July 26, 2010

The DigestWhat’s Happening at KVCC

What’s below in this edition

ExpressWays (Pages 1-3) Wednesday fun (Pages 12/13) Patient-care training (Pages 3/4) Working together (Pages 13/14) 3rd turbine class (Pages 5/6) Vote for Hollar (Pages 14/15) Tree plantings (Pages 6/7) Kids-safety camps (Page 15) In the news (Pages 7/8) Walkabout (Pages 15/16) Presidents in town (Pages 9/10) E-mail advice (Page 16) 81 callers (Pages 10/11) Postcard fun (Pages 16-18) Project update (Pages 11/12) Links to the primary (Page 18) Downtown growth (Page 12) And Finally (Page 18)

☻☻☻☻☻☻$300,000 grant targets underprepared students

With an open-enrollment policy, Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s reputation for serving students who span all academic levels will be enhanced when a three-year program is launched in the fall semester with a $300,000 grant from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation.

ExpressWays, which will be based in Anna Whitten Hall on the college’s Arcadia Commons Campus in downtown Kalamazoo, will serve adult students who are under-prepared in the academic basics required to succeed in existing developmental-education courses or who face other roadblocks to learning.

While providing free customized, tutor-assisted, self-paced instructions in basic math, reading and writing skills in an open-entry, open-exit format, the new initiative is designed to help participants transition into traditional developmental courses or move toward success in job-readiness training and certification.

The project director will be William Willging, who has a doctorate in industrial/organizational psychology from Colorado State University, and has designed and implemented customized training programs for public and private organizations for nearly 30 years.

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A six-month, proof-of-concept pilot program, funded by a grant from the college’s Innovative Thinking Initiative and assisted by The Kalamazoo Promise, tested the ExpressWays format and methods at the M-TEC of KVCC on The Groves Campus.

Willging listed six characteristics of the ExpressWays approach: Personalized learning paths A small classroom setting A low student-to-tutor ratio Computer-based instruction Increased interaction with tutors A flexible schedule that accommodates family and work responsibilities.

“Our existing Student Success Center will play an important role in ‘ExpressWays,’” said KVCC President Marilyn Schlack. “The student advocates and career advisers will provide not only academic support and assistance to the participants, but also point them toward other services they might need – job-preparation skills, career assessments, goal-setting, social skills, wellness, nutrition, and identifying their individual strengths.”

“Some students need an extra boost to bridge the gap between high school and post-secondary education,” said Juan Olivarez, who was the president of Grand Rapids Community College prior to joining the Kalamazoo Community Foundation as its chief executive officer, “and through ExpressWays, KVCC is reaching out to these students in an innovative way. By investing in these students, we are investing in the future of our community.”

“The most academically challenged students seeking admission to the college,” Willging said, “will be required to go through ExpressWays. That will be determined by scores on placement tests.”

Currently, developmental-education courses are recommended to students as appropriate, but they are not mandated. These courses operate on a semester format and are populated by students with a wide range of intellectual and social abilities.

These factors can make it difficult for instructors to teach to individual needs. In addition, those enrollees who are able to quickly master developmental-education material are forced to wait until the next semester to begin taking college-level, degree-granting courses.

On the other hand, there are cohorts of students who need longer than one semester to grasp the material. Because “Expressways” is open-entry and open-exit with a flexible learning format, both of these kinds of students can be served.

While the new program will help prepare participants to qualify for the regular developmental courses, Willging explained, “those unable to demonstrate – through test mastery – the ability to proceed along that route will be offered another. They will be able to learn the skills they need to qualify for job-related training and to maximize their employment possibilities.”

The program at KVCC will have the capacity to serve 80 students per semester. Each will be required to sign a contract to take part in a mutually agreeable schedule, and to make “meaningful academic progress” along an individually prescribed learning path. Teaching modules will be tailored to each student’s needs in math, reading and writing. Tutors and counselors will be active throughout the process.

Finances came into play as well in designing “ExpressWays.”

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“Developmental classes do not bring college credit,” Willging said, “but they do require tuition. Some students taking developmental classes use limited financial-aid dollars to pay for courses that are not part of a degree program or workforce training. This can be financially taxing and discouraging, bringing student-loan debt.

“That’s why the ExpressWays program and its services will be provided at no cost to the students over the three-year period,” Willging said.

The new KVCC initiative echoes the key findings of a 2008 report by the Michigan Education Association. In its “Dropouts: One Is Too Many” document, a flexible curriculum and caring adults factored highly in strategies for keeping people in the educational stream.

The dropout demographics tell the story. Those who choose to halt their education have lower household incomes, are more likely to break the law, and are more probable to need some form of public assistance.

“ExpressWays” follows the report’s lead in stressing that students are unique individuals who learn differently and thus could be assisted through customized approaches, especially those that are administered by people who care about their success and futures.

“It’s pretty clear that for a lot of students,” Willging said, “the way the traditional school system was set up didn’t work for them. That is why it is so critical to find nontraditional ways of learning that work for them.”

In a letter to the foundation in support of “ExpressWays,” Janice Brown, the executive director of The Kalamazoo Promise, said:

“Some (students) succeed, but too many do not, and they fall back into a situation that blurs their goals in life and clouds their future. They lose as individuals, and we lose as a community. “

She said “ExpressWays” looms as a “strategy to better serve those students who need innovation and personal relationships.” She called it “a method to invest in human capital.”

Second patient-care academy booked for OctoberA second edition of KVCC’s Patient Care Academy, which trains people for

entry-level positions in the growing health-care industry while introducing them to the possibility of career enhancement in its various fields, is scheduled to begin on Oct. 2.

