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Hello and welcome to the 29th season of Dateline Delta.

I'm Diane Middleton, a member of the Delta College Board of Trustees.

On today's show, we will have a tribute to Donald Carlyon, second president of Delta College.

And we will catch highlights from president Mike Gavin's State of the College address.

We'll share a sneak peek of Delta's summer construction projects, and the fun had at Delta Colleges annual five K Color Run.

To wrap up today's program.

We'll listen in on the screening of the American Constitution documentary and visit the Fitness and Recreation Center.

Over the summer, Delta College lost one of its original employees, President Emeritus Donald J. Carlyon, first hired as its business manager and then becoming its second president.

He passed at age 100 on May 26th.

Let's pay a tribute to this remarkable individual.

Donald J. Carlyon arrived at Delta College in 1960 when he was appointed business manager, a role similar to the one he previously held at what is now known as the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

He was one of the first college employees hired by then President Samuel D. Marble.

Don served as business manager until 1964, when he was named acting president after Sam Marble left to lead the newly created Saginaw Valley State College.

In 1967, it became official when Carlyon was named president of Delta College.

He retired in 1992 after more than three decades of service to the college.

Delta College was in its infancy when Don took the helm.

And he dedicated himself to building a robust academic program.

That meant fresh ideas, bold innovations, and a new way of doing things.

One of Carlyon's most impactful initiatives was being one of the original 12 founding members of the League for Innovation.

The premise of the league was that members would bring their original ideas to the table, so they could be put to use at other community colleges across the country.

Carlyon had no doubt that every student at Delta was capable of great things.

His favorite quote to them was be careful what goals you set for yourself, for you may certainly attain them.

As a visionary, he ushered Delta College to national recognition.

As a pragmatist, he balanced budgets and ensured taxpayers money was used efficiently.

As a leader, he chose capable men and women and let them do what they do best.

Throughout his career at Delta College, Don was known as an animal lover.

Many remember Carlyon's herd of four legged companions, which included llamas, sheep, dogs, and his favorite, a miniature Mediterranean donkey named easy.

For his 20th anniversary as president, Delta faculty surprised him with the gift of a six year old Shetland pony.

When Delta College Public TV expanded its coverage area into the thumb in 1986, Don enjoyed visiting with a lion at the Tower Sites community dedication ceremony.

Before his arrival on campus.

Don served as a merchant marine during World War II.

Upon his return to Nebraska following the war, he married his sweetheart, Betty Hunley.

During their 72 year marriage, they raised five children, six grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

During his presidency and into retirement, he remained committed to the community.

He was a member of the Saginaw General Hospital's Foundation Board and the Covenant Health Care Foundation.

He played a key role in revitalizing Battery Park in Bay County, and served on the Bay County Library System Board, helping them pass critical millage votes.

Don was also a supporter of the Alice and Jack Wirt Library branch in Bay City.

He supported the creation of a sculpture of rotary founder Paul Harris and was associated with Bay City State Theater, the Downtown Development Authority, the Delta College Planetarium, and the Tri-Cities Torch Club.

Don was on the boards of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra, the Girl Scouts, Heart of Michigan and Bay City in Bloom.

Upon stepping onto the campus for the first time on a gloomy, rainy day back in 1960, Mr.

Carlyon recalled “We stood on the edge of a big mud hole and I said, isn't this beautiful.” An interesting fact about Mr.

Carlyon, is that he attended every one of Delta's commencement ceremonies since the first in 1962.

He even attended the 64th ceremony in 2025, virtually at age 100.

Now, Delta College begins each school year with a state of the college address by its president to faculty and staff members.

Each message contains success stories of last year and challenges that this year brings.

Let's listen in to excerpts from this inspirational message.

We just finished an economic impact study.

So this is some county or tri county wide information to let you know how we're situated, how your classroom, how you're meeting with a student, how your work, wherever you're sitting is matters to the county and the counties that we serve.

And this is, in a nutshell, an economic... These are like high level summaries of a huge study that was done to see the impact of Delta in general.

And you can see that we've added $469.7 million to the economy.

6,318 jobs, and I think the most important bullet point is that one out of 33 jobs in three counties that we serve is a result, direct result of the education that we provide from Delta.

That's not a small.

That is not small.

