Kirtland Community College
 | |
| Motto | Be the future |
|---|---|
| Type | Community college |
| Established | 1966 |
| President | Dr. Thomas Quinn |
| Location |
Roscommon County, Michigan, United States 44°29′27″N 84°24′52″W / 44.4908°N 84.4144°WCoordinates: 44°29′27″N 84°24′52″W / 44.4908°N 84.4144°W |
| Campus | Rural |
| Nickname | Firebirds |
| Mascot | Sparky |
| Website |
www |
Kirtland Community College is a taxpayer-funded, two-year community college located in Roscommon County, Michigan in the United States.
History
Kirtland is accredited by the Michigan Commission on College Accreditation and the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The college also holds membership in the Michigan Community College Association and the American Association of Community Colleges. The Higher Learning Commission, a commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools granted Kirtland Community College status as a candidate for accreditation in 1972, and the college has been accredited as an associate degree-granting institution since 1975. The college is named after the Kirtland's warbler.
Founded in 1966 under the provisions of Michigan's Public Act 188 of 1955, it is the state's largest community college district geographically, totaling 2,500 square miles (6,500 km2) and consisting of all or part of nine counties. Approximately 65,000 people reside within the district. Kirtland opened the doors of its five portable classrooms in 1968 with 160 students. Funding for the original land purchase came from local residents in the form of bond incentives.
Kirtland’s central campus, located at 10775 N. St. Helen Road, Roscommon, Michigan, approximately eight miles north of St. Helen, is close to the geographic center of the college’s district, is accessible by F-97 from the north and south and by M-18 to County Road 603 from the west. The location is very rural and is approximately 170 miles north of Detroit, Michigan.[1]
Online and on-campus courses
Kirtland offers 48 degree and certificate programs which includes six transfer associate degree programs (allowing students to complete up to half of a bachelor's degree prior to enrollment at a four-year university) in arts, business, computers, criminal justice, fine arts, science and teaching. Nine degrees and certificates currently are offered entirely online.
In addition to the central campus near Roscommon, Kirtland also has extension sites in West Branch and Gaylord. Kirtland established the Michigan Technical Education Center (M-TEC) site in Gaylord, Michigan, where in addition to general education classes, instructors deliver technical education in fields including electrical technology, heating/ventilation/AC/refrigeration, mechatronics, welding and fabricating and cardiac sonography
Kirtland operates on a semester calendar. There are two 15-week semesters, starting in late August and mid-January. A shorter session is offered during the summer and begins in May.
Courses offered: Nursing, Cardiac sonography, Medical Assistant, Surgical technology, Health Information Technology, Certified Nursing Assistant course, Pharmacy Technician, EMT and Paramedic, and Phlebotomy Technician course.
Recent developments
In the fall of 2010, Kirtland Community College was notified of a five-year, $2 million federal grant award to expand online learning and outreach programs and services. The grant identified Kirtland’s need to expand online learning and outreach programs and services. Kirtland’s Title III project will expand online courses, certificates and degrees; increase opportunities for faculty professional development; upgrade classroom technology to support effective pedagogy; develop comprehensive online services and information to support all learners; and increase resource development capacity.
- Funding Source: U.S. Dept of Education
- Award Amount: $2,000,000
- Start Date: October 1, 2010
- End Date: September 30, 2015
The grant will also increase opportunities for professional development for faculty members. 100 full-time and adjunct faculty members will participate in a faculty development cohort and pilot their new skills in a class compared to a baseline of zero in 2009-2010. Fall-to-fall persistence of students taking only online courses is expected increase to 40.0% compared to the four-year unweighted average baseline of 30.4%.
As Kirtland Community College continues to grow in population, and as the educational needs grow within the district, the college has acknowledged that need and has increased its physical size. A recent decision to purchase land in the city of West Branch, MI is designed to enhance the surgical technology courses offered by the school. The amount of the purchase exceeds $307,000. Those funds will provide nearly four more acres of land nearer to the West Branch Regional Medical Center where some of the students may observe or practice clinical skills.
On the main campus in Roscommon the rooms are being redesigned as "active learning classrooms", in which rows of desks or tables are replaced with round tables placed throughout the room. Rooms are equipped with Tegrity, a lecture recording system for recording class discussions which can be uploaded to the school's grading website.[3]
Performing arts
Kirtland Community College is home to the Center for Performing Arts. The Center’s G.I. Stewart Auditorium is an 846-seat, modified-thrust theater. The Kirtland Center for Performing Arts hosts Kirtland’s Performing Artists Series. The series brings a variety of world-class entertainment to the campus including bigger names that appeal to a wider audience. The Travel Adventure Series also is very popular. Six shows are performed at the center each year and all are open to the public. The Performing Artists Series has approximately 4500 patrons attending each season.
The Kirtland Center is also host to the Kirtland Youth Theatre, the Kirtland Community Theatre and all campus-related group meetings requiring a large seating capacity, including graduation ceremonies for the college. Kirtland Youth Theatre presents an annual series that introduces the students of the area to live performing arts including theatre, music and dance in a theatre setting. Kirtland Community Theatre annually produces plays/dinner theatres featuring Kirtland Community College area citizens.[4]
Athletics
The college competes in intercollegiate athletics as a member of the Eastern Conference of the Michigan College Athletic Association. The Kirtland Firebirds compete in men's and women's golf and cross-country running. Kirtland has half- to full-ride scholarships available.
Kirtland Cross-Country’s head coach is Don Haskin. Haskin has coached cross country and track for the last 25 years. He was an assistant cross country and track coach at Saginaw Valley State University from 1984-1991, after winning two national championships as a student-athlete in SVSU's track program.
Kirtland’s Golf coach is Ryan Madis.[5]
At their November 21 meeting, the Kirtland Community College Board of Trustees voted 4-2 to suspend the men’s and women’s basketball programs indefinitely following the completion of the 2013-14 season. According to NJCCA league bylaws, regulations for financial aid, and college policy, all current scholarships for student athletes playing basketball will be honored for the duration of their scholarship.[6]
Kirtland added bowling to their athletics department in January of 2015. Kirtland's athletic director, Don Haskins, hired Dean Speer to coach KCC's new bowling team. Speer is the owner/operator of Hi-Skore Lanes in West Branch, MI. "He's also a certified instructor for the United States Bowling Congress. He has bowled in the Michigan Majors and coaches the Ogemaw Heights varsity bowling team." This new athletic team creates many new opportunities for the students at Kirtland. This team gives students the opportunity to continue the sport while furthering their education. The team also creates sports scholarships for students who qualify. The team is a co-ed team. The current team consists of 11 students, five females and six males.[7]
Notes
- ↑ Esch, Marj. http://www.kirtland.edu/about-kirtland. Missing or empty
|title=(help); External link in|website=(help); - ↑ "Health Sciences Center at Grayling | Kirtland Community College, MI". www.kirtland.edu. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
- ↑ Stefan Holodnick
- ↑ Esch, Marj. http://www.kirtlandcenter.org. Missing or empty
|title=(help); External link in|website=(help); - ↑ http://www.kirtland.edu/firebird-athletics
- ↑ http://www.kirtland.edu/firebird-athletics
- ↑ http://www.kirtland.edu/kirtland-adds-bowling.html