Sept. 14, 2009

The DigestWhat’s Happening at KVCC

What’s below in this edition

New sky shows (Pages 1-3) ArtPrize (Pages 9/10) ‘GENOME’ is coming (Pages 3/4) Ken Colby (Pages 10/11) Downtown project (Pages 4/5) SSC events (Pages 11/12) Press freedom (Page 5) Grant info (Page 120 ‘About Writing’ (Pages 5/6) ‘Sunday Series’ (Pages 12/13) ‘Adults in Transition’ (Pages 6/7) Eagle exhibit (Page 13) In the news (Page 7) Hospitality training (P-13/14) Trash team (Pages 7/8) Street lore (Page 14) In-city animals (Pages 8/9) ‘Chemical Kim’ (Page 15) Bain follow-ups (Page 9) And Finally (Pages 15/16)

☻☻☻☻☻☻Free shows part of new planetarium’s debut

None of us has been able to step back in time to when pharaohs ruled Egypt and used the stars to guide them into the afterlife. Until now.

None of us has experienced the stark, barren and not-completely-inert surface of Mars. Until now – well, make that until January 2010.

Welcome to the Digistar 4, the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s new full-color, 109-seat planetarium technology that debuts to the public on Saturday (Sept. 19) with a slate of free showings from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The billings on opening day are: “Stars of the Pharaohs,” which takes viewers back to ancient Egypt where

the sky served as a clock and calendar, and the movement of imperishable stars guided the Pharaohs on their journey into the afterlife. Temples and pyramids were aligned with the stars and decorated with images revealing cycles in the sky connected with life on the Nile. These showings are set for 1, 2 and 3 p.m.

“Secret of the Cardboard Rocket” is a journey through the solar system fueled by imagination. Guided by a talking book, two children visit and discover unique environments found at each planet. This is time for 11 a.m. and noon.

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As with its predecessor Digistar II, which was among the attractions when the downtown-Kalamazoo museum opened its doors in February of 1996, the newest $1.3 million version will be among the handful in operation around the world with its first public programs.

“According to my research,” said planetarium coordinator Eric Schreur, “this new Digistar system will be one of a dozen digital planetariums in the world that use a laser beam to cover the full screen with video imagery. It becomes even rarer when considering the interactive features that we have – probably one of six in the world. And we certainly will be among the smallest venues to have a Digistar 4 Laser.”

The museum’s inventory of planetarium offerings has grown to more than 50 shows since the opening 13 years ago. Schreur is upgrading the best of them – about 15 -- to be Digistar 4 ready.

The purchase price includes five programs produced by Digistar 4 manufacturer Evans & Sutherland for the updated planetarium -- “Ice Worlds,” “Invaders of Mars,” “New Horizons,” “Secrets of the Sun,” and “Stars of the Pharaohs.” Two others – “Secret of the Cardboard Rocket” and one featuring the music of U2 – were purchased from another source.

“U2” will premiere on Friday, Oct. 2, as part of the monthly edition of downtown-Kalamazoo’s Art Hop. That will also launch the new “Friday Night at the Museum” series that will feature concerts, films and special events, and is being underwritten by museum-designated contributions to the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Foundation. U2’s impressive repertoire of rock classics is enhanced by a laser show across the 50-foot planetarium dome. There will be a $3 admission charge for “U2.”

Set to begin in January, “Invaders of Mars” will make it easier to accept that none of us will ever make it to that planet because, thanks to the Digistar 4 technology, we’ve already been there.

The Digistar II was a black-and-white video display projected on the dome through a fish-eye lens. The Digistar 4 Laser is a single projector that will do the work of all of those in the earlier system. It fills the dome with images projected by a colored laser beam.

After a feasibility study by community leaders, Kalamazoo Valley Community College in July of 1991 assumed the governance of the Kalamazoo Public Museum.