You've seen this slide before.

Degree attainment in our three counties is not where we want it to be.

And that provides us, in my mind, a mission, right?

So our work at Delta should be directly, impacting these numbers over time.

And seeing the college as a tool to elevate these numbers, but also get people into a better life as a result of the work that we do.

Before we get into this.

This is my data nerd question.

So when I asked for this last year, when I saw the 26.8 the 10% jump in completion rate, I was like, okay, that can't be right, because that's so unheard of.

So I was like, how many?

Luckily, the number of people we graduated too went up similarly, and within that, both at the percent and the number, our equity numbers have gone up.

So with regard to last year, it was 16.9% increase overall in number, not percent, but also 6.4% more Hispanic students and 9.2% more African American students.

The other metric was 20% and 20% for Hispanic and African American, respectively.

Our retention rate for this year is at 63%.

This morning we added about 1200 contact hours as of last night, so I hope that number even goes up.

Our enrollment is looking very good.

the black bar on the right hand side, ‘25-26 indicates where fall is.

You can see that we should hit our budget goal with winter very easily and be over our projected enrollment.

If we keep doing the work we do, all we're doing.

Grants are being cut.

I told you about two stories about those.

Then we also have, as you know, NPR and PBS station on our campus.

I will let you know if you have not seen already.

Our employee giving campaign is focused on, one of the focus of that is to make sure that we fund NPR and PBS as much as we can.

We're going to do everything we can to make sure that those two stay with the college, and we have done some good work to make sure that they do.

You may or may not have seen, however, that CPB the, the entity that is the national organization for that has been eliminated But there's all kinds of ways in which we are trying to navigate this, and I don't I couldn't it's very complex, but at the end of the day, our goal is to make sure we maintain those two, as part of our service to the community.

Just a couple other elements.

Continue to remember we have two major goals equitable transfer and completion.

Last year to that end, we created 13 new academic programs which is a great number.

16 more transfer agreements with ten more pending.

And you'll notice that Corning is on campus.

Specially in the S wing.

And some people have noted the influx of folks and sometimes they're a little bit loud.

But I will tell you, it's created 984 people with jobs that didn't have them in a short 6 to 9 months.

The Delta College K Wing stood untouched since its construction in 1961.

This summer marked the beginning of a $5.7 million renovation to address growing student and workforce needs.

To get an update on it and other college construction projects, we talked to Anthony Khalil, Planning and Construction Manager.

K Wing was actually part of the original building here at Delta that was built in 1961.

Being a 64 year old building, you can imagine that K wing was in need of renovation And certainly had some small renovations through the years, but it still had that 60s vibe.

I guess you could say.

In addition to the esthetics of the building systems like the heating, ventilating and air conditioning, the, electrical, the data, all those, those building systems were antiquated and needed to be brought up to current standards.

We actually started working on this project back in 2016, and we started some of the planning about two years later in 2018, that got put on hold because of a number of other projects that we had going on, such as the new Saginaw Center, the new Midland Center, the broadcasting renovation.

But we picked it up again and in 2021, and at that time, it was decided that we were going to try and go for state funding for the project.

But in July of 2024, we, we received the news that we had state funding for the project so we can move forward.

And then, construction began on January of 2025.

With the conclusion of our K wing, we've added actually an additional 4,700 sq.

ft.

to the building.

There'll be three, additional computer labs in that space, as well as a student lounge area.

The student lounge area is important because it will give an opportunity for students to collaborate outside of class and space for them to to do some quiet study space for them to just take a break between classes.

The renovation of K wing is going to help our students in so many ways.

Everything from occupant comfort to upgraded technology and enhanced belonging.

Delta exists in part to help students succeed in a high tech workplace.

To do that, we must be at the forefront of technology.

Here in our K Wing project we're a little bit behind our original schedule, but we're close.

We're about 90% and we should be wrapping it up pretty soon.

Our D wing also went through some construction this summer.

The wing was identified in our campus master plan as an area that needed pretty extensive renovations.

That's down the roadways, but we had to do something in the meantime to address some of the critical issues.

Many of our advisors were working in an open office environment, which, when meeting with students, doesn't afford the privacy that's often required.

So we constructed enough enclosed offices that our students could have the privacy that they need when they're meeting with their advisors.

