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[Marcia Thomas] Hello and welcome to Dateline Delta.

I'm Marcia Thomas, chair of the Delta College Board of Trustees.

On today's show, we'll review the school year and hear a holiday message from President Gavin.

We will learn about a faculty members recently published novel and listen in on the choir chambers holiday concert.

We'll also watch the next episode of perspectives and hear how a student is finding their way, The Delta Way.

To wrap up today's program.

We will learn about the adjunct hiring opportunities and the women's soccer teams winning season.

It has been a very exciting and educational year here at Delta College.

President, Dr. Michael Gavin looks back at some of the highlights and shares a holiday message.

[Michael Gavin] 2024 was a great year for Delta College.

For the third year in a row, we increased our enrollment to 8400 students this year.

But we haven't just let students come in the doors.

We're making sure they achieve their goals.

In one year, we increased the number of degrees and certificates awarded to all students by 10%.

And in the process, we closed equity gaps by increasing the attainment of degrees for African Americans by 20% and Hispanic students by 19%.

We welcome students from all walks of life and at all ages, from dual enrollment to adult students, and offer different kinds of benefits for them to come financially.

From Michigan Reconnect, to the Michigan Achievement Scholarship.

The work that we are doing in the community and beyond through partnerships is exemplary.

We established the first three plus one transfer agreement that focuses on psychology in Michigan, with the Central Michigan University.

And we continue to create partnerships with community organizations to help students with their essential needs like transportation, food, and housing.

We also have business partnerships.

One of the most important ones this year was with Hemlock Semiconductor, where we will have over 1000 students come to get jobs in that industry.

We also invite you to come to Delta College to visit our new observatory that was just put up this year.

We also celebrate our student successes outside of the classroom.

For instance, our women's soccer team won the national championship this year and the women's volleyball team had a great success throughout, in its second year of existence.

We part ways with Marcia Thomas, our board chair, and we wish her the best and the college will sorely missed her.

I want to emphasize that we succeed at Delta only because of the community support that we have.

And I wanted to thank you all personally for that support.

From all of us here at Delta College, we wish you a happy holiday season and a happy 2025.

[Marcia Thomas] Delta College faculty member and author, Jeff Vande Zande, recently completed his sixth novel, titled The Dance of Rotten Sticks.

Delta College hosted a book reading and signing, let's listen in.

[Jeff Vandy Zande] A cold breeze came off the lake carrying a faint odor of fish.

It blew down the sidewalk where Isaac paced back and forth, keeping his leg warmed up.

He'd already twice gone up and back the full length of the main street, which amounted to about three blocks.

Over the past few days, he'd found his exercise rubber bands and even remembered a handful of the physical therapists instructions.

He worked out a half hour each day after a few cups of coffee.

Most mornings and evenings still left him in persistent pain, but he felt that during the day he was getting around better.

Well, the dance on sticks is different for me in that it is a gothic horror novel.

It takes place right here in Michigan, up near Cheboygan, on an island.

And typically that's what happens in a gothic horror, is you isolate your characters somewhere from which they cannot easily get away.

I've been writing since I was 20, I'm 54 now, so I guess over 30 years.

Started writing poetry, then moved to short stories and probably started really seriously in my 30s writing novels, in addition to screenplays.

But I've been focusing primarily with my fiction on longer works.

The Dance of Writing Sticks is my sixth novel.

I also have some collections of short stories.

Delta College is very supportive of my writing and academic activities outside of teaching.

So much so that they hosted me, to give a reading in Delta's library for students and faculty and staff.

He watched Teresa get to the other side of the street.

Stupid mutt, he slurred.

He walked away with the listing gate.

Shaking his head Isaac turned in the other direction.

His body trembled.

Why did his brief exchange with Teresa leave him feeling so unsettled?

What did she mean by telling him to mind his drinking?

She couldn't know.

Could she?

So one of the reasons Delta is supportive of my writing is they recognize the fact that that you want to be able to take this full circle.

We have a robust creative writing program here at Delta where students can study screenwriting or poetry, creative nonfiction or fiction.

But writing doesn't stop with the production of the work.

Actually, the more difficult part I've found is marketing a work, getting it published, finding some press that believes in your work and wants to, you know, put up the expense of publishing it.

And then you have to go, you know, find ways to get the book or whatever you've written in people's hands.

And I'm really not able to teach students how to do that if I'm not doing it myself.

So it is, you know, important for me personally to get my work out there, but also professionally.

It can help me teaching students when they finally finish something and they're at the point where they want to pursue publication, I can do more than say, well, good luck.

I actually can help them with some avenues of how they would do that.

The inspiration came for this book came from probably my friend has a property up by Traverse City on a lake called Island Lake.

And there is an island in the middle of the lake.

And I noticed that there was also a home on the island, and that probably got the wheels spinning for the idea of setting a novel on a location like that.

And, I think I had just been playing with some ideas of experimenting with a different genre.

Besides, I was doing literary fiction, so I wanted to give horror a try.