The first academy is under way at the M-TEC located on KVCC’s Groves Campus. The 11 enrollees, with diverse backgrounds and experiences, are scheduled to complete their training on Sept. 2. All hail from Kalamazoo County communities.

Lesa Strausbaugh, KVCC’s director of academies, advises those who are interested in the program to take action.

“The application process for the Patient Care Academy is extensive,” she said. “Once we receive an application, we assess the applicant’s background and conduct reference checks. A math and reading exam is scheduled. If that is passed, the applicant is interviewed.

“We select candidates,” Strausbaugh said, “based on qualifications for employment in health-care organizations. Candidates selected for the academy must take a physical exam, have a TB test, pass a criminal-background check, and complete other Michigan-required preliminaries prior to the beginning of training.”

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The training sessions will be held Mondays through Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for 10 weeks.

Regarding the first academy, Strausbaugh said “some of the students are looking for experience in the health-care industry while they wait to get into nursing schools. Some are making career changes and others are looking to go into other areas of health care.”

The fee for the academy is $1,995. Financial assistance is available through the Michigan Works! “No Worker Left Behind” initiative and The Kalamazoo Promise.

“One of the many factors that make this patient-care approach unique,” Strausbaugh said, “is that this program provides a more comprehensive training experience in several different patient-care careers, while presenting the foundational knowledge and hands-on familiarity needed to be successful in a health-care career through classroom discussion, lab work and clinical experience.”

Over the 10 weeks, enrollees are trained in medical terminology, anatomy, workplace ethics and behavior, health-career exploration, communications, diversity, legal issues, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, first aid, and other specific patient-care skills.

The Patient Care Academy teaches job skills that prepare enrollees for employment as a certified nurse assistant, a patient-care assistant or technician, a ward clerk, or other patient-care roles.

Graduates are competent to seek jobs in long-term care, rehabilitation centers, in a hospice environment, medical offices, and hospitals.

Among the spectrum of duties and tasks are providing basic patient care to those who require minimal assistance or who are totally dependent in their daily lives. This may include feeding, dressing and grooming.

Patient-care technicians take temperature, pulse, respiration and blood-pressure measurements. They can administer basic tests, assist in physical therapy, collect blood and tissue samples, sterilize equipment, and provide assistance in medical procedures.

Among the eligibility criteria are a high school diploma or G.E.D., a driver’s license, an ability to handle 50-pound loads, the ability to read, write and interpret instructions, have an energetic and positive attitude, be felony or misdemeanor free, pass a medical examination, and meet immunization requirements, and be at least 18 years old.

The instructional manager is Sally Kidman, who earned her degree as a registered nurse from Southwestern Michigan College and a bachelor’s in nursing from Spring Arbor College.

Kidman has professional experience in cardiac, medical, surgical and gerontological nursing, and has worked in a variety of settings including acute, ambulatory and long-term care. She has also worked in cardiac and surgical divisions at hospitals.

“This academy,” Strausbaugh said, “can be a springboard to careers in other health-care professions. For example, those on a waiting list for nursing can get this training in the interim and begin working in health care before beginning their nursing studies.

Applications for the second academy can be found online at www.kvcc.edu/training.

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For more information, contact the Career Academies Office at (269) 353-1286 or careeracademies@kvcc.edu.

3rd turbine-building class a go for fall semesterAs students for decades have taken automotive courses to design, build and repair

their own cars, so are their modern contemporaries concentrating on what many see as the nation’s energy future - wind turbines.

Designing a wind turbine, fabricating its components, assembling the power-generating unit, and making certain it produces electricity constitutes the mission of a course that will be offered for a third time in the fall 2010 semester.

Meanwhile, planning has been under way to permanently locate and commission the two turbines that were the products of the first classes.

The sites will be in the vicinity of the 145-foot turbine in operation on the west end of the Texas Township Campus.

With no technical prerequisites or prior knowledge of computer-aided drafting, machining, welding or electrical technology needed, the eight-credit, multidisciplinary offering (Mach 282) with a lecture-lab format is open to 18 enrollees on a first-come, first-served basis. As of late July, 10 of the 18 slots have been filled.

Lectures are slated for Mondays and Wednesdays from 3 to 4: 20 p.m. while lab sessions are booked for Mondays and Wednesdays from 8 to 10 a.m., and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

All will be held in the college’s technical wing on the Texas Township Campus in the shadow of the college’s turbine that has been generating electricity since March of 2009. The 2010 fall semester begins on Tuesday, Sept. 7.

The fee follows the college’s normal tuition rate -- $76.50 per credit hour for KVCC in-district residents, $126 for those out of district, and $170 per credit hour for non-Michigan residents.

The lead instructors are Howard Carpenter (machining), Rick Garthe (drafting and design), Erick Martin (welding and fabrication), and Bill Wangler (electrical technology).

“The goal is to produce a functioning wind turbine that generates one to three kilowatts of electricity,” said Carpenter, the project leader who advanced the concept and received a two-year, $90,000 Innovative Thinking grant from KVCC to establish the course.

The enrollees perform the basic functions and tasks in the design, critical machining and welding phases that produce shafts, blades and other components. But the more detailed and complex jobs are handled by the instructors and advanced students. The electronics will be purchased units.

“It’s the process that is important for the students to see and understand,” Carpenter said. “The turbine we build will produce electricity, but that’s not the main function. Its function is to demonstrate the basic design, manufacturing, welding and electrical skills that are needed in making a turbine.”

Course components include what a practical electrical output would be for a turbine in a variety of locations, wind-energy terminology, how to connect a unit to the existing electrical grid, the basics of electricity, the wiring required, metallurgy, how to optimize efficiency through design variations, fabrication techniques, how to prevent

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corrosion, and how to incorporate a small wind turbine into existing structures and buildings.