Voters in the college's 10 K-12 school districts also approved a charter millage to fund the museum's operations in perpetuity. Part of its annual budgeting process is to build up a capital-improvement fund for such projects as the Digistar 4 Laser.

In response to that mandate from voters, community leaders launched a $20-million capital campaign to build a new museum in downtown Kalamazoo. Since its opening, the museum has attracted 1.5 million visitors.

It was possible with the Digistar II "to fly" the audience to any of the 9,000 stars in its data base and look back to this solar system from their locations in the universe. Schreur reports the new data base is much larger and the “trips” are no longer limited to stars or black-and-white experiences.

“It will be safe to say,” Schreur said, “that people in Southwest Michigan would have to travel great distances to get the same experience that we will be able to offer beginning in September.”

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More information is available at the museum’s web site at www.kalamazoomuseum.org.

‘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. 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.

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• 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 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.

New neighbors for Center for New Media?The KVCC Center for New Media may have some company in the coming

months.The four vintage buildings on Michigan Avenue adjacent to the center are the

targets of a proposed $10-million, mixed-use redevelopment. MAVCON Properties LLC wants to convert the structures – which are primarily

vacant – into a 30,000-square-foot combination of retail space at street level and reasonably priced housing on the two upper floors.

The latest action came when the Kalamazoo City Commission was asked to vacate the alley between the four buildings and the center, and sell a section of the nearby parking lot.

That would allow the developer to construct an 11-foot addition to the rear of the four buildings and give the consolidated properties, currently owned by the real-estate arm of the Downtown Kalamazoo Inc., some uniformity in appearance and physical dimensions.

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Preliminary plans call for the building’s facades to be preserved. Once work is started, the estimated completion date would be between 12 and 14 months. MAVCON has already refurbished one other downtown building located at 232 W. Michigan Ave.

According to news accounts, KVCC, which supports the project, has agreed to waive and relinquish its rights to the portion of the alley the college could acquire if it is vacated by the city.

Freedom of the press is Constitution Day topicKalamazoo Gazette editor Rebecca Pierce will speak about the constitutional

guarantee of freedom of the press in the United States on Thursday at KVCC.Her remarks are part of the college’s observance of Constitution Day slated for 11

a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Student Commons Theater. The program is free and open to the public.

Political science instructor Rick Brill will speak about the origins of the document that has guided this nation since its adoption on Sept. 17, 1787, and subsequent ratification the following June.

While it was declared to be in effect on March 4, 1789, congressional action that year submitted to the former colonies amendments to clarify certain individual and states’ rights not addressed in the Constitution. The result was what is now referred to as the Bill of Rights. These amendments went into force in late 1791.

Brill will also address the flexibility of the document over its two centuries of existence.

In addition to Pierce’s comments on the importance of press freedom to a functioning, effective democracy, KVCC students will offer their analysis of a pair of U. S. Supreme Court cases – McCulloch vs. Maryland in 1819 that dealt with the creation of government-implied powers and Near vs. Minnesota, the 1931 ruling on the establishment of a press free from intrusive government involvement.

The students will background the two cases, discuss the reasons for why the justices reached the decisions they did, and discuss their impact on the nation and its citizens.

The day’s program will be concluded by a 15-minute question-and-answer segment among participants and attendees.

At the Kalamazoo Valley Museum on Constitution Day, the Mary Jane Stryker Theater will be hosting a film about the monumental document at 1:30 p.m. It, too, will be free and open to the public.

Circle your calendar for ‘About Writing’ speakersThe poet laureate of Delaware, a KVCC alumnus, an essayist who has written

about revolutions and schisms in a major religion, and a funeral director whose wordsmithing has focused on medical ethics and the ethereal meaning of death are booked for KVCC’s “About Writing” series during the 2009-10 academic year.

Opening the series will be Fleda Brown, an award-winning, nationally known poet whose collections have been titled “The Women Who Loved Elvis All Their Lives” and “Fishing with Blood.” The retired professor of English at the University of Delaware was the laureate in her state from 2001 to 2007.