I'm actually in enjoyed working in the horror genre enough that I'm writing a sequel to The Dance of Rotten Sticks right now, tentatively titled In the Shadows of the Witness Tree.

If anybody's interested in getting a copy of the book, probably the easiest way to go would be on Amazon.

It's priced very reasonably on the Kindle.

For somebody who wants to take a chance on it.

But there's also a paperback version.

And local folks could go to Bookmarks Bookstore in downtown Midland on Townsend Street.

And they're also carrying copies.

And I'm working with some other bookstore owners to get copies in place.

[Marcia Thomas] Delta College's chamber choir, led by associate Professor of music Tim Hendrickson, recently performed a special winter holiday concert.

Let's listen in.

Come, they told me, pa rum pum pum pum A newborn King to see pa rum pum pum pum Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum Rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum.

So to honour Him, pa rum pum pum pum When we come.

Little baby, pa rum pum pum pum I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum Thats fit to give a King, pa rum pum pum pum Rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum.

Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum On my drum?

Mary nodded, pa rum pum pum pum The ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pum pum pum I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum Rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum.

Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum Me and my drum [Marica Thomas] The next feature is on Christiana Haight.

She's a part time student in Delta's Associate in Arts program.

Taking full time advantage of her college experience.

With encouragement from her professors, Christiana submitted her poetry for two writing competitions.

To her surprise, she took first place for both.

Let's hear more from Christiana.

[Christiana Haight] Support from my professors, specifically from my creative writing professors.

They really were encouraging, and they gave me a lot of really good constructive feedback.

I won the Skip Renker Creative Writing Award, and then I also won first place in poetry for the League for Innovation Creative Writing Competition.

I don't think that me a year ago would have even thought about applying.

The Delta Way is just being able to be a part of the community here.

[Marcia Thomas] Now it's time for the next installment of perspectives.

Where Delta's president, Dr. Michael Gavin, shares a community college perspective on national topics and higher education.

[Michael Gavin] A recent phenomenon that we're seeing in higher education is that fewer men are coming to college.

This is a problem across the country, about 40% of the enrollment at higher education institutions is men, 60% women.

At Delta, it's even less than that.

We're about 63% women, 37% men.

So we reflect really the national landscape.

And many people are asking why.

I have to tell you honestly, nobody can really put their finger on it.

We can put our finger on what some of the ramifications are.

There's a really good book that came out of, a sociology department at Yale that predicted that the family structure would fall apart over the years, because you'd have less educated men, more educated women, and the traditional gender roles were going to be flipped in a way that would be problematic when childcare and childbearing came to fruition.

I don't know if that's true or not, but it's an interesting theory.

So but the ramifications are going to be deep when you only have 37 percentage men getting a college degree in a landscape that requires a degree to get a good job.

So we have many programs in which many males find very attractive, such as automotive, welding in the skilled trades.

Beyond that, we have many programs that males traditionally haven't found themselves in that are very lucrative.

That includes those in the health care.

and IT and obviously any kind of transfer degree programs.

So we are very cognizant of the fact that, a person might want to have many different pathways to a good life.

And subsequently, we are really working hard to reach out to as many people who might not think college is for them, or may have thought they're too old to come to college.

And we believe that that's not true.

And we have many different, not only programs for you to come come through, but also modalities such as online and or taking classes at night or in the summer, even the weekends.

For any of those adult males who are looking for a better life through education.

We have done some outreach at Delta to our community to ask this question.

This would be anecdotal, but it is people who don't have degrees saying things like, you know, in the mid mid 30s and I don't know how to go back to college.

Or I see my kids going to college and I don't know how to ask for help to do the same.

One of the things that we've done at Delta, as a result, is to reach out to the community and start to provide actual workshops to get people through the college going process.

Because not knowing how to go to college should not be the barrier to going to college.

So we we have done some work and we'll see how that bears out.

We also have benefited at Delta from the following.

We might not have as many men going to college, but once they come, they're performing very well in the same, actually at the same level as women.

So what we're seeing is really a phenomenon that for some reason, men are not coming.

We at Delta are doing some work to stem that tide and see it as part of the mission of our reacting to community need.

But we don't really know the answer, except for what we've found here in the region.

And hopefully we will be the leaders in figuring out, how to change that trajectory.

Because we do believe that that everybody should go to college and that everybody has that need to to have a life sustaining wage.

And so with that being said, I would welcome you all to apply and see how we do it The Delta Way.

[Marcia Thomas] The fall 2024 semester consisted of over 8000 students enrolled in over 80,000 contact hours of online and in-person classes.

So exceptional faculty members are valued asset always needed at Delta College.

To share more about this need We spoke with David Hopkins, Dean of Transfer Programs and Online Learning.

[David Hopkins] Adjunct faculty at Delta College have a very important role.

We have well over 200 adjunct faculty here at Delta College.

It does vary semester to semester based on need.

But right now, with growing enrollment, we have a great need for adjunct faculty.

