The Digest
What’s Happening at KVCC
What’s below in this edition
Finding ‘Mr. Fixit’ (Pages 1/2)They’re coming (Page 12)
$12,000+ for scholarships (Pages 2/3) Strike up the band (Pages 12/13)
‘The Digest’ schedule (Page 3)‘Miller Time’ (Page 13)
Science on display (Pages 3/4) ‘The 7 Samurai’ (Pages 13/14)
‘Eco’ short-course (Page 4)Mummy mysticism (Page 14)
Free KAFI events (Pages 4-6)Student art on sale (Pages 14)
Virginia Woolf (Page 6)Teaching ‘Toons’ (Pages 15/16)
Seeking election (Pages 6/7)KAFI ‘go-fors’ (Page 16)
Food fest (Page 7)Ease the stress (Page 16)
New research aid (Pages 7/8)A bit of Miami (Page 16)
Talking tolerance (Page 8)Students as tutors (Pages 16/17)
Civil War topic (Pages 9/10)‘On sale’ (Page 17)
Land Conservancy (Page 10)Our ‘Relayers’ (Pages 17/18)
A look ‘out there’ (Page 11)Safety tip (Page 18)
Faculty scholarships (Pages 11/12) And finally (Page 18)
☻☻☻☻☻☻
Under-the-gun competition for auto tekkies
You can watch how today’s high-tech mechanic goes about “debugging” your car at KVCC’s first “Tech Challenge” on Friday, May 6.
Five students enrolled in the college’s nationally certified automotive-technology program will engage in a bit of friendly competition as they use brain power, diagnostic resources and manual dexterity to figure out why five vehicles are not operating on all of their cylinders.
The public is invited to the event being staged in the automotive lab (Room 5340) and the adjacent parking lot on the Texas Township Campus. The competition will run from 9 a.m. through 1 p.m. The awards presentation will be held at 2 p.m. in the nearby Commons Theater.
Students, faculty and staff are also invited to join auto-tech enrollees, instructors and program advisers for a grilled lunch from 1 to 2 p.m.
The participants are: John Brown, who works at Family Auto Parts & Service in Gobles; Stephen Lutz of Lawton; Peter Margules, employed at the Firestone outlet on South Westnedge Street; Pat Skelton of Constantine; and Andrew Pomeroy, a Cole-Gilmore technician in Kalamazoo
They are the finalists from a field of 23 who undertook two written phases of the competition that tests their working knowledge of automotive technology and maintenance.
Each of five vehicles, which are being provided by the Harold Zeigler Auto Group, will be programmed to have a particular problem with its electrical system, air conditioning, alignment, or power-train management.
“The overall theme of the competition is complaint, cause and correction,” said Larry Taylor, who oversees KVCC’s program. “Each of the contestants will have 30 minutes with each car to hear the ‘customer’s’ complaint, find the cause using available resources, and, given the type of the problem, determine the path to how to fix it.”
The “bugs” are being planted by members of the KVCC automotive-technology staff. Each of the participants will be facing the same “bug” for the sake of fairness and balance.
The KVCC Automotive Advisory Committee, which is sponsoring the event, will serve as the judges. The committee’s 38 members come from local auto dealers, independent repair services, and educational agencies.
“Frankly,” Taylor said, “we borrowed the idea from what Auto Value does each year at its Tech Expo in Lansing. They call it the ‘Top Gun’ technician competition.”
It’s the largest show of its kind in the nation for professionals in automotive service and for manufacturers of vehicle components. It also offers the opportunity for mechanics and auto technicians around the state to engage in friendly, on-line competition to demonstrate their talents for keeping vehicles on the road and running efficiently.
“Two of our full-time instructors, Charlie Fuller and Doug Martin, finished in the top 20 among Michigan’s troubleshooting technicians in the 2004 event,” Taylor said, “and Doug qualified for ‘The Final Five’ with Charlie as an alternate.”
“Tech Challenge 2005” is also supported by the program’s newly formed club for automotive-technology enrollees that organized last fall. In addition to the in-house competition, the student members travel to auto shows in Chicago and Detroit, and offer study groups that can better prime members for upcoming certification tests.
The May 6 winner will take home a set of tools donated by the competition’s corporate sponsors that include Auto Value, Snap-On tools, and Mac tools. Other sponsors include the Transmission Clinic.
The day’s events will also include an impromptu “car show” as students, faculty and staff showcase some of their “Mr./Mrs. Goodwrench” projects.
For more information, contact Taylor at (269) 488-4179 or .
Scholarship fete nets $12,000, and growing
With the dollars and pledges still coming in, the KVCC Foundation netted more than $12,000 for unrestricted scholarships at its first “Opportunities for Education” fund-raiser on April 14 that attracted 175 participants.
“This figure will keep moving up as donations continue roll in,” said Steve Doherty, the foundation’s executive director. “We have received one or two already and will have some matching gifts arriving at a later date.”
Doherty and members of the foundation’s board couldn’t be more pleased with the event and its response.
