Aug. 17, 2009

The DigestWhat’s Happening at KVCC

What’s below in this edition

In the news (Pages 1/2) Internships (Pages 11/12) Abe’s 200th (Pages 2-4) Better teaching (Pages 12/13)

GENOME coming (Pages 4-6) Sci-fi (Page 13) Calls galore (Pages 6/7) On TV (Pages 13/14) Welcomers needed (Page 7) Slim and trim (Page 14) Circle Aug. 28 (Page 7) Legendary games (Pages 14/15) Cougar Connection (Pages 7/8) The Living Planet (Pages 15-17) Turbine class (Pages 8/9) Gold for Bernard (Page 17) Nats at the Zoo (Page 9) Paper chase (Pages 18/19) New endeavors (Pages 9/10) Boyer’s book (Page 19) Animated web sites (Pages 10/11) And Finally (Pages 19/20)

☻☻☻☻☻☻KVCC earns award for innovation, USA Today coverage

KVCC’s foray into the arena of alternative-energy production via its Wind Energy Center based at the M-TEC was among the eight cited from a field of 38 statewide finalists for Michigan Business Review magazine’s annual Innovation Michigan awards for 2009.

Innovation Michigan winners were announced during the exposition and awards event schedule July 16 at Grand Valley State University's Pew Campus in Grand Rapids.

As reported by the magazine, KVCC “is leading the way for wind-energy research and education in Michigan” as illustrated by its M-TEC becoming the national training headquarters for Entegrity Wind Systems Inc., a leading manufacturer of wind turbines that erected a 145-foot, 50-kilowatt unit on the Texas Township Campus.

Stated Jim DeHaven, vice president for economic and business development: “The Wind Energy Center improves the image of KVCC in the state and nation. It also helps improve Kalamazoo’s reputation with manufacturers.”

He also told the magazine that in October, KVCC will become the first school in the nation to host a 26-week academy to train wind-turbine technicians in the installation, maintenance and repair of the giant turbines that are clustered on wind farm.

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To produce the next generation of wind-energy technicians, KVCC has also established a one-year certificate program. It will begin with the fall semester.

So how innovative is the initiative? Enough to merit coverage in the Aug. 3 edition of USA Today.

In an article headlined “College students are flocking to sustainability degrees, careers,” staff writer Jillian Berman reported that “a growing number of schools, including community colleges, are training students to operate green technology.” She mentioned the new academy as an example.

In stating that wind farms are “scrambling” for trained technicians, DeHaven was quoted as saying: “They (trained technicians) can really write their own future at this point because they are needed at all the wind farms. They (wind farms) don’t want us to wait and put people through a two-year program or a one-year certificate. They want a fast track to employment.”

Example No. 2 came via a telephone call to the Wind Energy Center telephone number.

“The guy had read about the academy on the Internet,” DeHaven said. “He had a rough accent and some detailed questions so the call was passed on to Tom Sutton . Turns out he is a Russian calling from a fish-processing ship on a satellite cell phone on the Bering Sea on his way back to Russia. He is very interested and plans to apply, probably for our second academy. Has 20 years on the sea with lots of mechanical and electrical experiences.”

Lincoln-Douglas debates coming to KalamazooRecreated highlights and key moments of the famed Lincoln-Douglas debates of

1858 are part of a five-day local celebration of the 200th birthday of the 16th president of the United States.

A condensed version of the seven debates between the two Illinois candidates for U. S. Senate is set for 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 22, in Bronson Park where Lincoln spoke in 1856 in his only visit to Michigan.

The debate moderator will be State Sen. Tom George (R-Texas Township), a Lincoln historian and documentarian.

Co-sponsored by the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, other events include a recreation of Lincoln’s Kalamazoo speech at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday (Aug. 19) in the Portage Public Library and the anniversary’s opener – a discussion of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” on Saturday (Aug. 15) at 2 p.m. in the Kalamazoo Public Library.

The library will also be the site of “Meet Mary Todd Lincoln” on Monday (Aug. 17) at 7 p.m. as re-enactor Sally Redinger talks about her life in the White House as the president’s wife and mother of his sons. All of the activities are free and open to the public.

On Friday (Aug. 21) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the museum, the U. S. Postal Service will be selling the new Lincoln stamp with a Kalamazoo cancellation. Local students designed special cachet envelopes for the anniversary and they will be on display.

The Saturday (Aug. 22) agenda beginning at 9 a.m. will include displays of Lincoln memorabilia in the museum and library, a continuation of the stamp sale, and

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rendition’s of Lincoln’s favorite music by the Dodworth Saxhorn Band. The Civil War Roundtable Color Guard will present the colors at 11 a.m.

At noon, those in attendance will be able to talk with the portrayers of Lincoln (Fred Priebe), Douglas (Len Steinberg) and Mrs. Lincoln Each youngster who chats with “Lincoln” will be given a1900 mint date Lincoln penny.

The debaters, the color guard and the band will march to Bronson Park at 1 p.m. for Sen. George’s introduction with visitors allowed to join the caravan. Slated for 3 p.m. will be post-debate question-and-answer session and discussion. The winner of the envelop-design contest will also be announced.

The debate recreation will feature the actual language employed 151 years ago. Each “candidate” will have time for opening remarks, rebuttal and questions from the audience. A caveat is that the language of the debates contains some content and attitudes that might be offensive to a 2009 listener.

The debates previewed the issues that Lincoln would face in the 1860 presidential election. The main issue in all seven debates from August through October was slavery.

Three drew especially large numbers of people from neighboring states as slavery was of monumental importance to citizens across the nation.

Newspaper coverage was intense. Major papers from Chicago sent stenographers to create complete texts of each debate, which newspapers across the United States reprinted in full, with some partisan edits.

