The Digest
What’s Happening at KVCC
What’s below in this edition
January launch (Pages 1/2) Clothes donation (Page 9)
Diploma Day (Page 2) Extra food, toys? (Page 9)
Lead-based paint (Pages 2/3)PTK projects (Pages 9/10)
Cafeteria, coffee hours (Pages 3/4) Hollar’s harmony (Page 10)
The Levant (Pages 4/5)Off for Ireland (Pages 10/11)
Sounds of the season (Pages 5/6) Blackouts, Incas (Pages 11/12)
Holiday thievery (Page 6) Bargain software (Page 12)
Diversity Conference (Page 7)Printing needs (Page 12)
Pencils, please (Page 7)Hispanic exhibit (Page 13)
Winter! Why? (Pages 8/9) Checking out WSU (Page 14)
And Finally (Page 14)
☻☻☻☻☻☻
New corrections program fills up
A new career opportunity in the corrections field is coming to Kalamazoo Valley Community College.
Under the auspices of the Kalamazoo Law Enforcement Training Center at the Texas Township Campus, the Corrections Academy will go into action to train people for jobs in county jails and other lockup facilities operated by municipalities.
The initial Corrections Academy has enrolled a full complement of 30 students for 160 hours worth of training in 14 modules from Jan. 7 through Feb. 1. The fee is $1,100.
Some of the enrollees, who hail from Kalamazoo, Jackson, Allegan, St. Joseph, Cass and Van Buren counties, are in an in-service mode because they are already in the profession. Others are using the academy to launch a career.
Because there is already a standby list, a second academy will probably be scheduled for late summer of 2008, according to David Reid, the in-service training coordinator for the center that includes the Kalamazoo Police Academy.
The concept of an academy, he said, sprang from state legislation that now requires certification for professionals in the corrections field.
“Most of the enrollees come from those already in the profession who now need the required state certification,” Reid said, “but there are people who are interested in establishing careers in the corrections field.”
Those who successfully complete the 160 hours of training will also receive 10 credit hours that they can apply to a degree in criminal justice at KVCC.
The college’s center, which is directed by Rick Ives, is offering the academy in conjunction with the Michigan Sheriffs Coordinating and Training Council.
“The academy was created,” Ives said, “to not only meet the need for corrections certification, but also to offer a different kind of career opportunity to KVCC students. Pre-certified candidates would set themselves up with an edge in the employment market.”
All of the instructors are certified and approved by the council. Completion of the 160 hours of training becomes one of the requirements needed to become certified as a corrections officer. Each enrollee must have a high school diploma or its equivalent.
The 14 training modules are: booking and intake, correctional law, cultural diversity, custody and security, defensive tactics, ethics in corrections, fire safety, interpersonal communications, prisoner behavior, report writing, workplace harassment, stress management, suicide prevention, and first aid, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, and automated external defibrillator (AED) familiarity.
For information about the academy or to apply for admission, contact Reid at (269) 488-4459 or . Another source of information is at the college’s web site – – under the keyword of “Corrections Academy.”
60th graduation is Dec. 20
The college’s 60th commencement ceremony is set for the evening of Thursday, Dec. 20, in Miller Auditorium on the Western Michigan University campus.
Those who have been assigned specific roles for the event should attend a 2 p.m. rehearsal that day on the Miller stage. For those who want to first come to the Texas Township Campus, a shuttle bus will depart for the WMU campus at 1:30 p.m. Students do not take part in the rehearsal.
Among those faculty members involved in the ritual are Denise Miller, Larry Taylor, Jean Snow and Bill Wangler. The faculty speaker will be English instructor Brian Olson while Yadira Hernandez, an elementary-education major from Hartford in Van Buren County, will speak for the graduates.
Faculty participants are asked to report to Miller Auditorium by 6 p.m. on Dec. 20. The ceremony will begin at 7. The number of students eligible to take part in the ceremony is approaching 500.
