May 11, 2009

The DigestWhat’s Happening at KVCC

What’s below in this edition

’Go Green’ (Pages 1/2) KAFI screenings (Pages 12-14) They’re here (Pages 2/3) Inside Japan (Pages 14/15) Auto Academy (Pages 3/4) ‘Green jobs’ (Page 16) Howard Dean (Pages 4-6) Our racing legacy (Pages 16/17)

KAFI’s family fun (Pages 6/7) Wind-tech training (Page 17) Animal Tech a go (Page 8) Relay for Life (Pages 17/18) Culinary arts (Page 9) Tunes and ‘toons’ (Pages 18-20) Campus projects (Pages 9/10) Grad’s U-of-M role (P-20/21) Animation’s uses (Pages 10/11) Winners (Page 21/22) ‘Marion Bridge’ (Pages 11/12) ‘Honors’ alums (Page 22/23)

‘Tag line’ time (Page 12) Excellence in Ed (Page 23) And Finally (Page 23)

☻☻☻☻☻☻‘Green Revolution’ could be red-hot event Saturday

The “Green Revolution,” with its presentations, vendors and activities for families, is slated for Saturday (May 9) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Texas Township Campus.

Organized by the college’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter, this “revolution” is targeted for families to educate children about recycling, about expanding the planet’s sources of energy, and about not only conserving resources but replenishing them. It is free and open to the public.

“By collaborating with community and national organizations for the promotion of green alternatives,” said PTK adviser Natalie Patchell, “we hope to enhance community awareness of recycling and renewable resources by hosting this family fair on campus. Our target audience will be elementary-aged children, but we hope to provide valuable information for participants of all ages.”

With a “green lifestyle” theme, the event will include arts and crafts, carnival-style games, musicians, speakers, and booths run by students, organizations, and vendors.

Among the speakers so far are:

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Biology instructor Wil Reding, who will talk about recognizing the alternatives that are available for sustainable-energy options; Kathy Johnson, the director of the KVCC Wind Energy Center based in the M-TEC; and Dan Alway, who will cover solar energy.

A representative of Manitou Arbor Ecovillage will make a presentation while musician Joe Riley will perform.

Another feature will be some of the student speakers who took part in the recent “Going Green” competition organized by the KVCC Communications Department. Commentaries covered electric, “green gardening,” the benefits of hybrids, and “buying local foods.”

“Our goal is to promote change in the perception of what individuals can do for the environment and ultimately encourage action,” Patchell said. The “Green Revolution” will be held in the space near the KVCC athletic fields on the Texas Township Campus, weather willing, but in the event of rain, it will be staged in the Student Commons.

To help pull the event off, the PTK chapter is looking for donations that can be used as prizes for the games, events and activities being planned. Volunteers are also still needed.

Here’s what is needed: One- and two-liter empty pop bottles, empty plastic pop-can rings unbroken,

paper-towel or toilet-paper rolls, sidewalk chalk, bubbles (any size), re-useable grocery bags, a box of Dixie cups, a bag of potting soil or dirt, markers, crayons, beads, string, face paint, brown-paper lunch bags, coffee filters (unused), clothes pins, and small toys for prizes.

“We would like KVCC employees to be involved,” said Natalie Patchell, the PTK chapter adviser who can be contacted for details about volunteering and where to drop off donations. “We would love for folks to volunteer to help us at the event by working in the various areas of activities.

Changes -- summer hours, Digest scheduleFrom May 11 through Aug. 28, KVCC will be operating under “summer hours.”On Monday through Thursday, the work week will be from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

with a 30-minute break for lunch. And on Fridays during that period, the college will shut down at noon. Work

hours will be from 8 to noon with no lunch break.With the arrival of summer hours, The Digest will also shift into an every-other-

week format until just before the start of the fall semester. The May 11 Digest will be the last weekly edition. The next will be dated May 25.

Those operations of the colleges with special, evening and weekend hours - - facilities services, information technologies, the M-TEC, some offices, and the museum — will be adjusting their individual schedules to ensure coverage.

The KVCC Office of Human Resources reports that employees will be paid for 40 hours on the job even though the work week will be reduced to 36 hours during that 16-week period. The KVCC Cabinet reviews the summer-work schedule annually to determine whether core hours will be adjusted.

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Summer hours also mean schedule changes for food service at the Texas Township Campus. From May 11 through Aug. 28, the cafeteria will be open Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and from 7:30 a.m. to noon on Friday. The coffee shop in the Student Commons is closed until Sept. 7.

For the week of Aug. 31-Sept. 4, the food-service hours will be Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

During summer hours, the coffee cart in Anna Whitten Hall will be serving Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and be closed on Fridays.   For more information, contact Muriel Hice at mhice@kvcc.edu or extension 4410.

Application process under way for Auto Academy III Just like the high-tech vehicles that it trains prospective mechanics to maintain, the third edition of the KVCC Automotive Academy is being fine-tuned.

The minimally retooled training program will be shorter in duration, smaller in size, and slightly redesigned in instructional format.

The application process, which is under way now for the academy that begins Nov. 2, has been altered and the brunt of the training will be staged in the KVCC M-TEC, located on the college’s Groves Campus off 9th Street along I-94, instead of at the Texas Township Campus’ automotive facilities.

“There will be no textbook either,” said Cindy Buckley, director of training and development at the M-TEC. “Instead, each student will have access to a laptop computer that they can use to surf the Internet for the online maintenance services offered by automotive manufacturers and suppliers.”

Under lead instructor Hector Orlandi, there will also be a shift in instructional format. The first two academies, which ran for 42 weeks, featured a third segment that had enrollees, in effect, running their own repair shop under the guidance of their instructors.

“The new format,” Buckley said about the switch to a 33-week program, “will, instead of a separate auto clinic per se, have that kind of training integrated throughout the instructions. When the students are being trained in brake work, that’s the kind of repairs they will be making right then and there instead of waiting to the end.

“Hector believes that will be a more effective and hands-on way of learning and training,” she said, “because the students will be applying that knowledge quickly instead of waiting until later when there could be a tendency to forget.”

Instead of a peak enrollment of 17, the third academy will be limited to 12 enrollees on a first-come, first-interviewed, first-selected basis.

Applications received by May 29 will be subjected to first-round interviews conducted by academy staff and automotive employers. If a dozen have not been selected by then, a second round of interviews will be scheduled for those applicants who submit their materials by June 30.

Among the selection criteria in the competitive process are the quality of the written applications, a “documented work ethic,” interest in and knowledge of automotive technology, letters of recommendation, and driving records.

Within five days of submitting an application, a prospective enrollee will be notified as to whether he/she has met the basic eligibility criteria and be scheduled for an interview. Notification of acceptance into the academy will also be within a five-day period.

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The fee for the third academy, which will run through June 28, 2010, is $9,500. This includes uniforms valued at $300 and $7,000 in high-tech tools that automotive technicians need to function.

“The automotive academy is like a job,” said Orlandi, who has more than 25 years of global experience as an automotive-service technical engineer. “We look for students who can make a full-time commitment, not somebody who will skip a class here and there.”