Another project that we're wrapping up right now is our Chiller Plant.

And Chiller Plant is what provides the cooling for the entire campus.

We did a major upgrade of our chiller plant.

We replaced chillers, cooling towers, pumps, many of the components that make up that system.

With these changes, we're going to be able to use a lot less energy than we were before, and our maintenance costs will be much lower.

It's a much simpler system than we had before.

With the conclusion of these projects and the upgrades weve made, we're hoping to give the students a better learning environment.

Delta College recently hosted its 8th annual 5k Color Run, hosted by the Physical Therapist Assistant and Dental Hygienist Clubs, the event continues to grow larger each year.

Let's tag along with this year's event.

The color run is a thing that we throw together.

It's kind of a 5K race, and we do it to help raise funds, to help pay for our board exams and our licensing fees for when we graduate in April.

But it's also a really good way to get the community together.

It's a good way to exercise and it's just like a really fun experience overall.

I think it's a really different type of race.

Its very important to stay active, just to continue to have that range of motion and continuing to move and participate in these activities is just a way that we can celebrate that we have movement to begin with.

It's just like a really fun way to get people together, and people really enjoyed it.

So, 8:00, the racers come in to register.

We're going to hand them off three packets of colors so they can throw in the air.

At 9:00, we begin the festivities.

Everybody gets together in a really tight group, and we throw that color up in the air.

And then from that moment on, they're off.

They're starting that run.

The first two miles, you're going to come across the field.

We're going to get sprayers out there to get you with the wet color.

And then that last mile is a little bit more in the woods again.

Then you're going to come out to that open field and we do that last powder throw on them.

And that's when it's all done, finished.

There was a lot of planning for the Color Run, but it all went smoothly.

So basically it's just a big team job to have everything come together at once.

I believe we started this whole process back in May, so it's a very long process for everybody.

We wore a lot of different hats and delegated different jobs to everybody.

So everybody had a little bit of a piece, and it was really nice how everyone came together.

Any sort of sponsorships or donations, we have to reach out to local businesses to get those.

But there was also a lot of teamwork when it came to the little things.

There's a lot that goes into it, but it's been going on for quite a few years to the point that it runs very smoothly.

Chris is really good at organizing it all.

So I would say to someone who is trying to go to the next color on that, it's a good way to get moving.

It's a fun experience and it's also a good way to like, meet new people.

And I feel like there were a lot of people that probably never even met each other that were just talking to each other because everything was just really fun and it's a good way to, like, get mingling and just an extra activity to do.

And it was really nice just cheering each other on.

Does it matter like what type of athletic ability you have just walking in and, running it.

It was just really fun to see the community come together in that way.

Overall, the color on this year turned out super, super fun.

We had the race, we had yard games, we had snacks, refreshments, music, all that type of stuff.

So the next color run will be next September and we invite anyone to come.

Like I said, family friendly walkers, runners, any type of person.

We welcome you to come to the next color run.

Delta College recently hosted a screening of the documentary The American Constitution.

David Garrigus, award winning filmmaker, is taking his film and a city to city roadshow before it airs on PBS stations in 2026.

To hear more about this, we talked to Lisa Lawrason, Professor of Political Science.

The Democracy Commitment at Delta College in conjunction with our Constitution Day committee, was pleased to host David Garrigus, director of The American Constitution film.

This is a film that kind of gets behind the scenes of how the Constitution was made.

Some of the debates between the Founding Fathers at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. and really outlined some of the principles upon which our Constitution was founded.

It was really a treat to have David Garrigus on campus to answer questions from students, faculty, staff, the community about the making of the film.

Additionally, we had political science professor and historian Ryan Peterson on hand to answer questions about the the history of the Constitution.

During the Q & A portion, David Garrigus was asked where he got the inspiration to make this film, which was 15 years in the making.

I mean, I had success making this invention documentary, historical invention, documentary about the airplane.

So I was looking for another invention, and I thought, gosh, there hasn't been a film like that about the Constitution, how it how it was made.

It started out that I wanted to tell that historical story, but then getting into it, I realized, hey, this is this is so relevant.

Everything they did there is entirely relevant to today.

It's the same Constitution we have to live under and abide by today.

