NMC Weekly Update - February 17th

NEWS FROM THE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE




Hafa Adai, Tirow, and Greetings from Northern Marianas College!

Here are the highlighted issues for this week:

NMC’s Re-Submission of FY2006 Budget

The following letter was sent by NMC President Tony DeLeon Guerrero to Governor Benigno Fitial, Lt. Governor Timothy Villagomez, Senate President Joseph Mendiola, and House Speaker Oscar Babauta. The letter stated the following:

This letter pertains to the new administration’s request that all CNMI government agencies re-submit their FY 2006 budget with a planned 20% to 48% reduction in expenditures. Imposing such a drastic budget reduction on Northern Marianas College will cause major negative repercussions on our educational programs, services, students, employee morale, and accreditation. In considering the ramifications of such a reduction, we ask that the administration and members of the 15th CNMI Legislature also be mindful of NMC’s problems in meeting its required mandate at funding levels authorized under Continuing Resolution over the past two fiscal years. In each of those two fiscal years, we had no choice but to request additional funds toward the end of those periods. In FY 2004, a supplemental budget of $438,000 was approved, and in FY 2005, an additional $518,000 was also authorized to address the personnel costs for our nursing program and for offering summer classes.

The current year, 2006, is a very critical year for our postsecondary institution since we are currently completing an institutional self study in preparation for the comprehensive site visit by WASC in October 2006. Maintaining financial stability and acquiring the needed fiscal resources are critically important for NMC to effectively support student learning and to meet our broad educational purposes. It is also important to note that one of the main reasons for our recent accreditations problems, which led to NMC’s being placed on warning status by WASC, was due to the accrediting commission’s concerns about the institution having sufficient funding to support its instructional programs. Fortunately, with the strong support of our CNMI Legislature, we were able to overcome these problems, and are no longer on warning status.

As collaborative partners who are committed to improving the quality of life for our people and the long-term sustainable development of our islands, we plead that you support the budgetary needs of Northern Marianas College so that it can effectively meet its constitutionally-mandated mission and continue to be a valuable community resource center for the CNMI.

We humbly request, therefore, that you support NMC’s FY 2006 budget request to remain at the Continuing Resolution level of $8,046,839. Un sen dangkulu na si Yu’us ma’ase para todus I ayudun miyo!

SSS Staff Participated in Budget Management Workshop

Clarice Deleon Guerrero, Administrative Assistant to the Student Support Services Program attended a three day Budget Management Workshop in Honolulu, Hawaii from January 29th-31st. Clarice joined with over one hundred other TRIO personnel from the region and the U.S. Mainland in the workshop that was conducted by Western Kentucky University. While the objectives of the workshop involved budget management and program regulations, participants also gained knowledge of other various important aspects of running a Student Support Services Program. Workshop participants also took part in other mini workshops such as Allowable and Non Allowable costs, Developing Mission Statements, Record keeping, Program Evaluation, Reporting Project Performance, Preparing for Site Visits & Audits, and Developing and Establishing Strategies and Techniques for Collection Storage/Retrieval of Participant Data. This being the first workshop Ms. Deleon Guerrero attended in the fifty states, she found the information educational and quite helpful in her day-to-day work. Moreover, Clarice indicated that the information she gained from her meetings and conversations with other workshop participants was generally beneficial to her. Sharing of information from the various regions and states assured Clarice that our SSS program at NMC is on the right tract. She is very appreciative for the learning opportunity and looks forward to implementing the new knowledge and skills she learned from the Budget Management Workshop.

Recruitment of High School Students

ASNMC, in conjunction with our Counseling Department and the Office of Student Activities, is coordinating the recruitment of High School students this year. A meeting was held on Wednesday February 15th in the Counseling Office. The following agenda items were discussed:

1. Dates for visits by public and private schools were arranged. Sue and Kathy from
   Counseling will make the necessary school contacts by tomorrow.
2. Decision made on food to be provided. Student Activities to cover this task.
3. Decision made to have a “treasure hunt” as a fun means of providing campus tours.
   Treasure hunt tours to be coordinated by Student Activities
4. ASNMC to arrange for the selection and notification of speakers.
5. Urgency of planning discussed.
6. Follow-up meeting set for 10:30A.M. on Tuesday February 21st in the Counseling Office.