Newspapers that supported Douglas as the incumbent Democrat edited his speeches to remove any errors made by the stenographers and to correct grammatical errors, while they left Lincoln's speeches in the rough form in which they had been transcribed. In the same way, Republican papers edited Lincoln's speeches, but left the Douglas texts as reported. Thus, if you read both versions, the truth can be found.

Lincoln lost to Douglas, but the widespread coverage catapulted him into the national limelight and his nomination for president by the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago.

The format for each debate was: one candidate spoke for 60 minutes, then the other candidate spoke for 90 minutes, and then the first candidate was allowed a 30-minute "rejoinder." The candidates alternated speaking first. As the incumbent, Douglas spoke first in four of the debates.

In his award-winning documentary “Lincoln in Kalamazoo,” George, a Kalamazoo anesthesiologist, explained how Lincoln, who failed to win the nomination for vice president at the Republican Party's first convention in Philadelphia earlier that year, was invited here to stump for explorer/scout John Fremont, the party's initial candidate for president.

George's research also detailed how Lincoln was one of the lesser political lights invited to speak at the massive rally and the reactions of those who listened to him speak that day. Four years later, he would be elected president of the United States and a main reason why southern states seceded starting the Civil War.

In his speech, Lincoln hammered home the anti-slavery stand of the recently formed political organization and urged the election of Fremont. “The question of slavery at present day,” said the one-term congressman, “should be not only the greatest question, but very nearly the sole question.” He referred to America’s quandary over the spread of slavery into the new territories as “the naked question.”

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“Shall the United States prohibit slavery in the United States?” is the essence of the true question,” Lincoln asked. Fremont’s party, if successful in its campaign for the White House, would be charged to restrict slavery’s expansion into the new territories, the former rail-splitter said. It was believed by Republicans, according to Lincoln, that James Buchanan, the Democratic Party’s candidate, would allow the extension of human bondage into the new territories. Buchanan’s policy on slavery was compared by Lincoln to Great Britain’s hands-off approach, thus allowing individuals to practice slavery in its New World colonies. The former store clerk also characterized the stance of Millard Fillmore, the American Party’s candidate, as that of a “fence sitter,” one who attempts to appease both sides of the contentious issue. Fillmore, as a Whig vice president, was elevated to the presidency when Zachary Taylor died in office in July of 1850. “Well,” Lincoln said, “it brings him (Fillmore) into this position. He tries to get both sides, one by denouncing those who opened the door (to slavery) and other by hinting that he doesn’t care a fig for its being open.” The one-time county surveyor in his adopted home state of Illinois believed Fillmore had no prospects of receiving a single vote on either side of the Mason-Dixon Line because of that wishy-washy stance. When it comes to slavery, Lincoln said, “there could be no middle way. “You who hate slavery and love freedom,” asked Lincoln, “why not vote for Fremont” because Fillmore and Buchanan basically occupy “the same ground.” Douglas took a few stinging salvos from Lincoln in the Kalamazoo speech for recommending the question of slavery in Kansas go before the U. S. Supreme Court. “Douglas is a great man,” he said, pausing for effect, “at keeping from answering questions he doesn’t want to answer.” Douglas had been a frequent visitor to Kalamazoo in those years. It was still two years before his famous debates with Douglas.

‘GENOME’ explores the stuff we are made of What the naked eye can’t see is proving that all the humans who can be seen are

99 and 44/100ths percent the same, whether they are as white as Ivory Snow or dark as molasses.

And, because of an extra inventory of these units - called genes - humans are different - but not all that different -- from other warm-blooded species of all shapes and sizes that occupy planet Earth.

Southwest Michigan residents will be able to see all of this for themselves when the nationally touring “GENOME: The Secret of How Life Works” opens on Sept. 26 at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum and begins a stay through Jan. 10. Admission is free.

Two of the annual attractions at the downtown-Kalamazoo museum - Chemistry Day on Oct. 17 and Safe Halloween on Oct. 31 - are being themed to complement the intent of the exhibit. Those also are free.

“Genome” is made possible by Pfizer Inc and was produced by Evergreen Exhibitions in collaboration with the National Human Research Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, and the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research.

“Genome” explores how genes affect growth and aging, maps what might be in store for humanity, and offers a look at what your future children might look like.

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All this became humanly possible once scientists mapped the human genome - a person’s entire set of genes. The exhibition, which debuted at the Smithsonian in 2003, investigates the mysteries of the human gene, why the genome is being mapped, and the potential benefits of gene research, such as: * Preventing and curing diseases * Living longer * Solving crimes Producing better food and drugs The exhibit looks at the 200-year history of this science and the individuals who shaped it - from Gregor Mendel, the 19th-century monk who discovered the rules of inheritance by cultivating peas in a monastery garden, to Jim Watson and Francis Crick, who in the early 1950s unearthed the form and process of genetic replication, the famous DNA double helix. This Harvard University breakthrough is regarded as the most important biological discovery of the 20th century. “The understanding of the human genome opens up an entirely new frontier for health-science research,” said Dr. Tom Turi, a genomic scientist with Pfizer Inc, “and it is anticipated that it will lead to new therapies and cures for devastating diseases. However, many people are unaware of the genome or its potential to enhance our lives.” “Genome” uses interactive displays and family-friendly activities to help visitors understand the genome’s function and its role in daily life. These include: • An 8-by-25-foot display of DNA’s double helix structure that is enhanced by a video. • The opportunity in the Discovery Theater to meet scientists who were instrumental in the discoveries leading up to the sequencing of the human genome. Another “show” discusses the genetic issues of the future. • A working slot machine that demonstrates the odds that children will inherit genes for certain characteristics. • Using the metaphor of a “Cookie Factory,” DNA, genes and proteins as the ingredients and recipes for “making” human beings can be understood. • Gaining access to a cell to discover the workings of its parts and processes. • Computer simulations to design new gene therapies, replacing disease-causing proteins with healthy new human genes. Visitors will enter the exhibit through a circular corridor, encountering graphic and mirror images of themselves in the initial stages of life and as a mature human, reflecting who they were and who they are today. Emanating from a mirror at the end of the tunnel is a swirling ribbon of genetic code, representing the genes that hold the secrets to where they came from, who they are and who they may become. The exhibit’s “The Secret of Life” section explains what a gene, DNA, protein and cell are, and how genes are involved in reproduction, growth and the maintenance of life. The role of this revolutionary branch of science and what it holds for the future comes alive by people with genetic conditions telling their stories. How DNA testing is

