The Digest
What’s Happening at KVCC
What’s below in this edition
College Night (Pages 1-3)Retiring? (Pages 12/13)
Odyssey 2006 (Pages 3-5)‘Defib’ training (Page 13)
Meet an astronaut (Pages 5/6)Movies at museum (Pages 13-15)
Chemistry Day (Pages 6/7) AIDS dialogue (Page 15)
What to do? (Page 7)Workers comp (Page 16)
Shedding pounds (Page 7)Great Lakes voyage (Page 16)
Energy Summit (Pages 7-9)Leadership (Pages 16/17)
Wellness checks (Page 9)ECCU promotion (Page 17)
United Way (Page 10)Buried in history (Pages 18/19)
Be in stitches (Pages 10/11) Weavers’ wares (Pages 19/120)
Transferring (Page 11) ‘Game’ dinner (Page 20)
Get on the ball (Page 12) PTK’s latest (Pages 20/21)
And finally (Page 21)
☻☻☻☻☻☻
College Night 2006 is Monday
Representatives from more than 100 colleges and universities, along with spokesmen from the armed forces and training providers, are expected to take part in the 2006 Greater Kalamazoo Area College Night on Monday (Oct. 16) at KVCC’s Texas Township Campus.
From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., students and parents will able to learn about higher-education opportunities both in Michigan, around the Midwest and nationally. The event is free.
This marks the 11th consecutive year that KVCC has hosted the annual event designed for high school prospects to take giant strides toward their future in education or technical training. It is co-sponsored by KVCC and Western Michigan University.
Part of the evening’s features will be a workshop on the availability of financial aid and the procedures for seeking it at 7 p.m. in the Commons Theater.
Representatives from post-secondary institutions across the country will be on campus that evening to interact with juniors and seniors from 40 Southwest Michigan high schools and their parents. The students will also be able to learn about technical schools while members of the U. S. armed forces will explain how military service can help pay for a college education.
“The Kalamazoo Area College Night is a wonderful tool to use in helping students select a college that fits their personal and educational goals,” said Diane Vandenberg, who is coordinating the event at KVCC.
The 7 p.m. workshop on financial aid will cover the procedures for applying for financial aid and the criteria for receiving financial assistance in attending college. The presentation will discuss scholarships, student loans, and the kind of financial assistance available from the federal and state governments.
“The workshop will assist students and parents with the ‘how-to’s’ for receiving financial aid,” said Vandenberg, who can be contacted at extension 4755 for more information.
Here is the roster of participating institutions:
Adrian College, Western Michigan University, Albion College, Wayne State University, Hope College, Defiance College in Ohio, Spring Arbor University, Ball State University, Oakland University, Marygrove College in Detroit, Madonna University in Livonia, the University of Michigan, the University of Phoenix;
Valparaiso University, Walsh College in Troy, Alma College, Michigan State University, Penn State University, Bethel College in Indiana, Aquinas College, Baker College in Muskegon, Kalamazoo College, Holy Cross College in Indiana;
Hillsdale College, the University of Detroit Mercy, Anderson University in Indiana, Taylor University in Fort Wayne, Concordia University in Wisconsin, College for Creative Studies in Detroit;
St. Mary’s College in South Bend, Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, Kellogg Community College, the U. S. Military Academy at West Point;
The Air Force Academy, Bowling Green State University, Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac, Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois;
Northern Michigan University, Lawrence Tech University, Kuyper College in Grand Rapids, Grand Valley State University;
Calvin College, Siena Heights University, the Michigan Career and Technical Institute near Plainwell, Lake Forest College in Illinois, Saginaw Valley State University;
Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Michigan Technical University, Lake Superior State University, the Ferris State University Kendall College of Art and Design;
Central Michigan University, Colgate University, Columbia College in Chicago, Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Davenport University, DePauw University in Indiana;
Eastern Michigan University, the Michigan Tech University School of Business, Northwood University, Harvard University, the Kalamazoo Center for the Healing Arts;
Grace Bible College in Grand Rapids, Elmhurst College in Illinois, Ferris State University, Glen Oaks Community College, Cottey College in Kalamazoo, and the Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts in Southfield.
Among the military organizations scheduled to take part are: the Michigan Air National Guard, the U. S. Air Force, the U. S. Marines, the Air Force ROTC program, and the Army ROTC program at WMU.
Hybrid vehicles, fuels on display
What’s already here and what’s coming down the road in future modes of personal transportation, along with the fuels that will power them, will be on display when Kalamazoo Valley Community College hosts a local observance of National Alternative Fuel Vehicle Odyssey Day on Saturday (Oct. 14).
From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the college’s Arcadia Commons Campus and on the north block of the Kalamazoo Mall, people will be able to check out the current generation of vehicles designed to free Americans from a dependence on foreign oil and take the sting out of high gasoline prices.
Odyssey Day 2006 will be part of a triple-header attraction in downtown Kalamazoo that day, joining the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s annual Chemistry Day and a visit to the museum by retired space-shuttle astronaut Richard “Rick” Hieb for a pair of public presentations. All of these activities are free and open to the public.
