Mechanical problems mean laundry delays at Ford Fieldhouse

Those who rely on Ford Fieldhouse’s usually quick and, for the most part, efficient laundry system will need to know that our equipment has experienced a mechanical breakdown. Repair parts are on order. During this hopefully short period, things will very likely run quite a bit slower than usual, as we are having to manually take everything off location, do the laundry, and then return it ourselves. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

GRCC In the News, 3-23-16

Grand Rapids graduation rates climb above 50 percent, dropout figures fall

March 11, 2016; MLive

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Grand Rapids Public Schools saw a 6.6 percent increase in high school graduation rates, moving above 50 percent for the first time in years, according to data released by the state Thursday.

… Below are the alternative school 2015 graduation rates:

… Grand Rapids Learning Center – 50 percent

Wolfpack golfers win Ron Marshall spring fling tournament

March 22, 2016; Daily Leader (Brookhaven, Miss.)

SCOTTSBORO, Ala. — The Co-Lin Wolfpack golf team won the Ron Marshall Spring FlingTournament held at Goose Pond Colony Golf Course in Scottsboro, Alabama. The Wolfpack 22 shots ahead second-place John A. Logan College (IL). Co-Lin freshman Philip Heine captured medalist honors shooting a 67 in the final round for a three-day total of 215 (74-74-67) one stroke ahead of Jordan Hanre of Rend Lake College (IL).

Finishing in third place was Rend Lake College (IL) at 916, Walters State Community College (TN) at 921, Vincennes University (IN) at 924, Mineral Area College (MO) at 954, Grand Rapids Community College (MI) at 927, Kalkaskia College (IL) at 988, and Lincoln Trail College (IL) at 991.

Mathematics Seminar is today

The Grand Rapids Community College Mathematics Department is pleased to announce that it will host its next Mathematics Seminar on Wednesday, March 23, 3:00-4:00 PM in 101 Cook.  Our speaker, GRCC Mathematics Instructor Curt Baragar, will discuss the history and some fundamental concepts of statistics, including a glimpse into the lives of those who helped develop modern statistics. The title and abstract of his talk are below.

Curt’s talk will be accessible to a wide range of students and faculty.  A strong background in statistics is not required.  As always, everyone is welcome.

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

Stories of Statistics

We will take a brief walk through the history of statistics, occasionally stopping off the path to take a look at some of the colorful characters who have contributed to this field.  Also, along the way we will consider questions such as: How much longer should you expect to live?  What do you mean by “average”?  What do actuaries do?  What is a p-value, what is a double-blind study, and why are these important?

School of Arts and Sciences, English Department host event focused on fracking

On at 7 p.m. April 12 in the ATC auditorium, GRCC’s School of Arts and Sciences and English Department will host an evening of music and readings from Fracture: Essays, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in America (IceCube Press, 2016).

Fracture features well-known environmental writers – Rick Bass, Alison Hawthorn Deming, Linda Hogan, Derrick Jensen, Richard Manning, Bill McKibben, Stephanie Mills, Kathleen Dean Moore, Carolyn Raffensperger – and GRCC’s Maryann Lesert, responding to fracking, expanding pipelines, and threats to water, community, and place. The book also examines our relationship with Earth and the place of art in changing culture.

The April 12 evening will include readings from Fracture by authors Maryann Lesert, GRCC Associate Professor of English, Fracture co-editor Stefanie Brook Trout, and Michigan author Stephanie Mills. (Author bios appear below.)

Sarah Barker (Sairuhnade), a GRCC student and former recipient of GRCC’s Sigal Peace and Justice Scholarship, will perform songs from For the Water, an album written in response to oil and gas development (fracking) in Michigan’s state forests.

A book signing will follow the reading. Fracture and For the Water will be available for purchase at the event.

Fracture has been selected as a Midwest Connections book pick by the Independent Booksellers Association. IceCube Press’s release on Fracture (PDF) and book trailer appear at this link.

Author/Musician Bios:

Sarah Barker (with Max Lockwood) will perform songs from her 2014 album For the Water. The album was produced with support from GRCC’s Sigal Peace and Justice Scholarship and Barker donates profits to Michigan Land Air Water Defense, a local organization formed to protect public land from oil and gas drilling. Barker graduated from GRCC in 2014 and is now working toward a degree in Geochemistry.

Stefanie Brook Trout’s nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and drama explore the dynamic interactions between people and their surroundings, including social and built environments as well as the ecosphere. Her work has appeared in The Writing Disorder, Cardinal Sins, Festival Writer, ELM, and other environmental and place-based publications. In addition to co-editing Fracture with Taylor Brorby, Trout edited Prairie Gold: An Anthology of the American Heartland (2014).

Maryann Lesert is a playwright, novelist, and journalist who teaches creative writing and writing based on the environment at Grand Rapids Community College. Her first novel, Base Ten, was published by the Feminist Press in 2009. Threshold, her current novel in progress, grew from two years of boots-on-well-sites research on fracking in Michigan’s state forests. Lesert is grateful to GRCC for the Sabbatical (2014) that supported the completion of Threshold.

Stephanie Mills is the author of Epicurean Simplicity, In Service of the Wild, and four other books. Over the past 40 years, her writing has appeared in Orion, Resurgence, CoEvolution Quarterly, and American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau (2008). Mills also appears in PBS’s American Experience: Earth Days (2010) documentary which chronicles the American environmental movement. A longtime devotee of bioregionalism and a Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute, Mills has lived in northwest lower Michigan since 1984.

Workshops cover FMLA, name changes

Staff development workshop offerings:

• Have you ever wondered what the Family Medical Leave Act is all about? Have you ever wondered if you or one of your employee’s had a “qualifying event” but were afraid to ask? Please join us for workshop facilitated by our very own Lydia Cruz on Wednesday, March 30th from 9:30am – 11:00am learn about the in and outs of the policy, intermittent FMLA, and the GRCC FMLA policy. You will also learn what a qualifying event is for you or an immediate family member and what is covered while you are on leave.

• Find time for YOU! Attend our “Finding ME Time” workshop on Friday, April 1st from 10:00am – 11:00am to gather tips on how to take time out of your busy schedule to focus on yourself! From saying no to some commitments, to treating yourself from time to time, come learn all the ways to make yourself a priority and how your daily life can benefit from it.

• Kimberly DeVries will be highlighting our new procedures for preferred name changes and email address changes, as well as explain our processes in this area. The discussion will include the overarching goals of our policy, and how employees can assist in fulfilling those goals. Questions are welcome on the policy, procedures, and how to aid students in accessing our processes. Please join us on Wednesday, April 13th from 9:30am – 11:00am!

• Join us for an in-depth conversation examining how the dis-ease of racism affects all people in our daily environments. The Institute for Healing Racism is a powerful, thought provoking workshop intended to bring people together to explore issues of race and racism in a two part series held Thursday, May 19th from 8:45am – 5:00pm and Friday, May 20th from 9:00am – 3:30pm.