celebrating success econnection - Michigan Community College

ISSUE 9
E
C O N N E C T I O N
AUGUST 2008
CELEBRATING SUCCESS
THIS MONTH
SMC’S NEW
HIRE
2
MICHIGAN IS
IN A PICKLE
4
BEST PRACTICES
5
SUMMER CON- 6
FERENCE
PHOTOS
COLLEGE LEADERS COME TOGETHER AT MCCA SUMMER
CONFERENCE IN TRAVERSE CITY
Last month, presidents, trustees
and state leaders gathered in Traverse City for the annual MCCA Summer Workshop. The conference
featured a number of speakers,
including Colonel Eileen Collins, a
community college graduate and
the first woman to pilot and command and American spacecraft.
The workshop theme centered
around the celebration of success—
an opportunity to recognize the
many accomplishments and
achievements of Michigan’s 28
community colleges, their leaders
and their alumni.
To access photos from the event,
please see page 4.
Governor Commemorates One Year Anniversary of No Worker Left
Behind During MCCA Summer Conference
Gov. Jennifer Granholm marked
the one-year anniversary of the
“No Worker Left Behind” in July
during the Michigan Community
College Association summer
workshop in Traverse City. More
than 100 community college
presidents, trustees and representatives gathered on the “State
of Michigan” training ship at the
Great Lakes Maritime Academy of
Northwestern Michigan College.
They heard several success stories, including a recent 53-year-
Governor Granholm addresses the crowd at
NMC’s Great Lakes Maritime Academy.
Entertainment was provided by
award-winning Tejano artist and St.
Clair County Community College
graduate Megan Leyva.
old Maritime Academy graduate
who called in from his job – on a
vessel that was underway in Lake
Huron. Demand for maritime personnel is so great that he started
work the day after receiving his
license. They also
heard about Joe
Houle, who is now
employed with the
Cheboygan County
Sheriff Department,
following retraining
after being layed off
from a factory in Petoskey.
The Governor thanked
community colleges
for the important role
they play in training
and retraining workers for indemand jobs. She also announced a $6 million investment
in training for jobs in alternative
energy industries. The Department of Labor & Economic
Growth will partner with community colleges, entrepreneurs and
employers to create the training programs employers need
to help green companies succeed in Michigan.
The Governor poses with students at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy at NMC.
E CONNECTION
Page 2
Internationally Acclaimed Author Joins MI Community College Family
Southwestern Michigan College hires award winning novelist and screenplay writer Michael D. Collins,
Ph.D.
Looking at his resume today, it’s hard to imagine
that author Michael D. Collins, Ph.D. struggled academically.
While an undergraduate student at the University of Notre
Dame, he made a conscious decision to move from being a C
student to an A student. It was a decision to change his life.
Collins now hopes he can change the lives of other
college students by teaching English Composition at Southwestern Michigan College.
“I can be a motivator” Collins said of his new faculty
position at SMC. “I can explain to my students that I struggled my first two years of college. I take pride in the decision
to change my life, but also credit those teachers who saw the
potential in me. Without their guidance, I could not have advanced. Early on I made a commitment to give back the gift
of learning.”
Collins comes to Southwestern Michigan College
with a distinguished list of credentials. He received both
Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.
He has written eight internationally acclaimed works of fiction that have won the Notable Books of the Year Awards
from the New York Times, Best American Short Story Award,
as well as being a finalist for The Booker Prize and Impac
Prize. Collins has taught for more than 10 years in both academia and business. He has taught undergraduate composition and writing across disciplines along with teaching graduate literature and creative writing at major universities including: The University of Notre Dame, The University of Illinois,
The Art Institute of Chicago and Western Washington University. His first screenplay, Julia, was released in 2008. Oscar
winning director, John Madden will be directing an adaptation of his novel The Resurrectionists.
Collins is no stranger to Cass County and the city of
Dowagiac. He has been coming to the area for 10 years as a
featured guest at the Dogwood Fine Arts Festival. He has
also lectured to students at Dowagiac Union High School.