Beginning on Nov. 2, the enrollees will be in class or in the lab from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays. Stressed will be the eight automotive-knowledge areas that are certified by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence and preparing students to reach those standards.

Financial aid is available, and scholarship funds awardable through the Kalamazoo Promise also qualify for the KVCC Automotive Academy.

A complete description and application can be downloaded at www.kvcc.edu/training. Then click on “Automotive Technician Academy.” Information is also available by calling (269) 353-1282.

Dean at scholarship fund-raiser on May 20Howard Dean, a onetime front-running presidential candidate who is credited

with sowing the political seeds that sprouted into the 2008 election of Barack Obama, will keynote the KVCC Foundation’s fifth annual Opportunities for Education (OFE) fund-raiser on Wednesday, May 20.

The banquet, designed to raise scholarship dollars and underwritten by National City Bank, will begin at 6 p.m. at the Radisson Plaza Hotel and Suites in downtown Kalamazoo.

Dean, a physician advocate of health-care reform, parlayed a dozen years as the governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 into the early lead for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2004 that eventually went to Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

One of the fruits of his candidacy, which sought the support of America’s younger population through the Internet, was to be appointed the chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), a post that he held for four years beginning in 2005.

His “50-State Strategy” was designed to make his party competitive in each state, including those in which Democrats had fared poorly, and ignore the “red-blue” factors in past presidential elections.

Shortly after announcing that he would be seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination and opposing the supposedly shoe-in Hillary Clinton, Obama and his political camp began taking advantage of the party infrastructure that Dean had built. Working with DNC organizers in all 50 states, the Obama campaign gained momentum in the primaries, was nominated, and went on to win the “red” states of Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana last November of his way to the White House.

He actually began his professional life as Dr. Howard Dean, having earned his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City in 1978. After completing his residency in a medical center in Vermont, he began his internal-medicine practice in Shelburne, Vt.

In the early 1980s, Dr. Dean began his path to becoming Gov. Dean. After chairing his county’s Democratic Party in the early 1980s, he was elected to the Vermont

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House of Representatives. That led to a trio of two-year terms as lieutenant governor. When the sitting governor died, Dean was elevated to the state’s chief executive and subsequently was elected to five two-year terms.

His gubernatorial tenure was marked by Vermont getting out of debt and building a $100-million surplus, a health-care plan that provided coverage to 96 percent of the state’s children, prescription-drug assistance for Medicare recipients, and a statewide learning network that wired almost of Vermont’s high schools.

He and his wife, Dr. Judy Steinberg, are the parents of two grown children.Supporters were hoping that Dean would be appointed Obama’s secretary of

health and human services in the cabinet and he has expressed his disappointment that the post, after a false start or two, went to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas. But that did not stop him from favorable comments about the new president’s health-care initiatives that he believes will get “get rid of the socialized medicine stuff.”

“The budget was an important first step,” Dean told The Huffington Post, “and now the question is the substance of the bill. . .President Obama is not proposing a new plan that the American people won’t understand. What he is proposing is if you want what you have, you can keep it. If you want to have private insurance, you can. If you want to have Medicare, you can have that, too. There is no boogeyman in this plan.”

The KVCC Foundation was formed in 1980 and has accumulated $7 million in assets. Its mission is to enhance educational opportunities and the learning environment at the college by supporting the academic, literary and scientific activities of KVCC students and faculty. Its assists the college’s Honors Program, minority enrollees and non-traditional students through scholarships and awards grants that promote innovative approaches to learning.

“Because KVCC’s tuition is among the lowest of the state’s 28 community colleges and fees are practically non-existent,” said Steve Doherty, executive director of the KVCC Foundation, “scholarship dollars take students a very, very long way toward their goals. We want to help even more in the coming years, now that state and federal sources of scholarships are either drying up or are in jeopardy because of budget cuts.”

In a typical semester, the foundation is able to assist about 250 students, with scholarship and grant assistance averaging around $350,000 an academic year for tuition, fees, books and supplies, as well as for the child-care and transportation costs that students face in pursuing a degree or a new career.

“That represents a minimal fraction of the dollar value of scholarships that are available through the KVCC Office of Financial Aid,” Doherty said. “That type of assistance has federal and state sources that carry restrictions. So do some of those scholarships established by organizations or individuals. And all of those are very important.

“Ours, however, are more open-ended, less restrictive, and available to a broader representation of students who choose to attend KVCC,” Doherty said. “They are what our ‘Opportunities for Education’ event is all about.”

While the unprecedented, nationally recognized gift to this community that is The Kalamazoo Promise is a blessing to families living in the Kalamazoo Public Schools district, Doherty said, during a typical semester no more than 15 percent of KVCC’s enrollment are Kalamazoo graduates.

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That means a large segment of the other 85 percent still need various levels of scholarship assistance.

Tickets for Opportunities for Education are $125 per person. A corporate sponsorship for a table of eight is available for $1,500.

About 80 percent of the cost is tax-deductible. For more information about Opportunities for Education, how far scholarship

dollars go at KVCC, and tickets for spending an evening with one of the nation’s most effective politicians, contact Doherty or Denise Baker.

Co-sponsoring the event is AM 590 WKZO and Paw Paw Wine Distributors.

Animation festival features free events for familiesEvents targeting children and their families - and many of them free - are in the

Saturday-Sunday spotlight at the Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (KAFI) in downtown Kalamazoo (May 14-17).

Leading the no-cost way will be showings of classic vintage cartoons, an opportunity for youngsters to flex their artistic muscles, and engaging in a bit of science that is credited with being the roots of animation.

Other presentations, such as a look at what kind of children’s programming is on tap on PBS and an insider’s perspective on the creation on a “Wonder Pets” episode titled “Kalamazoo” require purchased tickets.

On Saturday (May 16), Steve Stanchfield from Ann Arbor will be sharing part of his collection. “Animated Buddies: A Century of Cartoon Friendships” is set for 1:30 p.m. in the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s Mary Jane Stryker Theater.

With a theme of friendship running through the free showing, Stanchfield will present both early and contemporary cartoon favorites, including Rocky and Bullwinkle, Mutt and Jeff, Tom and Jerry, and Sponge Bob.

The downtown-Kalamazoo museum will also be the site of a host of other free activities on Saturday, including:

• “Flip Book Bonanza,” 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. - Youngsters and parents can draw images on each page of a book and, when flipped through, it creates the illusion of motion in a throwback to animation’s early days.

• “Mile of Art,” 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. - Budding Rembrandts, Picassos and cartoonists will be able to add their artistic two cents’ worth to what will seem like a never-ending roll of drawing paper. The finished “masterpiece” will displayed for a spell after the festival in the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Center for New Media’s Arcus Gallery along the Kalamazoo Mall.

• “Thaumatropes Gone Wild,” 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. - Even before flip books and way, way before computers, a thaumatrope was a contraption that could create the impression of animation in the early 19th century. Participants of all ages will build the vintage optical toy, which consisted of a disc that is attached to two pieces of string. When twirled, the images on each side of the disc appear animated.

• Balloon “animals” will be made and youngsters can get temporary tattoos from 10 a.m. to noon.