Several Southwest Michigan auto dealerships are providing more than 30 vehicles for the display as well as representatives to answer questions. Some eight to 10 of the hybrids will be available to be driven. Owners of alternative-fuel and hybrid vehicles will be there to discuss their experiences.
The college’s program in automotive technology has also arranged for three free presentations in Anna Whitten Hall about:
♦ the coming age of plug-in, hybrid electrical vehicles;
♦ the economic ramifications if energy alternatives can replace petroleum, and why the nation should take those steps anyway;
♦ the evolving world of biodiesel as a fuel source.
Odyssey Day is also offering a seminar designed for fire fighters and emergency personnel who are dealing with different scientific and chemical principles when they respond to accidents involving hybrid vehicles and those using forms of alternative fuels.
Complementing the college’s daylong exhibition of alternative-transportation technologies that can pave the way to energy independence on a national scale, the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, from noon to 4 p.m. that day, will be hosting its 20th annual Chemistry Day in which scores of professional chemists from industry and education will be engaged in hands-on demonstrations and experiments.
The theme of this year’s salute to chemistry is the types of chemicals used in a traditional home, the miracles they perform, and the potential danger they hold.
A special guest at 2006 Chemistry Day will be Hieb, who flew three shuttle missions and was engaged in the longest spacewalk in history.
Now a vice president with Lockheed Martin Space Operations, Hieb will make a noon presentation in the museum’s Mary Jane Stryker Theater and a second one at 3 p.m. These are also free and open to the public.
In between, he will “fly” a simulated space mission to Mars in the museum’s Challenger Learning Center with 14 youngsters 12 and older who win a drawing. Museum visitors will also be able to take in its latest nationally touring exhibit, “BRAIN: The World Inside Your Head.”
Here’s the roster of presentations in Whitten Hall and the college’s Center for New Media:
● 9:30 a.m. – Kalamazoo free-lance author Kurt Cobb will offer his perspectives on what “peak oil production” means and what steps Americans should take to prepare for the day when petroleum is no longer No. 1.
● 10 a.m. – the first-responder workshop for fire fighters in the Center for New Media.
● 11:30 a.m. – the prospects of full-sized, high-mileage, plug-in electrically powered vehicles, as seen through the eyes of Andrew Frank, a professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering at the University of California – Davis.
● 1:30 p.m. – Roger Betz, chief financial officer of Michigan BioDiesel LLC, the new plant under construction in Bangor that will use oil from soybeans, restaurant grease, and fat from livestock and chickens in the production of an alternative source of energy.
There will also be information tables and door prizes as part of Kalamazoo’s first Odyssey.
Among the door prizes awarded through drawings will be a flex-fuel kit for converting a gasoline-powered vehicle to run on E-85 (ethanol), a 2007 hybrid bike that will be fitted to the winner, a night’s stay for two at Hawthorn Suites Hotel, dinner for two at Saffron restaurant and at Burdick’s Bar & Grill, $5 fuel cards, and KVCC sweatshirts and T-shirts.
Staffing displays will be:
♥ the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality; the Western Michigan University Bronco Biodiesel Team that will demonstrate how this type of fuel is manufactured and will shepherd looks at the university’s electric dune buggy;
♥KVCC’s 1948 Chevrolet pickup truck that is powered by compressed natural gas and the auto-tech program’s Toyota Highlander that is fueled by electricity and gasoline; Breakaway Bicycles and Fitness and two bike clubs; the Eaton Corp.’s bucket truck that is powered by a diesel/electric hybrid;
♥four vehicles featuring the latest in “clean technology” and furnished by the Bosch Corp.; Great Lakes Flex Fuels that will showcase E-85 conversion kits; and Kalamazoo Metro Transit’s coming fleet of vehicles.
A fall-semester course in alternative fuels and advanced-technology vehicles is signaling KVCC becoming one of 27 sites in North America aligned with the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium.
The one-of-its-kind consortium, based at West Virginia University, was established in 1992. Over the last 14 years, it has fashioned instructional courses focusing on ethanol and flex-fuel vehicles, biodiesel and natural-gas vehicles, propane-powered vehicles, emissions testing, alternative-fuel applications for a variety of machinery, electric and hybrid vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cells.
"Our first class," said David (Charlie) Fuller, laboratory manager for KVCC’s program in automotive technology and its point man for this new thrust, "will be an overview of alternative fuels and vehicles that utilize advanced technology.
“The rapid increase in fuel prices, coupled with concerns for the environment and air quality,” Fuller said, “has led many Americans to seek information about alternatives to gasoline, diesel fuel and other petroleum-based products.
"This introductory, two-credit course is designed to provide basic information for the general public, automotive technicians, employers, fleet operators, and instructors," he said. "The course will explore the nature and extent of the problems, as well as some viable solutions that are currently available or in development."
This inaugural course will begin Oct. 30 and will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8:20 p.m. It will again be offered in the winter semester, along with a second course for training emergency "first responders" and fire fighters who have to cope with crashes involving vehicles powered by these new forms of fuel.
