For the thirteenth year we are pleased to offer a unique form of professional development for GRCC employees.
This work has grown out of the Formation work of Dr. Parker J. Palmer, noted educational leader and author, and builds upon a decade of Formation work at GRCC for leaders, faculty, and staff. In addition, Grand Rapids Community College is part of a network of colleges, health care organizations, K-12 districts, philanthropic organizations, law firms, government agencies, and community leaders engaged in this form of deep professional development. More info on the national work can be found at the Center for Courage and Renewal and Richland Colleges Center for Renewal and Wholeness in Higher Education.
For three days, GRCC faculty and staff are invited to step away from their daily work activities to consider the personal and professional questions of working at the college. The themes and questions to consider Include:
- Why were you called to this work?
- What is the intention of your work?
- How do you stay renewed in your role?
These retreats offer a safe space to pose questions, seek answers, examine motives, and explore new ideas about the most important work we do at the college. The goal is to help those who work at GRCC sustain and renew their passion, enthusiasm, and commitment to the students, their colleagues, the college, and the communities they serve.
In this retreat, skilled facilitators help create a quiet, focused, and disciplined space in which participants can pause and reflect on their own beliefs about working at the college. In large group, small group, and solitary settings, we will explore the intersection of our personal and professional lives, making use of stories from our own journeys, and insights from poets, storytellers, and various wisdom traditions. These retreats strive to develop a deeper understanding of how your role at the college intersects with who you are as a person.
Grounded in reflective practice, these retreats have sufficient research based evidence supporting a positive impact on the development of employees and their organization(s).
Introduction to Formation Retreat:
Begins at 5:00 PM Wed, May 13, 2015 and ends with lunch on Fri, May 15, 2015
Location: The Gilchrist Retreat Center near Three Rivers, MI http://www.fetzer.org/retreat-facilities/gilchrist/overview.
This retreat is for any Faculty or Staff member who HAS NOT PARTICIPATED in a previous Formation Retreat.
Continuing Formation Retreat:
Begins at 5:00 PM Sunday May 10, 2015 and ends with lunch on Tuesday May 12, 2015
Location: The Gilchrist Retreat Center near Three Rivers, MI http://www.fetzer.org/retreat-facilities/gilchrist/overview.
This retreat is for any Faculty or Staff member who HAS PARTICIPATED in a previous Formation Retreat, and would like to revisit the experience.
You can register for either retreat at http://www.grcc.edu/staffdevelopment/currentlearningopportunitiesregistration or call Staff Development at 616.234.4285. If you have questions about the retreat, feel free to email Frank Conner at fconner@grcc.edu, call him at 616.234.3612, or contact Judy Jankowski at jjankows@grcc.edu or call her at 616.234.4409.
Participation is open to all GRCC employees who have participated in an introductory retreat. However, we can only accommodate 10 participants. Given this, out of fairness, priority will be given to those faculty and staff who have not participated in previous continuing retreats. If you are interested and have participated in previous continuing retreats, please sign-up. You will be notified as soon as possible if there is an opening. Participants must commit to all three days of the series.
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