Lake Superior College News Releases

(Duluth, Minn., Dec. 12, 2008) — Lake Superior College will participate in a new national college mentoring program to develop effective intervention strategies for improving student achievement in postsecondary education. LSC is one of only 18 community colleges selected across the country to participate in the program.

LSC faculty, staff and administrators will participate in an intensive and collaborative learning experience with peers in order to share knowledge and experiences and receive technical assistance and expert advice.

The college mentoring program is a central component of Community Colleges CAN, www.communitycollegescan.org (http://communitycollegescan.org/), an initiative funded through June 2009 by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education. The initiative, which is administered by JBL Associates, Inc., is designed to strengthen the capacity of community colleges to meet students’ academic needs and support their success in college and the workforce.

Teams of faculty, staff, and administrators will work collaboratively in six mentoring communities — each with one mentor college, two mentee colleges, and a facilitator with extensive professional experience in the two-year college community. Mentee colleges were selected through a national competition and matched with a mentor college experienced in the implementation of an effective initiative similar to that which the mentee would like to develop.

Lake Superior College was chosen to participate in the program to further develop its academic and student support in developmental education.  The college received a $14,000 grant.  LSC will be mentored by Parkland Community College in Champaign, Illinois along with Macomb Community College of Warren, Michigan.

“We are excited to have the chance to work with other college practitioners,” said Candace Barnack, LSC vice president of academic affairs. “Being part of the mentoring community will help us as we develop practical ways to address retention issues on our campus.”

Each mentoring community focuses on a program area that is important to all community colleges and centers on an initiative already successfully implemented at a mentor college. The mentoring communities are: Academic and Student Support Centers, Career Pathways, Developmental Education Learning Communities, Innovations in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), P–20 Educational Partnerships, and Teaching and Learning Centers. For a full list of the mentoring communities and participating colleges as well as descriptions of the colleges’ initiatives, visit www.communitycollegescan.org/about/factsheet.cfm.

Through the program’s fast-track collaborative learning experience, the mentoring communities will develop practical strategies that mentee colleges can use to advance their own initiatives. They will focus on critical issues or challenges commonly faced by community colleges, such as program planning and design, building community partnerships, staff training and professional development, evaluation and assessment, data collection, and funding strategies.

Six issue briefs, each focusing on one of these critical challenges, will be developed in the first half of 2009 to support the learning of the mentoring communities and to share practical strategies within the two-year college community.

“The college mentoring program will allow participants to benefit from expertise to which they might not otherwise have access,” said William Munn, program coordinator and research associate, JBL Associates, Inc. “In recent years, many community colleges have developed innovative interventions for improving student access to, preparation for, and persistence in postsecondary education. Peer mentoring can serve as an effective method to share knowledge and inspire development of successful implementation strategies.”

Community Colleges CAN, www.communitycollegescan.org, is a two-year initiative aimed at strengthening the efforts of community colleges to improve student achievement and to help students address the challenges they face in entering and succeeding in college. The initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education, encourages the exchange of ideas and knowledge among college practitioners through the support of collaborative mentoring communities; showcases practices that offer promise for improving academic preparation, participation, and success of students; and disseminates useful and timely information about community college programs and practices to the higher education community.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. With more than 4,200 students enrolled this fall semester, LSC is northeastern Minnesota’s largest two-year college. LSC provides a wide range of programs and services, including liberal arts and science courses for transfer, technical programs intended to provide occupational skills, continuing education, and customized training for business and industry. LSC is also a leader in Internet-delivered courses and programs in Minnesota.

A major state grant will help a Minnesota construction firm apply “Lean” principles to the construction industry.

(Duluth, Minn.) — Lake Superior College (LSC) and The Jamar Company received a $162,000 Minnesota Job Skills Partnership (MJSP) grant to create a Lean construction training program for The Jamar Company’s workforce.

“The goal of this project is to train a cross-functional team of employees, ” said Steve Wagner, LSC’s Vice President of Workforce and Community Development.  “Applying Lean concepts to the construction industry are a unique approach to continuous quality improvement that has not yet been tried in that industry.”