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solving some of history’s mysteries and helping to identify people who committed crimes with almost 100-percent certainty are also exhibit attractions. “Genome” will be the second medical-science related exhibition brought to Kalamazoo under the auspices of Pfizer. “BRAIN: The World Inside Your Head” spent the fall and early winter of 2006 at the Museum. Think about this the next time you peel a banana - that white fruit behind the yellow skin has 50 percent of the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) that you do.

Our phones were really, really busy last weekSix thousand three hundred and thirty-five!That’s the number of calls that were made to prospective students by volunteers

who stepped forward to take part in KVCC's annual campaign to contact enrolled students who have not yet paid for fall-semester classes.

Calloused fingertips were the result of the 73 folks who touched their telephones from Monday, Aug. 3, through the Aug. 10 deadline to pay tuition.

In the 2008 fall campaign, 6,117 calls were made by a larger number of volunteers, which is why a lot of KVCC folks were walking around with sore fingers and earaches this last week. Too few carried too much of a load. One five-person unit made 26 percent of the calls.

Those with rested digits and ear drums can make amends in December when the college repeats the process for the winter semester.

The calling is a chance to help prospective students not lose their classes, and to help the college maintain a healthy, vital, ever-growing enrollment.

Those who make the calls report that students, their parents, and friends deeply appreciate the gentle reminder, and the college's caring environment.

And it works, with about 80 percent resulting in students making their payments prior to batch cancellation.

Among those who made the calls are:M-TEC: Patricia Wallace, Lisa Peet, Brenda Moncrief and Lauren Beresford.Anna Whitten Hall: Sheila White, Barbara VanZandt, Chasity Hayden, Patricia

Pallett, and Jackie Cantrell.Texas Township Campus: Ruth Baker, Mary Johnson, Denise Lindsley, Bonnie

Bowden, Gloria Norris, Lisa Gruber, Candy Horton, Terry Hutchins, Joyce Zweedyk, Janet Alm, Jennie Huff, Nancy Young, Teresa Fornoff, Marylan Hightree, Gail Fredericks, Angie Case, and Laurie Dykstra;

Carolyn Brownell, Marcia Shaneyfelt-Niles, Isabella Robinson, Jacob Johnson, Sheila Rupert, Diana Haggerty, Jane Westra, Catie West, David Hughes, Sommer Hayden, Morgan Pendowski, Stephanie Strong and Ebba Spyke;

Karen Visser, Louise Wesseling, Tarona Guy, Robyn Robinson, Sharra Poncil, Sue Commissaris, Mike Collins, Kristen Schwander, Amber Hutson, and Shawna VanderVeen, and Rose Crawford;

Janice Doerfer, Irene Turcott, Bonita Bates, Sue Newington, Sherrill Cape, Jack Bley, Cindy Tinney, Casey James, Ezra Bell, Kim Ameluxen, Ruth Gritter, Betty Van Voorst, Khira Sydnor, Tonya Sharpsteen, Bob Stokes, Tangy Smith, Diedra Rutherford, Kathy Allen, Courtney McCaul, Tom Thinnes and calling-campaign coordinator Pat Pojeta.

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“I want to sincerely thank the volunteers who took the time from their busy workdays to contact our students,” Pojeta said. “They did a yeoman’s job and I am most thankful for their timely support. We could not have achieved what we did without their help.

In some instances, she said, co-workers might have jumped in to help a person finish making calls and divided up a list. Thus, they might have pitched in, but their names did not make the above list of callers. This is especially true of the Student Success Center advocates who “really stepped up and dialed their little hearts out.”

Student welcomers needed to launch fall semesterFaculty and staff are invited to man welcome-back-students tables on both the

Texas Township and Arcadia Commons campuses for an hour or two.“We're looking for a few good women and men to help staff fall-semester

welcome tables on Tuesday and Wednesday (Sept. 8-9),” Mike McCall said. “Let's get our new students off to a good start and remind our returning students why they came back to the most helpful college in Michigan. In addition to serving our students, it is quite fun to do.”

Those who would like to volunteer for an hour or two can contact Rose Crawford at extension 4347 to sit with a colleague at locations around the Texas Township Campus, answer questions and give directions. Folks can also stop by her desk in the Admissions, Registration and Records Office to sign up.

Personnel at the Arcadia Commons Campus can contact Jackie Cantrell at extension 7805 to volunteer, offer directions and answer questions.

Those who would like to be the friendly faces behind the tables in the Student Commons during the Cougar Connection and on Wednesday should touch base with Mary Johnson at extension 4182.

Adios, summer hoursKVCC will end its “summer hours” on Friday, Aug. 28.That will be the 2009 end of a work week that runs Monday through Thursday,

from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with a 30-minute break for lunch, and the college shutting down at noon on Fridays.

With the arrival of summer hours, The Digest shifted into an every-other-week format until just before the start of the fall semester. The weekly distribution schedule will return with next edition dated Aug. 24.

