Bulletin for September 27, 2021

 

NSCC students, faculty, and staff must be
fully vaccinated by January 2022

All employees and any students studying or coming to campus must be fully vaccinated by January 2022 President William Heineman announced on September 20.

The decision was made unanimously by the Presidents of all the state’s 15 community colleges.

“During the last eighteen months, the Massachusetts Community Colleges have prioritized the health and safety of our communities while also recognizing that many of our students have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. While a significant number of students, faculty, and staff are already vaccinated or are in the process of becoming vaccinated, the fifteen colleges are seeking to increase the health and safety of the learning and working environment in light of the ongoing public health concerns and current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),” it was noted in a joint statement.

Students who seek to register for courses that do not include any in-person component, and who do not plan to come on campus for any reason for the Spring 2022 semester, will not be required to provide documentation of vaccination.

The announcement comes amid a rise in the number of new cases of COVID-19 across the Commonwealth, the increased access and availability of vaccines, the Food & Drug Administration’s full and pending approval of available vaccines, and CDC guidance that the COVID-19 vaccine has been proven to be extremely safe and highly effective at preventing infection, severe disease, hospitalization, and death, the requirement is aimed at ensuring the safest learning and working environment possible for the more than 135,000 students served by the community colleges each year.

“The Massachusetts Community Colleges are committed to ensuring vaccination status is not a barrier to students and will continue offering a range of virtual learning opportunities and services,” Heineman said.

 

 

Comcast Extends Internet Essentials to Pell Grant Recipients

The Internet Essentials program has been available to NSCC students who receive public assistance. With this announcement, the Internet Essentials program is available to students receiving pell grants just by providing proof with the student’s financial aid award letter!

The Here to Help page has additional information and resources for NSCC students. 

EMAIL Announcement sent to President Heineman:

Comcast is thrilled that this new school year is starting out with more opportunities than ever for low-income Americans to get connected to the Internet. As announced yesterday, we are expanding eligibility for the Internet Essentials program to all Federal Pell Grant recipients across our service area. This expansion will allow nearly one million additional low-income students to benefit from Internet Essentials, Comcast’s signature broadband adoption and digital equity initiative.

Students receiving a Federal Pell Grant can now use their Financial Aid Award Letter as proof of eligibility for Internet Essentials. Expanding Internet Essentials eligibility to include Federal Pell Grant recipients brings our eligibility more fully in line with the federal government’s Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) eligibility, but also is a permanent, structural change to the eligibility for our program. So, students can rest assured that they will be able to either have Internet service for free under EBB or for a heavily discounted price of just $9.95/month. 

Like we said earlier, there are now a myriad of ways to connect to the Internet for free or at a low cost. We are pleased to support the federal government’s efforts, including EBB, to help Americans connect to the Internet during the COVID-19 crisis. Broderick Johnson, Executive Vice President, Public Policy and EVP, Digital Equity, Comcast, writes more about it in this blog.

As we continue to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our Internet Essentials program, we’re proud that our focus on creating a more equitable and connected experience for low-income families and individuals is stronger than ever.

Thank you for your continued partnership and support of Comcast’s focus on digital equity and the Internet Essentials program.

 

 

 

Please join us in welcoming Joyce Wang, the new Director of TRIO Student Support Services

Joyce grew up in NYC but has been a Boston resident for the past decade. Joyce has her BA in Sociology from State University of New York, Buffalo. UB is where she discovered the TRIO McNair Scholars program.

As a first generation, low-income student from an immigrant household, Joyce never thought graduate school was achievable. The TRIO McNair Scholars led her to an MA in Higher Education at Boston College.

Previously Joyce worked for Middlesex Community College, UMass Boston, and Year Up where she had the privilege to support students who share her background and experiences. Now this desire to assist others in furthering their education has lead Joyce to TRIO Student Support Services at NSCC.

Joyce loves bouldering, hiking, EATING, binge-watching television shows, and having deep conversations about life.

Welcome Joyce!

 

 

 

 

 

Kudos Korner

Tune in when retired professor Carl Carlsen discusses his book, Brickyard Stories 2.0: A Lynn MA Neighborhood Before and After Urban Renewal, on "Breaking Bread" with Joe Pantedosi on radio 104.9 WBOQ, live this Saturday, October 2 at 11:00am and rebroadcast Sunday, October 3 at 10:00am.

   

Celebrate the life of Willie Howell!

A Celebration of Life will be held  via Zoom on Saturday, October 2, 2021 from 1pm-2:30pm EST for Willie Howell, a longtime employee in the Auxiliary Services department, who passed away in March 2021.  Willie, who retired in 2012, will be fondly remembered by many for his smile and his jokes, his daily mail visits, and his invaluable updates on what was going on at the College.  