Based on Toyota’s production system for continuous process improvement, Lean principles are being deployed in a variety of settings as a means to increase efficiency, enhance quality and improve employee satisfaction at Jamar.

“The construction industry continues to be challenged by high cost of materials, supplies and transportation as well as a shortage of skilled labor,” explained Mike McParlan, Jamar Company President.  “For The Jamar Company to remain competitive, our employees will have to find ways to perform their jobs with more efficiency and less waste.  The Lean construction training developed through this project will give the Company and the employees a process for meeting these industry challenges.”

All of the training will take place at Jamar’s corporate office in Duluth, Minn.  Jamar also has offices in Wisconsin and Michigan.  Cindy Luoma, Executive Assistant to McParlan, will act as project coordinator for the grant over the course of the next two years.  A minimum of 75 employees in several locations and departments throughout Minnesota will be trained on Lean concepts.

The project will get underway with a special grant signing ceremony at 2 p.m. on Friday, Dec 19.  Paul Moe, Executive Director of the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership; Mike McParlan, President of The Jamar Company; and Steve Wagner, Vice President of Workforce and Community Development, will participate in the signing. Members of the press are invited to attend the event, which will take place at The Jamar Company Training Center at 4701 Mike Colalillo Drive, Duluth.

The Minnesota Job Skills Partnership acts as a catalyst between business and education in developing cooperative training projects that provides new job training or retraining of existing employees. MJSP grants are given to educational institutions with businesses as partners. The program is part of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), the state’s principal economic development agency.

The Jamar Company has been a leader in the mechanical, industrial and architectural construction fields since it was established in 1913. Today, the company achieves healthy annual revenue by providing exceptional quality through their solid base of knowledge, project execution, and company-wide value system that promotes excellence in each area of specialization.  The company employs an average of 363 workers a year in Minnesota.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. With more than 4,200 students enrolled this fall semester, LSC is northeastern Minnesota’s largest two-year college. LSC provides a wide range of programs and services, including liberal arts and science courses for transfer, technical programs intended to provide occupational skills, continuing education, and customized training for business and industry. LSC is also a leader in Internet-delivered courses and programs in Minnesota.

The public is invited to attend Lake Superior College’s holiday choir concert on Thursday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m.  Admission is free. Held in the Atrium, the program will feature music from around the world; notably African, Jewish, Catalonian and Spanish music, as well as traditional to modern holiday songs and carols.  An audience sing-along of familiar carols with the Lake Superior College String Ensemble will be featured.  Directed by Carolyn Rynex, the concert will also feature soloists Kathy Neff on flute and Frank Garcia on clarinet.

(Duluth, Minn.) – Pottery wheels will spin for nearly thirty hours straight for a good cause at Lake Superior College on Dec. 5 and 6.  The annual Throw-a-thon will start at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 5 through Sat., Dec. 6 at 3 p.m. in the college’s Fine Arts building to make bowls for the “Empty Bowl” fundraiser to be held next spring.

The proceeds from “Empty Bowl” support the Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank, which assists in feeding nearly 42,000 hungry families throughout Northeastern Minnesota and Northwestern Wisconsin.

• Dec 5-6, 2008, approximately 30 hours of bowl-throwing starts Friday at 10:00 a.m. through 3:00 p.m. on Saturday
• Glass-blowing demonstrations on Friday 10:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.by artist Jes Durfee
• A barbeque and pottery throwing games with prizes sponsored by Student Life and the LSC Art Club from: 5:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. on Friday.

Organizers plan to make hundreds of bowls to be donated to the “Empty Bowl.”  Area potters and anyone willing to throw a bowl, bring pizzas, or sweep up and/or do heavy lifting are welcome.  Wear grubby clothes. If you are interested, contact LSC faculty member Tonya Borgeson, (218) 310-8903 or t.borgeson@lsc.edu.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.  With more than 4,200 students enrolled this fall semester, LSC is northeastern Minnesota’s largest two-year college.  LSC provides a wide range of programs and services, including liberal arts and science courses for transfer, technical programs intended to provide occupational skills, continuing education, and customized training for business and industry.  LSC is also a leader in Internet-delivered courses and programs in Minnesota.