Editorial StaffRenée Ahee, EditorTresa Meyer, Graphic Designer

The Marygrove College Newsletter Volume 76 • Number 80 • JANUARY 9, 2007

Marygrove Matters, the College’s bi-monthly newsletter, is published by the Communications and Marketing Department and reports events on campus news and other information regarding students, faculty and staff. The next issue is scheduled for January 23 Copy is due by January 17. Please e-mail your information to Rahee@marygrove.edu. • Marygrove College • 8425 W. McNichols Rd., Detroit, MI 48221

Looking AheAdHappy New Year! When we started the fall semester, I spoke of new beginnings, that Marygrove had launched several new projects and programs, that new students had joined us, that there

was someone new in the President’s office. Today, January 9th, we welcome new students for the Winter semester. We embark on the new Online Master’s Degree January 22nd. In our bid to become reaccredited, we will welcome the visiting team from the Higher Learning Commission back to campus in March. We will celebrate together Marygrove’s expression of legacy and its commitment to progress during the inauguration events planned for March, April and May.

All of these are new beginnings. Marygrove is an institution that continuously renews itself but we never lose site of what makes us uniquely Marygrove: our mission. As I wish you health and happiness in the New Year, I also ask that you renew your dedication “to fostering Christian values, to educating students from diverse backgrounds, and to serving the people of Metropolitan Detroit and beyond.”

Our mission statement further states: “The fundamental purpose of Marygrove College is to educate each student toward intellectual and professional competence; toward career flexibility through grounding in the liberal arts; and toward active compassion and commitment.

To this end, Marygrove provides a personalized learning environment which, through excellent teaching in its undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs, sets for its students these goals:

Competence, the ability to understand and participate effectively in the promise of our evolving world.

Compassion, the capacity to care about and respect the worth and dignity of people.

Commitment, the will to act responsibly based upon one’s beliefs and to contribute to the building of a more just and humane world.”

David J. Fike PhD President

M a t t e r s

Beginning today, copies of the North Cen-tral Association self-study will be avail-able at special locations around campus for your review.

As you remember, the self-study is the full report of the analysis of our programs and procedures that has been under way for more than two years. This is required to maintain our accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission, part of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), the organization from which Marygrove receives our accredita-tion. Our NCA evaluation visit is sched-uled for March 25-28, 2007.

Drafts of the full self-study have been—and continue to be—readily accessible through the NCA Accreditation Self-Study Organization on your Isidore account. Now, starting on Tuesday, January 9, binders containing print copies of the latest draft of the self-study will be avail-able for you to read in select locations around campus.

You’ll find two copies of the self-study at the Circulation Desk in the Library; one copy in LA107B, the office of Mary Lou Schroff, secretary to the Provost; and one copy in MC 259, the office of Laurie LePain Kopack, secretary to the Depart-ments of English and Modern Languages, Business, and CIS.

These copies are available for you to borrow to read the report through in its entirety, or to skim, or to choose specific sections for careful reading. Included in the binders are copies of the report’s Executive Summary, which brings all of the analysis and findings together. It’s a long report, so you can use the Executive Summary to help determine which chap-ters you are most interested in. It will help tremendously if you could read the summary, along with whatever sections of the report most apply to you. Then let us know your comments or suggestions. How have we done? Have we missed anything? Your point of view is very important.

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Please do not write comments directly on the copies of the self-study, Instead, call or email your comments or suggestions to Dr. Donald Levin (ext. 1205, dlevin@marygrove.edu) or Johnesa Dimicks (ext. 1565, jdimicks@marygrove.edu), accreditation project co-chairs. Because the report has to be sent to the NCA evaluation team by the end of this month, time is short—so please have your comments back to Don and Johnesa no later than Wednesday, January 17.

In other NCA news, mark your calendars for noon on Wednesday, February 7. That’s the date of our next all-College NCA event. More details, including loca-tion, will be coming in the next issues of Marygrove Matters. Also, watch for more NCA information that will be sent along with your paychecks in the coming weeks.

Copies of the NCA Self-Study Available Around Campus

JANuARY 11–FebRuARY 1Interdisciplinary Artist Stephanie Dinkins’ exhibit Public Reception: Thursday, January 11, 4:30–8 p.m.The GalleryContact Jim Lutomski, 313-927-1337 or jlutomski@marygrove.edu

FRIDAY, JANuARY 19Marygrove Comedy Show with Cool Aide, Cornell “Popcorn” Spivey, Martini Harris and Howie bell7 p.m.Marygrove TheatreContact Leslie Love, 313-927-1522 or llove@marygrove.edu