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She will be on the Texas Township Campus on Thursday, Oct. 1, to talk about her craft at 10 a.m. in the Student Commons and will read from her works there at 2:15 p.m. All of the sessions are free and open to the public.

Here is the rest of the line-up of presenters: Tom Montgomery-Fate, a professor of English at the College of DuPage

in Glen Ellyn, Ill., who has taught with his wife in the Philippines, attended seminary, and written a collection of essays about the Nicaraguan revolution and the split in the Catholic Church. He’ll be on the Texas Township on Thursday, Nov. 5.

Tom Springer, author of “Looking for Hickories: The Forgotten Wildness of the Rural Midwest” and a senior editor/program officer for the W. K. Kellogg Foundation . Springer holds a master's degree in environmental journalism from Michigan State University after beginning his writing career at KVCC. He lives near Three Rivers. He’ll return to KVCC on Wednesday, Feb. 17.

Poet Thomas Lynch, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire, Newsweek, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Times of London, teaches creative writing program at the University of Michigan, lives in Milford, and has been a funeral director for a quarter of a century. His collection of essays, “Bodies in Motion and at Rest: On Metaphor and Mortality” has been selected to be the common reader for winter-semester English classes at KVCC where he will be making presentations on March 22-23.

KVCC English instructor Rob Haight is the coordinator and organizer of the “About Writing” series.

Seminar, fair booked to help adults in transition Adults who are facing career changes, downsizing by their employers, and other

situations resulting in job layoffs are invited to a 90-minute seminar at Kalamazoo Valley Community College.

“Adults in Transition" is slated to begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8, in the Student Commons on the Texas Township Campus and run to 8:30. It is free and open to the public. It will be preceded by a one-hour Community Resource Fair.

Among the seminar sessions will be the employment outlook for Southwest Michigan, a presentation on job-search strategies, and a discussion about the importance of networking.

Also planned is a follow-up session to the fair titled “Utilizing Community Resources.”

Among the speakers will be George Erickcek, senior regional analyst and senior economist for the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

Speaking about the importance of networking and the impact of unemployment will be Doran Lefaive, who is part of the networking ministry operated by the St. Catherine of Siena Church in Portage for more than five years.

More than 100 people have found employment and remain connected via an e-mail networking group.

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Panelists will talk about community resources that are available for this sector of the population and how to tap into what’s available through human-resource personnel. The latter will also talk about what they look for in a resume and interviewing tips

Jointly sponsoring “Adults in Transition” are KVCC’s Office of Prior Learning Assessment, Office of Career Services, and Office of Student Employment. All are under the umbrella of the college’s Student Success Center.

Real ‘Adults in Transition’ in the newsSunday’s Kalamazoo Gazette (Sept. 6) focused on two nontraditional students

who have enrolled in KVCC to gain new technical skills and travel a different career path.

Under the headline of “Retooling a Career,” reporter Paula Davis told the story of 41-year-old Matt Ledbetter and Chris Croy, 53.

Croy, a Paw Paw resident, lost his job when National Copper closed its Dowagiac plant, while Ledbetter is a laid-off sheet-metal worker.

Faced with a state unemployment rate that is among the tops in the nation and a dearth of manufacturing jobs, the men are charting new technical routes to travel – Croy, who is entering college for the first time, has embarked on a two-year run for a degree in facilities management, while Ledbetter is enrolled in KVCC’s new certificate program for wind-energy technicians.

Both are receiving financial assistance that has been made available by the federal government and both were steered to their current paths by Colleen Olson, director of prior-learning assessment at KVCC.

She told The Gazette that the number of people in similar situations is growing since her position/office was established four years ago.

“They were thinking of working another 10 years and they say, ‘I never believed I’d be in the position I’m in at this time in my life,’” Olson was quoted as saying. “People want to work and put bread and butter on the table. Some of them are here trying their hardest to make a go of something because there is not work out there. They don’t want to sit home, so they come to school.”

