performances for Pilgrim Manor, Lacks Cancer Center, the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans, Meijer Heart Center, and DeVos Children’s Hospital as well as a number of area inner city schools.
GRCC Arts Outreach is a community music school accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) and affiliated with the GRCC Music Department. This accreditation holds the program to a high standard of excellence in music education. Music faculty provide individual and group instruction on violin, viola, cello, guitar, flute and piano, offering both traditional and Suzuki instruction on select instruments. Courses are available from beginner to advanced levels of study and students of all ages are welcomed. The program employs twelve highly qualified instructors and serves over 100 students from the Greater Grand Rapids area. For more information about the program, please visit grcc.edu/ArtsOutreach.
As we near the end of the 2013-14 fiscal year, Staff Development is winding down its offerings. If you still need professional development hours, please take a minute to check out the May workshops shown below. All of our workshops are open to GRCC staff and any faculty member (full-time or adjunct). You can click on individual events to see details, and also register online at http://www.grcc.edu/staffdevelopment/currentlearningopportunitiesregistration.
M&C Merit Compensation System
The session will be an overview of the Meet & Confer Merit Compensation System (formerly called our ‘pay for performance’ system). Participants will: Gain an overall understanding of the Meet & Confer Merit Compensation System; Review performance evaluation tool (slight changes); Review worksheet supervisors used to recommend pay increases (slight changes); and ask questions about the new system and rollout.
MACRAO Agreement Ending Summer of 2014
The current MACRAO agreement that helps students transfer from Michigan community colleges to Michigan four year institutions is starting a sunset process in fall 2014. This session will answer the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY and HOW and will provide implementation details of the new Michigan Transfer Agreement (MTA) that will take MACRAO’s place at GRCC. All faculty and staff are welcome to attend this session to learn about the new MTA, understand how the MTA will be implemented at GRCC, learn where to find MTA resources at GRCC and have their questions answered.
Tue May 6 from 9-10 AM in Room 125 CSC
P&C Bank Lunch & Learn –Securing Your Retirement
Part of the PNC Bank ‘Community Development Banking Lunch & Learn’ series. Join Andrew Zeno, Certified Financial Planner and Financial Advisor, and Dewey Doyle, Financial Specialist, both from PNC Investments, to learn how to transform Social Security into a winning retirement strategy. PNC Bank will be providing a complimentary lunch to all attending this presentation.
Wed May 7 from 12-1 PM in Room 016 Admin
Diabetes Prevention-Keep it Going!
Making healthy lifestyle changes can help prevent diabetes. This course, created by the Michigan Department of Community Health and based on the National Diabetes Prevention Program, empowers students to set their own goals and make change happen. Participants will learn how food choices and exercise can help reduce blood sugar and the risk of diabetes and its complications. Individuals with or without a pre-diabetes diagnosis will benefit.
Thu May 8 from 12-1:30 PM in Room 125 CSC
Before You Hit “Send”: A Guide to Better Workplace Communication
Did you know that one-third of all workers fall short of their employers’ expectations for writing skills? Studies show that poor writers don’t get hired or miss out on promotions, and American companies are spending $3 billion annually, training employees’ basic writing skills. (Source: thereportcard.org). In this interactive workshop, you’ll learn timesaving tips and pointers on writing clear, concise and complete messages, including grammar, punctuation, structure and style. We’ll also spend time discussing how to best use email, phone and face-to-face communication, how to create stronger presentations and how to make the most of meetings.
Wed May 14 from 9-11 AM in Room 016 Admin
Alzheimer Support Group
Whether you are caring for an aging loved one who can no longer live without your help or for a loved one with Alzheimer’s, GVSU recognizes the challenges that you are facing. Being a caregiver is known for placing a great burden on the caregiver. The pressures can be wide-ranging, and touch the social, psychological, physical, and economic facets of the caregiver’s life. Get the support that you need by attending the GVSU Caregiver and Alzheimer’s Support Group.
Aging Parents-7 Warning Signs of Declining Health
Concerned about your parents’ health? How can you be sure they are successfully taking care of themselves and staying healthy? Learn 7 warning signs and appropriate actions to take in order to enhance their health!
Tue May 20 from 10:30-11:30 in Room 125 CSC
Mindful Leadership
Mindful Leadership is all about leading with wisdom and empowerment. By taking a more methodical, collaborative, yet direct approach mindful leaders inspire others to draw from within and employ internal wisdom in achieving personal, professional and organizational objectives. In this workshop, we will explore the concepts of mindfulness and how the practice increases focus and performance. We will also look at leadership from a holistic perspective and how the practice of mindfulness can help build strong teams and heal a toxic workplace. Finally, we will challenge the leader in all of us to cultivate a more authentic and disciplined path to success.
Wed May 21 from 9 Am – 12 PM in Room 125 CSC
What Daddies Do Best
Like football, fatherhood is about winning. But it’s more than just scoring points. It’s about winning the hearts and minds of your children and leaving a rich legacy of love for future generations. This group of GVSU and GRCC dads meets twice a semester to talk about topics related to fatherhood. It’s facilitated by Sharalle Arnold, director of the Children’s Enrichment Center, and Sue Sloop, Work Life Consultant.
Thu May 22 from 12-1 PM in Room 2264 Kirkhof Center, GVSU Allendale campus
Roundtable for Higher Education Young Professionals
To complement the leadership networking events, this session will be a roundtable discussion between early and seasoned higher education professionals designed to promote dialogue while increasing collaboration, networking and forward career planning for young professionals in higher education.
