The Digest
What’s Happening at KVCC
What’s below in this edition
Breakthrough brand (Pages 1-3)Indian perspectives (Pages 8/9)
Our VB champs (Page 3)175 years of news (Pages 9-11)
Russ Panico (Pages 4/5)Hoot Owls (Pages 11/12)
Holocaust revisited (Pages 5/6)Matson’s paintings (Page 12)
Veterans Day (Page 6)Afro dance, drums (Pages 12/13)
United Way (Pages 6/7)Culture of the Deaf (P-13/14)
SSC events (Page 7)Holiday greens (Page 14)
Extra food? (Pages 7/8)Our mayor (Pages 14/15)
WMU here (Page 8)Festival of Arts (Page 15)
First impressions (Page 8)Alzheimer’s ‘doc’ (Pages 15/16)
And Finally (Page 16)
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Introducing – ‘dot E D You’
Spurred by a tradition for being student-friendly and keenly aware of the pervasive ease of daily social networking, KVCC is modernizing its “look” and approach to how the college’s mission and message are perceived for the first time in 20 years.
The process was completed by an in-house, branding-initiative team consisting of KVCC instructors who not only teach it, but do it, and a recent KVCC Center for New Media graduate who proved he had learned it.
Instead of a tag line tied to a logo, the out-of-the-box approach to conceiving what is described as “a living, breathing” brand -- intended to interact with students and the community in an ongoing way -- is called a “ThoughtMark.”
The new brand is: .edyou (dot E D You). Carrying all kinds of connotations and symbolism, it is encased in a “dialog” bubble, which looks like three-quarters of a quotation box one would find in a comic strip.
Members of the in-house team who accepted the challenge to conceive something “simple” and “different” and who worked over the summer on the project are:
Co-chairs Michael Keller (English) and Karen Matson (graphic design); Steven Walman (business); Thomas Mills (graphic design); and 22-year-old Thomas Wrench, the May graduate who is now on the graphic-design instructional staff at the Center for New Media and a nationally published photographer.
It was Mills who hit on the .edyou strategy. Just about every educational institution, in their Internet presence, utilizes the dot-edu code.
Proving that serendipity is a powerful creative force, Mills – generally for the heck of it – replaced the “u” with “you” in a kind of “creative epiphany.” Voila!
“To me,” he said, “it was a perfect fit. It was simple. It was different. And it delivered the message that, at KVCC, you – the student, the community – counted the most. We want to talk with you, not to you or at you. It targets you, not the masses. At KVCC, it’s all about you.”
His fellow team members unanimously agreed to such an extent that the college is trademarking this particular “ThoughtMark” that it sees as a pioneering, breakthrough venue to interact with people in the evolving web-connected Digital Age.
Built into the design and symbolism of .edyou, Keller said, is that “it showcases our understanding of Internet technologies and social media. It’s not only all about you, it is about breaking the conventional community college mold.”
Breaking that mold is keenly in the mind of KVCC President Marilyn Schlack, who, as she gazes into a future that she described as “fragile,” wants KVCC to relish its traditions and keep them, stay current, be innovative and remain visionary.
She sees the .edyou concept and its Internet weavings as the coming way “to tell the world our story, deliver a message that is understandable, and do it repeatedly.”
As a brand “that will not be static and that will drive us all at KVCC,” she said, “it will set a standard by which we perform and by which we want to perform. The institution will have a common goal, a common thrust.”
She also believes the .edyou carries “who we have been, what we are and what we will be. It will serve as a promise to our students and our communities.”
Schlack wants to position KVCC for “the fragile future” in such a way that the college is not perceived as “the 13th year of high school” or “just an alternative to a four-year university.” She wants KVCC to be “the first choice, a first choice based on merit.”
With that in mind, one of messages that comes across – a message that was delivered by KVCC students who spoke from their hearts and not from a prepared script – is that, to them, KVCC is more than a community college.
That’s the spirit, the enthusiasm, the conversation that the new approach hopes to capture. They call it “Valley,” and those words are capital letters when the name of the college is used.
The branding process began in mid-October of 2008 when the Chicago firm of Lipman Hearne began its information and data collection. Its representatives also conducted a series of interviews with administrators, students, faculty, alumni and staff on campus and conversed with business, educational, governmental and civic leaders.
After the reactions, comments and perspectives were distilled, the findings were turned over to a collegewide branding committee. From that, the likes of Keller and Matson indicated they could form a KVCC team to create “something” that was “simple” and “different.”
The latter was important to Matson because, she said, “we all know that KVCC is different in the way we interact with students and in the way we teach in a caring way. The ‘something’ had to be fresh, cutting edge, what’s now and what is coming, and student-centered.”
