NMC Weekly Update - March 3rd

NEWS FROM THE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE

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

Here are the highlighted articles for this week:

NMC’s New Strategic Plan Completed

NMC President Tony DeLeon Guerrero is very please to announce the completion of our new Strategic Plan. The following is a joint message from the President and BOR Chairperson on the importance of NMC’s Strategic Plan.

This new Strategic Plan for Northern Marianas College will help guide our institution’s direction for the next five years. The review of our constitutionally mandated mission, and the development of our new shared strategic vision, goals, and priority initiatives, involved many hours of consultative discussions and inclusive planning sessions with community stakeholders, Board of Regents members, College administrators, faculty, staff, and students. Having completed this extensive and collaborative strategic planning process, we are confident that we can transform NMC into an even more effective institution of higher education—one that is “Expanding Opportunities by Focusing on Learning” for our people and for the Commonwealth as a whole.

We know from experience that we can achieve our purposes only if we have a shared vision, a realistic plan, adequate resources, effective assessment, and an organization-wide commitment to excellence and to continuous improvement. We strongly believe that this Strategic Plan will help our community college accommodate the CNMI’s continuing growth, increasing cultural diversity, and evolving use of technology, all the while complying with new demands for educational accountability. The Plan incorporates the needs and expectations of both our external and internal constituents, and these are reflected in its strategic goals and initiatives. Collectively, these goals and initiatives are intended to guide the College in pursuing its future strategic direction as a learning institution, and in “Expanding Opportunities by Focusing on Learning” to benefit the long-term economic development of the CNMI and the Pacific-Asia region.

NMC’s Strategic Plan for 2006-2010 honors our distinctive community college heritage and, at the same time, embraces creativity and innovation, to enable the College to be a more student-focused and community-centered learning organization. Through strong collaborative partnerships with all our institutional stakeholders, we can advance NMC’s programs along an exciting path to local and regional prominence by providing our students with learning experiences of the highest possible quality.

Achieving institutional greatness will be an exciting journey, and the NMC community is excited about its future. We look forward to developing dynamic learning solutions for the 21st century, continuing to serve as the CNMI’s community resource center, and continuously improving the quality of our educational programs and overall institutional effectiveness.

Thank you yan un sen dangkulu na si Yu’us ma’ase for your interest and continued support of our higher education institution, Northern Marianas College – I Kulehon Norte Marianas!

Buenas yan saludu,

Tony DeLeon Guerrero/s/ Kim King-Hinds/s/

NMC President Invited to Okinawa Academic Summit

NMC President Tony DeLeon Guerrero and the regional CEO’s from the Pacific Postsecondary Education Council (PPEC) are invited by the University of the Ryukyus, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation to attend the “Okinawa-Pacific Islands Academic Summit.” The event will be held on March 10 & 11, 2006 and the theme will be “Sustainable Development of Islands – Education, Tourism, Environment and Economic Development.”

President DeLeon Guerrero will be making a presentation entitled “Promoting Higher Education Institutions As Community Resource Centers.” He will share how NMC is serving as the CNMI’s community resource center through its various educational programs and services as a comprehensive community college.

Since its early beginnings, the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa has enjoyed a strong relationship with the Pacific Islands with the Okinawa people having strong historical connections with the Micronesian region. In 2002, the university also established the “Center for Asia-Pacific Islands Study” to promote and strengthen academic ties and collaborative partnerships within our region.

“I am very grateful and appreciative to our Japanese educational partners for the invitation to participate in this Academic Summit and for their sponsorship and generosity to cover all the travel expenses to this regional event, “ Deleon Guerrero said.

The confirmed participants at the Summit will include all the regional presidents of postsecondary institutions from Guam, Palau, FSM, Republic of the Marshalls, Hawaii, American Samoa, and other South Pacific island nations.

NMC Day Observed for NMC TRIO Programs

In celebration of TRIO Day, our NMC TRIO Programs which include the Educational Talent Search, Upward Bound, and Student Support Services had a “Walk For Fun” activity for all participants, parents, and staff at Minatchom Atdao on February 24, 2006 from 4pm to 6pm. TRIO staff members, participants, and parents had a wonderful time walking along the beach road pathway and later had a scrumptious dinner prepared by local caterers on the island.

