The Digest
What’s Happening at KVCC
What’s below in this edition
In the news (Pages 1/2)Internships (Pages 11/12)
Abe’s 200th (Pages 2-4) Better teaching (Pages 12/13)
GENOME coming (Pages 4-6) Sci-fi (Page 13)
Calls galore (Pages 6/7)On TV (Pages 13/14)
Welcomers needed (Page 7)Slim and trim (Page 14)
Circle Aug. 28 (Page 7)Legendary games (Pages 14/15)
Cougar Connection (Pages 7/8)The Living Planet (Pages 15-17)
Turbine class (Pages 8/9)Gold for Bernard (Page 17)
Nats at the Zoo (Page 9)Paper chase (Pages 18/19)
New endeavors (Pages 9/10)Boyer’s book (Page 19)
Animated web sites (Pages 10/11)And Finally (Pages 19/20)
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KVCC earns award for innovation, USA Today coverage
KVCC’s foray into the arena of alternative-energy production via its Wind Energy Center based at the M-TEC was among the eight cited from a field of 38 statewide finalists for Michigan Business Review magazine’s annual Innovation Michigan awards for 2009.
Innovation Michigan winners were announced during the exposition and awards event schedule July 16 at Grand Valley State University's Pew Campus in Grand Rapids.
As reported by the magazine, KVCC “is leading the way for wind-energy research and education in Michigan” as illustrated by its M-TEC becoming the national training headquarters for Entegrity Wind Systems Inc., a leading manufacturer of wind turbines that erected a 145-foot, 50-kilowatt unit on the Texas Township Campus.
Stated Jim DeHaven, vice president for economic and business development: “The Wind Energy Center improves the image of KVCC in the state and nation. It also helps improve Kalamazoo’s reputation with manufacturers.”
He also told the magazine that in October, KVCC will become the first school in the nation to host a 26-week academy to train wind-turbine technicians in the installation, maintenance and repair of the giant turbines that are clustered on wind farm.
To produce the next generation of wind-energy technicians, KVCC has also established a one-year certificate program. It will begin with the fall semester.
So how innovative is the initiative? Enough to merit coverage in the Aug. 3 edition of USA Today.
In an article headlined “College students are flocking to sustainability degrees, careers,” staff writer Jillian Berman reported that “a growing number of schools, including community colleges, are training students to operate green technology.” She mentioned the new academy as an example.
In stating that wind farms are “scrambling” for trained technicians, DeHaven was quoted as saying: “They (trained technicians) can really write their own future at this point because they are needed at all the wind farms. They (wind farms) don’t want us to wait and put people through a two-year program or a one-year certificate. They want a fast track to employment.”
Example No. 2 came via a telephone call to the Wind Energy Center telephone number.
“The guy had read about the academy on the Internet,” DeHaven said. “He had a rough accent and some detailed questions so the call was passed onto Tom Sutton . Turns out he is a Russian calling from a fish-processing ship on a satellite cell phone on the Bering Sea on his way back to Russia. He is very interested and plans to apply, probably for our second academy. Has 20 years on the sea with lots of mechanical and electrical experiences.”
Lincoln-Douglas debates coming to Kalamazoo
Recreated highlights and key moments of the famed Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 are part of a five-day local celebration of the 200th birthday of the 16th president of the United States.
A condensed version of the seven debates between the two Illinois candidates for U. S. Senate is set for 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 22, in Bronson Park where Lincoln spoke in 1856 in his only visit to Michigan.
The debate moderator will be State Sen. Tom George (R-Texas Township), a Lincoln historian and documentarian.
Co-sponsored by the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, other events include a recreation of Lincoln’s Kalamazoo speech at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday (Aug. 19) in the Portage Public Library and the anniversary’s opener – a discussion of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” on Saturday (Aug. 15) at 2 p.m. in the Kalamazoo Public Library.
The library will also be the site of “Meet Mary Todd Lincoln” on Monday (Aug. 17) at 7 p.m. as re-enactor Sally Redinger talks about her life in the White House as the president’s wife and mother of his sons. All of the activities are free and open to the public.
On Friday (Aug. 21) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the museum, the U. S. Postal Service will be selling the new Lincoln stamp with a Kalamazoo cancellation. Local students designed special cachet envelopes for the anniversary and they will be on display.
The Saturday (Aug. 22) agenda beginning at 9 a.m. will include displays of Lincoln memorabilia in the museum and library, a continuation of the stamp sale, and rendition’s of Lincoln’s favorite music by the Dodworth Saxhorn Band. The Civil War Roundtable Color Guard will present the colors at 11 a.m.
At noon, those in attendance will be able to talk with the portrayers of Lincoln (Fred Priebe), Douglas (Len Steinberg) and Mrs. Lincoln Each youngster who chats with “Lincoln” will be given a1900 mint date Lincoln penny.