This will be the training consortium’s third national Odyssey, with the first two staged in 2002 and 2004. The latter day of awareness to showcase alternative technologies in transportation was held at 54 sites in 34 states.
Joining the college and the training consortium as a sponsor of Odyssey 2006 are Consumers Energy, CSM Group, Western Michigan University, the Harold Zeigler Auto Group, J. D. Byrider, Great Lakes Flex Fuel, Eaton Hybrid Power Systems, Workforce Strategies Inc., Pro Services Inc., Breakaway Bicycles & Fitness, McDonald’s Towing and Rescue, Auto Body USA – Westside, Bosch Corp., Great Lakes Chemical Service, DeNooyer Chevrolet, and Cole Auto Group.
Other consortium-aligned training sites in the Midwest are at Lansing Community College, Ohio Technical College, the University of Northwestern Ohio, Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana in Gary, and Morton College in Illinois.
For more information about KVCC’s entrance into the realm of training in alternative fuels or about the upcoming 2006 Odyssey, contact Fuller at extension 4178 or .
Astronaut to share his adventures
A former Space Shuttle astronaut who flew three missions and was engaged in the longest spacewalk in history is part of Chemistry Day 2006 on Saturday (Oct. 14) at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.
Richard “Rick” Hieb, now a vice president with Lockheed Martin Space Operations, will make a noon presentation in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater and a second one at 3 p.m.
In between, he will “fly” a simulated space mission to Mars in the museum’s Challenger Learning Center with 14 youngsters 12 and older who win a drawing..
All of these and other Chemistry Day activities are free. KVCC’s automotive-technology program that day will also be hosting an observance of Odyssey Day, a national showcase of alternative fuels and innovative forms of transportation, in Anna Whitten Hall and the nearby Kalamazoo Mall.
Hieb joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1979 after earning a master’s in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado. He was elevated to the astronauts’ corps in June of 1985.
During his three Space Shuttle missions, Hieb logged more than 750 hours circling Earth. Seventeen of those hours involved “walking” in space, including capturing and repairing a communications satellite as he took part in the only three-astronaut excursion outside of the shuttle in the longest adventure of its kind – 8.5 hours.
In all, Hieb spent 32 days in space, orbiting the Earth 511 times and traveling 13.3 million miles aboard the shuttles Discovery, Endeavour and Columbia.
For more information about Hieb’s appearance, the drawing to fly a mission with him, and Chemistry Day activities, call the museum at (269) 373-7990.
Hieb’s Kalamazoo visit is part of the 20th anniversary of the destruction of the Challenger Space Shuttle that killed seven astronauts, including Christa McAuliffe who was to be the first teacher into space.
Chemistry’s miracles, marvels at museum
The Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s 20th annual Chemistry Day on Saturday (Oct. 14) will be part of a triple-header attraction in downtown Kalamazoo.
Sharing the entertainment and educational billing with Chemistry Day is Odyssey Day 2006, a daylong showcase of alternative fuels and vehicles on the north block of the Kalamazoo Mall and in Anna Whitten Hall, and a pair of presentations in the museum by former space shuttle astronaut Rick Hieb.
A fourth adventure could be an exploration of the museum’s latest nationally touring exhibition, “BRAIN: The World Inside Your Head.” All of these attractions are free.
From noon to 4 p.m., families can observe the mysteries, miracles and marvels of this branch of science.
Cans crushed by chemical power instead of mechanical force, making a super glue out of milk in the refrigerator, and how liquid nitrogen’s extreme cold can turn a banana into a nail-driving hammer will be among the gee-whiz, hands-on experiments and demonstrations planned during the four hours.
Co-sponsored by the Kalamazoo Section of the American Chemical Society and featuring chemists from both industry and education, this year’s theme is “Your Home: It’s Built on Chemistry.”
Chemistry Day activities explore the amazing properties of liquid nitrogen, glow-in-the-dark objects, how enzymes work, the invisible-to-the-naked-eye characteristics of hair, algae, fungi and bacteria, and how to determine whether food products contain starch.
The smorgasbord of hands-on science activities for learners of all ages to sample also offers teachers the opportunity to collect free information and materials for their classrooms.
Arrangements can also be made for having chemists visit classrooms as part of National Chemistry Week.
Among this year’s experiment titles are: “Drum Crushing,” “Are You Alive?,” “Iron in Cereal,” “Kitchen Chemistry,” “Making Paper,” “Slime,” “Biodiesel,” “Dancing Milk,” and “Cool Chemistry” that demonstrates the strange powers of dry ice.
What’s already here and coming down the road in future modes of personal transportation, along with the fuels that will power them, will be on display when the college’s program in automotive technology hosts a local observance of National Alternative Fuel Vehicle Odyssey Day.
From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the college’s Arcadia Commons Campus and on the Kalamazoo Mall, people will be able to check out the current generation of vehicles designed to free Americans from a dependence on foreign oil and take the sting out of high gasoline prices.