Cougar Connection 2009 on Sept. 8KVCC programs, departments and services will be welcoming fall-semester

students at the 2009 Cougar Connection on Tuesday, Sept. 8, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Student Commons on the Texas Township Campus.

This year’s "Connection" for new and returning students will also feature:♦ door prizes and other give-aways, including a computer♦ a variety of games♦ free food and refreshments provided by vendors♦ fitness orientations by the KVCC Wellness and Fitness Center.♦ a scavenger hunt♦ massages by the Kalamazoo Center for the Healing Arts

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♦ a local radio station’s remote broadcast♦ displays by college and student organizations and programs.♦ and promotions by local financial institutions, restaurants, and businesses.All will be free at the eighth Cougar Connection. KVCC programs and services to students that would like to gain exposure during

the 2009 Cougar Connection should contact Mary Johnson, student activities and programs coordinator in The Student Commons.

To arrange for a table and any other preparations, contact her at extension 4182 or

e-mail her at mjohnson@kvcc.edu. Students to blueprint, build wind turbine

Designing a wind turbine, fabricating its components, assembling the power-generating unit, and making certain it produces electricity constitutes the mission of a new course this fall at Kalamazoo Valley Community College.

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 will be open to 18 enrollees on a first-come, first-served basis. One slot remains as on last week.

Lectures will be 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 145-foot turbine that has been generating electricity since early March.

The 2009 fall semester at KVCC begins Tuesday, Sept. 8, and ends Monday, Dec. 21. It will also be offered in the 2010 winter semester that begins on Monday, Jan. 11.

The fee will follow the college’s normal tuition rate -- $71 per credit hour for KVCC in-district residents, $113 for those out of district, and $152 per credit hour for non-Michigan residents.

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

“Our 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 proceed with planning, equipment purchase and course design over the summer.

The enrollees will be performing 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 will be 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 that 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 will 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

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optimize efficiency through design variations, fabrication techniques, how to prevent 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.”

As the lead instructors prepare for the prototype course in the fall through the purchase of instructional equipment and software that will also be applicable to other technical courses at KVCC, they will also join forces this summer to build the training components that will be key parts of the instructional process.

The course-concluding wind turbine, which will have at least three blades that will each be six to eight feet long and stand as high as 30 feet off the ground, will find a spot on KVCC property to serve as a promotional prop for future eight-credit courses.

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

Also scheduled for a fall-semester launch is the college’s one-year certificate for training wind-energy technicians. The mission of that 35-credit-hour program is to teach students how to install, maintain and service wind-energy turbines designed for residential and commercial locations.

Tennis everyone?Biology instructor Darrell Davies, who oversees the annual "Nats in the Zoo"

national tennis competition at Kalamazoo College as tournament referee, is inviting the KVCC community to share in this exceptional event this weekend.

For decades, the likes of Jimmy Connors, the McEnroe brothers, Arthur Ashe, James Blake, Andy Roddick, and scores of other U. S. tennis luminaries have launched their collegiate and professional careers on the Stowe Stadium courts.

"Each year," Davies says, "500 of the best American male players in age ranges 16 to 18 years old converge on Kalamazoo for 10 days of competition to determine the top four singles players and four doubles teams in both age categories. The winners of each age group in both singles and doubles get wild-card entries into the U.S. Open held in New York later this month. It is the crown jewel for these players."

The Kalamazoo event runs through Sunday (Aug. 16) with the 16 singles final at 11 a.m. and the 18 singles final at 1 p.m..

"Play continues solid throughout each day leading up to the finals on Sunday day at Stowe Stadium," Davies says.

KVCC folks can contact him for general-admission tickets at 269-598-4765. "Come see the future of American collegiate and professional tennis right here in

our own backyard," he says.

Spreading the wordOK, your new program, project, activity, community service or happening has

been given the green light by the powers-that-be. Or, you have been selected to make a presentation at a statewide or national conference. Your next telephone call or e-mail should be to Tom Thinnes (extension 4280, tthinnes@kvcc.edu) to begin spreading the word both around the college and around the community.

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Don’t - REPEAT - don’t wait around until the week before to contact those whose duties include public relations, promotions, marketing, communication and dealing with the news media. What’s important to remember is that members of the news media and other vehicles of communications don’t sit on their hands waiting for calls giving them clues on what to do. As with all of us at KVCC, they have schedules, full platters and agendas, and plenty to do. They appreciate as much advance notice as the rest of us so that they can properly apply their resources and their responses. The same modus operandi applies to those who organize and present annual and repeating events. They, too, are often just as newsworthy and require as much advance notice in order to generate the public exposure many of them deserve. Helpful Hint No. 2 - There is no such animal as making a contact too early. Helpful Hint No. 3 - If something in the program, project, activity, community service or happening changes or is eliminated, make another contact - and quickly -- so that the material/news release can be revised or updated. When the college’s “branding” initiative reaches its conclusion, all of this will come into play - so be ready.

Making web sites jump out at youBecause web sites that only look back at you are not the future of that mode of

information interaction, KVCC’s Center for New Media has launched a course that integrates animation and video into the process.

Debuting with the summer semester and scheduled to be taught in two sections in the fall, “Video Production” shows students – both majors and those who are interested in how it can be done – how to animate and add life to a web site.

“It introduces the principles of video production through a hands-on approach,” says Grant Chandler, dean of instruction at KVCC’s Arcadia Commons Campus.

“The three-credit course focuses on the basics of using a video camera, of using editing software, and on developing skills as a storyteller,” he said.

As they learn the fundamentals of movie making, he said, student will create videos in the form of PSAs (public-service announcement), music videos and other productions that will give them the basis of “a strong demo reel.”