While the “living, breathing” brand weaves its way into the college’s daily operations, procedures and marketing materials, the public can sample the feel and begin the .edyou conversation by linking to “a landing page” in front of the college’s home page. It can be reached at
KVCC’s state VB champs seek bid for national title
On its way to the national tournament, the KVCC women's volleyball team will have to beat one of the squads of spikers and setters the Cougars topped in winning the 2009 state title.
In addition to the KVCC entry coached by Chad Worthington, bidding for a trip to the National Junior College Athletic Association competition in this weekend's regional tourney will be teams representing Grand Rapids Community College, Muskegon Community College, Vincennes Community College in Indiana, Jackson Community College, and Edison Community College in Ohio. Hosting the competition will be Grand Rapids.
The winner will head for the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells, Wis., for the nationals Nov. 19-21.
Because the Cougars, who are ranked 8th nationally by the NJCAA in their Division II level of competition, won last weekend's Michigan Community College Athletic Association event, the KVCC team has a bye on Friday (Nov. 6).
Its first challenge will be a 10 a.m. Saturday match against the winner of the Grand Rapids-Muskegon battle. Winning that will put the Cougars in a 2 p.m. contest with the title decided on Sunday at 1 p.m.
In the MCCAA tourney, KVCC beat Schoolcraft College three matches to one, swept the Muskegon squad in the semis, and bested Grand Rapids Community College, ranked 14th nationally, in the finals after losing the first set 25-23.
Although the Cougars failed to put away the Grand Rapids Raiders that ran off eight straight points in the fourth set, losing 25-22, they won the fifth, 15-11.
It was the second consecutive state title for KVCC. In Worthington's rookie season, the Cougars finished conference play with a perfect 14-zip record. When Worthington was the coach of Kellogg Community College in 2007, he also guided his team to a perfect mark in conference play.
Leading the way were sophomore twin sisters Maddie and Laura McDonnell, former Portage Northern High School standouts who spent their freshman season at the University of Akron before transferring to be closer to home. It was Laura who slammed home the winner.
The Cougars will be entering the regional competition with an overall record of 34-6.
Team captain Cara Greeley-Carter has been ranked eighth nationally in assists. She is a 2008 Kalamazoo Central High School graduate.
Fellow former Maroon Giant Hannah Bock enjoyed solid state rankings in kills, aces and hitting efficiency.
Other key performers are freshman Kaitlin Noverr (Portage Northern) and Kristina Hawkes, another first-year player from Portage Central High School.
Meet our new ombudsman-plus
KVCC’s new ombudsman brings to the position eight years as an administrative assistant to Navy chaplains, another eight working with juveniles who found themselves on the wrong side of the law, and a half dozen working in both a high-school and higher-education setting.
Russell T. Panico Jr., 43, complements those experiences with a degree in criminal justice from Indiana University’s South Bend campus and a pair of master’s from Western Michigan University in public administration and educational leadership.
However, the 1984 graduate of Bridgman High School in Berrien County credits his educational success with the confidence he gained in himself when attending Hagerstown Community College in Maryland as he wrapped up an eight-year stint in the Navy.
Panico, who is beginning his KVCC duties this month, enlisted in the military fresh out of high school and attained the rank of first class petty officer while providing administration services for Navy chaplains. His duties took him to the Marine base at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and then to the presidential retreat at Camp David in Maryland, the latter primarily during the White House stay of the first President George Bush.
It was at Hagerstown where he sampled a career in criminal justice and pointed Panico, at the end of his second stint of active duty in June of 1993, to IU’s operation in South Bend. With his first degree in hand, Panico went to work at the Thomas N. Frederick Juvenile Justice Center there where, over the next two years, he supervised the staff and residents in a 90-bed detention facility.
From late 1997 through early 2003, Panico was back in his home area working as a senior probation officer for the Family Division of the Berrien County Trial Court. Seeking to add to his educational credentials, he enrolled at WMU and spent a short time on the staff at the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home.
Shifting from young people who challenged the law to those who chose to live within it, Panico joined the Galesburg-Augusta School District as the dean of students at G-A High School, a post he held for three years. From 2006 through now, he had been an academic adviser in Spring Arbor University’s School of Graduate and Professional Studies.
“What I learned while working in the juvenile justice system,” he said, “is that there are no quick fixes in helping young people who find themselves in that kind of situation. The average age is 15.
“By then,” Panico said, “the damage done to them is too often irrevocable, although there are enough success stories to keep you motivated. But it takes a really, really long time to effectuate any kind of change and there are heartaches along the way.”
It was while working in his home county that Panico decided to add to his resume and seek a graduate degree at WMU. Along the way, he met his future wife, Robin, which put him on a path to seek employment opportunities in the Kalamazoo area.
She is now employed as an attorney referee for the Kalamazoo County Family Court. Married in 2000, they are expecting their first child in February.