The debaters, the color guard and the band will march to Bronson Park at 1 p.m. for Sen. George’s introduction with visitors allowed to join the caravan. Slated for 3 p.m. will be post-debate question-and-answer session and discussion. The winner of the envelop-design contest will also be announced.
The debate recreation will feature the actual language employed 151 years ago. Each “candidate” will have time for opening remarks, rebuttal and questions from the audience. A caveat is that the language of the debates contains some content and attitudes that might be offensive to a 2009 listener.
The debates previewed the issues that Lincoln would face in the 1860 presidential election. The main issue in all seven debates from August through October was slavery.
Three drew especially large numbers of people from neighboring states as slavery was of monumental importance to citizens across the nation.
Newspaper coverage was intense. Major papers from Chicago sent stenographers to create complete texts of each debate, which newspapers across the United States reprinted in full, with some partisan edits.
Newspapers that supported Douglas as the incumbent Democrat edited his speeches to remove any errors made by the stenographers and to correct grammatical errors, while they left Lincoln's speeches in the rough form in which they had been transcribed. In the same way, Republican papers edited Lincoln's speeches, but left the Douglas texts as reported. Thus, if you read both versions, the truth can be found.
Lincoln lost to Douglas, but the widespread coverage catapulted him into the national limelight and his nomination for president by the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago.
The format for each debate was: one candidate spoke for 60 minutes, then the other candidate spoke for 90 minutes, and then the first candidate was allowed a 30-minute "rejoinder." The candidates alternated speaking first. As the incumbent, Douglas spoke first in four of the debates.
In his award-winning documentary “Lincoln in Kalamazoo,” George, a Kalamazoo anesthesiologist, explained how Lincoln, who failed to win the nomination for vice president at the Republican Party's first convention in Philadelphia earlier that year, was invited here to stump for explorer/scout John Fremont, the party's initial candidate for president.
George's research also detailed how Lincoln was one of the lesser political lights invited to speak at the massive rally and the reactions of those who listened to him speak that day. Four years later, he would be elected president of the United States and a main reason why southern states seceded starting the Civil War.
In his speech, Lincoln hammered home the anti-slavery stand of the recently formed political organization and urged the election of Fremont. “The question of slavery at present day,” said the one-term congressman, “should be not only the greatest question, but very nearly the sole question.” He referred to America’s quandary over the spread of slavery into the new territories as “the naked question.”
“Shall the United States prohibit slavery in the United States?” is the essence of the true question,” Lincoln asked.
Fremont’s party, if successful in its campaign for the White House, would be charged to restrict slavery’s expansion into the new territories, the former rail-splitter said. It was believed by Republicans, according to Lincoln, that James Buchanan, the Democratic Party’s candidate, would allow the extension of human bondage into the new territories.
Buchanan’s policy on slavery was compared by Lincoln to Great Britain’s hands-off approach, thus allowing individuals to practice slavery in its New World colonies.
The former store clerk also characterized the stance of Millard Fillmore, the American Party’s candidate, as that of a “fence sitter,” one who attempts to appease both sides of the contentious issue. Fillmore, as a Whig vice president, was elevated to the presidency when Zachary Taylor died in office in July of 1850.
“Well,” Lincoln said, “it brings him (Fillmore) into this position. He tries to get both sides, one by denouncing those who opened the door (to slavery) and other by hinting that he doesn’t care a fig for its being open.”
The one-time county surveyor in his adopted home state of Illinois believed Fillmore had no prospects of receiving a single vote on either side of the Mason-Dixon Line because of that wishy-washy stance. When it comes to slavery, Lincoln said, “there could be no middle way.
“You who hate slavery and love freedom,” asked Lincoln, “why not vote for Fremont” because Fillmore and Buchanan basically occupy “the same ground.”
Douglas took a few stinging salvos from Lincoln in the Kalamazoo speech for recommending the question of slavery in Kansas go before the U. S. Supreme Court.
“Douglas is a great man,” he said, pausing for effect, “at keeping from answering questions he doesn’t want to answer.” Douglas had been a frequent visitor to Kalamazoo in those years. It was still two years before his famous debates with Douglas.
‘GENOME’ explores the stuff we are made of
What the naked eye can’t see is proving that all the humans who can be seen are 99 and 44/100ths percent the same, whether they are as white as Ivory Snow or dark as molasses.
And, because of an extra inventory of these units - called genes - humans are different - but not all that different -- from other warm-blooded species of all shapes and sizes that occupy planet Earth.
Southwest Michigan residents will be able to see all of this for themselves when the nationally touring “GENOME: The Secret of How Life Works” opens on Sept. 26 at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum and begins a stay through Jan. 10. Admission is free.
