Ironwood Daily Globe from Ironwood, Michigan • Page 84

Innovation '96 Working together I Community College Gogebic: Fast-responding institution One of the strengths of a small community college is its ability to respond to community needs on short notice. Gogebic Community College did just that when Copper Range announced the closing of mining operations last fall. Responding to this need was a big challenge for GCC, particularily as it was in the process of searching for a new career counselor, a key figure in job retraining arid career and academic advising. However, the staff rallied to serve these new students, and meet their counseling and advising needs. College staff have commended the former Copper Range employees who are turning their unemployment challenges into oportunities and shaping hew futures.

Said Stephanie Murphy, the director of the college's Academic Choices and Enrichment Center, "These students have shown enthusiasm and a com- mittment to learning second to none." Last fall 91 Copper Range displaced workers applied for admission, were accepted, assessed, advised, and enrolled in programs. At the end of the semester, 45 of those students were on the dean's list, having achieved a 3.5 or better grade point average (about a or higher). Only six disenrolled, four of them due to job offers. According to Murphy, these fugures indicate that the assessing and advising process worked as they should have, and that the students were highly motivated. GCC requires all new students to particioate in its placement assessment.

This series of assessments in reading, writing, and mathematics helps determine which core classes students will be most successful in. The assessment indicates the skill level of each student so that those skills can be matched to the appropriate class level for each student. For some Copper Range employees, having been out of school for some time meant taking a skill building course. Others were invited to participate in the college's honors program. Student Services personnel spent many hours with Copper Range employees at the Copper Range Job Center and on campus, exploring program options and informing them of school procedures for new students.

Special assessment dates were set up, both on campus and at the Job Center, to accommodate the workers. Individualized advising was offered in White Pine to ease the transition into the academic world. Due to the restrictions and time line requirements established by the federal assistance guidelines, most Copper Range workers needed individualized advising sessions which meant fitting in skill building courses prior to taking college level courses, yet staying within the time frame allotted by the funding agencies. Students who began in January were challenged by beginning a program out of sequence, meaning in the middle of the first year rather that at the beginning. The college responded to this by determining the number of new Copper Range students enrolling in various programs and analyzing the greatest need.

Classes not normally offered in the spring semester and extra sections of several regularly offered classes were added to the schedule to accommodate these students. This required additional instructors and some creative room scheduling. Page 2) New college president shares insights on area Editor's note: Gogebic Community College President Dr. Donald J. Foster, who took over the top position at the college on Aug.

1, 1995, shares his "impressions of a newcomer" with us: I am pleased to be a resident of the region and proud to be serving as president of Gogebic Community Starting last February, I began to research the Gogebic Range by subscribing to The Daily Gogebic County Community Schools Winter Games competitors race in the pool at the David G. Lindquist Student Center on the campus of Gogebic Community College. The student center provides a valuable community health, physical education and social resources, as well as serving the students. Globe and consulting encyclopedia and the Rand McNally Atlas for information about the area. Since arriving at GCC on Aug.

1,1995,1 have been reading historical information about the region from sources available in the GCC Learning Resource Center and by traveling extensively throughout the western Upper Peninsula prior to the onset of severe winter weather and networking with area eco- agencies and''officials from other UP colleges and universities. Thus, I have learned a good deal about the rich heritage of the Gogebic successive occupations by Native Americans, French explorers, missionaries, fur traders, iron miners, copper miners, lumbermen and timber interests, railroaders, land speculators, farmers, shipping interests, sport fish- ermen and deer hunters, ski resorts and most mobilers. I also learned a good deal about the ethnic background of the people who came to the Gogebic Range and provided the labor and necessary skills to build the area. Dr. Donald Foster is the new president of Gogebic Community College.

He began his duties in 1995, and shares his insights on the community and the community college with our readers. Gerard Globe Gerard Globe DAILY.