• Face painting and more balloon art are set from 1 to 4 p.m.While at the museum, families can visit the latest nationally touring exhibition on

the third floor. “Jump to Japan: Discovering Culture Through Popular Art” explores the

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country and its culture through four venues of creativity -- animation, manga (comic-book art), woodblock prints and traditional scrolls.

From 1 to 4 p.m. in the museum, an award-winning illustrator with 15 years of experience will do caricatures of children. The fee will range from $5 to $10.

Two free activities will be based in the Center for New Media. “Inhabitants: Installation Art” will allow participants to explore the abstract influences that consciously, unconsciously, purposefully or accidentally act upon people’s lives. They can be experienced from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday.

Most of the Sunday (May 17) events require tickets to be purchased.“New Directions at PBS Kids” is the topic of Linda Simensky, a senior director

who also spent nine years at Nickelodeon along with a stint for the Cartoon Network. Her presentation will feature clips from “The Electric Company,” “Sid the Science Kid,” and “Dinosaur Train,” which will be premiering in September.

She’ll talk about how new series are conceived and produced, and the next steps in the advancement of educational television on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the Stryker Theater.

Prior to that Jennifer Oxley, a creative director for Nick Jr. and an Emmy winner for her series, “Little Bill,” will break down the process for writing, researching, creating music, casting, directing, storyboarding, and animating her “Kalamazoo” episode for “Wonder Pets.”

That session will begin at 9 a.m. in the Stryker Theater. It will be followed by Oxley signing copies of her three books, “Flyboat Adventures,” “Let’s Count Baby Animals,” and “Let’s Find Colors,” in the adjacent World Works Room at the museum. Copies will be available for purchase.

On the Sunday ticketed agenda is Heather Kenyon and her presentation of “Backstage Stories: How TV Pilots Get Made.” Kenyon, another former Cartoon Network animator, shares behind-the-scenes perspectives about the year or two prep work that often is required to get a show on the air. She’ll speak at 9:30 a.m. in the Stryker Theater.

Shifting to the Center for New Media, Battle Creek’s Jim Middleton will chart the evolution of the animation of animals from the Silent Screen era to the so-called “Golden Era” of the 1930s.

Tracing how a dozen species were transformed from primitive sketches to creatures with personalities, Middleton will cover this history on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. in the Center for New Media.

For the final family-oriented event, he’ll be followed by Stanchfield, who will flash back to that “Golden Era” in his “Technicolor Dreams” slated for 12:30 p.m. Stanchfield will be showing a collection of celluloid gems produced in the 1930s and 1940s, taking the art form from a black-and-white format to all of the colors of the rainbow.

The cost of a full-festival pass is $145 and $75 for students. This entitles holders to take part in all events, including a picnic gathering at Bell’s Brewery on Saturday night.

Tickets for individual events - such as some of these family-oriented events -- range from free to $15, with discounts available for students.

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Nuts and bolts information about all KAFI activities, presentations, workshops, panel discussions -- date, time, location and cost - are available at this webpage -- www.goKAFI.com -- or by calling Maggie Noteboom at the festival office at (269) 373-7934.

Animal-tech training begins in AugustThe training of technicians who care for animals used in research is next in the

stable of Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s workforce-development academies.Slated to begin in late February but delayed because of the economic doldrums

that affected the biotech and research industries in Southwest Michigan, the first Animal Technician Academy will begin Aug. 11

The academy will produce its first graduates on Sept. 18. The Animal Technician Academy is designed to provide pre-employment training

to students interested in entering this phase of medical and bio-technology research. This initial class is limited to 15 enrollees.Over the six-week period, enrollees will learn the basic skills and knowledge

associated with the care of animals in research laboratories. The training will cover career paths in the industry, veterinarian terminology,

animal health and behavior, medical recordkeeping, sanitation and disinfection, standard operating procedures in a lab, knowledge of animals, data collection and analysis, species anatomy and physiology, animal welfare, the ethical care and use of animals, and critical-thinking and communication skills.

“Successful completion of the academy,” said Lesa Strausbaugh, director of career academies at KVCC, “prepares students for an entry-level position as a lab-animal caretaker within a research or laboratory facility.

“And, of course, it can serve as a springboard to additional training and a college degree,” she said.

Classes will be held Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the M-TEC of KVCC located on the Groves Campus.

The lab training will be based at the Western Michigan University Research Laboratory in partnership with the university’s department of psychology.

Acceptance into the growing number of KVCC workforce-development academies is competitive and is based on a written application, feedback from references, and interviews.

Those who complete the animal-tech academy requirements will receive certification of competencies in the field.

Infused in each program are components provided by the KVCC Student Success Center that enhances job-search and employability skills.

The fee is $900. Financial assistance is available through Michigan Works!’ “No Worker Left Behind” initiative.

Entry-level wages can range from $19,000 to $25,000 annually. An experienced animal technician can earn from $25,000 to $41,000 per year. Before establishing an academy in a particular occupation or vocation, the college

engages focus groups to determine whether there are jobs to be filled, and is there a need to train candidates for those jobs.

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One key factor was MPI Research’s announcement that 3,300 new jobs were in the offing for its enterprises in pharmaceutical research, along with Pfizer Inc.’s commitment to animal-based research in this part of Michigan.

For details about applications, deadlines and other information, call (269) 353-1282, e-mail careeracademies@kvcc.edu or go to this website: www.kvcc.edu/training.

Culinary arts joins ranks of EFE offeringsBeginning in the fall of 2009, culinary arts will become the 36th career-overview

program offered through the Education for Employment (EFE) program that operates under the Kalamazoo RESA umbrella.

With KVCC one of the founding members in the workforce-development initiative, EFE aligns its programs with these six state groupings: arts and communication; business, management, marketing and technology; engineering, manufacturing and industrial technology; health sciences; human services; and natural sciences and agriscience.

Culinary arts will be based at the Young Chefs Academy on Oakland Drive. Enrollees will learn the fundamentals of cooking and baking, the science of food safety, food preparation and service, sanitation, the maintenance of cooking equipment and tools, and nutritional guidelines.

As with the other EFE programs, students will have the opportunity to receive work-based training such as job shadowing, field trips and capstone experiences at area restaurants.

Joining culinary arts in the business, marketing and technology category are accounting, banking, finance, business administration, hotel-restaurant-travel management, marketing, web design and graphics, and information technologies.

EFE students can sample careers in animal science, wildlife and natural resources, animal technology, and veterinary science.

EFE programs are available for sophomores, juniors and seniors in all Kalamazoo County schools, including those who are home-schooled. Because of its articulation with KVCC, college credits can be earned for many of the experiences.

Cosmetology, barbering, early-childhood education, law enforcement and teacher cadet are part of the human-services cadre of offerings.

Dental assistant, emergency medical technician, the spectrum of health occupations, and pharmacy technician can be sampled through EFE.

Radio broadcasting, digital-video production, photography, and arts and design are the EFE offerings under the arts and communications umbrella.

Welding, machine tool technology, heating-air conditioning-refrigeration, cabinetmaking, electro-mechanical technology, drafting, the construction trades, aviation technology, and automotive technology are included among the opportunities available to students interested in those kinds of careers.