The diploma-day celebration will be telecast live on one of the Community Access Center’s five channels. Also scheduled to make remarks is Jeff Patton, chairman of the KVCC Board of Trustees.
M-TEC hosts lead-safe training
Chinese-made toys have been garnering headlines recently because of their lead content, but the U. S. construction industry and health officials have been coping with how to safely handle lead-based paint for almost 30 years.
Funded by a grant from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, the city of Kalamazoo and the Kalamazoo County Department of Health and Community Services are sponsoring a seminar on “Lead-Safe Work Practices” at the M-TEC of KVCC in 2008.
The five-module seminar will be held on four dates: Jan. 24, April 8, Sept. 25, and Nov. 18. Each complete session will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for a fee of $30 that includes materials and food. Another series is slated for 2009.
The “Lead-Safe Work Practices” seminar is targeted for:
● Building-code and housing inspectors.
● Large and small contractors involved in the renovation, repainting or remodeling of buildings, and who might encounter lead-based paint.
● Maintenance and custodial workers.
● Building supervisors and landlords.
● Staff members of state and local units of government.
● Staff members of community and social-service organizations.
● Do-it-yourself homeowners.
● Students in the construction trades.
Each seminar will cover these five topics: “Why Should I Be Concerned About Lead Dust?”; “Set Up Your Work Space to Contain Lead Dust”; “Safe Work Practices”; “Clean Up and Checking Your Work”; and “Planning the Job.”
At the end of each training session that will be conducted by Atrium Environmental Health and Safety Services of Reston, Va., attendees may take a 25-question exam to gain a certificate for course completion.
The federal EPA, in conjunction with the National Paint and Coatings Association, launched this initiative because many homes and buildings constructed prior to 1978 featured lead-based paints.
Thus, those involved in the renovation, remodeling and repair of such structures – both externally and internally – should be aware of methods that reduce and control dust and debris generated by their work because even a small amount of dust can pose a health risk.
For more information, visit the M-TEC of KVCC’s website at and click on “Training.” Registration can be done online or by calling the M-TEC at (269) 353-1253.
Food-service, coffee-shop hours
The Texas Township Campus cafeteria and the Student Commons coffee shop begin their holiday food-service timetables on Wednesday, Dec. 19.
Through Tuesday, Dec. 18, the cafeteria will be open for business Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., and 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday. The coffee-shop hours during those two time frames are 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and 7:30 to 11 a.m., respectively.
Then things begin to change.
Wednesday, Dec. 19, through Friday, Dec. 21: cafeteria – 7:30 a.m. to 1: 30 p.m.; coffee shop – 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 19, but closed on the next two days.
Dec. 24-Jan. 1: KVCC will be closed for the year-end holiday break.
Wednesday, Jan. 2, through Friday, Jan. 4: cafeteria – 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; the coffee shop will be closed on those three days.
Back to normalcy beginning Monday, Jan. 7: cafeteria hours move back to 7:30 a.m. through 7 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays, and 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Fridays. The coffee shop resumes service from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays, and 7:30 to 11 a.m. on Fridays.
For more information, contact Muriel Hice at extension 4410.
A view of a place called the Levant
Jack Bley, a KVCC biology instructor who was assigned by the U. S. military to serve a tour of duty in the Middle East, will relate his experiences in and impressions of that part of the world on Tuesday (Dec. 11) at 11 a.m. in Room 4380.
Part of the annual series of presentations by the KVCC International Studies Program that will continue through the 2008 winter semester,“A Short Ramble Thru The Levant” is free and open to the public.
The Levant is a geographical term historically referring to a large area in the Middle East south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and by the northern Arabian Desert and Upper Mesopotamia to the east. It generally encompasses a region that now holds the nations of Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.
The Levant is regarded as an imprecise term because it refers to layers of cultural habitation, rather than to the land itself.
