Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
FRESH FROM serving ice cream to students, Dayle Jackson, director of student outreach and engagement, provides the board of GCC with options to address students and risk associated with food security Tuesday evening.
By IAN MINIELLY
Ironwood - The Gogebic Community College board meeting kicked off with a presentation by Dayle Jackson, director of student outreach and engagement. Jackson said while GCC has not had much of a need regarding food needs by students, nationwide there is a crisis of food security issues for students.
In an effort to provide a solution before the problem develops or comes to light, GCC joined the College and University Food Bank, so they can learn how to establish and run a food bank for at risk students. Jackson also pointed out how the school uses "National Food Holidays" to incorporate the student body with the campus staff and faculty. "As students get more engaged with faculty and staff, the better they do," said Jackson regarding food and student research.
The financial reports show a gain of nearly $450,000 in the schools fund balance since last year, showing the college is doing well financially. Jim Lorenson. President, expects further improvements to the schools bottom line as baseball and softball kick off for the 2018-19 school year, with more student-athletes using available dorm space.
The school hired Kathy Whitburn as their marketing manager to implement the social media and local campaign suggestions of their overall marketing strategists, Interact.
Ryon List, dean of instruction, described a course the school is in the beginning process of setting up that the board was excited for. List said they have been looking at standing up a drone program to certify students in the use of drones and that they were surprised the associated costs for this program will not be as high as many other programs they have set up in the past.
The board voted to accept the adjunct professors for the school year, which took a herculean effort to fill with the new more stringent requirements that instructors be degreed in the field they are teaching. This requirement forced GCC to let some long-time instructors go that had many years of good service to the school, because the changes coming from the top down.
With students still enrolling, as of Tuesdays meeting the school had 1,056 students enrolled, which is a 3.4 percent drop over last year. New students are still arriving through Friday, so the percentage will continue to drop as more students arrive on campus this week.