Complete information is available by calling Debra J. Miller, EFE executive direction at Kalamazoo RESA, at 385-1519 or dmiller@kresa.org.

Campus projects await legislative OK in LansingThe design, development and cost-estimate phases of KVCC’s $12-million

capital-improvement project are on their way the Michigan Office of Management and Budget for its review.

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After that state agency assesses what is being proposed, it will pass the project, along with any additions and suggestions if needed, on to the legislative committee that structures appropriations bills for capital projects.

Those dollars are banked in a capital fund by the state, and are not part of the general fund. Michigan’s formula for higher-education projects has not changed from past years. Each institution and the state provide 50 percent of the costs.

Once approved and signed into law by the governor, the construction phase should take about 18 months.

The Kalamazoo architectural firm of Eckert Wordell has been retained for the $12 million worth of expansion and remodeling projects on the Texas Township Campus’

Overseeing the project is a steering committee whose members include Marilyn Schlack, Mike Collins, Laura Cosby, Terry Hutchins, Deborah Dawson, Ron Young, Steve Walman and Rick Margelis.

Under that group will be subcommittees that will focus their attention on components of the project.

One of the major thrusts is the construction of space to house the Student Success Center that is now based in the former Gallery. Also planned is a multi-purpose lab for the sciences and two all-purpose classrooms.

The additional space will also significantly increase the number of faculty offices, install waiting areas for students, and establish additional conference rooms.

The smaller subgroups of college personnel will target these individual components of the project. They will help outline the implications of construction on daily operations and incorporate any last-minute suggestions.

The other phases call for:● An addition to accommodate a loading dock at Central Receiving and Facility

Services and a 6,000-square-foot interior remodeling for a variety of functions.● Remodeling, upgrading and restoring the existing geology and physics labs as

well as two nearby classrooms.● Additional parking spaces.Meanwhile, down the road, the college has submitted the state-required Facilities

Master Plan outlining anticipated needs through 2013. Among the tentative projects are:● A variety of upgrades on the Texas Township Campus amounting to about $3.7

million.● Reconfiguring two labs at the M-TEC -- $700,000.● $3 million worth of upgrades at Anna Whitten Hall.● A $1.64-million addition for the program in automotive technology.● Provisions for a program in laboratory technology -- $1.8 million.● A simulation center for health-care careers -- $1.16 million.● Facilities for educational and training opportunities in forms of alternative

energy – no cost projection.

Animation as legal, crime-scene tool exploredAs a legal strategy or tool for crime-scene recreation, animation as a training,

information and educational resource will complement its entertainment value as part of the special attractions planned for the 2009 Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (KAFI).

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Among the four presentations at the May 14-17 festival in downtown Kalamazoo will be “Animation in the Courtroom” and how the creative medium was used in recreating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as part of an anniversary observance.

Rounding out the quartet of discussions on how the fantasy of animation can be used to bring out the reality of a situation are segments on “Animation and Reality” and “Mountains, Canyons and Cattle Brands.”

Emmy-winning animator Dale Myers will explain the computer-animation techniques he used in recreating the 1963 shooting in Dallas that was part of a 2003 ABC News special, “Peter Jennings Reporting: The Kennedy Assassination - Beyond Conspiracy.”

In his presentation at 11 a.m. on Sunday (May 17) in the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s Mary Jane Stryker Theater, Myers uses the wizardry of computer animation to examine the assassination’s single-bullet and lone-gunman theories.

From accident restoration to medical malpractice, forensic animation is becoming an important tool in litigation in courtrooms around the nation. While this form of communication is changing how some cases are tried, there are issues and Chuck Wilson will cover them at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday (May 16) in the Center for New Media.

Wilson, a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology who lives in Lansing, recreates vehicle accidents and product failures for Investigative Mechanics Inc. whose clients include police departments, attorneys and insurance companies. .

Myers, a Detroit-area resident, joins forces with Sharon Katz and Grand Valley State University instructor Deanna Morse at 3:30 p.m. on Friday (May 15) in the Center for New Media for “Animation and Reality” as they show the spectrum of evolving real-world uses of the art form, from animated documentaries to animated forensics. Katz is a visual artist who works with digitally created images.

“Mountains, Canyons and Cattle Brands” feature co-presenters Karen Aqua, a “Sesame Street” producer, and Ken Fields, who has performed at the Kennedy Center, on Friday (May 15) at 3:30 p.m. in the Center for New Media. They have blended their talents as an animator and a musician to create films used in teaching about urban life, Native American mythology, cattle, canyons and mountain ranges.

The cost of a full-festival pass is $145 and $75 for students. This entitles holders to take part in all events, including a picnic gathering at Bell’s Brewery on Saturday night. Tickets for individual events - such as these four special attractions -- range from free to $15, with discounts available for students.

Nuts and bolts information about all KAFI activities, presentations, workshops, panel discussions -- date, time, location and cost - are available at this webpage -- www.goKAFI.com -- or by calling Maggie Noteboom at the festival office at (269) 373-7934.

Stressed family relationship is next film feature A 2002 Canadian film about the sibling rivalry of sisters and a community whose

residents seem to ignore both the past and future will wrap up the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s Thursday-night film series for 2008-09 on May 21.

The billing is “Marion Bridge,” which is based on an award-winning play. It will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater. Tickets are $3. Financial support for the series is provided by the KVCC Foundation.

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“Marion Bridge” is the story of three sisters paralyzed by family secrets. In the midst of struggling to overcome her self-destructive behavior as an

alcoholic, the youngest sister returns to her roots in Nova Scotia determined to confront the past in a community built on avoiding the past. On the surface, she is coming home to help care for her dying mother.

Her quest sets in motion a chain of events that allows the sisters -- each in their own way -- to re-connect with the world and one another.

The mother, who also has alcohol problems and can be quite cantankerous, has been in a hospital, while the family home is occupied by the other two sisters, both of them highly opinionated and content to do nothing but watch television.

As the trio tend to their mother who is brought home to live her final days, family secrets emerge and disrupt the sisters' fragile dynamic. As the sisters try to cope with the care-taking of their mother, they must also learn to live harmoniously with each other, not an easy task especially considering their differing personalities.

What will be KVCC’s ‘tag line?’KVCC’s “branding” initiative is on hold as it awaits a final report from the

Chicago firm of LipmanHearne.The firm’s interviewers are in the process of boiling down what they heard from

administrators, students, faculty, alumni and staff in on-campus sessions and their conversations with business, educational leaders, government and civic leaders.

One of the important components of the process is the shaping of what is called a “tag line” that captures the essence of what KVCC is all about.

The “tag line” and the gained perspectives will shape and forge the messages that KVCC wants to foster in positioning its future, to pinpoint what distinguishes it from similar institutions, and how all of these factors can define strategies for future actions in presenting itself to the public.

Six “branding” objectives have been identified: build awareness of KVCC’s full portfolio; establish a consistent brand image; recruit and retain students; increase private support; build alumni affinity; and clarify opportunities for growth.

KAFI’s best of 2009 to be screenedFive screenings have been scheduled to showcase the essence of the 2009

Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (KAFI) - the best of the animated films that have been submitted by artists from around the world.