Bley could be a recruiter for U. S. military forces – almost all of them -- because he had tours of duty in three branches: the Navy, Air Force and Army. He even went through a Marine Corps boot camp.
Bley, who grew up on Chicago’s North Side near Wrigley Field, joined the KVCC faculty as a full-time instructor in the fall of 2006 after a seven-year stint with Upjohn/Pharmacia/Pfizer.
A graduate of the University of Illinois, Bley took his 1969 degree and enlisted in the Navy, becoming a flight officer as a navigator aboard ocean-cruising planes that almost daily played the Cold War game with Soviet military counterparts.
There were flights to Great Britain once a month, along with visits to Spain, Portugal, Norway and other interesting airports of call that would be forerunners of his other global adventures over the 21 years that Uncle Sam signed his paychecks.
When Bley came down to earth for the last time wearing naval flight gear on active duty, he enrolled in veterinary school at the University of Illinois, graduating in 1977.
After working in Wisconsin’s dairy industry, Bley was receptive to a recruiting pitch from the Air Force to join its veterinary corps. Ironically, he was stationed at the same naval base in Pensacola, Fla., where he had trained to become a flight officer.
This time, his duty focused on aerospace research and was responsible for the care of more than 700 monkeys. Four years later, he was back in the Wisconsin dairy game.
History soon repeated itself, though, and Bley once again was swayed by a military recruiter, this time an invitation to join the Army Veterinary Corps.
Although in Army greens, he was assigned to the now-closed Wurtsmith Air Force Base on Lake Huron when it was part of the Strategic Air Command.
In 1986, he was posted to the Sinai Desert with a multinational force. Then came laboratory-animal duties in Washington at the Walter Read Army Institute of Research, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, and the Naval Medical Research Command.
Bley had to keep his passport handy. He was dispatched to such places as Jakarta in Indonesia, Bangkok in Thailand, Lima in Peru, Cairo in Egypt, Haiti and Kenya to either shut down a lab or to get it shipshape as a research unit.
After retiring from the military, he took a position as a veterinary surgeon with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
When “an Army buddy” called from Kalamazoo with an offer to join him at Pharmacia-Upjohn in 1997, “it was an easy sell,” Bley said, “because I wanted to get back to the Midwest.” He went on to earn teaching credentials at Western Michigan University.
The long and short of a holiday concert
The “longhorns” are coming back to KVCC as the college’s campus band and chorus stage their annual, semester-ending, holiday-time performances on Friday (Dec. 14).
Slated for 7 p.m. in the Dale B. Lake Auditorium, the double-header concert is free and open to the public.
The 40-member band is under the baton of Chris Garrett, while the KVCC Chorus is directed by Michelle Bauman, who is also affiliated with a children’s choir and the Bach Chorus in Kalamazoo.
Among many renditions, the band will play Robert Galante’s “The Redwoods,” which was inspired by the composer’s awe of the giant trees.
Also on the playbill is Timothy Broege’s “Surfboard Blues,” a jazz-styled flashback to the days of summer, and Kurt Gable’s “Begegnung.”
The latter piece will bring into play a trio of alphorns to join with the KVCC Campus Band.
Both of the college’s musical units will use their talents in a rendition of “Winter Wonderland.” It will be the first time the band and chorus have performed together.
The three alphornists were featured with the KVCC Campus Band in a pair of mini-concerts in the Student Commons on Oct. 31. The 12-foot alphorn is featured on the "Ricola” ads on television.
Manning the “longhorns” at that performance were Frank Jess, John Griffith and Kevin Hendrick, who are members of Ein Prosit, a traditional German band. Jess and Griffith are also members of the KVCC Campus Band.
The 20-voice choir will perform a mixture of holiday songs from several styles, including madrigal, Mexican and African carols, and a Hebrew song of hope.
Here are Garrett’s musicians for the 2007 fall semester:
Flute: Jodi Diaz and Carolyn Hiestand of Kalamazoo; Carol Mix of Portage.
