Celebrate Black History Month!
Black History Month, or African American History Month, occurs every February. It pays tribute to and celebrates the achievements of Black Americans and acknowledges the central role of African Americans in United States history.
Black History Month was first conceived as Negro History Week in 1925 by historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Like W.E.B. Du Bois before him, Woodson believed that truth could not be denied and that reason would prevail over prejudice. The first celebration was in February 1926, a week that encompassed the birthdays of both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. They were met with an overwhelmingly positive response. By the middle of the 20th century, many U.S. mayors issued proclamations celebrating the week.
The celebration was expanded to a month in 1976 at the nation’s bicentennial. President Gerald R. Ford urged U.S. Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” By this time, the entire nation had come to recognize the importance of Black history in the drama of the American story. Since then every U.S. president has issued African American History Month proclamations.
I welcome and invite the NSCC community to participate in this year's Black History Month celebrations through the numerous and various events happening across the North Shore all month long. Of course, also check out what is happening at NSCC, coordinated by the Office of Student Engagement:
Thursday, February 10th at 12:30 PM: Keynote, "How Hip-Hop Got to the Suburbs"
Thursday, February 24th at 4:00 PM: Black History Month Pizza and a Movie, "Target: Philadelphia"
Black history is the history of the U.S.A. and should be supplemental to our continued collective learning and celebration all year long. This past semester, numerous groups and individuals have also been helping our community slowly "move the dial" from performative, aspirational, and towards authentic purpose and action to disrupting and dismantling anti-Blackness and racism. From key data collecting in Institutional Research and the Racial Equity and Justice Institute (REJI), the installment of our new Director of SUCCESS, to the initial meetings for Race/Ethnicity Affinity Employee Groups held, and many many more-- all helping create a sustainable foundation for authentic transformational action ahead.
--Nikki Pelonia, Chief Diversity & Equity Officer
Inauguration Update
Plans for the Inauguration of Dr. William Heineman, NSCC’s fifth president, are progressing nicely. The Inauguration will be held on Friday, May 13 and will feature three parts – a ticketed pre-inauguration luncheon at the Nahant Country Club from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., the Installation ceremony in the Lynn gym from 2-3:30 p.m., and a Transforming the Future Festival following the ceremony from 3:30-5 p.m. The Inaugural theme is “Transforming the Future With Students & Community.”
The Save the Date postcard went out last week via email to hopefully get the date on the calendars of those wishing to attend. A website for both the Installation and the luncheon preceding it have been created and can be viewed at Inauguration and Inauguration luncheon. A Steering Committee and three subcommittees for the luncheon, installation and festival are busy meeting and planning. Many thanks to all involved who will make this a great day!
Honoring the Legacy of R. T. Paine Metcalf
"NSCC was a small college that has blossomed, and it provides an extraordinary learning experience," said R.T. Paine Metcalf in 2017.
Paine, who recently passed away, was the quintessential Champion for NSCC students and this college. Join the NSCC community in continuing his inspirational legacy through the R.T. Paine Metcalf Scholarship and learn more about his passion for higher education. northshore.edu/giving/
foundation
President's Cabinet Highlights, February 01, 2022
Covid Update: Vice President Janice Forsstrom reported that the college has a supply of N95 masks on hand and discussion ensued on how best to distribute them and to whom. She reported that the testing and vaccination sites on campus are functioning well, and that there has been another request to host two special clinics on Sundays in Lynn specifically for people with disabilities. CDO Nikki Pelonia and Interim HR Director Mary Chatigny discussed the need for a Covid specialist to be hired to work with HR.
Telework Policy: President Heineman sought input from Cabinet members on this. He would like to put out some guidelines by early March. The goal will be to provide a vibrant campus that meets student needs along with a happy workforce. It was agreed that Mary will walk the Cabinet through the state policy at the next meeting and discussion will continue.
LEADS Nomination: Bill asked cabinet members to submit recommendations for people to be nominated to take part in this new initiative that NSCC has joined.
Personnel: Various positions were presented and discussed.
Calling all creatives!
We need you to get involved…in the Performing Arts at North Shore!
We are looking for actors, artists, sound editors, tech wizards, and more to join us this Spring Semester (2022) for:
ANIMAL TAILS: A Virtual Storytelling Project
Talented tricksters go toe to toe with terrible troublemakers in this series of tales featuring a menagerie of feathered, finned and four-legged beasties from around the world.
Come join the team responsible for bringing these stories to life this fall!
No experience needed. All interested students, faculty and staff are welcome to participate.
AIR DATE: April / May, as part of NSCC’S Cultural Arts programming.
For more information about how you can become involved in this virtual performing arts event at NSCC contact Matthew Woods at matwoods@northshore.edu.