Of the finalists selected by a trio of judges, 44 hail from the United States, including six from Michigan, and the balance are from 14 other nations. They are competing for $15,000 in prize money in the May 14-17 festival.

Ranging from one hour to 90 minutes in time and intended for adult audiences, the KAFI screenings in downtown Kalamazoo are set for:

• Thursday (May 14) at 8:30 p.m. in the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s Mary Jane Stryker Theater.

• Friday (May 15) at 5:30 p.m. in the Stryker Theater.• Friday (May 15)at 8 p.m. in the State Theater. This screening will include

showings of the animated films, accented by scores of original music, that were created for one of the 2009 festival’s new attractions.

• Saturday (May 16) at 11 a.m. in the State Theater.

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• Saturday (May 16) at 8 p.m. in the State Theater. This will also include showings of the 10 animated shorts created by teams of students in the festival’s benchmark event, the Cartoon Challenge. Members of the viewing audience will pick the winner of one of the competition’s two top awards.

This is the fifth KAFI. As with the other four organized by Kalamazoo Valley Community College, the prime financial supporter is the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation of Kalamazoo.

The Michigan finalists are Brad Yarhouse of Grand Rapids, Olivia and Chris Allen-Wickler of Lake Leelanau, the Detroit area’s Sean Athey and Jon Bowling, and Zachary Watson of Traverse City.

Other U.S. finalists are from California, New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Minnesota, Texas, Oregon, Georgia, Illinois and Florida. The first two states led the field with 12 and 11 finalists, respectively.

Proving KAFI’s global lure, animators from France, Germany, Canada, Portugal, Mexico, Australia, Russia, Israel, Japan, Great Britain, Korea, Bulgaria, Sweden and The Netherlands made the cut as determined by the three judges - Bill Dennis, one of the top animators in India; Deanna Morse, a professor of communications at Grand Valley State University and an independent film maker; and Gary Schwartz, an Oscar-nominated animator.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony for festival attendees slated for Sunday in Anna Whitten Hall.

Ten teams from animation programs spanning the North America will be engaging in a “24/4” cartoon-creating competition prior to the convening of the 2009 KAFI.

Earning spots in the competition for the 2009 “Cartoon Challenge” are four- and five-person teams from:

● San Jose State University in California.● College for Creative Studies in Detroit.● Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia.● South Dakota State University.● Bowling Green State University in Ohio.● California State University of Long Beach● Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids.● Ferris State University in Grand Rapids.● University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne, Ind.● Humber College in Toronto, Ontario.The 10 teams will arrive at the Center for New Media on the Sunday preceding

festival week and bivouac there. Beginning on the morning of Monday, May 11, their objective will be to conceive, script, design and produce up to a 30-second animated feature on a public-service topic over the next four days with the competition ending at 5 p.m. that Thursday as the festival begins

The teams won’t know the topic until the competition begins. All of the materials, computers, software programs, and production equipment will be furnished at the Center for New Media. KVCC will provide resting stations and food to the teams that will choose their own work schedules to produce their 30-second animated spot. What they produce will debut at the Saturday-evening screening.

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Two Emmy winners, a PBS executive involved in children’s programming, a producer for Disney and Hanna Barbera studios, and an Academy Award nominee will be among the nearly 50 presenters at the four-day festival.

Pegged for Saturday will be free activities targeted for families and children, including a pair of showings of some classic vintage cartoons, such as Tom and Jerry, Rocky and His Friends, The Bullwinkle Show, and Mutt and Jeff, that have been popular for decades.

The special attractions this year will include a presentation on “forensic animation” and how this creative medium is used in the courtroom in cases ranging from accident reconstruction to medical malpractice.

Similarly, Dale Myers, an Emmy winner for his computer-animated recreation of the assassination of President John Kennedy, will speak about his role in the special report aired by ABC-TV’s Peter Jennings to mark the 40th anniversary of that fateful day in Dallas.

The cost of a full-festival pass is $145 and $75 for students. This entitles holders to take part in all events, including a picnic gathering at Bell’s Brewery on Saturday night. Tickets for individual events - such as the five screenings -- range from free to $15, with discounts available for students.

Nuts and bolts information about all KAFI activities, presentations, workshops, panel discussions -- date, time, location and cost - are available at this webpage -- www.goKAFI.com -- or by calling Maggie Noteboom at the festival office at (269) 373-7934.

‘Jump to Japan’ begins four-month stayTwo happenings this month are turning Kalamazoo into “The Animation Capital

of the Midwest.”“Jump to Japan: Discovering Culture through Popular Art” – with one of those

forms of creativity being animation -- will begin a four-month stay at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum on Saturday (May 9).

The interactive, hands-on exhibit will be well in place by the time the fifth Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (KAFI) sweeps into the downtown on May 14 for a four-day salute to this evolving art form

Jointly developed by the Minnesota Children’s Museum and The Children’s Museum in Seattle, “Jump to Japan” showcases that nation’s amazing culture through activities based on animation, manga (comics), woodblock prints and traditional scrolls.

The public is invited to a sneak preview on Friday (May 8) from 6 to 9 p.m. for the third annual “Night at the Museum” gathering. Part of the attraction will be creating animation and comics.

The exhibit, which will be in Kalamazoo through Sept. 7, is the result of a collaboration with the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka and the movie studio that produced the animated film, “My Neighbor Totoro.” The animator, Hayao Miyazaki, won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

Japanese animation and manga have become very popular among American youth as illustrated by the broad acceptance of the phenomenon known as Pokemon.

But the three-part exhibit is designed to entertain people of all ages. In addition to creating their own manga drawings and animation at a pair of art stations, visitors can

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take off their shoes and step into a traditional tatami room for a tea party, try on a kimono and other traditional Japanese clothing, and play the ancient card game known as katura.

They’ll learn the fundamentals of woodblock printing and how the Japanese tell stories through scrolls. They’ll shop at a Japanese store and learn to use that nation’s coin of the realm.

The four art forms are linked in a variety of ways. In “Jump to Japan,” the dominant link between animation, manga and woodblock prints is that they all are -- or were -- popular art forms. And from them, visitors can experience the complexity of Japanese culture (traditional and contemporary, rural and urban, and realistic and fantasy).

Through scenes and characters from “My Neighbor Totoro,” visitors will explore how animated films are brainstormed, designed and created, and try their hand at the magic of making one-dimensional images come to life.

“My Neighbor Totoro” is full of fantasy, joy and adventure. Set in 1950s Japan, the family film tells of two girls and their friendship with the magical Totoro, who can be seen only by children who love him.

Adults and children can match background paintings from the animated film to photos in two “picture scroll” windows. By juxtaposing artistic renderings with corresponding photos, they discover how an animator’s inspiration comes from real places, things and events.

“Jump to Japan” offers the chance to choose from a variety of backgrounds, foreground elements, cultural icons and characters to create animation.

One section explores the prevalence and influence of manga in Japanese culture. Shelves hold a variety of manga books and magazines for browsing.

Everyone in Japan reads manga; the average person can read 16 pages of per minute.

An oversized “book” shows how manga is read differently than comics in the United States. Puzzles demonstrate how manga is read -- right to left and top to bottom.