Thu May 22 from 1-3 PM in Room 340, Bicycle Factory, GVSU GR campus
Social Contracts… An Intentional Approach
Whether you are leading in a classroom, a small group meeting, or managing a project, the Social Contract approach will assist you in an intentional process of building and defining inclusive principles, guidelines and consequences for social behaviors. Do not play the expectation guessing game in regard to appropriate social behaviors. Instead, attend this workshop, which will: Introduce a model of an intentional, inclusive Social Contract approach; Practice the model by developing your own Social Contract; Share wisdom with other teachers, community organizers, and professionals; and take back the model to your community.
Tue May 27 from 11:30 AM – 1 PM in Room 308 Sneden
Institute for Healing Racism
THIS IS A TWO-DAY COURSE: The Institute for Healing Racism is a powerful and thought provoking venue that brings together diverse groups of people to explore and address issues of race and racism. Participants have the opportunity to examine how the dis-ease of racism affects all people and develop skills to detect institutional racism in our daily environments (i.e. home, workplace, community, organization and business).
A message from President Ender:
This is Provost Gely’s last week at GRCC and I would like your help in saying THANK YOU to her for her exemplary service to the college and to our students. Please take the time to stop by her office, or send her an email wishing her well in her new endeavors at Aquinas, as I know you will miss her as much as I will.
From Michael Schavey, of the Department of Experiential Learning:
I wanted to thank the Armen Awards Planning Team for another successful year!
Local athletes compete at collegiate level
April 29, 2014; cadillacnews.com
… Grand Rapids Community College sophomore Amanda Steig (Reed City H.S.) is hitting .333 with 11 RBIs for the Raiders’ softball team through 26 games played.
Muskegon Community College sports recap: Baseball team gets coach Cap Pohlman’s 500th win
April 28, 2014; MLive
MUSKEGON, MI — With less than two weeks of the regular season left to play, the Muskegon Community College baseball team now sits in first place with a two-game lead in the MCCAA standings heading into the home stretch of its schedule.
… Earlier in the week, MCC swept Lake Michigan College (April 24) and Cornerstone University JV (April 23), split with Grand Rapids Community College (April 22) and dropped a single game against Aquinas College (April 21).
Projects to create age-appropriate biology lessons for schoolchildren, assist Gilda’s Club with LaughFest, and support those who work with cancer patients and survivors were named winners in Grand Rapids Community College’s 2014 Armen Awards.
The winners were announced during a ceremony on April 25, 2014:
[First Place: $3,000] Sarah Krajewski and her Biology for Educators course partnered with Immaculate Heart of Mary School.
[Second Place: $1,500] Bethann Talsma and her Office Ethics and Etiquette course partnered with Gilda’s Club.
[Third Place: $750] Jolanta Lanier and her Personal Health course partnered with the American Cancer Society.
The other finalists were:
Learn more about this event by visiting www.grcc.edu/armenawards
The May issue of the Exercise Science Department newsletter includes a recipe for Low-Fat Lemon Bars and the Ultimate Outdoor Workout. To read the newsletter, click here.
Project cost management includes the processes involved in planning, estimating, budgeting, financing, funding, managing, and controlling costs so that a project can be completed within its approved budget. The four main processes are as follows:
Plan Cost Management – The process that establishes the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, managing, expending, and controlling project costs.
Estimate Costs – The process of developing an approximation of the monetary resources needed to complete project activities.
Determine Budget – The process of aggregating the estimated costs of individual activities or work packages to establish an authorized cost baseline.
Control Costs – The process of monitoring the status of the project to update the project costs and managing changes to the cost baseline.
Project cost management is primarily concerned with the cost of the resources needed to complete project activities. For example, in the IT Project Management Office, we often manage system implementation projects. More often than not, beyond the initial cost of a system, which is often pricey, the annual maintenance renewal costs are also pricey – especially over time – and must be considered when determining the true cost of the systems we implement. This also helps to determine whether or not a system is financially sustainable over time. If it is determined that a system is not financially sustainable, it is the duty of the project manager to inform the project’s sponsor of this and encourage him or her to reconsider moving forward with the project.
There are likely additional costs incurred, too, when implementing new systems that may include additional hardware and software, training, and/or consulting. Employing project cost management processes and integrating them with requirements and planning processes helps to ensure that the short term and long term costs are considered carefully, so projects are funded sufficiently.
Next week we’ll look at project human resource management.
Excerpts and definitions were taken from the following:
(2013) A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide) Fifth edition. Newtown Square, Pa.: Project Management Institute, Inc., pg. 193 and 195.
A message from President Ender:
This is Provost Gely’s last week at GRCC and I would like your help in saying THANK YOU to her for her exemplary service to the college and to our students. Please take the time to stop by her office, or send her an email wishing her well in her new endeavors at Aquinas, as I know you will miss her as much as I will.
Turning Point Academy is holding a fundraiser at El Barrio on April 30, 2014, from 5:00-9:00pm. This is to raise funds for the senior trip and senior luncheon this year.
On May 5, there will be a change in the way students log into their GRCC email.
The old way for example:
Username: johnsmith
The new way:
Username: johnsmith@email.grcc.edu
Mathematics professor Alejandro Saldivar contributed to the April 27 health section of The Grand Rapids Press. If you have Facebook, you can see the article here.
The daily employee newsletter of Grand Rapids Community College 