Keeping the lines of communication open is a key to organizational success. Actively engaging one another in meaningful
MISSION STATEMENT Kalamazoo Valley Community College creates innovative and equitable
opportunities that empower all to learn, grow and thrive.
Oct. 16, 2023
Greetings!
Keeping the lines of communication open is a key to organizational success. Actively engaging one another in meaningful conversations has been an important part of our work together over the past several years. I continue to enjoy your input and feedback on our combined efforts to make Kalamazoo Valley Community College a great place for all to learn, grow and thrive.
I invite you to make a reservation for lunch and conversation with me and your college colleagues by choosing from one of the two dates listed in the article below.
We are entering a very busy time of the academic year, working toward the completion of the current semester, commencement and the end of the calendar year. Family responsibilities, the change of seasons and upcoming holidays can be overwhelming. In the midst of these demands, I encourage you to do everything possible to stay focused on our mission and the work at hand. Let's keep communicating, collaborating and working together!
L. Marshall Washington, Ph.D.
President
Input Needed! The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is updating its strategic plan and needs your assistance. Please take a moment to share your input on the current mission statement and help contribute to the process. On average, this survey takes less than two minutes to complete. The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is operated by Kalamazoo Valley Community College and is governed by its Board of Trustees.
Register Now for Lunch with the President President Washington invites faculty and staff to join him for a casual lunch gathering in the private dining room of the Marilyn J. Schlack Culinary and Allied Health Building in downtown Kalamazoo at noon on Nov. 30 or Dec. 7. Choose only one date, please. Space is limited to 15 attendees for each session and registration is required to attend. If you attended previously, please do not register again. Register now.
Committee Updates Committees play a large role in the daily operations and continuous improvement of the college. In the spring each committee chair submitted an annual report, including the main activities of the committee for the last year, strategic focus areas and future goals. A summary of these annual reports is available here in the college archives along with the committee membership list. College Collateral Recycling Starts this Week New college collateral is available and should be used going forward. All old letterhead, envelopes, note cards and notepads will be collected the week of Oct. 16. Please box up anything to be recycled and place near your mail pick-up/drop-off location.
The schedule is as follows:
Tuesday | Oct. 17 (morning) | Texas Township Campus
Wednesday | Oct. 18 (afternoon) | All other locations
Thursday | Oct. 19 (morning) | Texas Township Campus (second collection)
Friday | Oct. 20 (afternoon) | All other locations (second collection)
If you have large amounts of outdated materials to be collected, please make arrangements by contacting Erin Bishop or Nathan Rickey.
Step Challenge Update The Employee Engagement and Wellness Committee would like to thank the more than 100 participants who participated in the first Employee Step Challenge.
The challenge wrapped up Saturday, Oct. 14. The competitiveness that was brought out among the teams and individuals alike was great to see and it was exciting to watch everyone's weekly step totals grow. Participants were within 1,000 steps of each other at several points during the challenge.
If you still need to submit your week four steps, please do so before midnight on Tuesday, Oct. 17 using this link. You can also email Devon Byrd or Renea Peruski for assistance.
Once all the data is collected and tallied, the winners will be announced in the Nov. 1 KV Focus Plus newsletter.
Styrofoam Recycling Event: Saturday, Oct. 28 | 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. | Texas Township Campus Save the date! In collaboration with the City of Kalamazoo and DART Container Corporation, the college will once again be hosting a Styrofoam recycling event at the Texas Township Campus on Saturday, Oct. 28 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. All members of the college (students and employees), as well as the general public, are encouraged to donate any Styrofoam they may have. If you have any questions, or are interested in volunteering, please contact the Facilities and Event Services office at ext. 4540 or facilities@kvcc.edu.
Visiting Writer Sara Lupita Olivares Kalamazoo Valley's "About Writing" Visiting Writers Series is coordinated by English instructor Julie Stotz-Ghosh, Ph.D., and offers students and community members the opportunity to talk with professional writers and to listen to their work. The visits take place in the Student Commons Lounge, Room 4250, at the Texas Township Campus. All events are free, open to the public and include a craft talk and a reading by the author.