“I really like this community,” Collins said. “So many
people today are fleeing small town America for big cities. I
want to do the opposite. We need to reinvest in small town
As a speaker at the 2008 MCCA Summer Conference last month in Traverse City, Dr. Collins
shared with us his thoughts about the community
college mission and the upcoming year at SMC.
His interview can be read on page 3.
America and my family and I are making a conscious decision
to do that.”
Collins had other teaching opportunities in the area.
However, his belief in reinvesting in small town America coupled with his desire to change the lives of young adults made
a community college the right fit.
“Community colleges are underrated when it comes
to the quality and value of the education,” Collins said. “I
learned very quickly during my interviews at SMC that instructors are committed to teaching.”
“I also feel that my life lessons would be best served
in a community college environment. I understand that students have other things going on in life and school may not be
the top priority. I firmly believe that a GPA should not define a
student. What I teach and instill in students is the opportunity
to re-envision whom and what they are, to leave behind past
legacies and focus on the present, while preparing them for
the future. I am committed to helping students advance so
they will succeed.”
Collins, along with his wife of 21 years and four children, ages six, four, three and one, will be relocating to Dowagiac this summer. Southwestern Michigan College’s fall semester begins September 2.
Author Michael D.
Collins Ph.D. has
joined the faculty at
SMC and spoke at
the MCCA Summer
Workshop in Traverse City on July
26.
ISSUE 9
Page 3
THE WILL TO SUCCEED
AN INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL D COLLINS, PH.D.
What is it about the community college institution that make you believe that they are the forum where you can most effectively reach students?
I feel that I was an academic late bloomer. I received a scholarship from Ireland to The University of Notre Dame where I
languished academically for two years with C grades (if I was lucky). I felt academically lost, not having the foundation
or skills necessary to succeed in college. At the beginning of my Junior Year, I approached a tutoring service and laid
bare my sense of frustration and despair. I had achieved so much athletically, and yet I could not translate that sense of
dedication into academics with any measure of success. Basically, I went through a process of re-education. I learned
the basics, started with the three paragraph essay, moved on through the various forms of writing for different audiences. It was an enlightening and revelatory journey. I began to understand how to construct an argument, define a
point, defend a point, etc.
Through the sheer will to want to succeed, and finding those willing to help me, I transformed in my last two years at
Notre Dame. By graduation, I was honored with the award for outstanding Arts and Letters Graduate for my creative and
academic essays. In the ensuing years, I earned a doctorate, again based on that belated kick-start my Junior year.
I’ve never forgotten those who helped me, and vowed that, given the opportunity, I would commit to the noble career of
teaching.
I believe my classroom focus on the fundamentals of composition and writing can provide a life-altering experience to
students. I come with a story of roundabout academic success based on a conscious decision to change my life. I think
Community Colleges personify that opportunity to rediscover oneself, to find the potential within. Community Colleges are unique in providing a partnership between teacher and student. The mix of young and mature students brings
a real-life focus to the classroom and is a unique feature of the community college experience. There is an implicit understanding that we are not working in an academic vacuum, but working toward career choices, preparing for emerging work opportunities where writing skills and knowledge-based just-in-time information retrieval and synthesis are
becoming paramount.
Given the need for increased educational attainment among Michigan’s residents to keep pace in an economy that
continues to grow more knowledge-based, what are your thoughts on the role of community colleges in the transformation of the state’s economy?
The community focus of community colleges is something that cannot be stressed enough. Think of the financial burden of relocating to begin one’s education at a four-year college. Can we, in these strained economic times just accrue
debt for the sheer sake of it? Students need to consider the merits of community colleges as a viable and real alternative over immediately opting for a four-year college. One can always transfer after two years. Think of not only the savings, but also the advantages of community college in allowing one to transition from high school to college life.
I also believe, if we are to resurrect the Michigan economy, we have to stall the brain drain phenomena of students immediately heading to four-year state schools, abandoning their hometowns. The heady transition to college life at a fouryear institution can be overwhelming. Academics can get lost during the initial years as students try to adjust to life on
their own. Again, think of the cost of financing this transition, and reassess its value. I think, if students do so, they will
begin to see not only the financial, but also the academic merits of a community college education. The teaching-centric
focus of community colleges means that faculty are primarily concerned with student success. How often at a four-year
college is one confronted by a grad student more concerned with their own pressing doctorate concerns than an undergrad’s academic success?