Clarinet: Brooke Briggson, Rebecca Rowgo and Anthony Winfrey of Kalamazoo; Caitlin Chase of Portage; Sara Fall of Parchment; Dawn Garrett of Vicksburg; Steven Heimann of Comstock; and Katy MacDonell of Richland.
Bass clarinet: Matthew Bowers of Kalamazoo and Danielle Daugherty of Marcellus.
Bassoon: Ruth Birman and Hans Engelke of Kalamazoo.
Alto sax: Delia Baker and Hugh Lynch of Portage.
Tenor sax: Ward Vanderberg of Portage.
Baritone sax: Bret Brewer of Portage.
Trumpet: Jennifer Forcier of Otsego; Valerie Glasscock, George Sylvester and Nicholas Hampton of Kalamazoo; Matthew Van Sickle and Darryl Lynch of Paw Paw; Merle McCoy of Portage.
Horn: Frank Jess of Kalamazoo; Joanne Decker of Mattawan; and Katie Giersbrecht of Gobles.
Trombone: Aleks Copeland of Comstock and Kelly White of Kalamazoo.
Euphonium: John Griffith of Kalamazoo; Matthew Dally, and Judy and Mark Schuitema, all of Portage.
Tuba: Bill Button and Matt Florian of Kalamazoo.
Percussion: Brandy Boyett of Vicksburg, William Lilibridge of Augusta, and Jamar McCeskey of Kalamazoo.
For more information, contact Garrett at 499-4102 or .
Members of the choir are Molly Adams, Mindy Bowman, Danielle Johnson, Tambri Lazarek, Sarah Lord, Anthony Winfrey, Thomas Theoret, Ian Miller, Jacob Eaton, Lawrence Calbert, David Fischer, Justin Loofboro, David Strunk, Amber Watrous, Memmory Myers, Brandi Marlown, Mary Ellen Fischer, Heather Mickaels, Jessica Ramirez and Laura Strunk. Their accompanist is Anita Rummery.
Watch your stuff because thievery takes no holiday
With the holiday season rapidly approaching, it is time to increase awareness about precautionary measures regarding protecting one’s belongings, reports security coordinator Jeff Roseboom.
“Petty thefts always increase during this time of year because of the tendency to carry more money in purses or wallets,” he advised. “This is generally accompanied by our desire to pay cash for a lot of Christmas gifts that are purchased.
“To avoid the unnecessary loss of Christmas money, a couple of simple practices should be followed,” he suggested.
$ Never leave articles unattended.
$ If leaving the office, always lock articles away out of sight in a desk, along with securing the area when departing.
“A little extra time and awareness will make the holiday season more enjoyable,” Roseboom said.
Because of the age of technology and constant communications, a growing favorite target for thieves is a cell phone.
“People tell me that they just put it down a moment ago and when they looked back, it was gone,” Roseboom said. “That’s because it takes less than a moment to steal it.”
Poverty simulation part of 2008 Diversity Conference
KVCC instructors are being urged to incorporate the fifth annual Diversity Conference, slated for Friday, March 28, into their winter-semester courses if possible.
Both tracks in the all-day event will allow the opportunity for participants to engage in a three-hour simulation designed to sample the daily lives of people who are below the poverty line.
The simulation is a joint venture of the Kalamazoo County Poverty Reduction Initiative and the National Resource Center for the Healing of Racism.
As in the past, the college’s yearly conference – this year’s theme is “Diversity: In Our Own Back Yard” – is free and open to the public as well as to KVCC students, faculty and staff.
Pre-registration will be required because of space availability and those details will be forthcoming in February.
“Diversity” In Our Own Back Yard” will open with an overview in the Dale Lake Auditorium at 8 a.m. with the wrap-up session slated for 4 p.m. in the same location.
The poverty simulation will be held from 8:45 to 11:45 a.m. and repeated in the afternoon from 1 to 4 p.m. Lunch and entertainment are part of the package of activities.