“We think this course will target anybody who has an interest in wind turbines,” Carpenter said, “whether to build one yourself or buy one. It will provide answers to questions about what to consider and how to evaluate what is on the market.”

The lead instructors prepared for the prototype course by purchasing instructional equipment and software that will also be applicable to other technical courses at KVCC. They joined forces to build the training components that are key parts of the instructional process.

The course-concluding wind turbine will find a spot on KVCC property to serve as a promotional prop for future eight-credit courses.

To register for this course and the fall-semester edition, contact Sue Hills at (269) 488-4371 or go to this web site: www.kvcc.edu/schedule.

Sustainability initiatives moving aheadKVCC has aligned itself with an umbrella organization dedicated to an improved

quality of life in this part of the state through actions and collaborations that promote environmental, economic and social responsibility. One of the initial impacts at KVCC has been tree plantings.

It is among the 17 pioneer signees of what is called the “Southwest Michigan Regional Sustainability Covenant” that has been in the works since a February 2009 gathering initiated by Western Michigan University President John Dunn.

Other covenant originators include the cities of Kalamazoo, Battle Creek and Portage, Kalamazoo College, Borgess and Bronson hospitals, the Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, the Kalamazoo and Portage school districts, the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency, the Kalamazoo Nature Center, and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

Representatives have heard a presentation by Maureen Hart, regarded as an international expert on the topic. She outlined how communities can measure progress toward sustainability. They should identify sustainability indicators as measurements, and monitor environmental, social and economic policies, processes and behaviors.

Some examples of sustainability indicators include measuring a community’s total generation of waste, its ecological footprint, and the number of pedestrian-friendly streets.

Hart said that sustainability indicators are different from those that measure economic, social and environmental progress. These assess changes in one part of a community as if they were independent of the other parts. Sustainability indicators, she said, reflect the reality that the three different segments are interconnected. “They focus on the big picture,” she said.

The trick, Hart said, “is to figure out what the right indicators are for getting people to understand and work toward sustainability,” which is why it is important to keep the number of indicators to the minimum and to connect them to a community’s decision-makers.”

More information about Hart’s concept is available at www.sustainablemeasures.com

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A key component in improving the quality of life for future generations in the Kalamazoo area is the concept of sharing ideas and innovations regarding recycling, energy conservation, and purchasing agreements that address economic, environmental and social issues.

The idea is to share programs and projects that work instead of each of the covenant members trying to re-invent the wheel.

The first step has been to spread the word about the covenant so that area residents and businesses can get involved. That has led to the group blueprinting an organizational structure that identifies sustainability issues, the methods for monitoring progress, and how to share “best practices.”

Mike Collins is the college’s liaison to this initiative whose members – as public entities across the county -- will be paying attention to issues of sustainability.

“It will be operational in two phases,” he said. As an umbrella organization, it will “discuss policy implementation and issues with a perspective that all of us can and will be impacted. Then there will be a working group of those involved in the maintenance and design of public facilities and structures.”

This second group is staffed by those who are involved daily in the Green Revolution. “They will be sharing their best practices,” Collins said. “It will be a practical unit, not one steeped in theory. They will share what works at their places and what can be used to reduce utility expenses.”

Dan Maley, director of facilities and construction-management services, has also been involved in the early stages, as has the 30,000-square-foot expansion project on the Texas Township Campus.

“We are targeting LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for the building” he said. “This includes a green-roof component, extensive use of recycled building materials, a water garden for roof rainwater, and also concrete countertops with recycled filler made of glass captured by our student-initiated and managed campus recycling program. Installing water-bottle filling stations in lieu of drinking fountains and an oak savannah with native plantings are also planned.

“KVCC Facilities Services is continuing to move to green cleaning chemicals and practices,” he said. “We have adopted a two-for-one tree policy -- that is, if a tree has to be removed for any reason, two trees are planted on the campus to replace it. We have installed occupancy sensors, lighting upgrades, duct insulation and other energy-saving devices/practices as well.”

Maley reports that 15 more trees have been planted around the Texas Township Campus, while an inaugural meeting of a tree committee is on the horizon. He said he has met with counterparts from Kalamazoo College and Western Michigan University about a collaboration on seeking a grant for a composting project.

In the news. . .KVCC liberal arts major Debra Romer advanced to the round of 48 finalists in

NBC-TV’s “America’s Got Talent” show.The 21-year-old singer qualified for a shot at the $1-million grand prize in NBC’s

version of “American Idol.”According to The Kalamazoo Gazette, Romer graduated from Ludington High

School in 2006 after some tumultuous years as a teen living in foster care and running

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away from home. It was while in foster care in Holland when she started playing the guitar and writing songs.

Romer eventually came to Kalamazoo, took a job as a waitress in the Olive Garden Restaurant in Portage, and enrolled at KVCC. Friends report that Romer wouldn’t be where she is today “if she didn’t have such a hard upbringing.”

She has been taking classes at KVCC for several years and made the dean’s list for the winter semester.

Pioneer math instructor Fred Toxopeus and his 42-year teaching career at KVCC merited an editorial in the Thursday, July 1, edition of The Gazette.

Commented the editorial: “Today, many of his former students are grandparents whose lives were powerfully influenced by this dedicated educator. Our congratulations to Fred Toxopeus for a job well done. This country needs more educators like him.”

The selection of Stephanie Fortney and Tim Bellmer as the 2010 recipients of the Dale B. Lake Presidential Award for their achievements as scholars and athletes also garnered some news space in the Gazette’s sports pages.