I sincerely believe community colleges can be central to influencing the destiny of Michigan’s economy. By students not
immediately abandoning their towns, academic maturity can be tied to one’s community. It seems so many Michigan
towns are gutted as their population of college-aged students exit for the four-year colleges. I believe that a great part of
Michigan’s success in the last century was founded on its community-based focus. Towns flourished. There was a sense
of what it was to be part of a community.
CONTINUED ON PG 7
AN ECONOMY IN TURBULENCE AND TRANSITION
Donald Grimes, Sr. Research Associate at the Institute for Labor and Industrial Relations, University of Michigan, spoke to presidents and trustees about Michigan’s economic outlook. The following article highlights much of grimes presentation.
Michigan is in a pickle. Soaring gas prices, the decline in housing prices, and the credit crunch have caused the total number
of motor vehicles sold in the United States to fall off a cliff, and a significant recovery in the near term seems unlikely. The
market share of vehicles sold by Chrysler, General Motors, and Ford has been declining since 1995, when it was 72.6 percent,
to a low of only 42.9 percent in July 2008. A shrinking share of a shrinking pie in the vehicle market is a recipe for potential
disaster for Michigan, and at a minimum will continue to put strains on state and local government budgets.
Furthermore, Michigan has been losing population since 2005, and we are forecasting that the number of people living in
Michigan will continue to decline through at least 2010. When population growth resumes, the gains will be almost exclusively
among those aged 65 and older. By 2035, nearly one resident out of every four will be 65 or older, whereas today that ratio is
about one in eight. For perspective, consider that in Florida—described by the locals as “God’s wait“Community colleges ing room”—only one resident out of six is 65 or older. Thirty years from now, Michigan will be much
older than Florida is today.
will be a critical resource, teaching
sought-after skills as
well as offering a
gateway to degree
programs in higher
education”
The aging of the population will have a profound impact on our society, on the types of goods and
services we purchase, on the type of homes we live in, and perhaps most important, on the number
of people available for firms to hire. While it may be difficult to imagine today, in about five years or
so Michigan will begin seeing labor shortages. And unlike the late 1990s, these labor shortages are
expected to last for at least twenty years.
So what industries will be hiring the most workers over the next thirty years? Health care will lead
the list, along with professional and business services, and finance. The primary characteristic of
these jobs is that they tend to require higher levels of educational attainment, although they do
include support personnel positions that require skills but often not professional degrees. At the
same time, there will be many more jobs in leisure and hospitality services, which tend to require
relatively low levels of educational attainment, but which also tend to be relatively low-paying. Jobs
in high-wage, low-education-attainment industries—think auto manufacturing—will continue to decline.
What can our public officials and private leaders do to help Michigan return to prosperity? Short-term solutions are scarce, but
in the longer term, the state can build upon its assets to create a high-knowledge economy and an even more attractive place
to live. Specifically, we need to build an even stronger health care system, improve our recreational and cultural amenities,
attract emerging industries that are consistent with our assets, encourage technological collaboration, and above all else, increase education and training. Community colleges will be a critical resource, teaching sought-after skills as well as offering a
gateway to degree programs in higher education.
Success in Community College Occupational Programs
This summer’s MCCA Board of Directors Workshop focused on “Celebrating Success.” That’s just what
happened with the presentation “Success in Community College Occupational Programs.” Ron Harkness,
Ph.D., CRC, from the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth, Community College Services Unit,
highlighted some of the exemplary work that occurs in occupational programs. Ten colleges have been
recognized so far for their best practices, ranging from rejuvenation of a welding program, to building the
largest skateboard in the world.
Harkness points out that “Each year, as we visit the academic institutions across the state, educational
consultants from our unit see a lot of exceptional things going on that foster student success. Our unit’s
responsibilities include visiting these same institutions to monitor the use of the Carl D. Perkins Grant
funding. Part of the reporting requirements includes quantitative data, however, qualitative information,
such as the best practice videos also are important. When you actually capture on video the lives that
have been affected with the help of Perkins funds, it is very powerful.”
