Monday evening the Child Development & Education department celebrated the Teachers of Tomorrow Scholarship winners with an awards dinner. These students were hand selected to receive the scholarships to assist in their teacher education journey. Congratulations to all scholarship winners!
Category Archives: Appointments, Awards, Recognitions, Degrees and Certifications
Communications Team Comes Home With Silver
GRCC’s Communications Dept. team received a second place at the NCMPR national conference this year in the banners and outdoor advertising category.
NCMPR, the National Council of Marketing and Public Relations, is comprised of communications, marketing and promotion professionals from community colleges across the U.S. This year NCMPR received 1,786 entries from 276 two-year institutions.
GRCC Chef Professor Kevin Dunn Competes in 2012 All Star Chefs Dinner
GRCC Chef Professor Kevin Dunn competed this year’s All Star Chefs Dinner at BraVo Restaurant in Kalamazoo. Eight competitors from local restaurants each handled a different course. After the dishes were plated, the chefs had the opportunity to interact with diners and explain their dish. In all, 175 people turned out for the event.
Chef Dunn’s dish was the opening “Amuse” course and was titled “Looking Back and Then Forward” and was entirely vegan. It contained a Frozen Carrot Mousse Lollipop, Carrot Marshmallow Brulee, and a Carrot Shooter.
To view the rest of the courses and read more about the competitors, go here.
Congratulations to Garry Brand – 2012 Outstanding eLearning Faculty Award Recipient
GRCC congratulates Garry Brand, professor in the Business Department and Lead Faculty Facilitator in the department of Distance Learning and Instructional Technologies!
Garry was selected to receive the 2012 Award for Outstanding eLearning Faculty from the Instructional Technology Council (ITC). (GRCC became members of this well known and respected organization this year.)
Each year ITC selects an exemplary faculty member who has implemented outstanding and innovative teaching and class management strategies with demonstrated course success and excellent student retention.
Garry’s nomination was reviewed and chosen by panels of judges that were comprised of members of the ITC board of directors, past award winners, attendees at ITCs annual leadership academy, and other ITC members.
This recognition is extremely well-deserved and highlights his commitment to faculty professional development, quality, student success, innovation, and exemplary online course delivery. Garry is recognized on the front page of ITC and can be viewed here: http://www.itcnetwork.org/
Finally, he will have the opportunity to receive his award in person at a special luncheon at eLearning 2012, which will be held in Long Beach, California, on Feb. 18-21, 2012.
Distance Learning and Instructional Technologies Department
- Email DLIT at: dlit@grcc.edu
- Access DLIT on Web: grcc.edu/dlit
- LIKE DLIT on Facebook: facebook.com/grccdlit
Congratulations to Peggy Schoenborn on MBEA Award
GRCC Business Faculty Peggy Schoenborn was recently honored with the 2011 MBEA Emerging Professional Business Educator Award at the recent 2011 Michigan Business Education Association (MBEA) Conference this past week in East Lansing. Peggy earned the award for her work in the business education programs at Rockford High School and Grand Valley State University’s Teen Entrepreneur Summer Academy.
Excellence in Education Staff Award Winner Laurie Witczak
The winner of the Staff Excellence in Education Award for 2011 was Laurie Witczak in the Tutoring Department.
From her nomination form:
- “You hold yourself to extremely high standards and you manage to keep everything running smoothly without sacrificing efficiency or quality.”
- “You understand that each student comes to GRCC with different needs, skills and abilities. You work with each student and are able to bring out their strengths and encourage them to grow.”
- “You are always willing to look at a situation or problem and think outside the box to come up with creative solutions that will work for everyone.”
Video of Laurie’s well-received acceptance of the award available here:
Excellence in Education Faculty Award Winner Professor John Dersch
Mathematics Professor John Dersch was the recipient of the 2011 Excellence in Education faculty award last week at the Opening Day event.
Some of the comments on his nomination form included:
- “You are dedicated to teaching and you have a reputation for being tough on your students, yet you demand more of yourself than you do of them.”
- “When you meet students who need to be challenged beyond what is offered, you are willing to design independent studies or seminar classes to meet their needs.”
- “You hold yourself accountable for your students’ learning and progress through your classes. You spend an ungodly number of hours grading homework that you collect from all of your classes – you are the benchmark for many in your department.”
Video of the award ceremony and John’s heartfelt comments here:
Congratulations to Kevin Bowling on Election to National Office
Congratulations are in order for Kevin Bowling, an adjunct faculty member at GRCC’s Lakeshore Campus in the Criminal Justice Department. He was recently elected President of the National Association for Court Management, a great example of how our distinguished faculty provide students with contemporary, real-world education in the classroom as well as national connections.