So did English instructor Ike Turner, a member of a new rock band called Minutes.

The band’s photo accompanied an article in the Kalamazoo daily’s Ticket section that chronicles arts and entertainment attractions for the coming weekend. Minutes was one of 37 combos and performers that showcased their talents in the first-ever Boiling Pot Music Festival in the Arcadia Commons Festival Place July 3-4.

“Boiling Pot” is the creation of an eight-member group known as the I.D.E.A. Association , which describes itself as a market-research team with a focus on community building through independent art and culture. Its latest focus is on community sustainability and the first festival sought to connect to that theme.

One of the earliest members of the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Foundation, Raymond Battilana, died on July 13 at his home in Augusta. He was 72.

Battilana worked at Durametallic Corp. for 30 years, retiring as the company’s president in 1992. A fellow Durametallic executive, Paul Jackson, was a member of the citizens committee that recommended that a community college be established in this part of the state in the mid-1960s. Jackson went on to become a member of KVCC’s pioneer board of trustees.

Automotive technology instructor Larry Taylor was in the spotlight in the “Voices” feature that is part of weekly Ticket section in the Gazette.

The question of the day focused on the new Michigan ban on texting while driving, whether it will be effective as a separate law or should it be grouped with other forms of distracted or reckless driving. Here’s what Taylor said:

“I think it is a good idea. It should be tried separately, as it is right now, to see what kind of effect it has. I’m not sure about combining it with the reckless-driving law, even though it is reckless driving. And I agree with the fines (first offense -- $100, repeat offenses, $200). I think it is a good idea not to do the points on the license as it is. The fines should be enough to discourage people initially. If they find it doesn’t, then maybe look into adding the points.”

The July 16 edition of Mlive.com and West Michigan Business Review reported that the college would be offering in the fall semester a third edition of the course that has

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students design, fabricate and assemble an electricity-producing wind turbine. A similar item was reported in the July 20 print version of the Gazette.

Presidents who have visited KalamazooOf those who have served as president of the United States since Michigan was

admitted to the union in 1837, 15 have reportedly been to Kalamazoo as the holders of the highest office in the land, as candidates for that position, or in some other capacity.

Tom Dietz, the curator of research at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, recounts some of those visits in the July edition of the museum’s television show.

The episode is being aired by the Public Media Network (formerly the Community Access Center) on Channel 22 on the Charter cable system at 7 p.m. on Sundays, 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, 6:30 p.m. on Fridays, and 11 a.m. on Saturdays throughout the month.

Kalamazooans can flash back to Abraham Lincoln being the first in this line of notables in 1856, while fresh in their memory is the visit of Barack Obama to help the Class of 2010 at Kalamazoo Central High School celebrate its graduation.

When Gerald Ford brought his 1976 campaign to Kalamazoo that May, he became the first sitting president to visit the community since William Howard Taft in 1911.

Dietz will detail Taft’s visit, along with that of fellow Republican, the assassinated William McKinley.

“McKinley came on short notice,” Dietz said. “Invited to attend a street fair, McKinley did not let the community know of his visit until a week or two before coming on Oct. 17, 1899.”

Because his train was running late, Dietz said, “all he did was get off at Michigan Avenue and the Michigan Central Railroad and take a carriage ride through town.”

Dietz traced the route to Pitcher Street, back to Park Street, Park to Burdick Street, and then to the railroad depot.

“He didn't speak,” Dietz said. “He just waved good-bye. Nevertheless, large crowds greeted him. Security was so lax that young men could run up and touch his carriage without problem. Security was provided by the Knights of the Grip, an organization of traveling salesmen. Probably because the visit was so short, it was forgotten by many.”

Politics brought Taft to Kalamazoo in 1911, according to Dietz’s research. He was in political trouble for the 1912 presidential election, which he would lose to Democrat Woodrow Wilson primarily because Theodore Roosevelt split the party vote in his bid as a member of the Bull Moose Party.

Taft was making a grand tour of the Midwest to rally support for his policies. That brought him to Kalamazoo to lay the cornerstone for a new YMCA building at Michigan and Park, replacing one that had been destroyed by fire. He visited the Kalamazoo College campus and Nazareth Academy, and then attended a banquet at the new, highly modern Burdick Hotel. At K-College, students gave their version of a cheer from Taft’s alma mater, Yale University.

“His emphasis was on education,” Dietz said, “which is why students from college to grade school lined streets to greet him. The Taft visit was organized by the Commercial Club, today's Chamber of Commerce.”

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Taft was driven around town in a Pierce Arrow owned by A. B. Connable. One of the occupants was a fellow named A. W. Butts, who a year later would be aboard the Titanic when it hit the iceberg.

Since Ford’s visit, three reigning presidents have campaigned here -- both George Bushes and Bill Clinton.

Among those who eventually called 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. home and sampled Kalamazoo’s hospitality were Ulysses Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan. Grant came shortly after the Civil War and was given “a great ovation,” while Roosevelt, destined to be McKinley’s vice president, visited Kalamazoo in 1900 while governor of New York.

Charles Evans Hughes, edged for the presidency by Wilson in 1916, received the gift of a cane that Lincoln reportedly gave to famed Kalamazoo politico David Walbridge 60 years earlier. It has been reported that Wilson visited here in 1916, but that has not been verified.

81 to call students so far, more volunteers neededHere's another chance to put the thinking behind the new .edyou brand into play --

the twice-a-year calling campaign to contact enrolled students who have not yet paid for classes in the upcoming semester.

It's a creed to live and work by, and it's also a numbers game. For the winter-semester effort, 4,554 calls were made by 119 people. That’s

about 35 calls per person, which is a manageable burden. The more KVCC’ers who step forward to help – and most of us at KVCC can help – the lesser the burden for those colleagues who volunteer.