Also used as sources in the news story were Mike Hanson, director of the Michigan Community College Association, and Andy Levin, deputy director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth.

KVCC clean-up crew ‘On the Road Again’ Sept. 19Are you appreciative of those litter-filled plastic bags you see along Michigan’s

highways and freeways, and of the folks who give of their time to clean up after some people’s thoughtlessness?

You can turn appreciation into action by joining the KVCC Faculty Association in its fall participation in the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Adopt-A-Highway program.

Steve Walman, who can be reached at extension 4136, is gathering a cadre of volunteers to clean up a section of state road on Saturday, Sept. 19

Faculty, staff and students are invited to gather by 9 a.m. at the intersection of M-43 and M-40 west of Kalamazoo in the car-pool lot and share a cup of joe in the Outpouring Coffee Shop.

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Walman reports that volunteers only need to bring a pair of gloves. Trash bags and safety vests will be provided.

City’s wildlife stars in ‘Animals Among Us’“Animals Among Us,” a locally produced documentary about the variety of

wildlife in and around Kalamazoo’s Kleinstuck Preserve that premiered on WGVU-TV last July, will be shown at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum on Sunday (Sept. 13).

Free and open to the public, the showing is set for 1:30 p.m. in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater.

“Animals Among Us” documents Matthew Clysdale’s close examination of the diverse community of wildlife existing in preserved green space and woodlands in the heart of the city of Kalamazoo.

Whether it's a fox family living at the train tracks next to one of the city's busiest intersections, a trophy buck right on the edge of the downtown, or an osprey dining on goldfish in a private pond, Clysdale brings the viewer a truly extraordinary glimpse into the secret world of urban wildlife.

Called an “intimate alternative to the big-game documentaries of Africa or Yellowstone, it depicts how a city can ironically offer a life-changing encounter with wildlife.”

Seeking a little more tranquility in his life, urbanite Clysdale moved crosstown, away from the hustle and bustle of the downtown into an apartment next to the 50-acre Kleinstuck Preserve with its lush marsh and towering woodland embedded right in the city. It was enough to fool anyone into thinking they've moved to the country.

At first, he only used the preserve as a jogging course, but he is slowly drawn in by the calming charm of the marsh, as well as the unexpected discovery of whitetail deer.

Interested in bow hunting, Clysdale sees that Kleinstuck becomes a perfect place to practice his skills. But instead of the bow, he turns his camera on the deer and discovers a new passion.

Putting in hour after hour waiting for deer, a pantheon of wildlife begins to emerge -- from thrush to weasel to flying squirrel. He's spellbound by them all - particularly the red fox.

Eager for a close-up, he embarks on a year-long journey to find the fox, and peer in on their world. His exploration takes him beyond Kleinstuck into the surrounding woods, where he discovers an entire network of habitat harboring more wildlife, as well as his next big discovery: a red-tail hawk’s nest.

And the revelations continue: another fox family living at the train tracks, green heron at Kleinstuck Marsh, and the even more obscure privilege of an osprey dining on goldfish in a neighboring pond.

The videographer’s patience pays off with the fox and hawk as he witnesses some extraordinary moments in the lives of the young kits and fledgling red tails.

But as autumn nears, his attention returns to the deer, this time in search of big, rutting bucks, including “Karl,” a handsome male living right under his nose in Kleinstuck Preserve.

Karl manages to elude the camera holder , but sends him in search of other buck, right in the neighborhood where he grew up, surprisingly right on the edge of the downtown.

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Clysdale connects with the fox one last time, and as the year comes full circle, the dynamism of the wild brings changes and disappointments, some human induced and others played out among the animals.

The final discovery ushers in a profound change for the animals of Kleinstuck and the neighborhood, and a surprising reminder of Clysdale’s own role in the cycle of life. Clysdale earned a bachelor’s in fine arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1989 where he majored in sculpture and began his exploration into video during his senior year.