SuNDAY, JANuARY 28Scarab Club Chamber Music at Marygrove with Scarab Club and Marygrove musicians3 p.m.Liberal Arts Building, Sacred Heart ChapelContact Ellen Duncan, 313-927-1254 or eduncan@marygrove.edu

FRIDAY, MARCH 16An evening Coffee House Celebrating Women’s History Month Contact Loretta Woodard, 313-927-1452 or lwoodard@marygrove.edu FRIDAY, MARCH 30Academic Symposium by Faculty and StudentsContact Tom Klug, 313-927-1520 or tklug@marygrove.edu

FRIDAY-SuNDAY, APRIl 13-15No Street Shoes Annual Dance Department Concert Friday, Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m.Marygrove College Theatre

FRIDAY, APRIl 20Contemporary American Authors Series: Marilyn Nelson8 p.m., Madame Cadillac Building, Alumni Hall10 a.m., Master ClassContact Frank Rashid, 313-927-1448 or frashid@marygrove.edu

THuRSDAY, MAY 3 Presidential blue Ribbon Discussion on urban leadership Details to come

SATuRDAY, MAY 510 a.m.Inauguration: Celebration of Mass Liberal Arts Building, Sacred Heart Chapel

11:15 a.m.brunchMadame Cadillac Building, Main Dining Room

1:30 p.m.Installation of the PresidentLiberal Arts Building, Marygrove College Theatre

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MGM ISSUESWednesday, January 17 Tuesday, January 23Wednesday, January 31 Tuesday, February 6Wednesday, February 14 Tuesday, February 20 Wednesday, March 14 Tuesday, March 20Wednesday, March 28 Tuesday, April 3Wednesday, April 11 Tuesday, April 17

11 E-mail 1:30 p.m.

12 Blackboard 9:30 a.m.

15 E-mail 6:00 p.m.

16 Blackboard 1:30 p.m.

19 Blackboard 9:30 a.m.

20 Blackboard 10 a.m.

E-mail 1 p.m.

22 E-mail 9:30 a.m.

24 Blackboard 6:00 p.m.

Need a New Year’s Resolution? Upgrade your Computer SkillsSt

ic

All classes are held in the basement of the library in the Student Technology Instruction Center (L001). Please contact Monica Hickson-Vinson, 313-927-1532 or mhickson@marygrove.edu, or Gwen Little at 313-927-1285 or glittle@marygrove.edu to register for classes.

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Anne White-O’Hara, assistant professor of History, has been elected president of the Michigan Council for History Education for the 2007-2008 Academic Year.

Sally Janecek, dean of Enrollment Services, was elected to the Hostelling International-Michigan Council Board of Directors at their annual meeting in October. Janecek attended the Hostel-ling International National Council Meeting (Washington, DC) in No-vember where she serves on national committee to expand the Opening Door and Opening Minds program for international travelers.

Dr. Brenda Bryant, assistant dean of Professional Studies, will add to her portfolio the responsibility for direct-ing the Master in the Art of Teaching program during this critical transition period to the next-generation MAT. She has had a long history with the existing MAT and has played a key role in developing the improved and expanded MAT program.

Joan Littman has joined the professional staff of the Education Department as director of Student Teaching. She comes to us from the Farmington Hills School District.

Marilyn Nelson to Headline Authors Series April 20 Poet Marilyn Nelson is

Marygrove’s nineteenth visit-

ing author in the Contempo-

rary American Authors Lecture Series.

Ms. Nelson will deliver the Lillian and

Donald Bauder Lecture on Friday,

April 20, 2007, at 8 p.m. in the Ma-

dame Cadillac Building’s Alumnae Hall.

In her poems, Nelson probes her fam-

ily history, records her struggles with

religious faith, complicates our as-

sumptions about race relations in the

past and present, and grapples with

the disturbing manifestations of evil

in the contemporary world. A sure-

handed poet, she writes in several

different poetic forms including son-

nets and sonnet sequences, ballads,

villanelles, and free verse. Her major

volumes of poetry include Mama’s

Promises (1985), The Homeplace

(1990), Magnificat (1994), The Fields

of Praise: New and Selected

Poems (1997), and The

Cachoeira Tales and Other

Poems (2005).

Nelson’s books of poetry

for young people—among

them Carver: A Life in

Poems, and A Wreath for

Emmett Till—have received

high praise from critics

and educators.

Marilyn Nelson is the author of

thirteen books of poetry, six of which

are written for children. Her work

has received two Pushcart Prizes,

two Coretta Scott King Book Awards,

a Newbery Honor Award, the Boston

Globe-Horn Book Award, and the 1998

Poets’ Prize. She has been a finalist

for the National Book Award and the

Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. Nelson

is professor emerita of English at the

University of Connecticut and the

former poet laureate of the state of

Connecticut.