Calling-campaign organizer Pat Pojeta is seeking a cadre of volunteers to take part in the effort from Monday, Aug. 2, through Monday, Aug. 9, at 7 p.m.

And it works. It's a chance to help prospective students not lose their fall-semester classes, and to help the college keep its healthy, vital, ever-growing enrollment. So there is a self-interest factor at play as well. Those who have made the calls in past years report that students, their parents, and friends deeply appreciate the gentle reminder, and the college's caring environment.

A typical effort results in about 80 percent of the contacted students making their payments prior to batch cancellation the following week.

Pojeta can be contacted at extension 7880 or ppojeta@kvcc.edu. Here are the volunteers so far:Nancy Taylor, Travis Hall, Amy Louallen, Candy Horton, Bonita Bates, Jackie

Cantrell, Mike Collins, Rose Crawford, Steve Doherty, Judy Rose, Ken Barr Jr., Sarah Hagen, Laurie Dykstra, Sheila White, Pat Wallace, Nancy Young, Lauren Beresford;

Susan Reynolds, Joyce Tamer, Lisa Gruber, Gloria Norris, Russ Panico, Larry Belen, Jennie Huff, Sue Newington, Melissa Farris, Pat Pallet, Colleen Olson, Robyn Robinson, Diane Vandenberg, Brenda Moncrief, Lisa Peet, Gerri Jacobs;

Betty VanVoorst, Sue Commissaris, Karen Steeno van Staveren, Lynn Hall McLeod, Ike Turner, Lynne Morrison, Bonnie Bowden, Rita Fox, Su Cutler, Joyce Zweedyk, Pam Siegfried, Jack Bley, Valerie Jones, Ola Johnson, Christine Goolsby;

Marcia Shaneyfelt-Niles, Robyn Schieber, Amber Rees, Stefan Luke, Amy Triemstra, Byron Foster, Catherine West, Diana Haggerty, Ebba Spyke, Isabela Robinson, Jacob Johnson, LaJoyce Brooks, Ray Andres, Shawna Smith, Sheila Rupert;

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Jill Storm, Anora Ackerson, Gina Fisher, Kelly Rodrigues, Katie Herweg, Julie Sutton, Elizabeth Barker, Kate Baker, Rachel Badra, Brian Graening, Daniel Pohanka, Tonya Sharpsteen, Lauren Puttkammer, Kevin McKinney, Jeremy Smith, William Magonga, Cheryl Stout, and Louise Wesseling.

Volunteers may make their calls during the workday at their work stations. They will have the full week to complete their calls.

Scripts will be provided with clear, easy-to-follow instructions on how to record information. These scripts will be delivered to each volunteer.

“Many a volunteer has remarked how fun it is speaking with our students,” Pojeta said. “They seem happy to hear from us.”

Campus projects still on target for completionThe completion dates assigned for the various phases of the $12-million

expansion and renovation at the Texas Township Campus are still on schedule as the finishing touches are applied throughout the remodeled areas.

The new wing, which will be home to the Student Success Center, several student-service functions, and a 150-seat auditorium, is slated to be ready for occupancy on Oct. 22.

The former financial-services offices have been converted into a multi-purpose science lab. Cabinetry and student-work stations have been installed.

In the lower-level 8000 hallway, crews are transitioning four existing teaching areas into a trio of labs for physics, chemistry and geology. That phase is set to be completed by Aug. 5.

Once counseling services and several Student Success Center functions were moved to a temporary location in the Student Commons Theater, their previous locations were being converted into two 48-seat classrooms and two that will hold 60 students. This conversion should be done by Tuesday (July 27).

In the 7500 corridor, crews are changing four classrooms into faculty offices. They should be ready for occupancy on Aug. 9.

The faculty-office area is being “opened up with natural lighting to help it be more student-friendly.” It will also include student-waiting space and additional conference rooms. Those phases are pegged to be finished by Aug. 16

The new wing will house the Student Success Center on the second floor and the Office of Admissions, Registration and Records, the Office of Financial Aid, the Office of Institutional Research, and Central Receiving on the first level. Once those functions are moved to the new wing, work will begin on converting that space into six classrooms. The timetable for that is Oct. 25 through Dec. 31.

Work crews will also attempt to do as many of the “noisy” jobs in converting classrooms into faculty offices in the 7100 corridor prior to the start of the fall semester on Sept. 7. Once the demo phase is done, the rest of the job, and hopefully the quieter, will take place through Thanksgiving.

One of the final phases will be the relocation of the college’s “receiving” area to the outer section of the new wing.

KVCC’ers can take a look for themselves at the progress by going to the college’s home page and keyboard in up at the top – home.kvcc.edu.

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In all, KVCC will lose eight classrooms and gain 10, plus the 150-seat mini-auditorium/lecture hall in the new expansion. The Student Success Center will revert to serving as The Gallery.

Dollars for such projects are banked in capital funds by the state and by the college, and are not part of each’s general fund. Michigan’s formula for higher-education projects has not changed from past years. Each community college and the state provide 50 percent of the costs.

The Kalamazoo architectural firm of Eckert Wordell designed the expansion and remodeling, while the Miller-Davis Co. is serving as construction manager.

The Digest is working in conjunction with Dan Maley to present project updates. Contact him at extension 4298 with any questions or concerns.

This is the college’s first major construction initiative since the Student Commons in 2001.