Upon returning to his hometown of Kalamazoo, he began working at the Whole Art Theater, first as the curator of the theater's Blue Moon Gallery Café and later in all facets of theatrical production, both on and off stage.

“Animals Among Us” was supported by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation and the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo. 3 follow-up sessions on Bain’s effective-teaching remarks

In the wake of Ken Bain’s workshop on effective teaching during Faculty Seminar Days, three follow-up sessions are slated for this month for both full-time and part-time instructors.

Led by both faculty and administrators, the sessions on “Talking about Teaching: Characteristics of Highly Effective Teachers” are slated for:

Wednesday (Sept. 16) from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Thursday (Sept. 17) from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, from 10 to 11:30 a.m.Those who are interested can register by contacting Grant Chandler, dean of the

Arcadia Commons Campus, at gchander@kvcc.edu. He will respond with the locations. Refreshments will be served.

Bain, author of “What the Best College Teachers Do,” is the vice provost for instruction and the director of the Research Academy for University Learning at Montclair State University in New Jersey.

In his Faculty Seminar workshop, Bain addressed six questions: (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 progress and evaluate their efforts?

These will be expanded upon at the three sessions this month. To attend any of the three, it is not required to take part in the Faculty Seminar Days discussion. Copies of Bain’s book are available for loan through Chandler’s office by calling extension 7920. Voting in big-money art competition about to begin

It is Grand Rapids’ version of “American Idol” for artists, and at least two creative folks with KVCC connections are involved.

Called ArtPrize, it is a competition among artists from around the world and the top 10 winners – determined by popular vote – will be sharing $500,000 in prize money.

KVCC art major Andre McKee qualified for the competition as did Jean Stevens, a former Kalamazoo Valley Museum staff member who retired to concentrate on her painting.

They will be among the 1,262 artists who were chosen to showcase their creations in 159 locations in downtown Grand Rapids. During the summer, potential participants

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had the opportunity to enter one piece of artwork in the competition. Each venue handpicked its artists.

The wares will be on display from Sept. 23 through Oct. 10.During this period, the public will vote for their favorites. The most popular vote-

getter will be written a check for $250,000. The payoff falls off from there to $7,000 for the artists who finishes in 10th place.

Stevens, who has a studio in the Park Trades Center in downtown Kalamazoo, will be exhibiting her oil painting, “Light Streams,” at BETA Design located at 70 Ionia Ave. Six others with Park Trades Center space will also be in the competition.

McKee’s entry is a black-and-white pencil sketch of Martin Luther King Jr. that is set in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington. It is titled “Dreamer” and was created in 2006.

The 46-year-old McKee, who is employed full time as a meat cutter, told The Kalamazoo Gazette that his entry comes at an appropriate time. “This year has been a case where dreams have been realized with Obama being the president, with different things as far as making young kids start to so, ‘Hey, I can be anything. Whatever they told me I couldn’t be, I can be it now.’”

McKee’s artistic inspiration dates to being a 5 year old when he would mimic his mother’s drawings of comic-book characters. He said he enrolled at KVCC with the goal of transferring to Western Michigan University’s College of Education where he would like to pursue a career as an art teacher in the elementary grades.

Born in Benton Harbor, McKee has called Kalamazoo home for 17 years. The 1981 graduate of Benton Harbor High School is a member of the college’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter.

In line to receive his associate degree in the fall, McKee is familiar with the college scene, having enrolled at Ferris State University in the hopes of a career as a commercial artist. But, as he told The Gazette, “that didn’t seem like a good fit.”

His sketch will be exhibited at Open Concept Gallery located at 50 Louis St. NW.The Gazette plans to interview all of the Kalamazoo-area artists who are involved

in ArtPrize.Registration for voting begins Monday (Sept. 14). You have to be at least 16 to

cast a ballot. More information is available at artprize.org.The person behind the ArtPrize initiative is Rick DeVos, the grandson of the

Amway co-founder. While on the surface, it is viewed as a boon to the arts community because of the buzz it created around the state and nation, just as The Kalamazoo Promise did among the world of education, it is primarily an economic-development initiative under the guise of groundbreaking philanthropy.

