GCC delegates special projects to staff

By CHARITY SMITH

[email protected]

Ironwood — Several employees at Gogebic Community College are being given a chance to assist with upper management level projects as a result of a recent call for help by the board and college president George McNulty.

“Gogebic Community College’s decision to invest in the development of their current staff is welcomed,” said Glen Ackerman-Behr, GCC’s director of workforce development. “It demonstrates the current leadership’s willingness to hear feedback and provide opportunities for staff to grow within the college. Very exciting stuff.”

In January after months of performing double and even triple duty, McNulty decided to ask for help from the board. Projects were mounting as a result of the absence of both a vice president of student services and vice president of business.

Initially, the idea was for board member Tim Kolesar to step down from the board to take a temporary position as special projects coordinator. However the board was not too keen on the idea, especially after receiving feedback during a special meeting from Ackerman-Behr. He pointed out that the college was missing out on an opportunity to train and promote staff from within.

The board asked McNulty to survey the staff to see if there was any interest. McNulty did and said that initially interest was limited and he suggested hiring an external candidate. However, at the board’s request he resurveyed the staff with a more detailed list of the projects, the estimated time they would take, and financial benefit. He then said he received several responses indicating a great deal of interest from staff.

“Several employees from across campus really stepped up to fulfill these important projects at this time,” said McNulty.

The list of projects includes: overseeing the housing project which will be handled by Roberta Anders the administrative assistant to the president; and Steve Spets, director of Computer Services, will be handling the development and implementation request for proposal projects. McNulty will assist both Anders and Spets with these duties.

Other projects include biology instructor Chenin Limback conducting the Student Handbook’s update; Dayle Jackson, director of student outreach and engagement, doing the MI-Best project, and Candace Henry-Schroder, director of financial aid, will handle the Michigan College Access Network-College Completion Corp, Reconnect and Future for Frontliners program.

The projects are expected to take 10 to 12 hours to complete.