Armed with the master’s in educational leadership, Panico wanted to work directly with students who want to expand their horizons, which led to his duties at Spring Arbor’s Kalamazoo campus. As KVCC’s ombudsman and “behavior interventionist,” he’ll continue down that path.
Roger Miller, director of financial aid, had been overseeing the ombudsman role on a temporary basis while Vice President Bruce Kocher had been in that role prior to that.
“I see this position going beyond the focus on the code of conduct,” Panico said. “I want to be a resource person, a facilitator, for both students and staff, the whole college really. I think the college wants me to take this function to a different level. What won’t change is the KVCC commitment to do all it can to help students succeed in whatever they want to do.”
In his former jobs, Panico has strived to point young people in the right direction and to overcome all kinds of high hurdles and personal barriers. The difference at KVCC is that his contacts will be with people of various ages. While their hurdles and barriers are somewhat different, they are still hurdles and barriers to be overcome.
“We know that all kinds of stuff crop up in the lives of people,” Panico said. “I want to help them deal with that stuff, to link them to the personnel and resources that can assist them, and to add to student-support system that has made KVCC a special place. I want to be involved across the college, part of a coalition that resolves issues. I don’t want to be on an island by myself.”
The Holocaust through perspectives of the deaf
To survive the Holocaust, Jews and others deemed to be inferior to “The Master Race” endured hunger, filth, disease, ceaseless work, and godless brutality.
But if it was difficult – and often sheer luck -- for the majority of survivors, what about the obstacles faced by those who were deaf?
KVCC American Sign Language students will hear their stories when Simon Carmel presents “The Deaf Holocaust Experience” at 4 p.m. on Wednesday (Nov. 11) in the Student Commons Theater.
Deaf prisoners in the concentration camps had to constantly be aware of their surroundings to blend in and not make it obvious they could not hear. If discovered to be hearing impaired, it would have been a shower in the gas chamber sooner than later.
Those who could hear often helped the deaf, such as discreetly writing their friends' names in the dirt during the near-interminable roll calls.
Thanks to research by Carmel, the testimonies of deaf Holocaust survivors no longer remain silent.
"We need to preserve these stories," Carmel told an interviewer. "Deaf survivors had their own unique experiences during the Holocaust and witnessed as much as hearing people."
Carmel has photos and stories of members of the deaf community who were persecuted because of what the Nazis perceived as a disability, coupled with the notion that people with handicaps were useless to society.“Deaf people are healthy and strong," Carmel said. "The only thing is we can't do is hear."
But the Nazis thought otherwise. The organized, highly structured euthanasia program was instituted in the early 1930s to quickly put to death those with physical and mental handicaps. This was long before the death camps.
Carmel can recount the murder of the majority of deaf students at the Israelite School for the Deaf in Berlin. They were dragged out and killed in 1942.
Carmel, who was born deaf, earned his bachelor's in physics from Gallaudet University and holds both master's and a doctorate in cultural anthropology from American University. He has studied Israeli Sign Language and worked with the Israeli deaf community. He began to gather the testimonies of deaf survivors of the Holocaust in 1980.
Carmel interviewed survivors of concentration camps in Germany, Poland, Hungary and other countries. He’s also captured the stories of those who were forced to undergo sterilization, sometimes without anesthesia.
Between 1933 and 1945, it is estimated that 17,500 deaf Germans were sterilized, according to Carmel. Those who were blind or mentally disabled underwent similar treatment. And all were warned not to tell friends and family members about the procedure.
Carmel said that aside from a couple of statements in a single Holocaust book he knows of, there was no specific research on deaf victims of the Holocaust until around 1980.
"It is truly saddening to say that we have lost many testimonies by deaf survivors, who witnessed everything, and died between 1945 and 1990,” Carmel said.
Flag raising part of Veterans Day Wednesday
With the United States at war on two fronts and basically around the world as the nation battles terrorists, it’s time to salute those who have served – and are serving -- in the armed forces.
The KVCC Veterans Club will conduct a flag-raising ceremony at 8 a.m. on Wednesday (Nov. 11) in front of the Tower Entrance of the Texas Township Campus. In addition to the probable sound of a gently flapping “Stars and Stripes” in the wind, a bugler will be present.
That will be followed later by a Veterans Day celebration from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. in the Student Commons Forum.
Both events are open to the public.
College’s United Way campaign ends second week
KVCC’s part of the 2009 Greater Kalamazoo United Way (GKUW) campaign was scheduled to be wrapped up on Friday (Nov. 6).
The communitywide fund drive was started on Sept. 9 and plans to end Nov. 20. This year’s goal is $9.1 million, which is about what the campaign raised in 2008 as, for the first time in anyone’s memory, the fund drive fell short of reaching its goal. As of early Friday, KVCC had raised $27,520of its $37,935 goal.