The instructor is Aubrey Hardaway, who graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design in Chicago in 2000 where she also gained some classroom experience as an instructor in video and animation courses.

That led to a five-year stint as an art teacher at Kalamazoo’s Montessori School on Howard Street.

A part-time instructor at KVCC before joining the full-time faculty in the fall of 2008, Hardaway has guided workshops for young animators as part of Kalamazoo Animation Festival International academies in the summer.

A pair of art classes and one in graphic design are listed as pre-requisites for majors, but those can be waived for the nontraditional enrollee who wants to take the course for enrichment or professional-development purposes. Chandler said enrollees are also exposed to scriptwriting, using lights to set a production’s tone, gaining familiarity with a video camera, the editing process in a time-

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based format, audio recorders, storyboarding, teamwork, setting up for a production and tearing it down, and the lexicon of the entire process.

“The idea,” Chandler said, “is to teach how to animate a web site. The college believes there is a huge market for skilled people who can do this, and for those who have the ability to produce educational and training videos that can be added to a web site.”

For more information about dates, time and location of the class, call 373-7920.

Direct students to internship opportunities KVCC instructors are urged to include the college’s Community Partners

Internship Program in their opening remarks to students as the fall semester gets under way.

Launched in January, the initiative is continuing to place students in workforce-development positions throughout the 2009-10 academic year, and the experience can be life-and-career changing for those who seize the opportunity.

Funded for a three-year period by the KVCC Foundation, the $100,000 project seeks to place at least 55 students over a three-year period with enterprises interested in a grow-your-own-workforce alliance.

The bulk of the grant funds is being used to pay up to 50 percent of the wages for each intern, with the companies they work for providing the balance. The program will last through December of 2011.

Salary terms are established on a case-by-case basis and agreed upon prior to the commencement of the internship. The pay can range from the minimum wage of $7.40 to $12 per hour.

An internship usually lasts 15 weeks, but students can apply at any time and be assigned year round.

Lois Brinson-Ropes, the internship coordinator for the center’s Student Employment Services unit, said the initiative is targeting enterprises involved in bio-medical services, alternative energy, and the digital arts, but companies involved in other sectors of the regional economy are also invited to take part.

“We see this internship program as the college’s wish to join forces with Southwest Michigan employers to produce and retain a highly talented and trained workforce,” she said.

For many enterprises -- and not just those in emerging businesses -- the No. 1 factor for achieving success is finding the right people to fit the right jobs.  Internships are tried-and-true ways to “grow your own” and identify prospects with high potential.           

It’s the classic win-win equation:  great experience for those who are selected as interns and a no-strings-attached arrangement on the part of the employer because internships are basically akin to temporary jobs.           

The employer gets essentially a low-cost look at a potential permanent employee who could either be somebody who would not be a good fit or somebody who has “the right stuff” to be a future leader.           

In order to find that out, interns -- while supervised and operating within a structured work environment – can be given enough autonomy and enough leeway to determine their own direction. 

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That allows the employer to evaluate the person’s judgment, how he or she works with other people, and work habits.  Few one-on-one interviews provide those types of measurements.

Instructors should tell students that can apply when they have achieved the skills and education required by the company offering the internship, and when they have completed 50 percent of the course work in their respective majors.

They will also be required to complete pre-employment-skills training provided by the center’s Student Employment Services.

This training will include resume writing, effective cover letters, interviewing skills, professional attire, personal hygiene, promptness and dependability, communication skills, and non-verbal behavior.

Each company can request an intern based on the area of study, skills needed, duties expected, hours of work, and when the person is needed on the job. Each will select an intern based on the organization’s existing hiring methods and criteria.

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, nearly 70 percent of interns receive full-time positions from their employers. This ratio has increased 13 percent since 2001.

Instructors can direct interested students to Brinson-Ropes in Room 1356 on the Texas Township Campus. She can be contacted at extension 4344 or lbrinsonropes@kvcc.edu.

Faculty focus on ways to teach more effectivelyKVCC faculty members will continue the initiative to identify and utilize the best-

teaching practices in the fall semester. On the heels of discussing Ken Bain’s book on “What the Best College Teachers

Do,” instructors will have the opportunity to listen to the author on Thursday, Sept. 3, as part of the fall semester’s Faculty Seminar Days. He will conduct a workshop that will begin an exploration of the following questions related to teaching and, in particular, to teaching in a community college:

1. What do the best teachers know and understand?2. How do the best teachers prepare to teach?3. What do they expect of students?4. What do they do when they teach?5. How do they treat students? 6. How do they check their progress, evaluate their efforts?Bain will also meet with those faculty members who participated in the book-

group discussion of “What the Best College Teachers Do” during the last academic year.Those who have not read the book as yet can do so over the summer and take part

in a discussion on Wednesday, Sept. 2, at 8:45 a.m. in Room 128 in Anna Whitten Hall. During the 2009-2010 academic year, these book will be discussed at the fall- and

winter-semester Faculty Seminar Days: “Behavior Analysis for Effective Teaching” by Julie Vargas, (Pat

Cherpas, discussion leader) “Honored but Invisible” by W. Norton Grubb and Associates (Jan

White, discussion Leader)Discussions will take place during the roundtable break-out session at 1:30 p.m. in

128 Whitten Hall and 10:45 to noon in the Student Commons Forum on the Texas

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Township Campus. Contact Bill deDie at extension 4128 or Cynthia Schauer at extension 4051 for other suggestions.

These discussions are sponsored by the Faculty Subcommittee on Student Retention and support the college’s managing-enrollment initiative. Data from this initiative provide evidence that the most vital contributions of faculty to student retention are dynamic classrooms and a vigorous curriculum.