An adjunct faculty member, they teach at the college, usually in a part time status, usually up to 12 credit hours.

they really help supplement our full time faculty so that we can offer the appropriate number of classes in the right modality and at the right times for our students.

Adjunct faculty here play a huge role at the college.

We only have so many full time faculty.

So adjuncts give us more wiggle room, if you will, in terms of what we can offer, when we can offer it, and how we offer it.

In terms of modality, that means online or face to face, you know, maybe being able to offer an 8 a.m. class or a 4 p.m. or 6 p.m. class.

They give us that flexibility for our students.

An adjunct faculty member needs a master's degree in the discipline that they are teaching in order to teach here at Delta College.

That's not anything arbitrary.

That's set up by our accrediting body the Higher Learning Commission, the HLC.

So for us to meet our accreditation, we have to have faculty that meet those, credentials.

An adjunct faculty member, doesn't always need the master's degree in the field.

Some of our career in technology fields, they may have worked in the career 20, 30, 40 years.

We take these on a case by case basis, and we can utilize that experience to be able to help our students in the classroom and help set them up for their careers after they leave Delta College.

Being an adjunct to Delta College is a very rewarding experience.

Whether you're, you know, just coming out of grad school, relatively new in your teaching career, and then you'd like some experience.

Or you know, you've been around the block a few times in your career and you really want to kind of get that satisfaction of sharing knowledge and teaching students.

Really get that satisfaction that you're looking for in life.

You can reach out to us, delta.edu/employment is probably the easiest way to find these opportunities and go there and and it'll get you started.

[Marcia Thomas] The Delta College women's soccer team completed an undefeated season.

Earning the Division three national championship.

The second national title in the program's history.

We had a chance to sit down with head coach Damon Amey while he reflected on an amazing year.

[Damon Amey] Back in 2021, our ladies won the national championship.

And, it was a Covid year.

So we played in the spring instead of the fall.

And even though we won the national championship, it was a little different because this year I feel when we won the national championship, there was a lot more publicity for our girls because there's a lot more people around.

And, so the girls got a lot more attention then then possibly the year that back then.

Both teams were fantastic and and deserved to win those years though.

The characteristics that made this team good enough to win it all were, that made this team good enough to win it all were, they did come this practice every day.

They worked hard.

They always wanted to get better.

They'd stay after practice to get better.

They had a competitive desire, especially in the national championship.

In the national tournament, to just outwork and and win every ball that they possibly could.

Both national championship teams, they had a willing to work and get better, and they wanted to be, champions from day one.

That's kind of how all of our teams are when they come in.

However, some years, it takes a little luck and some years you just have to have the drive.

And those two years, they they had just the drive when it got to the national tournament.

And we seem to be peaking at the right time.

And this year, especially, the girls were at full tilt the moment they stepped on the field.

Having success on the soccer field makes recruiting a lot easier.

Kids want to come and play for a team that has an opportunity to go to a national tournament every year and possibly play for a national championship.

The academics here are really good as well.

So in the cost is good so that they all kind of tie in and it makes it a lot easier for me to get students to want to come here.

I really want to thank our girls for everything and being committed every day when they come here.

Buying into our culture, respecting the process and understanding that every day is going to be different and we're trying to get better every day.

We will hopefully be back next year to challenge for a national championship again.

And if all goes well, we will be.

[Marcia Thomas] Congratulations to the entire coaching staff and the women's soccer team on their achievements.

Now let's see what's on the Dateline Delta Calendar of Events.

The Delta College Planetarium will be hosting a series of shows during the month of January.

For more information about these shows and events happening at the planetarium, visit their website at delta.edu/planetarium.

Delta College has partnered with Great Lakes Bay Health Centers to bring convenient health care services to our students.

Most insurances are accepted for services.

A sliding scale is available if you are uninsured.

The Mobile Medical Unit will be in the F Wing parking lot Monday, January 6th from 9 a.m. till noon.

Delta College will be hosting transfer Monday on January 13th from 10 a.m. till 2p.m.

This is an opportunity for students to be able to talk to transfer institutions, get questions answered, and meet staff in person.

The event will happen in the Red Brix Cafe area.

For further information on these events or other campus activities, contact the Office of Marketing and Public Information at (989)686-9490 or visit our website at www.delta.edu [Marcia Thomas] Well, that wraps up our show.

Please join us again on January 26th when we highlight what's happening here at Delta College, one of America's leading community colleges.

Now, let's return to the Delta College Lecture Theater for more of the Winter Holiday Concert.

For Dateline Delta, I'm Marsha Thomas, thanks for watching.

Peace, peace, wonderful peace Peace to the world is given Hushd are the angels, so still in the night; Then in the east shone a heavenly light Join in the chorus His praises sing!

Glory to God, to the new born King.

Peace, peace, wonderful peace Peace to the world is given Peace, peace, bearer of peace, All of goodwill receive Him.

Holiest of nights, O most wondrous of days; Shepherds and kings lift their voices in praise.

Join in the chorus His praises sing!

Glory to God, to the new born King.

Peace, peace, wonderful peace Peace to the world is given