Daily Archives: March 26, 2019

GRCC In The News, 03-26-19

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GRCC basketball coach Luke Bronkema leaves the program
3/25/19 MLive
Luke Bronkema, coach of the Grand Rapids Community College men’s basketball team the past three seasons, has left the team to focus on his family, according to a release from the school.

San Diego Chef Tim Kolanko Leaves Blue Bridge Hospitality For New Role At Urban Kitchen Group
3/25/19 sandiegoville.com
We announced earlier this year that longtime Urban Kitchen Group Corporate Executive Chef Joe Magnanelli was leaving the hospitality company to take the helm at Brian Malarkey’s incoming Animae luxury Asian fusion restaurant. We now know that the restaurant collective behind Cucina Urbana and others has hired Tim Kolanko to fill the open position. Kolanko has been leading the culinary operations for more than 6 years at Blue Bridge Hospitality (Stake Chophouse, Leroy’s Kitchen, Liberty Public Market).
Chef Tim Kolanko boasts more than two decades of culinary experience working under some of the most respected chefs in San Diego and beyond. A graduate of the Culinary Arts program of Grand Rapids Community College, Kolanko spent months backpacking throughout Europe before joining the kitchen at the highly-acclaimed Tapawingo restaurant in Michigan in 2000. Kolanko went on to move to Aspen for a short stint before relocating to San Diego in 2002 to cook under The Lodge at Torrey Pines referred Executive Chef Jeff Jackson. In 2005, Kolanko was promoted to Chef de Cuisine of A.R. Valentien where he spent seven years honing his skills in Califoria [sic] cuisine. In 2013, Kolanko was named Executive Chef of Blue Bridge Hospitality, where he managed the kitchens at the companies many concepts, including Leroys Kitchen + Lounge, MooTime Creamery, Village Pizzeria, Lil Piggys Bar-B-Q, Coronado Coffee Company, Liberty Public Market, Stake Chophouse, West Pac Noodle Bar, Maretalia, and El Roy’s.

Employment Expertise: Learning new skills for second career
3/25/19 Hillsdale Daily News
Gina Mancha was displaced from a long career in automotive manufacturing and needed to find a new career.
… Gina attended classes at Grand Rapids Community College while working as an apprentice at Spectrum Health.

WTMC cultivates college success, personal growth
3/25/19 The Washtenaw Voice
Washtenaw Technical Middle College (WTMC) was established in 1997 and gives high school students a unique learning experience that allows them to graduate with up to 80 college credits.
… Although the concept of a technical middle college — commonly referred to as an early middle college — is relatively new, similar programs are seen throughout the state of Michigan. Eastern Michigan University, Central Michigan University, Grand Rapids Community College and Kalamazoo Valley Community College are a few examples of colleges in Michigan with resources available to high school students extending beyond dual enrollment.

Ryan Brady takes 20-year detour to Saginaw Valley State football program
3/26/19 MLive
SAGINAW, MI — After 20 years, Ryan Brady can finally call himself a Cardinal.
… He jumped into coaching, with high school stops at Muskegon, Chesaning, Montrose and Perry and working on college staffs at Grand Rapids Community College, Grand Valley and Ferris, where he has coached the past seven seasons.

Saginaw Valley State picks Ryan Brady, ex-GVSU quarterback, as new head coach
3/25/19 The Detroit News
Saginaw Valley State has a new head football coach.
… (Ryan) Brady also has worked on the staffs at Grand Valley State, as QBs coach in 2003, aside from several high-school positions (Perry High, Montrose High, Chesaning High, Muskegon High), and three years as the offensive coordinator at Grand Rapids Community College, which had the nation’s highest-scoring offense during his tenure.