TRIO Day is set aside to remind our local community that these valuable programs are available to assist students in the CNMI on the islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota. Educational Talent Search (ETS) serves students age 12-27 years. ETS program identifies and assists individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds who have the potential to succeed in higher education. The program provides academic, career, and financial counseling to its participants and encourages them to graduate from high school and continue on to the postsecondary institution of their choice.

The Upward Bound Program (UBP) serves public high school students age 13-19 years. UBP provides fundamental support to low income and/or first generation participants in their preparation for college entrance. The program provides opportunities for participants to succeed in pre-college performance and ultimately in higher education pursuits. UBP provides tutoring, counseling, academic classes, mentoring, cultural exploration, educational fieldtrips, career exploration, workshops and seminars in college survival skills. The goal of Upward Bound is to increase the rates at which participants enroll in and graduate from institutions of postsecondary education.

Student Support Services (SSS) serves a myriad of support programs to ensure college students succeed in their educational endeavors. The goal of SSS is to increase the retention of college students and graduation rates, facilitate their transfer from two year to four year colleges, and foster institutional climate supportive of the success of low income and first generation college students and students with disabilities. SSS provides academic/career counseling, individualized tutoring, assistance in applying for financial aid, workshops on study skills, and college transfer information.

For more information on our NMC TRIO Programs, please contact the Educational Talent Search at 234-5498, ext. 2100, Upward Bound Program at 234-9571 or 234-5498, ext. 1344, or Student Support Services at 234-5498, ext. 1275.

NMC’s 25th Anniversary Commemoration Event Set for March 23rd

The College will be sponsoring a special event on March 23rd to commemorate the signing of the Executive Order No. 25 by Governor Carlos S. Camacho back on March 12, 1981, and is the legal basis for the establishment of the Northern Marianas College as the Commonwealth’s first postsecondary institution. This event will include an array of speakers who have contributed to the successes and accomplishments of our institution. The planned speakers will include representatives from the following organizations: U.S. Department of Interior, Western Association of Schools & Colleges, NMC Board of Regents, former NMC Presidents, current NMC Student Body Representative, the NMC Foundation, and Governor Benigno Fitial who will be issuing a proclamation acknowledging NMC’s contribution in its 25 years of existence as the CNMI’s only public postsecondary institution. The venue of this function has been confirmed and will be held on the 23rd of March from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at the Fiesta Resort & Spa Hotel in Garapan.

Our entire NMC community members are invited and encouraged to support this event, in recognition of our Silver Anniversary. For more information on NMC’s 25th Anniversary Commemoration event, please contact Martin Gerbens, Herbert Rosario, Mark Mendiola or Greg Sablan.

Meet NMC’s New Nursing Department Chair

Lynne Curtis received her BSN from a now defunct college in Cleveland and to her surprise passed her boards so she headed off to the U. S. Navy Nurse Corps as she owed them a lot of money and time. She spent 4 years in such romantic places as San Diego, Adak, Alaska and Oakland. Her Naval career ended when she met her husband to be although, ultimately, she should have made a career of it. She ran away from him at one point and served a year in Brazil on the U. S. S. HOPE but that Marine followed her there so she finally relented and married him, honeymooning in Rio de Janeiro and gaining a wonderful Brazilian family there she still adores. The happy couple spent 18 years together and had the most fabulous daughter on the planet and resides in northern California. Mom misses her a lot!

In her checkered past there are also stints as a head nurse of a Dialysis Unit, Inservice Instructor in several hospitals, Administrator of a nursing agency for several years and of course teaching nursing at a community college in Albuquerque, New Mexico where the Marine took her for 25 years, hiding her from family and friends so he could have her all to himself. She fit in a Masters’ degree there in Education while the baby was sleeping and even became a Spiritual Practitioner in the Science of Mind church. To keep things exciting, she became a workshop presenter and assisted with teaching Tony Robbins seminars for three years. She still teaches people how to break boards to empower themselves and occasionally will break one over someone’s head if she thinks it will help them to learn. Just before she came to the island last August, she had been a travel nurse for 4.5 years in northern California from Santa Rosa to Crescent City. For fun she walks on fire or will do a ropes course if she thinks she is getting stuck in a rut but she’s slowing down now and hasn’t done a new physical challenge for about six years. Oh, there was that fall off a bike in Brazilia last March, but do you think that counts?

Have a Safe and Wonderful Weekend!