Colby oversees college’s safety, securityKen Colby is bringing 34 years of experience in local law enforcement to his

duties in the newly created position of director of public safety at KVCC.But his joining the administrative team in early August was not Colby’s first

connection to the college. He’s has been a guest instructor for the KVCC-based Police Academy over the

years and, more recently, he joined Gerard “Jerry” Alexander, a retired FBI agent, in conducting a “security assessment” of KVCC facilities and functions. And even earlier, he earned an associate in law enforcement from KVCC in 1979.

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The 1968 graduate of Godwin High School in Kent County came to this part of the region to major in criminal justice at Western Michigan University where he eventually earned his degree with a minor in sociology. He was also a graduate of the 199th edition of the FBI National Academy that specialized in leadership and management.

After initially being employed in his career field by the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Department, he joined its counterpart in Kalamazoo County in the summer of 1973.

Over the next 28 years through his “retirement” in 2001 with the rank of captain, Colby performed a variety of functions in the department’s Inspections Division, including managing internal investigations, the evidence system, hiring, and “use of force” instances.

Colby “unretired” from law enforcement to join the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety from 2001 to 2007 as director of the Office of Professional Standards.

Colby’s prime mission at KVCC will be the responsibility for the safety and security of the students, employees and the college’s physical assets as the head of the evolving Department of Public Safety. Eventually, he will be overseeing institutional-safety procedures.

“When I saw the job posting,” said Colby, who lives with his wife, Gay, in the Scotts area, “I was intrigued by the opportunity to start with something new and build it up.

“I believe I have some insights into what works and what doesn’t work in creating a professional security force,” Colby said. “Besides, I have always had an extremely high regard for KVCC and what it does. I have yet to meet a person who works here who doesn’t have a high regard for this place.”

Colby said he and Alexander were retained to assess the college’s safety and security functions and operations. What they found was a need to refocus these functions, especially in light of what has been happening around the nation.

“For example,” he said, “security at Texas Township and the downtown campus had been two distinct operations. They needed to be blended with standard operating procedures. They needed to be on the same page.”

The reason is simple, Colby said. “We have to be prepared for whatever comes down the pike. It is a sign of the times to train personnel to be able to properly respond to any kind of an incident.”

The Colbys’ immediate family includes three children and four grandchildren. His leisure-time activities include fishing and riding motorcycles.

Student Success Center begins student-aid eventsInstructors should alert their enrollees about the events planned by the Student

Success Center that are designed to energize academic accomplishments.The four-part “What It Takes to be Successful” presentations begin on

Wednesday (Sept. 16) at 1 p.m. in the Student Commons Forum and continue on Thursday, Sept. 24, -- same time, same station.

Ezra Bell and other staff members will focus on classroom expectations and roles, effective time management, test-taking tips, the steps to take to transfer to a four-year university, and job-searching tips.

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The Student Success Center, based in Room 1510 (formerly The Gallery), will host a two-day open house on Tuesday, Sept. 22, and Wednesday, Sept. 23, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. These are also open to the public. Refreshments will be available.

A 90-minute workshop focusing on the college-application and scholarship-application procedures is set for Tuesday, Sept. 22, in the Student Commons Forum. It will run from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

Greg Smith of National City Bank will offer advice to students on how they can improve their financial situations in his “Savings & Investments” remarks on Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 11 a.m. in the Student Commons Forum.