Laikyn Pait Solid For Southeastern Softball
3/25/19 bladenonline.com
West Bladen grad Laikyn Pait batted 2-4 and slugged her third home run of the season Tuesday, but her Southeastern Community College Lady Ram softball team dropped an 11-7 decision to Louisburg.
… The sophmore [sic] catcher slammed 2 doubles, drove in 2 runs and scored a run in a 5-3 loss to Florence-Darlington Technical. Pait doubled and scored twice in an 11-2 win over Grand Rapids Community College.

Multiple road closures in downtown Grand Rapids this Thursday

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The City of Grand Rapids has announced street and parking lot closures for Thursday as part of a large event at Van Andel Arena. The event is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

The immediate streets around Van Andel Arena, 130 Fulton St. W., will be closed starting at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28. The street closures are expected to last until about 8:30 p.m. They are:

  • Fulton Street West from Ottawa to Ionia
  • Weston Street SW west of Ionia
  • Oakes Street SW from Ottawa to Ionia
  • Ottawa Avenue SW from Fulton to Oakes

The Area 2 lot on Oakes Street SW and Area 3 lot on Ionia Avenue SW will be closed to all users starting at midnight Wednesday through midnight Thursday. All access cardholders for these lots will have access to the Louis Campau ramp on Monroe Avenue NW and McConnell Ionia lot on McConnell Street SW during that time.

Metered parking will not be allowed in the following areas:

  • Ottawa Avenue NW between Oakes and Fulton
  • Oakes Street SW between Grandville and Market
  • Weston Street SW between Ottawa and Grandville
  • Weston Street SW west of Ionia
  • Lot at Fulton Street SW and Ionia

The event is expected to draw between 10,000 and 12,000 attendees. With road closures and additional motorists and pedestrians, downtown travelers can expect heavy traffic and possible delays.

Personnel from the Grand Rapids and Wyoming police departments, Kent County Sheriff’s Department, and Michigan State Police will be on hand to direct traffic and help ensure the public’s safety.

Construction to affect Westbound I-196 from April through August

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A map showing the detour for I-196 construction. The map directs westbound drivers to plan to take the I-96 intersection (just west of the East Beltline) and to stay on I-96 W until reaching 131-South, which should be taken until it reconnects with I-196 just after that highway crosses the Grand River.

Starting this Monday, April 1, the Michigan Department of Transportation will begin a construction project to reconstruct and widen Westbound I-196 over the Grand River.

A complete closure of Westbound I-196 from Ottawa Ave to Lane Ave will be in place from April-August.

Ramp closures at the US-131/I-196 interchange in Downtown Grand Rapids will also take place beginning April 1.

Please note: Westbound I-196 will be open to the Ottawa Exit, but all remaining traffic on WB I-196 MUST EXIT AT OTTAWA.

Westbound I-196 will be closed prior to US-131, so US-131 traffic will be detoured to I-96 as show on the map above.

Recap: more than 700 visited GRCC Saturday during Spring Open House

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Thank you to all staff who represented 34 of our academic and service departments this past Saturday at our annual Spring Open House.  We loved seeing the interaction between you and these new and prospective students.  We had over 700 folks on campus Saturday.

Look for an email soon on dates for the Raider Rally and the Fall Open House!  We’d love to have your departments represented at these events.

A special shout out to Bayard Brooks, Becky Yoder, and Luba Petrash for helping us with setup and food!

Mathematics seminar tomorrow in Cook

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The Grand Rapids Community College Mathematics Department is pleased to announce that it will host its next Mathematics Seminar tomorrow from 3-4 p.m. in 102 Cook.

Our speaker, GRCC faculty member Alejandro Saldivar, will be discussing Linear Programming.

Linear Programming, developed in the 1940s to help with the war effort, found many uses in the post-war economy.  With the principle goal of allocating resources in the best possible way, it continues to find important applications in areas as diverse as airline crew scheduling, creation of investment portfolios, and developing communications networks.  It also possesses inherent mathematical beauty, and its fundamental principles are accessible to anyone who can graph lines and find points of intersection.  As is the case with all of our seminars, everyone is welcome!

