There will be an open house retirement celebration for Math Professor Nancy Forrest. Monday – Dec. 2, 2024 GRCC Secchia Piazza 5-7 PM Everyone is invited to stop by and wish Nancy the best in retirement as we celebrate her 41 years of service at GRCC!  Nancy started as an adjunct in 1983 but has been full time for 35 years.  

Nominations We’re excited to announce a new, simpler nomination form for this year’s Alumni Awards! Nominations for GRCC's Alumni Awards are accepted year-round, however to be considered for the 2025 Alumni Awards, nominations must be in by December 31. All nominations are retained and reviewed in January, with winners selected each February. Join us in celebrating the outstanding achievements of our remarkable alumni by submitting a nomination today. Learn more about the awards below: About the Distinguished Alumni Award The Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest honor bestowed upon a former student of Grand Rapids Community College. This award recognizes alumni who exemplify GRCC’s core values—Accountability, Diversity, Excellence, Innovation, Integrity, Respect, Responsiveness, and Sustainability—through distinction in their chosen field, service to society, and dedication to the college. Please complete and submit the Distinguished Alumni Award Nomination Form on the Alumni Relations webpage. About the Young Alumni Award The Young Alumni Award celebrates exceptional alumni under the age of 40 as of December 31 in the year of nomination. This award recognizes individuals who have distinguished themselves through: Exceptional accomplishment in their profession. Exceptional community or civic service. Exceptional service in support of GRCC. Please complete and submit the Young Alumni Award Nomination Form on the Alumni Relations webpage. Let’s honor our alumni and their remarkable achievements!  If you have any questions, please contact Jenna Mencarelli at jennamencarelli@grcc.edu .

    Welcome to Together@GRCC, the biweekly podcast created for GRCC staff. Hosted by Ryan Nausieda, each episode features interviews with staff, students and community members, highlighting the people and projects that make our campus thrive. In this episode, Whitney Marsh, director of the Ford Fieldhouse, joins us to discuss her role, her experiences working with student-athletes and navigating renovations—all while sharing what she loves about her job. Don’t miss this engaging conversation! Be sure to subscribe and share it with colleagues who want to stay connected to our GRCC community. Available on  YouTube , Spotify and Apple .  

I'm excited to share that registration is now open for our winter semester Diversity Lecture Series!  We are really looking forward to getting more engagement from students, staff, faculty, and the general public!  We invite you to join us for continued conversations with  prolific community leaders on the theme of "Cultivating Community and Culture to Foster Belonging and Resilience." Participants are encouraged to attend this year's lecture series events in person.  If you are unable to attend in person, that's no problem. All events will offer the option to attend virtually. The Diversity Lecture Series is free and open to the general public.  Please see our Winter 2025 speaker lineup on our Diversity Lecture Series webpage!  We will kick off the new year with our Martin Luther King Jr. keynote speaker, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, and cultural activist and artist LaTosha Brown. The MLK Celebration at 6 p.m. will be in Fountain Street Church on January 20. Address: 24 Fountain St. NE, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503 Please register to receive all the event details (virtual link information).  Eventbrite registration information:   LaTosha Brown Ovell Barbee Mandice McAllister Robin Wall Kimmerer If you have any questions about upcoming events, please email  WCIMA@GRCC.EDU  or visit our website:  GRCC.EDU/WCIMA .  

As we approach the busy holiday season, check your vacation hours and make sure you are not at risk of losing any vacation hours as of 12/31/24 with the  Vacation Bank Calculator .  As of 12/31/24, employees are allowed to have their current fiscal vacation accrual plus an automatic 10-day carry over. Employees can request to have these 10 days transferred to their sick bank by sending an email to hrpayroll@grcc.edu . Any vacation hours above the limits allowed by your employee contract/handbook will be forfeited. For APSS, CEBA, and PMA employees, an additional five-day carry over on an exception basis due to workload may be granted with supervisor approval. Supervisors, please email hrpayroll@grcc.edu with any approved employees for the additional five-day carry over. Supervisors, also remember that you have access to view the leave bank balances of your direct and indirect reports through the Online Center under Supervisor Self Service, My Employees’ Leave Balances. To view your indirect reports, click on the “View My Organization” link in the upper left corner of the page.

We are excited to announce that Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC), in conjunction with the University of Michigan, is launching the  Healthy Minds Study  on campus starting October 28! We hope to use data from this study to understand the state of our students’ well-being by circulating a survey enquiring about their mental health status, needs, and other related information. If you have any questions for the study team, you can reach out to hms-  coordination@umich.edu . All students at GRCC will be invited to participate and earn $10, and students will receive their links to the survey in their inbox starting Monday, October 28. Please encourage students to not mark it as spam! Their participation ensures that a variety of student perspectives and experiences are represented.  The survey will be open from Monday, October 28 to Friday, December 13, sent from Dr. Sheila Jones,   at  GRCC-healthyminds@umich.edu . We would like to hear from as many students as we can, and would appreciate you sharing information with your students about this study in class or via email. Thank you for your cooperation and support as we work to better understand our students and their needs. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Melissa Ware, Program Director-Center for Counseling and Well-Being,  atmelissaware@grcc.edu . 

  There is a family friendly event taking place on Saturday, Dec. 7 from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the GR Classics Auto Museum located inside the TerryTown RV Showroom,7303 S Division Ave, Grand Rapids.  Help fill a red '55 Chevy Cameo Pickup! There will be ornament decorating for the first 200 families who bring a toy to the event, a hot chocolate station and special guests/photo opportunities.   If you choose to donate, toys that you bring in need to be new and unwrapped. This event is being organized by the Lakeshore Corvette Club along with The GR Classics Auto Museum.

There will be boxes on campus from Nov. 22 -Dec. 6 to collect toys for the Toys for Tots program.  There will be one box in the lobby of the ECLL and two in the Center for Student Life & Leadership office. All of the toys donated at the collection sites on campus will be taken on December 6 to bring to the Holiday Toy Drive on Dec. 7. If you choose to donate, toys that you bring in need to be new and unwrapped. If you have any students with children who could benefit from receiving a toy you can send them to the Toys for Tots website between now and  December 1 at 5 p.m. to apply on their  Find Your Local Campaign webpage  

As we prepare for some time away from work for the holiday campus closure starting Wednesday, 11/27/2024, Payroll has a reminder about your timesheets for the 12/6/24 pay date (for the pay period of 11/11-11/24/24). We don't want the due dates to sneak up on you! Timesheets are still due by noon on Monday, 11/25/24, and supervisor approvals are still due by noon on Tuesday, 11/26/24.  However, we have a very truncated processing time for the next pay date.  We will not be able to easily send our manual reminders for late timesheets. This is a reminder to please adhere to the deadlines to ensure the smooth and timely processing for the next pay date.  And, supervisors, if you're out for any additional time around this shutdown, please ensure you have a backup approver in place to review and approve timesheets by the approval deadline. More information on setting up a backup approver can be found on the HR  Employee Forms webpage. Enjoy the well-deserved break!  

GRCC's Career & Student Employment Services sponsors the “Go Beyond” recognition program for student employees.   This program recognizes student employees who go beyond their normal job responsibilities to provide extraordinary service while working at GRCC.  Nominated student employees receive a special GRCC T-shirt and a gift card. To nominate a student employee, please visit the Go Beyond Recognition Program website.