Grant-proposal info from KVCC Foundation For the 2009-10 academic year, the KVCC Foundation has established funding-

request deadlines for internal grant proposals. Those faculty and/or administrators seeking financial support from the foundation

must make plans in advance and adhere to the established deadlines. Here’s the schedule:Proposal deadline: Sept. 30; decision by the KVCC Foundation Board of

Trustees, Oct. 30.Deadline: Dec. 23; decision, Jan. 29, 2010Deadline: April 23; decision, May 7.For more information, contact Steve Doherty, KVCC director of development and

foundation executive director, at extension 4442 or sdoherty@kvcc.edu.‘Sunday Series’ starts with flashback to city’s first 25 years

A look back to when the citizens of Kalamazoo staged a week-long celebration to mark the 25th anniversary of its incorporation as a city will kick off the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s 2009-10 edition of its “Sunday Series” of presentations.

On Sept. 27, curator Tom Dietz will review the celebration and the story of Kalamazoo becoming a city. Slated for 1:30 p.m. in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater, all of the programs are free and open to the public.

Here are the upcoming programs: “John Brown’s Harpers Ferry Raid: The Surprising Kalamazoo Connection”

– Oct. 11 “Kalamazoo Cemeteries” – Oct. 25 “Newspaper Wars in Early Kalamazoo: The 19th Century Story” – Nov. 8 “Where the Streets Got Their Names: The Sequel” – Dec. 13 “The Making of the Paper City” – Jan. 10 “Welcome to the Hotel Kalamazoo: Kalamazoo’s Early Hospitality Industry”

– Jan. 24.In “The Silver Annie: Kalamazoo Celebrates 25 Years as a City,” Dietz will

recount how in the fall of 1909, citizens of Kalamazoo held a week-long celebration from Sept. 26 through Oct. 2 with parades, historical tableaux, dinners, and concerts. King “Ka-we-do” and Queen “Progress” presided over the celebration.

Citizens decorated their wagons and horses. Special ribbons, badges, pins, and pennants were widely available. Schools, police and fire departments, the military, and fraternal and labor organizations all were featured on special days. Dietz will talk about what those themes were and how they reflected the city’s pride in its progress.

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President William Howard Taft was invited but did not make an appearance at that time.

In addition, there will be a showing of the city of Kalamazoo’s new video, “Kalamazoo 1884,” that presents a visual overview of what Kalamazoo was like when it became a city. The video was compiled by John Urschel of the Kalamazoo Records Department.

For further information, contact Dietz at extension 7984.

Eagle exhibit nesting in Three RiversTwo KVCC retirees are among those who have orchestrated an exhibit, now on

display in Three Rivers, that focuses on the United States’ connection to the eagle.Paul Millikan, a pioneer faculty member in history, and Patricia DeHaan, former

admissions coordinator for the college’s health programs, are among the five collectors who provided memorabilia for “The American Eagle: Icon and Symbol” that is on display through Oct. 18 in the Carnegie Center for the Arts, located at 107 N. Main in Three Rivers. DeHaan’s husband, Paul, taught history at KVCC on a part-time basis.

Interviewed for an article in The Kalamazoo Gazette, Millikan said: “It started out as a symbol, but it has become an icon. There are an awful lot of businesses, for example, that have an eagle in the design of their logo or in their name. It gives a kind of instant, not only recognition, but endorsement.”

As a symbol, the eagle threads through the historical tapestry of the nation. The lunar module that landed man on the moon was named “Eagle.” One sad irony is that Americans of all stripes and persuasions nearly caused the extinction of some species of eagles because of rampant, unwarranted shootings.

While the collectors have 450 pieces of art and memorabilia in their respective eagle holdings, about 200 – many of them dating back to the early 1800 – are on display during the two months.

Millikan said the eagle has evolved into a symbol of freedom in the United States “because when you think about it, there’s nothing much more free than an eagle that can soar to elevations so far you can’t even see it. It has that wild kind of freedom.”

The exhibit is free and open to the public.

M-TEC takes hospitality training to next levelA training program for those in supervisory positions in the hospitality industry

has been scheduled to begin in November as the M-TEC of KVCC continues to plan for a third edition of an academy designed to prepare employees for entry-level jobs in that field.