“The day after,” Doherty said, “I received a telephone call from one of our attendees. The person planned to contact his attorney later that morning to have his will changed. He is going to leave KVCC 10 percent of his estate. With that alone, we were successful.”
Early last week, another attendee forwarded a check for $1,000 “just because of what he heard and learned,” Doherty said. “Others in attendance submitted matching-gift forms from their place of employment, so we will benefit again. These are exactly the reasons we decided to stage such an event.”
For those members of the KVCC faculty and staff who took part, a hearty thank-you from the foundation’s directors and from the students who will benefit in the future.
For those who passed on the event, you missed a great dinner, a terrific cause, and a down-to-earth, relevant and entertaining presentation by Ken Hitchcock, coach of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League. But you’ll have the opportunity next spring to join in the fun and good feelings.
Publication schedule for The Digest
With the end of the winter semester, The Digest will begin its off-season. (No applause, please.)
Beginning in mid-May, it will no longer be published on a weekly basis each Monday.
The collegewide publication will return to a twice-a-month format from the second half of May, through June and July, and into gear-up time for the fall semester in August.
Send all relevant (and irrelevant, for that matter) information to Tom Thinnes or call him at extension 4280.
The Intranet version of The Digest will continue to be more archival in nature, with articles that have appeared in past editions retained at that site for a longer period of time.
The “news and information” postings on the KVCC website will be kept fresh and up to date regarding college events and activities that are open to the public.
Celebrating the sciences
The biological and “hard” sciences, with all of their mysteries and relevancies, will be illustrated by students and their instructors the week of April 25-29 in the Commons.
Through pamphlets, posters, projects and presentations, more than 500 enrollees will share what they have learned from such courses as cell biology for the health sciences, organismal biology, microbiology, applied microbiology, geology, geography, and human physiology.
According to instructor Cynthia Schauer, one of the event’s organizers, “many, but not all, the projects will be left in the Commons for browsing during the week.”
Here’s the schedule for when students will be manning their tables:
Cell Biology for the Health Sciences: Wednesday (April 27) from 9 to 10 a.m.
Organismal Biology: Tuesday (April 26) from 10 to 11 a.m. and 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Microbiology: Monday (April 25) from 6 to 7:15 p.m. and Thursday (April 28) from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Applied Microbiology: Tuesday (April 26) from 3 to 4:15 p.m.
Geology (Maps): Tuesday (April 26) and Thursday (April 28) from 10 to 11:40 a.m.
Geography: Tuesday (April 26) and Thursday (April 28) from 2 to 3:40 p.m.
Geology (Timelines): Monday (April 25) from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m., and Wednesday (April 27) from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m., and again from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.
Human Physiology: Wednesday (April 27) from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.; Thursday (April 28) from 9 to 10 a.m., from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., and again from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.; and Friday (April 29) from 9 to 10 a.m. and 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
A short course in fresh-water ecology
KVCC students who engaged in a two-month study of miniature fresh-water ecological systems will be demonstrating and discussing what they learned on Tuesday (April 26) as part of the “Salute to the Sciences” celebration reported above.
Gathering in the Commons in the “sunken area” dubbed “The Rain Forest,” the students will show the posters they crafted and talk about what they learned as fledgling ecologists who examined natural systems during an eight-week period.
According to Verne Mills, the instructor of the class in organismal biology, the students will be showing their stuff from 10 to 11 a.m. and again from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
13 no-charge events part of animation festival
Tomatoes, cucumbers and spinach make for a great salad, but they are also some of the ingredients for a weekend of free fun, thanks to the Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (KAFI).
Scheduled for downtown Kalamazoo May 13-15, the third KAFI has slated a full agenda of free events for families over the three days, including this trio all set for the State Theater:
● May 14 at 10 a.m.: “Saturday Morning Cartoons,” an old-fashioned, big-screen, two-hour anthology of some of the Popeye classics featuring the spinach-loving sailor, girlfriend Olive Oyl, arch-rival Brutus, little Swee’ Pea, and hamburger-eating J. Wellington Wimpy.
● May 15 at 2 p.m., a Sunday-afternoon “VeggieTales” sing-along as such characters as Larry the Cucumber, Bob the Tomato, and Laura the Carrot deliver moral, biblical and spiritual messages in animated parables.
● Helping to kick off the 2005 KAFI on May 13 will be a Friday-afternoon “School’s Out” showing of the best of the children-oriented animated features that were entered in this year’s festival competition. It will run from 3:45 to 5 p.m.
“The popcorn will be hot, the drinks will be cold, and the laughs will be plenty,” said David Baker, the festival’s director and an animation instructor at Kalamazoo Valley Community College that is sponsoring the three-day celebration of this art form.
The 2005 KAFI has attracted nearly 500 entrants in its categories of competition. Some $15,000 in prize money will again be awarded.