Visitors can sit at a light table and create manga by choosing elements from transparencies featuring faces, eyes, hair and bodies drawn manga-style.

Inside the manga shop, visitors role-play customer and shopkeeper at a sales counter using authentic Japanese objects.

At the cashier’s counter, visitors use Japanese money, hear and say basic Japanese words and numbers and incorporate Japanese words into dramatic play. They can push the buttons on a sound box and hear a voice say the number in Japanese.

Another feature is to take a trip to Japan without leaving Kalamazoo. Visitors can move a shinkansen (bullet train) along a track embedded in a map of Japan and into slots corresponding to locations. Backlit photos depict the place or activity and location name.

Japan’s people, places and things are depicted in nine woodblock prints that relate to Japanese clothing, festivals, foods, children’s games and stories.

Visitors can enter a Japanese home modeled after details shown in the woodblock prints and learn how these art forms are made.

An ancient picture scroll is complemented by a panel containing “seek-and-find” questions that call attention to details in the scroll.

Visitors see similarities between ancient scrolls, woodblock prints and the contemporary art forms of manga and animation.

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Buckley to speak at ‘Green’ conference in Lansing Cindy Buckley, the director of training and development at the M-TEC, is booked

for a presentation at “Green Today, Jobs Tomorrow,” an all-day conference orchestrated by Gov. Jennifer Granholm as part of her “Michigan Green Jobs Initiative.”

Scheduled for Monday (May 11) at the Lansing Center, it will opened by remarks from U. S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan).

In a 1:45 p.m. segment titled “Generating Wind and Jobs,” Johnson will be sharing lectern duty with a representative from Dowding Industries that has transitioned its manufacturing capabilities to machine parts for wind turbines.

Organizers of “Green Today, Jobs Tomorrow” say the United States has gotten the message that the nation has to switch to renewable energy and other sustainable technologies to remain economically viable and protect the environment.

The governor’s initiative is designed to help make certain the emerging industries and “green” economy have the trained workers they need to grow and prosper.

Among the topics will be the construction techniques and workforce needed to build “green,” the role that Michigan agriculture can play in growing energy-yielding crops, and how alternative energy is being produced from a municipality’s wastewater-treatment plant.Kalamazoo’s horse-racing legacy is PMN feature this month

Horse racing, Kalamazoo’s first organized sport, will be traced from its origins to its current trappings in the May segment of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s TV show.

Featuring Tom Dietz, the curator of research at the museum, it 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.

For a century or so, Kalamazoo and Kalamazoo County was a hotbed of horse-racing enthusiasm. The pioneer village had barely adapted to the change in name from Bronson to Kalamazoo when local men in 1838 laid out a rough race course on the southern edge of what was the community at that time.

The one-mile course was bounded by Lovell, Park, Burr Oak and John streets.That was quickly followed by a second enterprise known as the Axtell or Burr

Oak Track, a half-mile course that was organized by such prominent Kalamazooans as Charles Stuart, Justus Burdick, and Dr. Sylvester Axtell, and hosted harness racing over a 20-year period.

It featured generous purses, lucrative enough to attract well-known horses such as Flora Temple, the most famous trotter of her day.

Springing from the sport’s enormous popularity were even larger, more elaborate racing facilities such as National Driving Park and Recreation Park. The National Horse Association of Kalamazoo was organized. By the early 20th century, Kalamazoo would be an annual stop on the Grand Circuit of harness racing, the “major leagues” of the sport of kings.

Flora Temple broke what was considered the unbeatable mile record of two minutes and 20 seconds at the National Driving Park, a mark that was pooh-poohed on the East Coast because it happened in some place called Kalamazoo.

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Most standard-bred race horses (trotters and pacers) share the blood lines of Peter the Great, a famous trotter who was born on what are now the grounds of Western Michigan University.

Dietz’s program will chronicle the fascinating history of horse racing in Kalamazoo and profile the horses that gave the city a national reputation for fine standard-bred horses.

Dietz has been working with the PMN and its video productions coordinator Katie Reid to film monthly episodes that showcase an episode of Southwest Michigan history and the artifacts that help tell the story of this part of Michigan.

Summer semester starts wind-tech programKVCC will launch its program to train the coming generation of wind-energy

technicians in the fall, with students able to get a jumpstart by enrolling in pre-requisite courses during the summer semester.

To earn a one-year certificate in the emerging field, students will complete 35 credit hours of classroom instructions and lab experiences designed to teach them how to install, maintain and service modern wind-energy turbines.

While they can prepare for this curriculum by enrolling in summer courses that begin Monday, May 18, and run through Aug. 10, the classes that apply directly to wind-energy technology will begin with KVCC’s fall semester scheduled to start on Sept. 8.

Among the chief instructional tools will be the 145-foot, 50-kilowatt, commercial-sized wind turbine that towers over the college’s technical wing on the Texas Township Campus and a 1.8-kilowatt model that is designed for residential purposes. A wind-turbine lab in KVCC’s nearby M-TEC will also be part of the learning equation.

Through courses in applied electricity, electrical machines, programmable logic controllers, fluid power, the operations, maintenance and repair of wind turbines, the mechanical systems in these turbines, and the generation and distribution of power, students will be introduced to the technical standards in the industry.

They will learn about the generation of electrical power, safety in the workplace, mechanical devices, electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic systems, computer controls and communications. They will learn the skills needed to connect locally generated power into the grid systems used by utilities.

The curriculum will be rounded out by an overview of renewable energies, including solar energy, wind power, hydropower, geothermal energy, and alternatives to petroleum-based products. They will learn the basic principles of each technology to understand their natures, their limits and their potential.

Relay for Life cancer-whipping team growing in sizeKVCC is participating in the 2009 Relay for Life, the annual fund-raiser of the

Kalamazoo County Chapter of the American Cancer Society, and the Cougar team is looking for at least 60 staff, faculty and students to take part in the quest to raise $3,500.

This year’s event will be staged on Saturday and Sunday, May 30-31, over a 24-hour period from 11 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds, which will be open for the entire duration of the event.

KVCC’ers, along with their friends and family, can camp on the grounds and take turns walking or running the track over the 24-hour period.

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Co-captains Mary Johnson, Lynne Morrison and Ruth Baker are also coordinating a returnable-can/container collection as part of the fund-raiser.

Team members so far include Morrison and family, Johnson and family. Marylan Hightree and family, Ruth Baker and family, Cynthia and Mark Schauer, Kim Ameluxen, Sue Commissaris, and Robert Sutton.

Other KVCC Relayers include Katie Pitcher, Carolle Haseman, Carolyn Brownell, Mark Sigfrids, Catie West, Laurie Dykstra, LaJoyce Brooks, Diana Haggerty, Amy Triemstra, Haley Crites, Dana Martin, Dave Hughes, Tasia Hayes, Jane Westra, Kellie Hungerford, Ronnie Brooks, Theresa Hollowell, Bonnie Tucker, Sharra Poncil, and Montiella Robertson.

Receptacles for the 10-centers are located in the Texas Township Campus cafeteria, the technical wing, the Student Commons and the faculty lounge.