So that's what kind of inspired me and kept me on that journey I felt like I needed to explore those aspects to it.

It's more of a, as a constitutional scholar would look at it rather than a just an historian would look at it.

Since 1952, the United States Congress has designated September 17th as Constitution Day across this country, of course, institutions of higher education play a pivotal role in constitution literacy.

As a political scientist, I believe this is so vitally important for citizens to understand the principles upon which the Constitution was based and the place it holds in our political system.

Because if we don't understand these principles, we forget that the Constitution is a contract between we the people and the government.

And if we want to ensure that contract is upheld, we have to know what the contract entails.

It's so important for citizens today to understand that the power of the government is limited by the Constitution, and to hold our elected officials accountable for abiding not only by the letter of the law and the Constitution, but also the spirit behind the Constitution, which really came out in the film that Delta offered to students, faculty, staff and community members on this event.

The Delta College Fitness and Recreation Center, offers students and the community an opportunity to pursue their fitness goals in a friendly, well-maintained, and encouraging environment.

To tell us more about this exceptional facility, we talked with Shane Bishop, Fitness and Recreation Center Manager.

The Delta College Fitness and Rec Center opened its doors in 2004, where we remodeled everything, and we have a cardio room, a functional fitness room, a weight room, and our pool, which are our main attractions.

One of the more popular areas of the fitness center is our pool.

It's a 260,000 gallon pool where we have a dive well, lap lanes, a resistance river, a zero entry with toys for the little ones and a slide for the weekends for the kids to come play on.

We have our cardio room which features state of the art cardio equipment.

We also have a circuit set up in the center with Nautilus machines.

we also have a weight room that has over 2,000 pounds in dumbbells alone, and three squat racks and several all the benches and a lot of free weights to use.

Also on the main floor we have our functional fitness room that has additional pieces of cardio equipment such as a StairMaster and rowers.

It also features more exercise geared equipment that is designed to be more functional for life.

Such as battle ropes, landmine equipment that we also have the forever rope where you can just pull on a rope forever.

And we also have medicine balls and slam balls in that room as well.

Upstairs we have our gymnasium, where we will be hosting intramural sports this fall and next spring.

We are able to host basketball games there and we also have it set up for pickleball In addition to the basketball courts upstairs, we also have the racquetball courts, which can be set up for racquetball, handball or even Wally Ball where you set up a volleyball that inside.

Also upstairs is our fitness on demand studio, where we offer many different types of classes.

You come in search on the iPad out in front, and you can check to see what kind of classes there are.

Pick out whichever class you want to take and go ahead and press play.

The students are offered lifelong wellness classes which teach them how to exercise.

And even in the science and nutrition of exercise class, it teaches you the balance between body nutrition and exercise and how to help, how to live a healthier life.

For those interested in staying outside on campus, we also have the the nature trails over seven miles of trails where you get to walk around, be outside and even interact with a lot of the wildlife we have here on campus.

We are open to the students staff and as well the community.

We offer memberships for all three.

Every year we offer ten free passes to both students and faculty to come in and try out the fitness center.

We're very proud of our fitness center here at Delta College.

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out at (989)686-9026.

Or you can email us at fitness@delta.edu.

Or you can check out our website at delta.edu/fitness.

I want to thank Shane and the rest of the crew of the fitness center for the work they're doing for the Delta College community.

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 October.

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

As part of the President Speaker Series, Delta College welcomes activist and award winning filmmaker Shalini Contagio to Delta College on Tuesday, October 14th, at 10 a.m.

Join us for this entertaining and interactive presentation entitled Story Leads to Action.

The event will be held in the Lecture Theater.

Have you ever throught about traveling and studing abroad as part of your Delta College experience?

If so, there are study abroad scholarships available to give you a rewarding, life-changing experience.

Scholarships are available until October 30.

For more information visit delta.edu/scholarships The Delta College Foundation will host the annual Possible Dream fundraiser A Chocolate Affair, on Thursday, November 6th at Horizons Conference Center in Saginaw.

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 delta.edu.

Well, that wraps up our show.

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

Now, I leave you with the sights and sounds of Delta College.

For Dateline Delta, I'm Diane Middleton, thanks for watching.

Local production scene on Delta College Public Media are made possible with support from viewers like you.

Thank you.