For more information, contact Laurie

Kopack, lkopack@marygrove.edu or

313-927-1383.

Tribute to Michelle Ventour Associate Professor of Social Work

Sunrise: March 21, 1954 – Sunset: December 25, 2006

On one of the most joyous days of the year, Michelle Ventour made her homecoming.

Michelle joined Marygrove on August 15, 1989, and served as a full-time faculty member for more than 17 years. She was 52 at the time of her death.

The verse selected for her funeral pro-gram book reflects her personality and the effect she had on others. It is titled “After Glow.”

“I’d like the memory of me to be a

happy one

I’d like to leave an after glow of a

smile when my life is done

I’d like to leave an echo whispering

softly down the ways

Of happy times and laughing times and

bright and sunny days

I’d like the tears of those who grieve to

dry before the sun

Of happy memories that I leave when

my life is done.”

honor the legacy and teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., beginning this week. Make every effort to attend these inspiring six days of activities. For more information, contact Jesse Cox, 313-927-1404 or jcox@marygrove.edu.

WeDNeSDAY, JANuARY 10 Timeline of Selected events in African American History consists of several poster sized signs that lists events from the 1800’s to the present. Liberal Arts Building, Library Lobby

THuRSDAY, JANuARY 1110 a.m.-5 p.m. Civil Rights/Justice FilmsLiberal Arts Building, Sacred Heart Chapel, and Madame Cadillac Building, Denk Chapman Hall

FRIDAY, JANuARY 121-5 p.m. Tour of the African American Museum1:00 p.m. Bus leaves Madame CadillacRSVP to Jesse Cox, 313-927-1404 or jcox@marygrove.edu

MoNDAY, JANuARY 159 a.m.-3 p.m. Community Service Day in part-nership with Neighborhood United Community Block AssociationContact Jesse Cox, 313-927-1404 or jcox@marygrove.edu

Freedom March 12-3 p.m.Central United Methodist Church, 23 E. Adams at the corner of Woodward and Adams

TueSDAY, JANuARY 1612-1 p.m. Panel Discussion: “urban lead-ers: Justice-Minded — Action-ori-ented”Madame Cadillac Building, Denk Chapman Hall

WeDNeSDAY, JANuARY 1712-1 p.m.Views of: “urban leaders: Justice-Minded — Action-oriented”Featured Speaker: Rev. Kevin Johnson, pastor of Calvary Presbyterian ChurchMadame Cadillac Building, Main Dining RoomLuncheon will be served after the presentation.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assas-sinated. Though his life ended nearly 39 years ago, his words and his non-violent actions still offer valuable lessons for each of us at Marygrove. Marygrove will

Whose Footsteps Are Heard Above the Bell Tower Ceiling?High above the 4th Floor Art Gallery ceiling, up the spiral iron staircase to the Bell Tower chamber, up an iron ladder above the elevator control room, you’ll find the home of the new Marygrove Internet Access Point.

The new wireless radio connects Marygrove to the Internet at over TRIPLE the old connection speed (4.5MB vs. 1.4MB). That is about nine times faster than your typical DSL connection. The narrow beam radio broadcasts its signal to its sister radio on the 13th floor of the Maccabees Building on the Campus of Wayne State University, about seven miles away. The system has been operating since July and, except for a break in the weather seal occurring during installation that caused problems during some heavy rains in

September, the system has been flawless. A built-in heater will keep off the snow and ice this winter. The investment in a wireless system will mean that the college does not need to incur a monthly circuit charge for access. The savings will pay for the new equipment in a little over seven months. Any rumors that the Marygrove’s IT Direc-tor was writing a sequel to Birdman of Alcatraz or auditioning for Quasi Modo are just purely speculation!

Winter Trading Post–January 23

Each semester, the Eco-Justice Task Force conducts a Trading Post. This winter it will be Tuesday, January 23, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the foyer of the

Madame Cadillac Building. At this event, the Task Force has tables of free-to-take office/school supplies. Yes, free! They also sell used books, tapes and CDs at low cost to fund the recycling efforts of the college.

Pick up your own free “Marygrove Recycles” cup. You can fill this cup with coffee for 75 cents and pop for 50 cents in the cafeteria anytime it is open. Get one while supplies last.

Jessie Jackson, Dr. Martin luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy in Memphis, Tennessee April, 3, 1968

Welcome back,

Students!Make sure you go to the Enrollment Center if you have questions about financial aid,

scholarships, registration, bills or Continuing Education classes. The Enrollment Center is located on the first floor of the Liberal

Arts Building, Room 120. •Tel. 313-927-1692 •Toll free 866-903-3033

•Fax 313-927-1505 •E-mail ec@marygrove.edu.

Celebrating the Life of MLK, Jr.

(World Wide Photos Inc.)