Sara Lupita Olivares
Oct. 19 | Student Commons Lounge, Texas Township Campus
10 a.m. craft talk | 2:15 p.m. reading
Olivares is the author of "Migratory Sound" (The University of Arkansas Press), which was selected as winner of the 2020 CantoMundo Poetry Prize and the chapbook "Field Things" (dancing girl press). Her poems have appeared in The New York Times, "Hayden's Ferry Review," "Black Warrior Review," "Salt Hill Journal," "Quarterly West" and elsewhere. She is an assistant professor of English at the University of Illinois Springfield.
Proposals Wanted Submit your proposals now for the Winter 2024 Summit. It takes place on the morning of Jan. 4, 2024 and includes the Board of Trustees breakfast and employee years of service recognition. Proposals are due Oct. 31.
Open Enrollment Coming in November Open enrollment for health insurance for all full-time employees is right around the corner. It will run from Nov. 1 to 15. It is important for all full-time employees to review their current coverage and make any changes during this time. After Nov. 15, no changes will be allowed unless you experience a qualifying life event.
If you need assistance during this time please stop by at one of our in-person sessions listed below:
Nov. 2 | Culinary & Allied Health Building | Room 207 | 1 - 4 p.m.
Nov. 3 | Anna Whitten Hall | Room 204 | 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
During open enrollment, you'll be able to select your healthcare coverage and other benefits that will work for you.
Enrollment will happen digitally, through Plan Source, our benefit portal. If you do not wish to make any plan changes, you will still need to log into your benefit portal and complete enrollment. As open enrollment nears, we'll be in touch with more details.
Community Education Smartphone Photography Class Offered Nov. 4 Kalamazoo Valley Community College is offering a smartphone photography class on Nov. 4 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the college's Center for New Media in downtown Kalamazoo. The course will give participants an opportunity to learn to edit, enhance and organize photo collections to improve accessibility and functionality of editing and accessing photos on smartphone devices. The class costs $35. more How to Address Microaggressions Nov. 7 Learn what microaggressions are and small steps you can take to increase justice, equity, diversity and inclusion at work, school and in society when Emily Williams, executive director of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College, delivers a talk on Tuesday, Nov. 7, from 1 - 2:30 p.m. in TTC Room 4240, titled "Small Acts Toward JEDI: Naming Microaggressions." It is free and pre-registration is not required. For more information, contact Trice Batson at tbatson@kvcc.edu.
Free safeTALK Suicide Intervention Training on Nov. 14 at Anna Whitten Hall Kalamazoo Valley is hosting safeTALK suicide intervention training on Nov. 14 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.in Room 207 at Anna Whitten Hall in downtown Kalamazoo. safeTALK training helps participants recognize a person with thoughts of suicide and connects them with resource people who can help them. These resources could include health care professionals, first responders or crisis line workers, among many others who have suicide intervention training.
safeTALK participants will learn to:
Notice and respond to situations where suicide thoughts may be present
Recognize that invitations for help are often overlooked
Move beyond the common tendency to miss, dismiss, and avoid suicide
Apply the TALK steps: Talk, Ask, Listen, KeepSafe
Know community resources and how to connect someone with them
The training is open to faculty, staff and students. For more information or to register, contact Trice Batson at tbatson@kvcc.edu.
Soccer Club Advisor Needed The Soccer Club is looking for an advisor. Advisors must be a full-time faculty or staff member and act as mediators when differences surface between organization members. They serve as organization/club historian, budget control officer and expert resource person. Click here to learn more or contact Miranda McDowell, coordinator of student onboarding and organizations.
Kalamazoo Valley Libraries: Research Resources Books are Just the Beginning
The KV Libraries house about 47,596 books. If we pretend each book is 1.5 inches thick, our collection stacks up to a little over a mile high. Search and browse them all � plus thousands more available in ebook format � through our ValleyCat Online Catalog. The point is we have a lot of books, and that is just the beginning of what the Libraries offer to assist your students' research.