CTLI Coffee and Conversations Series
Over the spring semester, the CTLI will be hosting a series of informational sessions on a variety of teaching, learning, and assessment topics. The Coffee and Conversations sessions will be held virtually twice a month on Fridays from 9:30am to 10:30am. Please join us with your favorite cup of coffee or tea and we will bring the topics to hopefully spur plenty of conversations.
The first Coffee and Conversations session will be on Friday, February 4th and the topic will be “Spotlighting Student Success Resources”. Our guests for this session will be Donna Davis, Susan Graham and Sara Hilinski and they will provide a brief presentation/overview of student services around counseling, accessibility services, and tutoring as well as tips for working with students. There will also be plenty of time for questions and discussion.
Our second session will be on Friday, February 18th and the topic will be “Contextualization through Collaborative Design”. Join Sonja Gamby as she leads a discussion around a new opportunity for faculty to collaboratively work on implementing high impact practices and contextualized modules to increase student engagement and improve student outcomes.
Please use the following Zoom meeting link for all Coffee and Conversations sessions:
https://northshore-edu.zoom.
Future Coffee and Conversations sessions will be held on the following Fridays (listed below) so please save the dates in your calendar:
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March 4
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March 11
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April 1
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April 15
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April 29
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May 6
Topics have been scheduled for a few of these sessions but we would love your feedback
on some topics for the other sessions. Please share any ideas around what you might
like to learn more about at https://forms.gle/
We hope to see you at one of the sessions!
-Andrea Milligan and Kim Stevens
Spring Institutional Professional Day
NSCC's Spring Institutional Professional day for faculty and staff will be held on Friday, March 25th! The theme for the day will be focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion and Universal Design for Learning. We are proud to welcome our keynote, Dr. Thomas Tobin, an internationally recognized scholar, researcher, author and speaker on technology-mediated education. The CTLI Advisory Council is developing the agenda for the breakout sessions. Possible topics include:
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Teaching practices that promote equity and create an inclusive classroom
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Student support practices that promote diversity, equity and inclusion
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Incorporating universal design for learning principles into teaching and learning
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Incorporating universal design for learning principles into student support services
Thank you Dianne McDermott Cerasuolo for creating the attached flier. More details of the day to come soon!
--Thank you,
The CTLI Advisory Council
On-Campus Cafe Food Service Schedule
January 18 - March 11, 2022 Limited Service
March 14 - March 19, 2022 No Service
March 21 - May 10, 2022 Limited Service
No Summer Food Service
Hours of Operation:
7:00AM - 10:30PM Breakfast
11:00AM - 11:30AM Snacks & Beverages
11:30AM - 1:30PM Lunch
1:30PM - 2:00 PM Snacks & Beverages
Danvers Cafe February promotions
20 Minute Online Professional Development
The Monday Morning Mentor series will be available over the spring semester to bring you professional development in twenty-minute snippets.
For the week of February 07 - How Do I Create a Class that Supports First-year Students?
Directions for Accessing the Link to the Presentation and Supplemental Materials
Select the URL link below to access the presentation and to print the supplemental materials. (You may also copy and paste the URL into your browser’s address bar.) Supplemental materials are available to view and print now.
https://sites.google.com/a/northshore.edu/mmm/
New presentations go live at 10:00am each Monday morning and are only accessible through Sunday.
The series is being brought to you by the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation – we would appreciate your input!
--Andrea Milligan, amilligan@northshore.edu
WHAT A GREAT WAY TO START YOUR WEEK!!
Welcome to the
Equality & Equity Project
As part of our commitment to Anti-Racism, Diversity & Inclusion, the Equality & Equity Project will provide historical and present-day information about the contributions, challenges,
culture, and daily lives of the many vital groups that make up our NSCC community,
and the larger world.
We invite you to visit often, reflect on what you see and read, discuss it with others and, hopefully, expand your knowledge base, appreciation, and understanding of groups beyond your own.
February Deep Dive:
When 19th-century British missionaries arrived in the Caribbean to convert enslaved Africans, they came with a heavily edited version of the Bible. Any passage that might incite rebellion was removed from the “Slave Bible.” In their place, the missionaries emphasized passages that encouraged subservience, like Ephesians 6:5: “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters …” Read more here.
Think about this:
Hailing from the Navajo tribe, Cory Witherill became the first full-blooded Native American to race in the Indy 500 in 2001, placing 19 out of 33. (The race was founded in 1911.) In 2002, he went to the Infiniti Pro Series, and won the Nashville Indy Pro race in 2002. Cory's professional career spanned from 1997 to 2004. He is now known for his public service and charity work within the Native American community.
If you have any questions or comments on NSCC's Equality & Equity Project, please contact us at EqualityEquity@northshore.