The 14-week, every-Monday course will run from Nov. 2 through Feb. 15 at the M-TEC, located on KVCC’s Groves Campus off of 9th Street along I-94. The fee is $980. Each Monday-night session will run from 6 to 10 p.m.

The instructor will be Scott Swope, who has 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry and has guided the two previous academies to train entry-level workers.

Additional information is available by contacting Lesa Strausbaugh, KVCC’s director of career academies, at (269) 353-1289 or lstrausbaugh@kvcc.edu. She’s also the contact for Hospitality Academy III in which enrollment is limited to 15.

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“The ‘Hospitality Supervisor Training’ program examines the skills and best practices in the operation of a lodging property,” she said, “and prepares enrollees for the Certified Hospitality Supervisor (CHS) exam with the American Hotel & Lodging Association.”

In 56 hours of training, they will learn everything from managing the employee cycle (recruiting, hiring, training, discipline, and separation), to proper documentation techniques, safety and loss prevention, and the principals of “yield management.” “This training is designed to enhance the skills of all hospitality professionals,” Strausbaugh said, “from the up-and-coming associate looking to forge ahead with his or her career, to the experienced hospitality professionals looking for an opportunity to study their craft.”

Those who complete the program can take the CHS exam. Information about this aspect and registration instructions on line are available via the M-TEC of KVCC’s web site at http://mtec.kvcc.edu/.

Edison streets featured in museum’s TV showThe origins of the names of streets in Kalamazoo’s Edison neighborhood will be

explored in the September installment of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s TV show.Featuring Tom Dietz, the curator of research at the museum, the episode will be

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.

One of the major traffic arteries is named for Francis Stockbridge, an industrialist who moved to Kalamazoo in 1874 and became involved in Kalamazoo Spring and Axle Works. Stockbridge served in the U. S. Senate from 1887 to 1894 and once owned the land on Mackinac Island on which the Grand Hotel was built. He and a partner, Lorenzo Egleston, were instrumental in the development of Kalamazoo’s horse-racing industry.

Cameron Avenue is named for Alexander Cameron, a pioneer who came here in 1834 and worked as a school inspector. As a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, he played a significant role in opening the University of Michigan to women students.

Instrumental in the design and growth of the neighborhood was businessman Charles B. Hays, who financed a variety of Kalamazoo enterprises ranging from paper mills to carriage manufacturers. The avid golfer built the community’s first course on what is now the Western Michigan University campus. Hays Park Avenue takes its name from him.

Lay and Lane boulevards are derived from investors in associations charged with developing these residential areas.

George Lay and M. Henry Lane also co-owned the Michigan Buggy Co. that was twice leveled by fires. Bryant Street is named for a paper mogul, who also had connections with Hays.

Streets are also named for Delos Phillips, owner of the Star Organ Co. who platted the section even before Hays, and Luella Phillips Hays, a sister who later married Hays.

Phillips also served in the Michigan Legislation, promoting the law in the State Senate that opened the university in Ann Arbor to women.

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Instructor makes chemistry fun on TVKVCC chemistry instructor Kim De Clercq has become 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 Friday shows on 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 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.”

And finally. . . Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries

are almost dead? Why do banks charge a fee on “insufficient funds” when they already know

there is not enough money? Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars;

but have to check when you say the paint is still wet? Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard? Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you

throw a revolver at him? Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Whose idea was it to put an “S” in the word “lisp?” If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

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Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use, the bubbles are always white?

Is there ever a day when mattresses are not on sale? Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that

something new to eat will have materialized? Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their

vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?

Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try? How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures? When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a

shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, “It's all right?” Well, it isn't all right. So why don't we say, “That really hurt. Why don't you watch where you're going?”

Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table, you always manage to knock something else over?

In winter, why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?

How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?The statistics on sanity is that one out of every four persons is suffering

from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're OK, then it's you.

☻☻☻☻☻☻

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