Science fiction is course offering in fallScience fiction and fantasy, which often evolves into scientific facts, will be

explored in a new fall-semester course at KVCC.Taught by Nicole Bauman from 1 to 4:50 p.m. on Wednesdays, the course

(English 217) will delve into Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and C. S. Lewis’ chronicles, as well as short stories by Isaac Asimov and Arthur Clarke among others.

“We will take an historical survey of some literary masterpieces of science fiction written for both adults and children,” says Bauman, who has been teaching at KVCC since 2006. “We will begin the semester with ‘Frankenstein,’ arguably the first science-fiction novel. From there we will cover a sampling of classic and contemporary works including H.G. Wells’ ‘The Time Machine,’ Lewis’ ‘Out of the Silent Planet,’ Madeleine L’Engle’s ‘A Wrinkle in Time,’ and Orson Scott Card’s ‘Ender’s Game.’

“This course is designed for both the die-hard science-fiction fan and those new to the genre,” said Bauman, who has an undergraduate degree from Hillsdale College and a master’s from Eastern Michigan University. “Because devotees of science fiction will begin the class with their own favorite authors, I will allow students to select a novel or movie to review for their written project. We also will study science fiction as adapted for both movies and television.”

Prior to coming to KVCC, Bauman worked as an assistant director of admission at Northern Michigan University and served as president of the Michigan Association for College Admission Counseling from 2004-2006. Twice she lobbied in Washington for higher-education issues such as increased funding for the Federal Pell Grant. She has also taught at Macomb Community College and St. Clair County Community College.

More TV time for ‘Chemical Kim’KVCC chemistry instructor Kim De Clercq is becoming a regular fixture on the

“Take Five & Company” segment on WZZM-TV. Her “The Chemical Kim Show” features “fun” hands-on activities designed to

spark interest in the sciences in children. Producers of the segment, which airs weekdays at 9 a.m. on Grand Rapids’ Channel 13, have booked her for a Monday (Aug. 17) appearance.

She’s also slotted for Friday shows on Sept. 4, Sept. 18, Oct. 2, Oct. 16, Nov. 6, Nov. 20, Dec. 4 and Dec. 19.

De Clercq took her concept to the airwaves initially by producing a series of radio spots -- “The Chemical Kim Science Minute” -- about interesting scientific facts, events and history for WKDS-FM, the 250-watt station that operates out of the Public Media Network (formerly the Community Access Center) in downtown Kalamazoo and is licensed through the Kalamazoo Public Schools. That evolved into “The Chemical Kim Science Show” that is aired regularly on one of PMN’s five channels on the Charter cable system. The “kitchen-science” show is

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aimed at youngsters. Assisting her in the weekly shows are “scientists” who attend fifth-, sixth-, seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grades in local schools. The radio station, which is located at 89.9 on the FM dial, is part of the Education for Employment programs in radio and television broadcasting. De Clercq delivers “a quick, entertaining, educational and informative science lesson” in each one-minute spot similar to the “Earth & Sky Segments” that are aired regionally on WAKV based in Plainwell. De Clercq earned a bachelor’s in chemistry in 1991 from Michigan Technological University in Houghton, and added a master’s in teaching chemistry from Central Michigan University in August of 1996. In addition to her classroom work at KVCC, she has served as a chemistry instructor at Delta College in Michigan and a grad assistant at CMU. She also taught science and math at Nouvel Catholic Central High School in Saginaw where she also coached track and cross country. Her background also includes working as an environmental chemist.

“Take Five & Company,” tri-hosted by WZZM staffers Tara Kuhnlein, Stephanie Webb and Catherine Behrendt, provides viewers with “live, local life-style features.”

Exercise, wellness opportunities continueNow that you’ve pared off a few pounds so that you look good in your bermudas

and swimming togs, you can stay that way into the fall because of a full regimen of drop-in exercise opportunities.

Here is the lineup for faculty, staff and enrolled students:Monday – swimming from 7 to 8:30 a.m.; yoga from 11 to 11:55 a.m.Tuesday – swimming from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; pilates from 11 to 11:55 a.m.;

and body sculpting from noon to 12:55.Wednesday – swimming from 7 to 8:30 a.m. Thursday – swimming from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and body sculpting from

noon to 12:55 p.m.Except for the obvious site for swimming, these exercise opportunities will be

based in Room 6040 in the Student Commons. Shelia Rupert will be leading the pilates sessions, Lu Cannon and Sheri Shon will

be sharing body sculpting, and Mark Duval is the yoga meister. Duval has taught forms of yoga since 1989 at the Kalamazoo Center for Healing

Arts and the Portage YMCA. He served as president of the Michigan Yoga Association from 1998 to 2002.

In offering three styles of yoga to participants, Duval will help KVCC’ers build their core strength, improve their flexibility, reduce stress, improve balance, slow the aging process, and speed up recovery from injuries.

Famous local toys, games in museum’s TV showKalamazoo inventors who created popular and award-winning recreational

devices are showcased in the August installment of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s TV show.

Featuring Tom Dietz, the curator of research at the museum, the episode chronicles the origins of games that became famous, is being aired by the Public Media Network (formerly the Community Access Center) on Channel 22 on the Charter cable

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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.

One example was the Kalamazoo Handle Manufacturing Co., established in the mid-1870s by Calvin Forbes. While the factory established a profitable business making baseball bats and handles for hammers, axes, picks and other tools, it struck gold when it began manufacturing croquet mallets and balls.

The game experienced a burst of popularity in the 1870s and Forbes was unable to keep up with demand. He shipped at least one railroad carload to buyers across the country every day. In 1876, Hale Page bought the firm which became known as Page Manufacturing.