While the teams are coming together for a very serious issue - - the fight against cancer - - there is a great deal of fun and camaraderie for teams of family, friends and co-workers who choose to camp out for the entire event.

“Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times as a reminder that cancer never sleeps,” Johnson said.

There is entertainment and family activities, plus the victory lap by survivors and the luminaria ceremony at dusk that remembers those that have faced cancer.

To sign up as a participant and walk with Team KVCC or pick up a donation packet, contact Johnson at extension 4182 or stop by her office in the Student Commons. Morrison can be reached at 4164 and Baker at 4492.

The walking times can be viewed online at http://classes.kvcc.edu/relay.The Relay for Life supports those who have lost a loved one, offers

encouragement to those who are currently battling the disease, and celebrates life with those who have survived.

But most of all, it is an inspiration to all who participate. All dollars raised go toward supporting services for cancer patients and their

families, providing education and early-detection programs, and funding cancer research.Kalamazoo is one of more than 4,000 communities across the continent that stage

Relay for Life events in the fight against cancer. More than $1 billion has been raised. Music’s key role in animation is festival theme

Music and how it shapes animated films, a harmony that can be traced backed to Walt Disney’s 1940 “Fantasia,” will be in the spotlight for the 2009 Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (KAFI).

Taking a cue from the biennial event’s prime financial supporter, the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation that brings an international keyboard festival to Southwest Michigan every other year, KAFI planners have booked a half dozen presentations and workshops that focus on this blending of art forms.

These sessions in downtown Kalamazoo on the interaction of animation and music augments one of the May 14-17 festival’s new initiatives – a competition in which Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Western Michigan University students majoring in those fields compose original scores and set them to film.

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Called the Kalamazoo Animation And Music Competition (KAAMC) and a first-of-its-kind partnership between WMU and KVCC, animation and music students have formed teams.

The task is to produce a finished film that is no longer than six minutes, two-thirds of which must feature the musical composition. No previously created material can be used for this competition.

Judges will award $2,500 to a team for best animation and $2,500 for best musical composition with the possibility that the same team could win both awards.

Their creations will be part of five special screenings during the festival, this one on Friday night, with the winners announced at the festival’s wrap-up event on May 17.

Here is the schedule of workshops and presentations: “Music and Animation: The Dynamic Connection” – Saturday (May 16)

at 11 a.m. in KVCC’s Anna Whitten Hall. Animators and composers will explore the facets of this creative relationship.

“Mountains, Canyons & Cattle Brands” – Friday (May 15) at 1:30 p.m. in the Center for New Media. These two art forms have been combined to tell the stories of cattle brands, geographical formations, Native American mythology, and other topics.

“Music for Animation: Past and Present” – Friday May 15) at 1:30 p.m. in the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s Mary Jane Stryker Theater. This is an overview of the history of music for animated films and the role that music plays in a soundtrack in what is today a highly specialized craft.

“Experimental Digital Audio and Animation” – Saturday (May 16) at 9 a.m. in the Center for New Media. Showcased will be a variety of contemporary animations produced by animator/composer teams.

“Making Music for Animation” – Sunday (May 17) at 9:30 a.m. in the Center for New Media. Top-quality collaborations will be shown and discussed.

“Sound Effects for Animation and Film” – Sunday, May, 17, at 11 a.m. in the Center for New Media. Music isn’t the only component that can make or break an animated film as detailed in a publication called “The Sound Effects Bible.”

Among the presenters from both fields will be Janet Perlman, Judith Gruber-Stitzer, Karen Aqua, Ken Field, Richard Reeves, Bonnie Mitchell, Ric Viers, and Elainie Lillios.

For the KAAMC, music compositions may either use computer-generated or processed sound as a major component, or consist of sound created on an electric musical instrument, such as a synthesizer or sampler.

Compositions that combine acoustic instruments and/or electric or computer sound must be quality recorded/mixed/produced as part of the film. Animation may use any software application or style.

Among the criteria to be judged will be: quality and design of the finished piece; transitions from one idea to the next; musical and visual innovation used; integration of the two art forms; degree that music enhances the animation; and degree that animation enhances the music.

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The idea for the music-animation collaboration was developed during a brainstorming session between KAFI staff and the Gilmore Foundation.

The mission is to advance the appreciation of the two art forms in the visual and audio world, to enrich the artistic talents of students and educators in the Kalamazoo area, and to create a blended masterpiece of animation and music.

Given a successful inaugural, the plan is to extend it regionally for students in middle and high schools, and then on a national/global level to the world of professional animators and musicians for future KAFIs. KVCC grad forms transfer-support group at U of M

KVCC alumnus Adam Runkle is one of the students currently featured on the University of Michigan’s portal that tells of stories of students who have transferred from a community college.

“The research the University of Michigan has conducted through a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation grant,” says U of M recruitment coordinator Melissa Purdy, “has shown that transfer students most frequently credit a faculty member from their community college for providing them with the encouragement and guidance they needed to apply for admission to the University of Michigan.

“Your hard work at KVCC is paying off for your students,” Purdy said in an e-mail. “Students from KVCC are finding academic success here at the University of Michigan. One of them, Adam Runkle, is currently serving as a student ambassador for us and is featured on our community college web portal.”

Extremely active on campus since his transfer, Runkle founded the Organization for Adult and Transfer Students (OATS) and has represented the university at numerous recruitment events. He recently made a presentation at the annual Jack Kent Cooke Foundation meeting in Texas.

Runkle, who transferred this year, grew up in Paw Paw and had dreams of becoming a surgeon. However, his initial studies at a small private college weren’t fruitful. He called it “a terrible experience.”

He turned to KVCC, which seemed like a natural choice because he would be close to his family and thought that Western Michigan University would be his next educational step. However, he was advised, with his career dreams still intact, to take a look at Michigan.

“Hands down,” Runkle said, “the most significant contributor to my decision of transferring to U-M was the opportunity to do meaningful research in a medically related field. Gene therapy, biomechanics, cancer, stems cells, medicinal pharmaceuticals, kinesiology and movement sciences, chemistry, physics, English, biology - these are a fraction of the areas of research in which students are able to get involved.”

Medical research is his goal and his target is the National Institutes of Health. Degrees in chemistry and physics will hopefully take him into a prestigious medical school, such as Duke’s, which accepts 100 new students from an applicant pool of more than 5,000. He’d like to specialize in orthopedic surgery.

While at KVCC, Runkle held down a full-time job, tutored WMU students in organic chemistry, and took at least 16 credits each semester. He was confident his high grade-point average would be maintained at Ann Arbor because he did not intend on having a job during school.

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“However,” Runkle said, “I was not prepared for the pace of the classes, the new environment, the lack of having a social life, not having any previously established relationships, or the type of information I was expected to have already learned. My first semester at the U of M was a difficult transition because I did not have a concept of the resources that were available to me, partially because of refusing to seek them out.

“My adjustment difficulties were short-lived through my first semester and, after seeking out some of the wonderful resources around campus,” he said, “my social life, studying skills, academic standing, and life in general, dramatically improved. In my second semester, I posted the grades that I had prior to my transfer.”