In the 2003 edition of KAFI, 330 student and professional animators from nine nations entered the juried festival. The entrants this May hail from 16 countries – Australia, the United Kingdom, Austria, Canada, Spain, China, South Korea, The Czech Republic, Singapore, Russia, Pakistan, Kenya, Italy, Germany, France and the United States.
One of the Canadian entries won an Oscar for best animated short film at the most recent Academy Awards in Hollywood.
In all, there will be 13 events that have no admission charge over the three days. Here are the rest of the free offerings, their times, dates and locations:
☻The “Winners Circle” -- the presentation ceremony of bronze, silver and gold medals along with chosen screenings that cap off the 2005 festival at 4 p.m. Sunday in the State Theater. In addition to announcing the winner of the “Cartoon Challenge,” this wrap-up program will showcase the 10 public-service spots created by teams (Over)
of college students that qualified for this national competition. The five-person teams gathered at the KVCC Center for New Media four days prior to the opening of the festival to begin generating their 30-second animated spot.
☻Those who want to stick around Sunday evening can attend “C’est La Vie,” a free two-hour showing of many of the winning entries that runs from 7 to 9 p.m. in the State.
☻Illustrator David Small of Mendon will review the sketches he made and the research he did to produce the children’s book, “So You Want To Be President,” and the film that takes a fun look at America’s pantheon of executive leaders – noon Sunday in the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s Mary Jane Stryker Theater.
☻A comprehensive history of animation worldwide in the 20th century in both video and lecture format that includes a review of techniques used by the giants of the American and international industry – 12:30 p.m. on Saturday in the museum’s Stryker Theater.
☻ The five-person teams in the “Cartoon Challenge” will talk about their experience of having to produce a 30-second animated feature within a short timeframe – 1 p.m. on Sunday in the Center for New Media. Scheduled to be shown in the center’s Arcus Gallery will be the videos submitted by college teams not chosen to take part in the competition.
☻Instructors Maxine Schacker and Tina Seemann of the Max the Mutt Animation School in Toronto will discuss the creative environment, the values, and the professional habits that go into having a successful training school and a successful career in animation – Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon in the Center for New Media.
☻ “Out of This World” is a showing of animated 3-D productions entered in the 2005 KAFI and designed to be used by Digistar II planetarium systems. There are 50 such Digistars in the world and one is based at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. This is set for 10 a.m. Saturday.
☻ A “Call-for-Entry Anthology” of all the 500 KAFI submissions, which range in length from two to four minutes, will be shown in the Center for New Media on Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
☻ The education category of competition attracted entries from the top animation schools in North America. Ten-minute examples of the creations of students from the top 10 institutions will be shown at 5 p.m. on Friday in the State Theater and repeated there again at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
☻A trade fair full of educational materials, software, videos and books dealing with all aspects of animation – 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday in the KVCC Center for New Media.
A three-day pass for the festival is $100. There is a discounted fee of $50 available for students. Day passes costs $40 and $20, respectively. Tickets for individual events are $10 and $5, respectively.
These festival passes and day tickets are needed to gain entry into the professional-development seminars, training sessions for students, a conference targeted for educators, and six specially produced screenings of the KAFI 2005 entrants and of the best animated features produced around the world.
Nutsandbolts information about all KAFI activities is available at this webpage -- -- or by calling the festival office at (269) 373-7883.
You won’t be afraid of Virginia Woolf after this
A member of the International Virginia Woolf Association will explore the British author’s influence on the arts, film, literature and the Feminist Movement on Thursday (April 28) in the Commons Forum.
Sharryl Norris, a part-time humanities and psychology instructor at KVCC, will discuss “The Continued Legacy of Virginia Woolf” at 1 p.m. Her presentation, part of the Phi Theta Kappa Popular Culture Series this academic year, is free and open to the public.
Woolf ranks as one of the most influential writers of the early 20th century as a spokeswoman for women's issues and modernism. The recent book and movie, "The Hours," deals with her personal life and associated challenges.
Norris has degrees in English, humanities and psychology from Western Michigan University and Colorado State University.
Lynne Morrison, co-adviser of KVCC’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter, reports that the college’s Alpha Rho Nu unit has been placed among the top 100 PTK operations in the United States for 2005. Joining KVCC in the top 100 are chapters at Montcalm Community College, Northwestern Michigan College, Oakland Community College, Schoolcraft College, and St. Clair County Community College.
For more information about the series and the KVCC chapter, contact Morrison at extension 4164.
KVCC instructor on May 3 ballot
Biology instructor Mary Anne Sydlik is one of the candidates running for a trio of four-year terms on the Kalamazoo Public Library Board of Trustees in the May 3 election.
A full-time instructor for two years, she has been teaching courses in human physiology and the fundamentals of biology.
Sydlik has a master's from Western Michigan University and a doctorate from Syracuse University, both in biology/ecology.
She dabbles in science writing, helping to “ghost write” a book about eating disorders and physical activity that is targeted for teens. She has also been involved in a book about the environment aimed at younger children.
During the 2003-04 academic year, Sydlik served as the editor of the publication, “Michigan Birds and Natural History.”