Databases
One of our go-to resources to support students' research is our database collection, featuring thousands of academic articles, many of which are not otherwise free on the web. There are also useful professional journals, magazines, news sources and ebooks. Students commonly feel overwhelmed searching through all that content; library staff are experts and eager to help.
Database Research How-To Videos
If students want a quick fix of helpful tips to improve their database skills, they can take a look at our brief but informative Library Research videos. The Databases: Getting Started video provides an introduction and other videos cover topics that help students dig down to results they can use.
Citation Research Guide
Proper citation of research sources is a must for good grades and academic standing. Students can read our concise Citation research guide for a solid overview of MLA or APA guidelines. Let your students know that library staff members are the ultimate guides to citing sources and using all the resources mentioned here, and more!
Research & Citation Help
Library staff is standing by to help your students with any phase of their research, from deciding on and focusing their topics, to finding reliable information in our books, databases and on the web, to properly citing their sources. The best way for them to get help is to set an appointment with a librarian by calling us at 269.488.4328 or emailing us at libraries@kvcc.edu, but students are welcome and encouraged to drop in, too.
Ask a Librarian 24/7
If students find themselves in need of help after hours, they can simply use our Ask a Librarian 24/7 service. A college librarian is available to assist them via chat, any time at all.
Bookstore Offers More than Textbooks With new students joining us all the time, be sure to let them know that the Texas Township Campus Bookstore sells everything they need to be successful. It has textbooks, computers, backpacks, binders, pens, markers, glue sticks, art supplies, a variety of calculators and more, even candy and snacks starting at 10 cents. The Bookstore is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Shop in person or online at bookstore.kvcc.edu. Online orders may be picked up at TTC Bookstore or the Anna Whitten Hall Library at the Arcadia Commons Campus in downtown Kalamazoo, or mailed to any address you want. Shipping is $5.
Thank You Kalamazoo Farmers Market Volunteers Thank you to those who volunteered their time to represent the college during visits to the Kalamazoo Farmers Market. Kalamazoo Valley was present each month from May through September. Faculty, staff, students, administrators and former employees from throughout the college participated and displayed their college pride and a sense of community. Click here to view photos from the college's visits.
Individuals who volunteered their time include:
Rachel Bair
Savannah Ballentine
Josh Bartz
Amy Brandt
Janet Cencer
Deb Coates
Franki Hand
Colin Johnson
Carol Kercher
Lizzie Luchsinger
Cat March
Leena Mergen
Kate Miller
Glenn Noffsinger
Alison Nord
Hristina Petrovska
Aubrey Rodgers
Sara Tanis
Chelsie Taylor
Christie White
Tracy Williams
Stephanie Willoughby Softball & Baseball Players Participate in Suicide Prevention Walk The softball and baseball teams volunteered with the American Foundation's "Out of the Darkness Community Walk" for suicide prevention that drew hundreds to the streets of downtown Kalamazoo on Sept. 10. The teams directed others on the correct path during the walk and assisted with the silent auction, among other activities.
New Exhibit Showcases Furniture from the last 200-Plus Years Explore the Kalamazoo Valley Museum's furniture collection that spans over 200 years of history, from one-of-a-kind items to mass-produced pieces made by local and international craftspeople and manufacturers in "Off the Shelves: Exploring the Kalamazoo Valley Museum's Furniture Collection." The exhibit will run Oct. 31 through Jan. 21. The museum, which has a wide-ranging collection totaling around 60,000 items, is currently undergoing a large-scale project in collections storage. As a result, many larger objects which are often not in the exhibit limelight are freed up for viewing. The exhibit will display a range of objects the museum has, including trunks, chairs and other pieces that all tell stories. Learn some of their stories and find out more about the museum's collection.
Museum's Comics Day Was a Hit Kids and adults alike had fun at the cartooning workshops and meet-and-greet with costumed Spiderverse characters on Sept. 30 at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. Thank you, Aubrey Jewel Rodgers, a professional illustrator from Kalamazoo Valley Community College's Center for New Media, for leading the sessions. Click herefor more photos from the "Pow! Boom! Wham! Art of the Comics" event.