The “Best Practice Series” is also a way of sharing the good work colleges do with each other. “Why recreate the wheel, when someone has already found a unique way of helping with student success? Everyone’s budgets are tight. If we can create mechanisms like these videos to help other institutions learn and
improve their strategies, then we should. Everyone’s goal is the same: help people succeed,” said Harkness.
This series has started to get national attention. The initial intention was to use these videos as part of
professional development information at the annual statewide dean’s in-service. Since then, these same
videos have been shown at federal Perkins conferences and other statewide events. “Each of the best
practice videos has been well received by those who have seen them,” Harkness explained. “It’s wonderful
to think that our colleges throughout the state can be recognized for their innovative work and success.”
To see the recap of the 10 colleges or any individual college’s video, go to: http://admin.michiganops.net,
click on Community College Services Unit, then Best Practices.
Photos from the 2008 MCCA Summer Workshop in Traverse
City
Under the Pines picnic luncheon held on
the Northwestern Michigan College campus
on Thursday, July 24
Trustees and presidents aboard the “State of
Michigan” training ship at Northwestern Michigan College.
2008 MCCA SUMMER CONFERENCE CONT’D
MCCA Outstanding Alumnus of the
Year award winner Woodrow Stanley
and Rep. Brenda Clack (D-Flint).
Stanley has worked for nearly 20
years with the Urban League of Flint,
Greater Flint Opportunities Industrialization Center and the Human Investment Development Corporation. He
served as Flint’s Mayor for three
terms, beginning in 1991.
Award-winning Tejano vocalist Megan Leyva performs
at the MCCA awards banquet. Leyva is a 2006 graduate of St. Clair Community College. Leyva was the winner of the “Rising Female Star” award in 2003 at the
Tejano Music Awards, and performed live at the awards
show in San Antonio this past March.
Rep. Joan Bauer (D-Lansing) poses with Lansing
Community College trustees (from left to right) Edward Woods III, Deborah Camja, and Robin Smith.
Collins Interview, continued from page 3
To be sure, we are living in different times, but I don’t necessary believe that small-towns are not viable in the twenty-first century.
We have been too quick to exit small towns. I believe that, if promoted for their inherent value, both academically and financially, community colleges can instill a sense that one’s community is not a place to run from, but a place where one can succeed.
This will take a partnership with industry, but I think community colleges are uniquely positioned to provide academic skills in a familiar environment, helping to sustain the community-based nature of Michigan life.
What are your thoughts on the concept of the community college mission—has this mission changed or has it remained the same
over the past 50 years?
As mentioned above, I believe the merits of community college need to be restated! Enlivening our small-towns with our brightest
and best is a win-win proposition for student and community alike. The blend of recent graduates with mature students, along with a
strong partnership with local industry, forges an economic and social structure that can be a model for how small-town life can flourish in the twenty-first century.
As an aside, from 1997-2002 I worked at Microsoft Corp. The buzz-word back then was telecommuting. Somewhere along the way
that notion of a decentralized way of working outside urban sprawl was lost. Given the challenges facing us globally, especially energy concerns, is it not time to reconsider how we can best succeed in the twenty-first century, and is not the community college, and
a community-focused workplace not only a legitimate alternative to urban sprawl, but maybe the way we can advance and stay competitive globally.
I sincerely believe in this vision. It is why I have walked away from the metropolis and come to live and work among you. You are the
future of American education and so, too, can pave the way for future successes in the state of Michigan. As a recent naturalized
citizen I believe there is no other country that still affords an individual the means to advance socially, spiritually, and economically.
Community colleges can continue to help realize the American Dream.
MICHIGAN COMMUNITY
COLLEGE ASSOCIATION
222 N. Chestnut
Lansing, Michigan
48933
Phone: 517.372.4350
Fax: 517.372.0905
Email: info@mcca.org
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M I C H I G A N ’ S
Visit us online @ www.mcca.org
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