Medical-billing firm eyes workforce expansion An across-the-street neighbor to Anna Whitten Hall might become a magnet of

economic activity in the next few years. Pending a special exemption in the Michigan Business Tax, the Chicago-based

Accretive Health Inc. is eying a major increase to its workforce in downtown Kalamazoo. Accretive Health manages billing, collections and other “revenue-cycle” functions

for hospitals around the country and currently employs about 300 workers in leased space in the North Rose Street historic building that formerly housed National City Bank operations.

It moved to Kalamazoo in September of 2008 after receiving tax credits from the Michigan Economic Growth Authority. According to the July 9 Kalamazoo Gazette, it wants to increase its Michigan workforce to 3,000 in the next five to seven years and at least half of those could be employed in its Kalamazoo operations.

State Sen. Tom George (R-Texas Township) sponsored a bill that would create the exemption. It passed the Senate in April and was approved by the Michigan House on July 1. The legislation awaits the governor’s signature.

Ron Kitchens, president of Southwest Michigan First, said Accretive intends to make Kalamazoo its No. 1 call center “because of the quality of the workforce. There are a large number of people with experience in the health-care field and in business, plus large numbers of new graduates from Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo Valley Community College, that Accretive can recruit.

“These are very qualified, skilled employees,” Kitchens said of Accretive workers. “This isn’t an outbound call center where you’re selling circus tickets. You not only have to understand the heath-care industry and the insurance industry, you have to be customer-centric.”

John Staton, Accretive’s chief financial officer, agreed. He called the workforce “outstanding. There is a lot to be said of a positive can-do attitude. That leads to really good performance.”

Free summer fun for kids at museumThis summer’s free hands-on programs for children at the Kalamazoo Valley

Museum are taking their theme from the current nationally touring exhibition -- “Out of

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this World: Extraordinary Costumes from Film and Television” – that features attire and gear worn by some of the most famous characters in science-fiction and fantasy history.

On Wednesdays from 1 to 4 p.m. through Aug. 4, activities will target families with children aged 5 to 12. Youngsters will be able to make crafts at 10 different tables each week.

“Fans of “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” Batman and Indiana Jones have been flocking to see ‘Out of This World,’” said Annette Hoppenworth, coordinator of programs at the museum. “But what if you weren’t born before these shows where created?

“If there was an exhibit of costumes and artifacts from movies that a 5 year had seen,” she said, “what would be on display? What movie clips would be shown? That’s exactly what we tried to figure out in putting together this summer’s free series of hands-on art programs.”

Children and their families can move from table to table making crafts that represent items they might find in a museum exhibit of popular children’s movie memorabilia.

Visitors are encouraged to watch some of these movies at home before or after the program. The series continues on July 28 with “Pixel Perfect” and concludes on Aug. 4 with the theme of “Pushing the Limit.”

“Pixel Perfect” zeroes in on new frontiers in computerized entertainment that have made cartoon movies far more realistic and appealing to all ages. Hands-on activities will mirror such popular animated features as “Monsters Inc.,” “Polar Express,” “Bug’s Life,” and “Finding Nemo.”

“Pushing the Limit” connects to movies about courage, adventure and mysteries such as “Night at the Museum,” “Flubber,” “Pirates in the Caribbean,” “Mary Poppins,” and “High School Musical.”

For a complete schedule of events and activities, go to the museum’s web page at www.kalamazoomuseum.org. Another source of information is Hoppenworth at (269) 373-7955 or ahoppenworth@kvcc.edu.

More collegiate collaboration loomingKVCC is part of another consortium effort designed to increase and bolster the

opportunities for higher education for students in Southwest Michigan, according to West Michigan Business Review magazine.

Other members include Western Michigan University, Glen Oaks Community College, Kellogg Community College, Lake Michigan College, Muskegon Community College and Southwestern Community College in Dowagiac.

Bannering a perspective that the public institutions are all “in this thing (of education) together,” the collective envisions a larger number of cooperative programs, such as the dual-enrollment program in which Kellogg aviation and engineering students can also point toward WMU degrees in their areas of study.

“Energy is hot,” said Lake Michigan College President Robert Harris. “Kal Valley has a great footprint in the maintenance of wind turbines. Western has some faculty working on alternative energy. We’ve got an energy program with our two nuclear plants. So maybe something (collaboration) along the lines of energy. And health is always hot. Those are areas of mutual interest.’

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“Energy and health,” the magazine reported, “are, to a large extent, where the jobs are and will be in the region, and, with that in mind, KVCC President Marilyn Schlack also sees potential in greater coordination of the schools’ job-placement services.”

“Instead of having a separate service on every single campus,” she was quoted as saying, “is there a way for us to have one place for those looking to hire and for those looking for employment? How do we tie that in with internships? How do we make that part of the discussion?”

Up next is a series of meeting between officials at the seven schools to begin examining actual programs and formulating ventures.

Hollar’s Mid-Lakes Chorus in friendly competitionMath instructor Sue Hollar’s Mid-Lakes Chorus of Sweet Adelines International,

is participating in a fund-raiser for non-profit arts organizations that work and play in Allegan County.

The Allegan County Community Foundation is sponsoring this fund-raiser out of concern over the sharp decline in state and federal funding for the arts and cultural non-profits.

“In the last few years, state funding has been cut from $25 million to $2 million,” Hollar said. “Our arts and cultural organizations are hurting.”

From that concern has sprung “Keep Your Arts Alive!,” a competition among the arts and cultural non-profit organizations within Allegan County. Some 17 arts and cultural organizations are involved.

