News and Updates from President Michelle Schutt

Hello, GCC Community, 

Happy snowy Monday!

Thank you to the facilities team for keeping up with snow removal during yesterday’s storm and ensuring campus was safe for our return today.

I wanted to begin with some wonderful news: enrollment. When comparing where we were as of Jan. 7, 2023, to where we are as of yesterday, Jan. 7, 2024:

These represent INCREDIBLE gains for GCC! Thank you to all who are helping to make this happen. 

In other good news, Melanie Zamojski just shared GCC's 2023 National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) report numbers for our nursing students. I am pleased to share that 90.3% of our Practical Nursing students passed their licensure exam while 97.06% of our Associate Degree Nursing students passed their licensure exam. Congratulations to the entire nursing faculty and staff!

GCC will be holding its 25th annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Day Celebration on campus from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, Jan. 15. Registration is strongly encouraged. The program will include dance, arts and crafts, education, music and free lunch. The keynote speaker is La Wanza Lett-Brewington. She is a nationally known speaker on leadership, Title IX, equity, and social justice. She was recognized by GCC during the 50th Anniversary as one 50 Distinguished Alumni. La Wanza recently joined Greenfield Community College and Berkshire Community College as their Title IX Coordinator and Affirmative Action Officer.  

The title of her speech is: "Embracing Our Responsibility to the Legacy," recognizing the extraordinary actions of Dr. Martin Luther King through his words. He used his words to inspire a nation and call people to action. Join this MLK celebration to reflect and interact together.  

This program is co-sponsored by the Department for Community Engagement and the Office of Student Activities and Community Service. We hope to see you there!  

Nominations Needed for Annual Alumni Awards

Contributed by Alexis Page, Executive Director of the GCC Foundation

The Greenfield Community College Alumni Council confers two alumni awards each year. The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes an alumni who has achieved substantial public recognition for their accomplishments and success. The Young Alumni in Action Award recognizes an alumni age 35 or younger who has demonstrated exemplary volunteerism and emerging success in their chosen career.

Please take a moment to review the award criteria and consider nominating one or more deserving alumni for these awards. All nominations must be received by Jan. 20, 2024.

The award recipients will be celebrated at the GCC Foundation’s awards dinner and fundraising event, "Building Bridges and Belonging: GCC’s Celebration of Community." This event is scheduled for February 29, 2024, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the GCC Cohn Dining Commons. Please keep an eye out for forthcoming invitations.

Guided Pathways Update

Contributed by Caitlin Worth, Math Professor and Co-Chair, Guided Pathways Steering Committee

For those interested, the co-chairs of the Guided Pathways Steering Committee, Holly Fitzpatrick and Caitlin Worth, have summarized GCC's guided pathways work to date on an internal website. Note that this page is for internal GCC purposes only. It is not meant to be shared publicly while Guided Pathways are still in development.

In other news, Holly is approaching her retirement date and will be stepping away from the guided pathways project so that she can finish up a few other important initiatives. Nicki Fowler will then join Caitlin as co-chair of the steering committee. Thank you, Holly! Welcome, Nicki!

What's New in Human Resources

Contributed by Human Resources

The Human Resource Office is excited to announce the launch of a new HR Help Desk Ticket System designed to streamline and enhance the way we handle human resources inquiries and requests. This system is aimed at providing you with a more efficient and convenient way to access HR support and information with timely responses.

To begin using the HR Help Desk Ticket System, please follow these steps:

• Access the form via this link and also available via gcc.mass.edu/hr (You will need to be logged into your GCC gmail account in order to submit a ticket)
• Select “Record [your GCC email] as the email to be included with my response”
• Add in your chosen name
• Select the area in which you need assistance
• Briefly describe your question or request
• Select “Submit”
• Once you select "Submit" you will receive a confirmation email. Your ticket will be immediately directed to the correct person for a response.

We kindly request that you refrain from using the humanresources@gcc.mass.edu email address for inquiries and requests. 

Thank you for your support as we embrace this new HR solution. 

Amp Up Your Assessment Expertise!

Contributed by Dr. Kim McKeage, Associate Director of Learning Outcomes Assessment

For the third year, you are invited to join the GCC team participating in SAAL’s Assessment workshop Feb. 5 through April 1. Past participants have used the knowledge gained to jump-start assessment efforts - developing learning outcomes and designing evidence-collection strategies. This excellent (and free!) Professional Development opportunity from Student Affairs Assessment Leaders (SAAL) is a self-paced, open course on assessment that attracts hundreds of people every year. Useful for ALL – not only Student Affairs leaders. Enrollment grants you access to the resources forever! Click HERE for a survey and registration link letting Kim McKeage know you are joining the course. She will invite you to our GCC campus discussion group that accompanies the course. Depending on participation, we may join fellow Massachusetts community college colleagues for discussion and sharing current practices, and the course provides opportunities to engage with community college peers from around the country too. Participants typically spend 1 to 2 hours per week.