Details:

  • DATE: Tomorrow, March 27
  • TIME: 3-4 p.m. (Refreshments served at 2:45 p.m.)
  • PLACE: 102 Cook
  • SUBJECT: Systems of Linear Equations, Linear Programming, and the Simplex Method

The Simplex Method is used to optimize logistic problems such as transportation scheduling.  In this talk, we review some history and insight into the method from geometric and vectorial points of view.

This talk is suitable for anyone with an intermediate algebra background.

 

 

Final winter 2019 Culinary Speaker Series talk next Monday in the ATC

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Poster for the GRCC Culinary Speak Series. The poster has photos for each of three upcoming events, “Paths to Becoming a Chef” on February 4, “Zingerman’s Building a Culture of Great Service” on March 11, and “Creating Magic-Creating Outstanding Experiences and Positive Change” on April 1. The text reads: “Culinary Speaker Series. Paths to Becoming a Chef. [First event] Monday, February 4, 2019. 5:30 p.m. Reception, sponsored by Key Impact Group. 6:15 p.m. Speakers: Shawn Kohlhaas, President ACF Greater Grand Rapids Chefs Association and Owner of Culinary Cultivations; Werner Absenger, Ph.D., M.S., Program Director for the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education. Looking to advance your career, but not sure how? Join us to learn about the paths to becoming a chef and the pieces necessary to achieve that goal. We’ll talk about different certifications and academic degrees that may provide opportunities for upward mobility. 7:30–8 p.m. Q & A. [Second event] Zingerman’s Building a Culture of Great Service. Monday, March 11, 2019. 5:30 p.m. Reception, sponsored by Way Point. 6:15 p.m. Guest Speaker, Tabitha Mason. Tabitha Mason has served as Service Steward for the entire Zingerman’s organization. In this role, she was responsible for overseeing and implementing Zingerman’s nationally renowned approach to customer service for its ten businesses. She did this by analyzing and leveraging companywide service data, managing internal customer service training, and chairing a committee of service champions to execute companywide service improvements. Tabitha has continued her role as a trainer with ZingTrain, in which she shares the renowned Zingerman’s approach to giving great service with businesses throughout the country. 7:30–8 p.m. Q & A. [Third event] Creating Magic-Creating Outstanding Experiences and Positive Change. Monday, April 1, 2019. 5:30 p.m. Reception, sponsored by Hormel and Fontanini. 6:15 p.m. Guest Speaker, Ken Wasco. Ken Wasco is the Customer Effectiveness Manager at Gordon Food Service. He conducts hundreds of seminars and workshops on ways to achieve higher levels of personal effectiveness through an emphasis on communication skills across the foodservice industry. 7:30–8 p.m. Q & A. The events are held at GRCC’s Wisner-Bottrall Applied Technology Center (ATC) at 151 Fountain St. NE. For more information, please contact the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education at (616) 234-3690, or email culinary@grcc.edu. All participants are welcome. Those in need of accommodations please contact Secchia Institute for Culinary education at (616) 234-3690.”

Winter 2019 Culinary Speaker Series

Monday, April 1, 2019: Creating Magic-Creating Outstanding Experiences and Positive Change

  • 5:30 p.m. Reception, sponsored by Hormel and Fontanini
  • 6:15 p.m. Guest Speaker, Ken Wasco
  • Ken Wasco is the Customer Effectiveness Manager at Gordon Food Service. He conducts hundreds of seminars and workshops on ways to achieve higher levels of personal effectiveness through an emphasis on communication skills across the foodservice industry.
  • 7:30–8 p.m.     Q & A

 

The events are held at GRCC’s Wisner-Bottrall Applied Technology Center (ATC) at 151 Fountain St. NE.

For more information, please contact the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education at (616) 234-3690, or email culinary@grcc.edu.

All participants are welcome. Those in need of accommodations please contact Secchia Institute for Culinary education at (616) 234-3690.