Two of the annual attractions at the downtown-Kalamazoo museum - Chemistry Day on Oct. 17 and Safe Halloween on Oct. 31 - are being themed to complement the intent of the exhibit. Those also are free.
“Genome” is made possible by Pfizer Inc and was produced by Evergreen Exhibitions in collaboration with the National Human Research Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, and the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research.
“Genome” explores how genes affect growth and aging, maps what might be in store for humanity, and offers a look at what your future children might look like.
All this became humanly possible once scientists mapped the human genome - a person’s entire set of genes.
The exhibition, which debuted at the Smithsonian in 2003, investigates the mysteries of the human gene, why the genome is being mapped, and the potential benefits of gene research, such as:
* Preventing and curing diseases
* Living longer
* Solving crimes
Producing better food and drugs
The exhibit looks at the 200-year history of this science and the individuals who shaped it - from Gregor Mendel, the 19th-century monk who discovered the rules of inheritance by cultivating peas in a monastery garden, to Jim Watson and Francis Crick, who in the early 1950s unearthed the form and process of genetic replication, the famous DNA double helix. This Harvard University breakthrough is regarded as the most important biological discovery of the 20th century.
“The understanding of the human genome opens up an entirely new frontier for health-science research,” said Dr. Tom Turi, a genomic scientist with Pfizer Inc, “and it is anticipated that it will lead to new therapies and cures for devastating diseases. However, many people are unaware of the genome or its potential to enhance our lives.”
“Genome” uses interactive displays and family-friendly activities to help visitors understand the genome’s function and its role in daily life.
These include:
•An 8-by-25-foot display of DNA’s double helix structure that is enhanced by a video.
•The opportunity in the Discovery Theater to meet scientists who were instrumental in the discoveries leading up to the sequencing of the human genome. Another “show” discusses the genetic issues of the future.
•A working slot machine that demonstrates the odds that children will inherit genes for certain characteristics.
•Using the metaphor of a “Cookie Factory,” DNA, genes and proteins as the ingredients and recipes for “making” human beings can be understood.
•Gaining access to a cell to discover the workings of its parts and processes.
•Computer simulations to design new gene therapies, replacing disease-causing proteins with healthy new human genes.
Visitors will enter the exhibit through a circular corridor, encountering graphic and mirror images of themselves in the initial stages of life and as a mature human, reflecting who they were and who they are today.
Emanating from a mirror at the end of the tunnel is a swirling ribbon of genetic code, representing the genes that hold the secrets to where they came from, who they are and who they may become.
The exhibit’s “The Secret of Life” section explains what a gene, DNA, protein and cell are, and how genes are involved in reproduction, growth and the maintenance of life.
The role of this revolutionary branch of science and what it holds for the future comes alive by people with genetic conditions telling their stories. How DNA testing is solving some of history’s mysteries and helping to identify people who committed crimes with almost 100-percent certainty are also exhibit attractions.
“Genome” will be the second medical-science related exhibition brought to Kalamazoo under the auspices of Pfizer. “BRAIN: The World Inside Your Head” spent the fall and early winter of 2006 at the Museum.
Think about this the next time you peel a banana - that white fruit behind the yellow skin has 50 percent of the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) that you do.
Our phones were really, really busy last week
Six thousand three hundred and thirty-five!
That’s the number of calls that were made to prospective students by volunteers who stepped forward to take part in KVCC's annual campaign to contact enrolled students who have not yet paid for fall-semester classes.
Calloused fingertips were the result of the 73 folks who touched their telephones from Monday, Aug. 3, through the Aug. 10 deadline to pay tuition.
In the 2008 fall campaign, 6,117 calls were made by a larger number of volunteers, which is why a lot of KVCC folks were walking around with sore fingers and earaches this last week. Too few carried too much of a load. One five-person unit made 26 percent of the calls.
Those with rested digits and ear drums can make amends in December when the college repeats the process for the winter semester.
The calling is a chance to help prospective students not lose their classes, and to help the college maintain a healthy, vital, ever-growing enrollment.
Those who make the calls report that students, their parents, and friends deeply appreciate the gentle reminder, and the college's caring environment.
And it works, with about 80 percent resulting in students making their payments prior to batch cancellation.
Among those who made the calls are:
M-TEC: Patricia Wallace, Lisa Peet, Brenda Moncrief and Lauren Beresford.
Anna Whitten Hall: Sheila White, Barbara VanZandt, Chasity Hayden, Patricia Pallett, and Jackie Cantrell.
Texas Township Campus: Ruth Baker, Mary Johnson, Denise Lindsley, Bonnie Bowden, Gloria Norris, Lisa Gruber, Candy Horton, Terry Hutchins, Joyce Zweedyk, Janet Alm, Jennie Huff, Nancy Young, Teresa Fornoff, Marylan Hightree, Gail Fredericks, Angie Case, and Laurie Dykstra;