The full details of the organization are available in this write-up in the Grand Haven Tribune:
Local court administrator named to national post
Grand Haven Tribune | 02:00 PM Jul 15 2011
Kevin Bowling, the administrator of the 20th Circuit and Ottawa County Probate courts, was recently elected president of the National Association for Court Management. The association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the administration of justice. With about 2,000 national and international members, it is the largest organization of court management professionals. (More)
Kudos to Dianne & Rob Burdick, Nick Antonakis, Robin Vanrooyen and Sue Lockwood on Arts Honors
[Updated] GRCC’s Visual Arts faculty are stepping outside the classroom to earn acclaim in the West Michigan arts community.
- Dianne Carroll Burdick and Rob Burdick, both of the GRCC Visual Arts Department, have won the People’s Choice Award at the The Muskegon Museum of Arts 83rd Regional Exhibition. The piece “Mosaic: 7000 Images of a Symphony’s Life” is part of the massive collection of images taken over part of Dianne Carroll Burdick’s career, formatted in to one large image.
- Robin Vanrooyen had a painting juried into the Festival of the Arts exhibit.
- Nick Antonakis also had a painting juried into the Festival of the Arts exhibit. Also, Nick Antonakis had two paintings juried into the Muskegon Museum of Arts 83rd Regional Exhibition and he was awarded the Grand Valley State University Purchase Award.
- Sue Lockwood, also in the Visual Arts department, was left off the original list – but she also showed her work at the 2011 Festival of the Arts competition.
All the works can be seen at the Muskegon Museum of art through August 3rd.
Congratulations to Jim Schultz on Acceptance in Sigma Alpha Lambda
Jim Schultz, Student Center Head Custodian, has recently been accepted as a member of GVSU’s Sigma Alpha Lambda. This National Leadership and Honors Organization at GVSU is dedicated to promoting and rewarding academic achievement and provides members with opportunities for community service, personal development, and lifelong professional fulfillment. Congratulations Jim!
GRCC World Quest Team Takes Championship
2011 World Quest champs Pictured in the front row Dorothy Mapes, Lisa Gloege and Heather Forrest. Standing are Keith St. Clair, Gordan Virusic, Roger Schlosser, Mike DeVivo and Yan Bai.
Congratulations to GRCC’s World Quest Team for taking first place at this year’s competition held at Aquinas College. The team comprised of members of the Social Science Department competed against teams from local colleges, businesses and community organization in answering 100 questions regarding international geography, economics, history, and political science. GRCC also won the event in 2007, and finished second last year.
Pictured in the front row Dorothy Mapes, Lisa Gloege and Heather Forrest. Standing are Keith St. Clair, Gordan Virusic, Roger Schlosser, Mike DeVivo and Yan Bai.
GRCC’s own Jan Ensing Presents “Landscape as a Geographical Double”
Kendall College of Art and Design (KCAD) of FSU, Gallery 104 is proud to present “Landscape as Geographical Double” a Masters Thesis Exhibition by Jan Ensing of GRCC’s Graphic Design department.
M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition: May 3-17, 2011
Reception: Saturday; May 14, 2011; 1-3 p.m.
KCAD Open House Reception: Tuesday; May 3, 2011; 4-7 p.m.
KCAD Open House Hours:
- Monday-Thursday; May 3-5, 2011; 9 a.m.- 9 p.m.
- Friday; May 6, 2011; 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
- Saturday; May 7, 2011; 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
Download a Flyer Here (.pdf)
English Professor David Cope Named Grand Rapids Poet Laureate
Well-deserved kudos to GRCC English Professor David Cope on being named “Grand Rapids Poet Laureate” by the Arts Council of Greater Grand Rapids this week. A reception at Egypt Valley Country Club will take place April 19 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in Cope’s honor. More details and the full press release available below the fold… Continue reading
Congratulations to Ryan Lockwood on big Wins at the Addy Awards
Image Courtesy Grand Rapids Press
GRCC Employee Ryan Lockwood of the Graphic Design and Communications Departments took home THREE of the American Advertising Federation West Michigan’s Addy awards in the student category at last night’s Addy awards including one Gold and one “Best of Show.”
Ryan is a student at Ferris State University’s Kendall College of Art & Design.
View Ryan’s “Aptera” Campaign here.
View the rest of his portfolio here.
Photos: Congratulations to Melanie Forbes – Adjunct Faculty Excellence Award Winner
The first annual Excellence in Teaching by Adjunct Faculty Award was presented last night, Tuesday, January 4, to Melanie Forbes of the Mathematics Department at a dinner held for Adjunct Faculty. Melanie has taught at GRCC since 1999. To quote from her nomination:
Melanie has worked in our department for many years and has always demonstrated her strong commitment to student learning. She consistently goes beyond her normal teaching responsibilities — finding and implementing innovative and effective ways to help students.”
Here are some pictures from the event.
The daily employee newsletter of Grand Rapids Community College 