“Community members are being encouraged,” Hollar says, “to ‘vote’ with their dollars for organizations, such as the Mid-Lakes Chorus, that they aren’t willing to let disappear because of the toll the economy has taken on the non-profit sector these last two years. Each vote costs $1 and people can vote as much as they want, as often as they want, for as many organizations as they want.” Hollar said that all of the voting dollars cast for the Mid-Lakes Chorus will come back to the singing organization, while the top five vote-attractors will split the net proceeds at the community foundation’s “Arts Alive! Bash” slated for Sept. 24.

All 17 of the organizations will receive checks equal to the votes cast for them during the competition. More information is available at www.artsaliveallegancounty.com.

“Your votes/dollars could get the chorus to the final five, where we could receive hundreds of additional dollars to support our operations and programs,” Hollar said.

Those who would like to support Mid-Lakes Chorus by making a tax-deductible donation to the Allegan County Community Foundation can contact Hollar at shollar@kvcc.edu or extension 4667 for more information.

The Mid-Lakes Chorus’ fall shows had been scheduled for Saturday, Sept.18, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 19, at 4 p.m. in the Plainwell Community Center on Bridge Street (M-89 East), but the dates had to be changed.

“The Mall City Harmonizers (formerly the Kalamazoo Men’s Barbershop Chorus) scheduled their fall show at the Dalton Center on the WMU campus on the same date as ours,” Hollar said. “Since we tend to draw the same audiences and didn’t have an expensive rental agreement to break, we let them take the September date and moved our show.”

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The new date and times will be Saturday, Nov. 6, at 2 and 7 p.m. in the Plainwell Community Center.

Child-safety camps continue in Kalamazoo area Free 911 camps designed for youths ages 9 to 11 are being offered by Life EMS

ambulance service at several locations this summer, including the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

Kimberly Middleton, community relations coordinator for Life EMS in Kalamazoo, said the all-day camps will focus on everything from the basics of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and first-aid to self-defense moves to thwart potential abductions.

There will be information on fire and bike safety, and participants can be fingerprinted for identification in case they go missing.

“We try to go above and beyond what the students learn about in school,” Middleton told The Kalamazoo Gazette. “They won’t be certified in CPR or first-aid, but they’ll know the basics.”

The interactive camps focus on a host of health and safety issues for youngsters at an age when many may begin staying at home alone or watching younger siblings, Middleton said. “Participants are taught how to prevent injuries and to avoid dangerous situations, as well as what to do if they should find themselves in a life-threatening situation,” she said. “For example, the kids will learn moves to thwart being grabbed from behind and that crawling under a parked car could save them from an abduction.”

Life EMS provides snacks and a free lunch for participants. The medical-response service is partnering with the museum and area fire departments in providing the record eight Camp 911s this summer.

Here are the dates and locations for the remaining 2010 camps, all scheduled for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.:

Tuesday (July 27) camp sponsored by Parchment/Cooper Fire Departments at St. Ambrose Catholic Church, G Avenue, Parchment.

Thursday (July 29) at the Portage Fire Department, Station No. 1, Shaver Road.

Thursday, Aug. 5, Allegan City Fire Department, Monroe Street. Tuesday, Aug. 10, Kalamazoo Township Westwood Fire Department, Nichols

Road.To register, call (269) 373-3116. Registrations are taken on a first-come, first-

served basis, and callers who leave contact information will receive sign-up materials in advance of the camp they specify.

Stroll the Stuart Historic District on July 30 With Kalamazoo Valley Community College being a part of the downtown-

Kalamazoo neighborhood since opening a branch campus in 1983, students, faculty and staff are invited to sample the urban environs and community history in a series of free public walks around historic areas this summer and fall.

Sponsored by Gazelle Sports, the walking tours will be led by Lynn Houghton, regional history curator at the Western Michigan University Archives and Regional

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History Collections and author of “Kalamazoo Lost and Found.” For the last nine years, she has organized 50 tours and has created six more for 2010.

The walks will be on Fridays at 8 a.m. and Thursday evenings at 6:30, weather permitting, and will last approximately 90 minutes. No registration is needed.

Here’s the remaining schedule: Friday, July 30, Stuart Historic District, meet at Elm and West Main streets, 8

a.m. Thursday, Aug. 5, Kalamazoo State Hospital and Western Michigan University

East Campus, meet at Oakland Drive and Oliver Street, 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 13, Eastside Neighborhood, meet at East Main Street and Charlotte

Avenue, 8 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 26, Riverside Cemetery, meet at Gull Road and Riverview Drive,

6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 27, West Main Historic District, meet at Monroe Street and Grand

Avenue, 8 a.m. Friday, Sept. 10, Haymarket Historic District, meet at Gazelle Sports, 8 a.m. Friday, Sept. 24, Fairmont Neighborhood, meet at North Street and Douglas

Avenue, 8 a.m. Friday, Oct. 8, Bronson Park and South Street, meet at Gazelle Sports, 8 a.m. Friday, Oct. 22, West Main Historic District and Kalamazoo College, meet at

Monroe Street and Grand Avenue, 8 a.m.For more information, contact Gazelle Sports at (269) 342-5996. Information is

also available at http://www.gazellesports.com.

Warning: E-mail can be L-mail, as in libel Surfing the Internet and the worldwide webs of the planet can be as invigorating

for the mind as riding Hawaii's Bonzai Pipeline is for the body, but there is potential for peril in what you communicate. And that peril could wipe you out in a court of law.

E-mail is publishing and broadcasting in the broadest definitions of those terms. As such, E-mail is subject to the laws of libel that restrain newspapers and television news. In other words, the E in e-mail can stand for “evidence.”

When you communicate via E-mail, it just doesn't zip out into cyber space and is lost forever. It can be captured, saved, printed, and distributed to somebody who may not like what you are communicating.