The lessons he learned are being applied at OATS, which is also intended for nontraditional students on campus. OATS was developed to help incoming transfer and nontraditional students make the transition, serving as their common ground.

“As transfer and nontraditional students,” Runkle said, “the experiences shared by these populations are different and unique in comparison to incoming freshmen. Being the president and founder of OATS, my goal is to prevent any and all incoming transfer students from experiencing a semester similar to my first one.”

Runkle attended the week-long North American Congress of Biomechanics where hundreds of medical doctors and research professors discussed their research.

“I was able to listen to Swedish, Canadian, German, and Chinese scientists' lecture,” Runkle said, “as well as see how research is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural experience. It was one of the highlights of my academic experience.”

The rest of his story is accessible at http://commcoll.umich.edu/profiles/#Adam.

Vandenberg wins 3-year term on Paw Paw boardFor school-board candidates with KVCC connections, two came home winners in

the May 5 election while five will have to adopt a “wait-till-next-year” perspective.Diane Vandenberg, assistant director of the Student Success Center, was

appointed to a vacancy on the Paw Paw Board of Education late last year and she easily won the right to finish the three years remaining on that term by a 348-72 margin.

In the hotly contested campaign for seats on the Plainwell Board of Education, which has been under fire in recent months because of a controversy involving the wrestling team, Amy Blades, 36, topped two other candidates seeking a one-year term. The homemaker/volunteer has completed pre-nursing studies at KVCC.

In Otsego, Paul Vanderhoff finished just out of the money, losing his bid for a single four-year term on the school board by seven votes. He’s a service director for the Jim Koestner auto dealership in Plainwell and is attending KVCC. There were five candidates on the ballot.

In the race for a single four-year term on the Kalamazoo Board of Education, 37-year-old Paula Norder lost to Ervin Armstrong by 1,200 votes. Norder, the mother of a third-grader, is attending KVCC while working as a claims representative for State Farm Insurance.

In the Bangor school election, Margaret McCabe, 67, was one of a quintet of candidates running for a single trusteeship. The retired administrative assistant for the Michigan Department of Corrections, who has taken classes at KVCC, finished last in the field.

Among the six running for two four-year terms on the Bloomingdale Board of Education was Duane Cooley, 63, a Grand Junction resident. His total of votes placed

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him fifth in the field. The retired electrician and former surveyor for the city of Kalamazoo earned degrees in electrical technology at KVCC.

Another five-candidate field faced voters in the Lawrence School District. Seeking one of two four-year terms was Sally Norg, 32, a paraprofessional for the Van Buren Intermediate School District. Armed with a KVCC associate degree, she is now attending Western Michigan University. Norg finished last in the field.

Honors alums on the moveTwo other KVCC Honors Program participants are locking down their four-year

degree plans, according to director Stephen Louisell.Melissa Witham, a graduate of Portage Central High School, has been accepted

at Calvin College for the 2009-10 academic year. She served as a teaching assistant for part-time English instructor Nicole Bauman, who will be guiding a class in science fiction in the 2009 fall semester.

Jessica Zwalua has been accepted at both Loyola University in Chicago and Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. Still in the running for her academic talents are Notre Dame and Kalamazoo College. Zwalua served as a teaching assistant for humanities instructor Scott Myers. She graduated from Paw Paw High School.

A summer in Tunisia studying Arabic is what is in store for KVCC spring graduate Anthony Chase, who recently received the $5,000-per-year University of Michigan Community College Scholar Award as well.

The home-schooled Chase has been awarded a U. S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to spend the summer of 2009 in the North African nation flanked by Algeria and Libya.

According to Julia Phelan Sylla, assistant director of the Critical Language Scholarship Program in the department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the scholarship program was established in 2006 to increase the opportunities for American students to be trained in critically needed languages overseas.

Chase will be among more than 500 Americans studying Arabic, Indic, Turkic, Chinese, Persian, Korean and Russian languages. Chosen from 5,400 applicants, they will spend seven to 10 weeks in a dozen nations and be involved in intensive linguistic training.

“The program is part of a wider U. S. government effort to dramatically expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critical-need languages,” Sylla said.

Chase, who will be admitted into the University of Michigan’s Residential College in the fall, is planning a career in the foreign service with an emphasis on the Middle East. He is a graduate of the KVCC Honors Program.

He’s getting some practical knowledge about that part of the world and the Arabic language by working part time at the Tiffany Party Store, which is owned by Iraqi-American brothers and is located at the top of West Main Hill in central Kalamazoo.

For more than 60 years, the state department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has funded and supported exchange programs that promote mutual understanding and respect between American and the citizens of other nations.

Louisell also reports that Erin Johnson has received two academic scholarships to complete her bachelor’s in chemistry at Ferris State University. She plans to join three

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other recent Honors Program graduates in FSU's School of Pharmacy upon completion of her degree.

“Erin was a member of a strong group of Portage Northern High School graduates who entered the Honors Program in 2004,” he says.

KVCC connections to Excellence in EducationSeveral students who were dually enrolled at KVCC during their years in high

school were among the 59 honored in the 2009 edition of the Excellence in Education program.

With each receiving a $750 scholarship, the honorees were all in the top 2.5 percent of their graduating classes.

Those dually enrolled at KVCC included: ♦ Abbey Newhouse of Vicksburg High School. She will enroll at KVCC in the

fall to prepare for a career in health care. ♦ Shawna Burgett of Climax-Scotts High School. She is headed for the

University of Charleston in West Virginia on the path to a career in interior design.♦ Shane Campbell of Galesburg-Augusta High School. His plans are to become

an architect, but he has not chosen a college to begin that quest.♦ Michelle Repke of Galesburg-Augusta High School is pondering a career as a

mechanical engineer and will pursue that quest at Western Michigan University.♦ Celeste Mora of Gull Lake High School is looking at majoring in pre-medicine,

but has not enrolled for fall classes as yet. ♦ Emma Katharine Bauer of Parchment High School will have a dual major of

criminal justice and psychology at Saginaw Valley State University. ♦ Elena Stachew of Portage Central High School is bound for Case Western

Reserve University in Cleveland to study materials science and engineering. ♦ Mier Wang of Portage Central High School has chosen neither a college nor a

major to pursue as yet. ♦ Sarah Dykstra of Schoolcraft High School will be a pre-med major at the

University of Michigan.The Education for Employment, Education for the Arts, and Excellence in

Education programs are functions of the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency. The latter is supported by a permanent endowment established at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation.

While medicine was the most popular career choice followed by English among the 59 students, leading the pack was “Undecided.” Engineering, nursing, law, writing, veterinary medicine and psychology received multiple entries.

The most-popular destination was the University of Michigan, followed closely by “Undecided. WMU, Michigan State University and Kalamazoo College were the only other schools to designated more than once.

In all, 21 colleges and universities were listed, including Glen Oaks Community College.

And finally. . . As the two friends wandered through the snow on their way

home, Piglet grinned and thought to himself: “How lucky I am to have a best friend like Pooh.”

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Meanwhile, here is what Pooh was thinking: “If that pig sneezes, my freezer will be full of bacon, spare ribs and pork chops.”

☻☻☻☻☻☻

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