The Zoom login details are:

Topic: Willie Howell Memorial
Time: Oct 2, 2021 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/ 87956520916?pwd= RTIxekVzcmlMV2ZaWVhEUjZabW1XZz 09

Meeting ID: 879 5652 0916
Passcode: uw8k9w

 

 

 

 

 

 

46th Forum On Tolerance
Virtual Event from October 18th-22nd, 2021

What does Asian American mean? Identities, Struggles, & Contributions

The need for this forum was spurred by the devastating 149 percent increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in American cities since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we are also aware that such sentiments that exclude, stereotype, and target Asian-Americans have existed well before the recent pandemic.   What we hope to achieve with this forum is to share a variety of unique human stories that explore the many Identities, Struggles, & Contributions of Asian-Americans. We hope that all participants will also share their unique answers to the question, “What does Asian-American mean?”

Speakers include: Dr. Paul Watanabe, keynote; Dr. Ben Railton; Dr. Li Li; author Aimee Liu

To see the entire schedule of events, session topics and to register for sessions, click here. 

 

 

 

 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Updates

►The official release of The Racial Equity and Justice Institute (REJI) Practioner Handbook

REJI member campuses have collaborated to offer the free access e-book of emerging practices that are proving useful in closing racial educational equity gaps on REJI campuses. Emerging practices by NSCC REJI members Michele Cubelli Harris and Nikki Pelonia are featured in the handbook, download the handbook here.

►SAVE THE DATE: The 46th Forum on Tolerance will take place October 18-22, 2021

This year's theme "What does Asian American mean? Identities, Struggles, & Contributions" was spurred by the devastating 149 percent increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in American cities since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we are also aware that such sentiments that exclude, stereotype, and target Asian-Americans have existed well before the recent pandemic. What we hope to achieve with this forum is to share a variety of unique human stories that explore the many Identities, Struggles, & Contributions of Asian-Americans. We hope that all participants will also share their unique answers to the question, “What does Asian-American mean?”

►The Growth Mindset with Nicole Williams, Professional Development opportunity: 10/8/21 @ 11 am

How we think about our ability to confidently try new things and keep going when they get hard can set us for success or serve as a barrier to success. For many of us, we must work to have a growth mindset while also navigating social structures and systems that send deficit-oriented messages about who we are and the communities we come from. Join this session to learn more about growth mindsets and identify ways to critically assess how the environments we participate in influence our mindsets. This professional development event is sponsored by the RAP Experience (rise. achieve. persist.) at North Shore Community College, as part of the Statewide Student Success Grant, established for MA community colleges. The RAP Experience aims to improve persistence and graduation rates for Black and Latino/Latina student populations by scaling wrap-around supports and retention services to improve outcomes.  Register here.

--Nikki Pelonia, Chief Diversity & Equity Officer, npelonia@northshore.edu

 

 

 

 

 

Navigate Weekly Workshops

The Summer has proven a busy time for a lot of you! We have been watching those scores rise and those discussion posts getting juicy! The team went live with five different modules open, starting with FERPA, going through Orientation of Navigate, Academic Planning, Notes & Appointment Summaries, and ending with the Student Experience of Navigate. As of late, we have just released a new optional module that talks about student Appointments and Appointment Campaigns. Take a jab at some of the modules and join us for our weekly workshop to discuss any questions or feedback that you may have!

As we enter the start of the Fall term, you may also want to refresh or brush up on your Navigate skills. The Navigate team is here to go over any material you want to discuss!
 

Wednesday, September 29

2:00PM - 2:45PM                   Academic Planning: Features, Functions, Tips & Tricks!

3:00PM - 3:45PM                   Open Session Time

Thank you for your interest in Navigate!

--John, Jake, and Scott

 

 

 

 

 

20 Minute Online Professional Development

The Monday Morning Mentor series will be available over the fall semester to bring you professional development in twenty-minute snippets.

For the week of September 27th - How Can I Adapt My Teaching So Students Thrive in a Polysynchronous Classroom?

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!!

 

 

 

 

NSCC & Demakes Family YMCA Forge Child Care Partnership

NSCC Receives $810,000 Federal Grant for Health Education and Training Programs

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Please share with your students.

Mobile Food Markets (Danvers Campus Only)

Free farmers market-style distribution of food, fresh fruits and vegetables. Open to the entire college community.  Due to the current COVID-19 health crisis, NSCC's mobile markets will look a little different this semester.  The mobile market will only be offered on the Danvers Campus and will only be open to NSCC students, faculty and staff.  Registration will be required for each monthly market.  It will be curbside pick up and you will receive a time to pick up in your confirmation email.  

Please click the date below to complete the registration form.

Fall 2021 Semester Dates                               Spring 2022 Semester Dates

September 9, 2021**                                        February 10, 2022
October 14, 2021                                              March 10, 2022
November 18, 2021                                          April 14, 2022
                                      December 9, 2021                                           May 12, 2022           

*Please note registration will be required for each monthly market.  Be sure to sign up for the ones you would like to attend.

**Market Sign Up closed.  Please reach out to Amanda Dooling at adooling@northshore.edu for assistance.
If you need food assistance please complete the Here to Help Application.

If you are a Lynn student requiring food assistance, please complete the NSCC Here to Help Application.

 

 

Seeking 9-11th graders, attending Lynn Public HS,
who want to attend college!