Case in point:When a surfing college professor learned via E-mail that a group of colleagues

were bound for London and were looking for reasonable housing while there, he read some of the suggestions coming in from all over the world. He E-mailed his comments, urging them not to stay at a certain hostelry for various reasons. When that hostelry read the assessment, it contacted a law firm that demanded an E-mail apology, or else.

What this all means goes back to what your parents used to advise: If you can't say something nice about somebody or something, don't say anything at all. . .especially via E-mail.

Believe-it-or-not postcards offer some tall talesPostcard collections, as flashbacks to the way we were, traditionally show how a

community or some landmark once looked.

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Others serve as keepsakes, reminders and souvenirs of a trip to a national park, a famed city or a tourist attraction such as Wrigley Field, the Empire State Building or the Washington Monument.

Those collections are not like the one now on display at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

“Storytelling through the Mail: Tall Tale Postcards” contains vintage examples of an unusual form of visual humor.

Imagine a land where corn grows to the size of tree trunks, where the lakes are so cold that the trout have fur coats, and where deer have become hunters and men are their prey.

These assorted oddities come vividly to life in the traveling exhibition developed by the Michigan State University Museum.

On display in the downtown-Kalamazoo museum through Sept. 6 are more than 80 examples of “tall tale” postcards from around the United States. They demonstrate a unique form of popular humor dating back to the early 20th century.

Other items in the exhibit include taxidermy specimens, newspaper cartoons and magazine covers, all of which help to tell the story of the “tall tale” postcard.

“Tall tales” are described as humorous stories of exaggeration, fictional accounts that are presented as the truth. They often involve ludicrous or absurd imagery.

They are passed on in oral, written, and visual forms, including the postcards, cartoons and other artifacts in the MSU exhibit. Artists easily create tall-tale scenes on postcards by piecing together regular-size images with enlargements, or by juxtaposing two images that would not normally go together.

Although illustrated tall-tale postcards were common, it is the trickery of photography that characterizes much of the genre. People sometimes assume that "the camera doesn't lie," but tall-tale postcard creators have the last laugh, teasing viewers into believing their lies.

The most common feature of tall-tale postcards is that of exaggeration, the use of gigantic vegetables and fruits, farm animals, or wild game and fish for humorous effect.

Exaggerated size is dramatized by a fish catch overflowing its boat or an ear of corn larger than its wagon. Because of the size of the fish, the boat rides low in the water; horses and men strain to move enormous vegetables.

Other popular tall-tale postcards include infamous creatures like the Jackalope and Fur-Bearing Trout, hunting and fishing disasters, or maps that grossly distort the size of a state or region in relation to those around it.

“Storytelling Through the Mail” features masters of the genre, from the “golden age” of American postcard production in the early 20th century to the present. F.D. Conard of Garden City, Kan., created nightmarish images of giant grasshoppers, inspired by a 1935 Kansas plague. They share the stage with Alfred Stanley Johnson of Waupun, Wis., who is famous for highly realistic, action-packed scenes that mix people and farm products dating from 1909 to 1935.

A more modern approach was taken by Richard Miller of Butler, Pa., with a folksy, staged scene of a hunter tied to the hood of a car with a deer head behind the wheel.

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That, however, seems no more out of place than the seamless photographic trickery of William H. Martin of Ottawa, Kan., whose early 1900s images of giant cabbages and freakishly huge rabbits caused a skeptic to look twice.

They were all masters as much for the tall tales they have spun as for their technical prowess.

In addition to works by these “masters” are numerous other cards by lesser known or unknown photographers and illustrators -- all silly, nostalgic and evocative of a century of vacations and messages quickly sent long before the advent of e-mail.

Says Beth Donaldson, traveling exhibit service manager for the MSU Museum: “Visitors to ‘Storytelling Through the Mail’ will be treated to a whimsical and occasionally thought-provoking presentation that is smart but accessible, visually appealing and—most importantly—fun.”

The MSU Museum was founded in 1857. Its Traveling Exhibition Service provides affordable exhibitions for museums and organizations both in and out of Michigan. More than two dozen are available and represent a variety of Michigan's natural and cultural resources, from quilts to Native American arts.

KVCC’s election connection Several candidates who have their name on the ballot for the Aug. 3 primary

election have ties with KVCC.Squaring off in the Democratic primary against four-term incumbent Robert

Bernard in District 3 of the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners is Eric Sweet.The 26-year-old Sweet is a KVCC graduate who is now a senior at Western

Michigan University majoring in international politics and minoring in economics. Employed at the Target Distribution Center, Sweet is an alumnus of Gull Lake High School and is a member of the Edison Neighborhood Association Board of Trustees.

The lone Democratic candidate in District 11 is Barbara Hammon, 58, who works in the neuro care unit of Borgess Medical Center. She has a nursing degree from KVCC. She will face the winner of the Republican primary in November. Seeking that nod are appointed incumbent Tim Rogowski and challenger John R. Cross.

In District 12 on the Democratic side of the ballot is Scott McCormick, 38, an Oshtemo Township trustee and former KVCC student. He is a union steward for UFCW Local 951. The current member of the Public Media Network Board of Directors is facing two others from his party on the Aug. 2 ballot, incumbent John Nieuwenhuis and Scott Spicer.

And finally. . . When the minister’s sermon went on endlessly, a parishioner walked out

of the church. He returned near the end of the service.The pastor confronted him on the way out of the building.“Friend,” he inquired, “I noticed you left during my sermon and later came

back. Are you feeling OK?’“Sure,” the man replied. “I’m OK. I just went out to get a haircut.”“Why didn’t you do that before you came to church?” the preacher asked.“I didn’t need it then,” came ..the reply.

☻☻☻☻☻☻

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