Tentative school visits include:
March 3rd Kagman 8:30am – 12:00noon (confirmed)
March 10th Southern 8:30am – 12:00noon (confirmed)
March 17th MHS 8:30am – 12:00noon ( inprogress)
March 24th private schools 8:30 – 12:00noon (confirmed)

NMC’s New School of Education Director

Michael Reber is a native of St. Louis, Missouri and a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University. He received his Bachelor of Science in Economics in 1991 and his Master of Arts in English with an Emphasis in TESOL in 1994. He later studied via distance and on-site learning under the Tsunesaburo Makiguchi scholar, Dr. Dayle M. Bethel, at The International University (TIU) Asia-Pacific Centers in Kyoto and Honolulu in 1996. While at TIU he attended the Harvard Graduate School of Education Project Zero Summer Classroom and earned a professional development teacher certificate in 2001. Soon after Harvard he graduated from TIU with a Doctorate in Education and Institutional Transformation in 2003.

After completing his MA at Southeast Missouri State University, Dr. Reber was employed for three years as an Assistant English Teacher (AET) on the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program and assigned to St. Louis’s friendship city, Matto City in Ishikawa Prefecture. As an AET he visited junior high schools, assisted with sister city exchanges, and led several teacher training workshops that included the publication of an English teaching handbook. In 1997 he was appointed as an Assistant Professor of English at Kanazawa Institute of Technology (KIT) and served at the Institute until 2003. While at KIT he assisted in the development of an on-line English language learning portfolio system with Professor Kaname Kobayashi of Fujitsu Corporation. Their research was presented to colleagues at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) in 1999. His other research at KIT included the development of a conceptual framework for Community Learning Centers (CLCs) and this has been presented internationally, such as at the Center for Theoretical Studies in Prague, Czech Republic. This research was published in his book (2003), An Alternative Framework for Community Learning Centers. Because of his interest in CLCs, Dr. Reber returned to St. Louis in 2003 to work with Dr. Susan Hornshaw at St. Louis Community College on the transformation of the College’s writing and mathematics tutoring center. In addition to his work at St. Louis Community College, Dr. Reber taught adjunct at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Missouri at St. Louis. He later returned to Japan in 2005 to do consulting work for an English language academy in Hiroshima Prefecture before coming to Northern Marianas College.

As the newly appointed Director of the School of Education, Dr. Reber aspires to lead the School in developing its program to better reflect current research in education from institutions such as Harvard Graduate School of Education. For example, the School, as well as the College as a whole, needs to adopt a new conceptual framework in which curricula is developed, such as the Harvard Project Zero Teaching for Understanding Framework. Furthermore, he hopes that he can assist the Board of Education and Public School System (PSS) with adopting and implementing the ideas, methods, and applications in which the SOE is rooted. Some of the good work that is already in progress at the SOE includes curriculum mapping, on-line learning with Tinian and Rota, and professional development with PSS.

NMC’s New Social Science Instructor

Robert Churney is originally from southern California and has spent 22 years as an educator in the Pacific. He has an M.A. in International Studies with an Asia-Pacific emphasis from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and a B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He first came to the Pacific as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Fiji where he worked as a vocational teacher for the Ministry of Social Welfare. He then worked as an institutional researcher and social science instructor at the American Samoa Community College. Next he taught social sciences at the Palau Community College before moving on to the College of Micronesia-FSM in Pohnpei. His position at the College of Micronesia-FSM was as Social Science Department Chair for 5 years and was extensively involved in student learning outcome-based assessment.

Robert is married, his wife Arieta is a Fijian and also an educator, and they have two sons Robert Jr. and Jonathan who are college students. His academic interests are the history of science and the biologically correct social and behavioral sciences.

Japanese Baseball Players Study English with CDI

One hundred baseball players from Japan’s Josai Daigaku University and Josai International University arrived on Saipan on Sunday; they will be training here for two weeks. Forty-five of the players, all members of the Josai International University Baseball Club, managed by Mr. Katsumi Harada, are studying Conversational English with Community Development Institute.

The team has arranged to hold classes every morning from February 13 to February 25 at Saipan Grand Hotel. The classes, taught by Phil Plaza and Melody Actouka, have been very successful. This is the first time the students have been taught English by native English speaking instructors. The players welcome the class each morning as a fun addition to their full daily schedules.

For their Saturday classes, the students will enjoy activity-based sessions taught by Amy Bohman and Richard Puhalla as well as some time to interact with our local college students.

For more information on this program or other English Language Development Programs, contact CDI at extensions 1005, 1030, or 1014.