When croquet’s popularity declined, the company struggled to find a new niche. It succeeded in 1894, when it was re-organized as the Kalamazoo Sled Co. For the next 70 years, it was one of America’s major manufacturers of sleds.

Similarly, the Kalamazoo firm of Ihling Brothers & Everard won an award at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago for its development of a tray for Duplicate Whist. Whist was a popular 19th century card game that was a precedent of modern bridge.

The tray, also known as a board, made it easier to arrange the dealt cards identically so that the teams could switch positions and re-play the hand. The trays were rapidly adopted for use in tournaments across the country and numerous references can be found about them in stories about whist tournaments in the “society” pages of national newspapers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Kalamazoo also contributed to the popularity of card games. There were two prominent manufacturers of playing cards in Kalamazoo at the start of the 20th century – the Kalamazoo Paper Box and Card Co. and the American Playing Card Co. The latter firm was organized in 1890 and eventually had factories in San Francisco and New York.

Both companies went out of business by 1920, but for more than 20 years, they made Kalamazoo a household word among card players.

Arthur Patterson created perhaps the most famous card game from Kalamazoo in 1901. Patterson was the manager of Beecher and Kymer’s bookstore on Burdick Street. In his spare time he loved to play card games.

He invented Flinch, a game that had a deck of 150 cards and could be played by two to eight players. A simple game in which players try to dispose of their cards by building on a pile in the center of the table in proper sequence from 1-15, the game quickly caught on.

In 1902, Patterson organized the Flinch Card Co. and by 1903 has sold nearly a million games. For the next three decades, it was one of America’s most popular games. In 1936, he sold the patent rights to Parker Brothers. Over a century later, the game is still popular and in production.

These examples do not include the full range of games, toys, and recreational equipment that has been manufactured in Kalamazoo.

Exploring your planet at the museumYou can spend about five hours on a Sunday afternoon with the menagerie of

amazing creatures and life forms that share this planet called Earth.This summer’s free showings of documentaries at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum

are the 12 episodes of David Attenborough’s “The Living Planet.”

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The triple-headers have been shown on four Sundays in the museum’s Mary Jane Stryker Theater at 1:30, 3 and 4 p.m., respectively.

The series concludes on Aug. 16 with “Worlds Apart,” “The Open Ocean,” and “New Worlds.”

Called the “ultimate guided tour of planet earth” and led by one of the world's foremost natural scientists, the series takes viewers into a hibernating bear's den, wading with piranhas, and crawling across glaciers as complicated concepts are explained simply.

“Worlds Apart” investigates remote islands and their inhabitants. Some islands are tips of volcanoes; others are coral atolls. Those that colonize them transform into new species with comparative speed.

Aldabra in the Indian Ocean off the African coast has a vast population of sooty terns, which enjoy a degree of protection from predators that is unavailable on the mainland.

The giant tortoise has also proliferated, despite the inhospitable nature of the landscape. Many island birds become flightless, including the Aldabran rail and the extinct dodo of Mauritius. Living in such isolation seems to allow some species to outgrow their mainland cousins. The episode shows a group of feeding Komodo dragons at close quarters.

The volcanic islands of Hawaii have become rich in vegetation and therefore host a multitude of colonists. There are at least 800 species of drosophila that are unique to the area.

Polynesians reached Hawaii well over 1,000 years ago, and their sea-going culture enabled them to reach many Pacific islands, including Easter Island, where they carved the Moai, and New Zealand -- the ancestors of the Māori.

Attenborough highlights the kakapo as a species that was hunted to near-extinction.

It is a facet of animal-island dwellers that they have developed no means of self-defense since their only predators are those that have been introduced by humans.

"The Open Ocean" concentrates on the marine environment. Attenborough goes underwater himself to observe the ocean's life forms and comment on them at first hand. He states that those that live on the sea bed are even more varied than land inhabitants.

Much sea life is microscopic, and such creatures make up part of the marine plankton. Some animals are filter feeders. Examples include the manta ray, the basking shark and the largest, the whale shark.

Bony fish with their swim bladders and flexible fins dominate the seas. The tuna is hailed as the fastest hunter, but the superiority of these types of fish did not go unchallenged: mammals are also an important component of ocean life.

Killer whales, dolphins, narwhals and humpback whales are shown, as well as a school of beluga whales, which congregate annually in a bay in the Canadian Arctic — for reasons unknown.

Marine habitats can be just as diverse as those on dry land. Attenborough surmises that the coral reef, with its richness of life, is the water equivalent of the jungle.

Where the breezes of the Gulf Stream meet those of the Arctic, the resulting currents churn up nutrients, which lead to vegetation, the fish that eat it, and others that eat them.

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Attenborough remarks that it is man who has been most responsible for changing ocean environments by fishing relentlessly, but in doing so has also created new ones for himself — and this leads to the final episode.

"New Worlds" surveys those environments that have been created by and for humans. Man has spread to all corners of the globe — not because he has evolved to suit his surroundings, but because he has exploited the adaptations of other animal species.

Despite being in existence for 500,000 years, it was not until 9,000 years ago that man began to create his own habitat.

In Beidha in Jordan, Attenborough examines the remains of one of the earliest villages. Its inhabitants owned animals, and this domestication spread to Europe, eventually arriving in Britain.

Much of the British landscape is man-made: for example, the South Downs were once a forest and the Norfolk Broads are the flooded remains of pits dug 600 years ago.

Man also shaped his land by ridding himself of certain species and introducing others.

He changed plants by harvesting them: the vast wheat fields of America now constitute a monoculture, where no other species are permitted.

The same can be said for cities, which were constructed entirely for man's benefit.While humans are good at managing unwanted species (such as rats and other

vermin), Attenborough argues that man has failed to look after natural resources and highlights the ignorance in assuming that the Earth has an infinite capacity to absorb waste.

The now acidic, lifeless lakes of Scandinavia are examples that are "shameful monuments to our carelessness and lack of concern."

Golden moment for KVCC Foundation trusteeEd Bernard, a member of the KVCC Foundation Board of Trustees, lived another

lifetime dream by participating in the Maccabi Games in Israel, and then went beyond by winning the gold medal in his division.

The founder and chief executive officer of Bermo Enterprises in Schoolcraft had always wanted to compete in tennis collegiately, but unexpected hurdles prevented that – until he enrolled at KVCC in his 40s and lettered in the sport.

Last month he was among the more than 8,000 athletes from 60 nations taking part in the games that, like the Olympics, are held every four years and, also like the Olympics, features a spectacular opening ceremony.

Bernard, in beating two men from Israel and one from Australia, became the only non-seeded player in his division to reach the semi-finals in a quest for a medal. In two of his matches, temperatures on the court reached 110 degrees.

In the final match, he topped the No. 2 seed 6-3, 6-1 to win the gold. Bernard reports he made the American team for the 2001 games, but opted not to

make the trip because on the perilous times and intense bombings that year. He qualified for the 2009 squad in competition in Florida last November.Meanwhile, on the homefront, The Kalamazoo Gazette reported that his Bermo

Enterprises was opening its third Max 10 Family Fashions discount-clothing store in the Indianapolis area. Bermo is Max 10’s parent company.

Max 10 specializes in clothing and accessories for $10 or less.

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No tossin’ -- recycle those paper productsWith thoughts of cleaning out the office as fall semester approaches, don’t just

dump those papers. Keep those recyclable resources in the mainstream.Think about what you are doing and don’t be lazy in doing it.The college’s commitment to recycling the mountains of paper required for daily

operations is still strong. The losers for not maintaining that strength are the landfills of Southwest

Michigan, and the trees that help replenish the planet with the stuff we all breathe.Hammered through all of us in many a science class is that trees eat what we

exhale and what comes out of our vehicles’ exhausts. Each time a tree is saved through the use of recycled paper, so is an oxygen generator.

It’s not that tough to do. All that is required is a little patience and a sense that one is doing the right thing.

The same goes with metal and plastic products that touch our lives and, without any consideration, end up in trash containers. What good is it to down a plastic bottle of that good, clear, clean water, and then relegate the containers to the landfills?

Just about every ilk of paper product that comes our way can be recycled. In one KVCC study, it was concluded that 80 percent of what the college

incinerates doesn’t have to be destroyed that way.Print out this list of “recyclables” and post it just above your blue bin: Newspapers Business cards Hard-cover books Copy paper Index cards Trade journals and magazines Cardboard Fax paper Junk mail Notebook paper Paper bags Envelopes without plastic windows (Think about cutting out the plastic

windows) Business forms Computer printouts File folders Maps Post-it notes StationeryIt is not necessary to remove staples or other forms of bindings from the paper

items to be recycled. Obviously, paper clips can be easily salvaged before launching the paper

materials into the blue bin. However, if the above materials are soiled by excessive dirt, food, grease or other

forms of gook, send them to the incinerator.

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Most of this applies to what we do in our homes, too. By taking the time to recycle paper, plastic, metal and glass products, the amount of trash, debris and garbage bound for the landfill can be drastically reduced.

If possible, establish a compost pile in your yard. That can accomplish at least three goals – create your own fertilizer, build up a personal supply of worms if you are an angler, and greatly reduce the amount of trash you put out along the roadside for pickup, thus reducing your costs.

Need more convincing? It is estimated that it takes a plastic container 50,000 years to decompose. Think about that the next time you chuck away that empty water

bottle that cost you at least a buck. Boyer’s new poems in spotlight

Retired KVCC communications instructor Marion Boyer was among nine Kalamazoo-area poets in the spotlight at an Aug. 13 celebration of writing and, according to The Kalamazoo Gazette, should be credited for the event itself.

The Portage Public Library had arranged for her to be the prime attraction to mark the publication of her latest book of poetry, “The Clock of the Long Now,” but Boyer, in response, suggested that other local poets be equally honored.

Thus, she shared the limelight with Elaine Seaman, Elizabeth Kerlikowske, Susan Blackwell Ramsey, Danna Ephland, Gail Martin, Anne Hutchinson, Lynn Pattison and Bonnie Jo Campbell.

The nine, as chronicled in the Aug. 9 edition of The Gazette, were saluted from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Each of the area scribes read some of her original pieces of wordsmithing.

Boyer told The Gazette that her latest book of poems, five years in the making and published last spring by Mayapple Press in Bay City, draws as its inspiration her awe from stumbling across a scientific study of a clock reportedly is able to accurately tell time for 10,000 years.

“I find it fascinating,” she said, “trying to get people to think about the distant future, thinking of what this planet will be like years from now, what people will be like.”

And finally. . . Here’s a scenario that would stack up as an “Ut-O” weekend. It comes in

the form of an e-mail from a wife to her traveling spouse.“To my darling husband,Before you return from your business trip, I just want to let you know about

the small accident I had with the pick-up truck when I turned into the driveway.Fortunately not too bad and I really didn't get hurt, so please don't worry

too much about me.I was coming home from Walmart, and when I turned into the driveway. I

accidentally pushed down on the accelerator instead of the brake.The garage door is slightly bent but the pickup fortunately came to a halt

when it bumped into your car.I am really sorry, but I know with your kind-hearted personality you will

forgive me. You know how much I love you and care for you, my sweetheart.I am enclosing a picture for you.I cannot t wait to hold you in my arms again.

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Your loving wife.P.S. Your girlfriend called.

☻☻☻☻☻☻

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