Dean Recognized for Innovative Idea

Southwestern Michigan College Dean of the School of Business and Advanced Technology Dr. Karen Reilly won second place and $5,000 in a recent statewide innovative idea pitch competition. Reilly was announced as a winner in the inaugural competition by the Michigan College Access Network (MCAN) at its 13th annual conference at Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant.

Mishawaka High School visits SMC for IT

A panel discussion featuring two Southwestern Michigan College students and presenters of five earlier breakout sessions concluded Mishawaka High School’s information technology visit Nov. 22.

Forester Highlights Career Paths

Jeff Steinkraus of Marcellus owns Steinkraus Forest Management and has been serving southwest Michigan and northern Indiana for almost 30 years, since 1995. As he told an audience Nov. 19 in the William P.D. O’Leary Building, he earned his bachelor’s degree in forestry in 1990 from Michigan Technological University and is a registered forester, a certified commercial pesticide applicator for Michigan and Indiana and a certified tree farm inspector.

Board Reminisces About Dr. Dan Stenberg

Dr. Daniel R. Stenberg, who was with Southwestern Michigan College in various capacities for 30 years, was remembered at the Nov. 13 meeting by a trustee who was his student. Chairman Tom Jerdon recalls Dr. Stenberg as demanding and “worldly,” making “every attempt to present the outside world to his students. His English text, The Four Worlds of Writing (the everyday world, the public world, the academic world, the work world) was challenging to say the least.”

Board Recognizes Criminal Justice Director

Southwestern Michigan College Board of Trustees, at its regular meeting Nov. 13 on the Niles campus, awarded Criminal Justice Director Dr. Donald Ricker with his 10-year service pin. Professor Ricker has overseen SMC’s award-winning CJ program since 2014, taking the reins in only its second year.

1980 SMC Nursing Graduate Left Cardiology for Anesthesiology

Rick VanTuyl grew up in Dowagiac, watching Original Road and Trail Race (now Steve’s Run) runners stream past his house at the foot of Wilbur Hill Road. VanTuyl, 64, graduated from Union High School in 1977 and earned his Southwestern Michigan College associate degree in nursing in 1980, the only man of five who made it to the finish line. Flash forward four decades and VanTuyl is at the pinnacle of his profession as a nurse anesthetist for Henry Ford Health since 2002.

SMC Fall Choir Concert Leans on Love, Opera

“Song and Saga,” Southwestern Michigan College’s fall choir concert, was performed Nov. 2 in the theatre of the Dale A. Lyons Building on the Dowagiac campus. Director of Choral Activities David Carew structured seven suites like the year-end Collage Concert, which unspools in a seamless stream of sound, unbroken by applause. “In general, the theme is love,” Carew said. “In this day and age, we need to lead with love, which is the title of the first piece” performed by the Collegiate Chorale.

SMC Founders Day Celebrates 60th Anniversary

Southwestern Michigan College, “a good idea that got loose in the world,” celebrated its 60th anniversary Nov. 1 with the inaugural Founders Day. Chloe Itimu, who aspires to become a pediatrician in her native Malawi, spoke as a student benefiting from support from the Aline Ahrens Memorial and Grady scholarships.

SMC Mourns Loss of Alumnus Scott Novak

Scott Novak, the dean of southwestern Michigan sportswriting for 40 years, died Oct. 23 at 63. Southwestern Michigan College’s final home volleyball game Oct. 29, a 3-1 win over the Glen Oaks Vikings, began with a moment-of-silence tribute, his visage smiling down from the video scoreboard. Novak got his start at SMC as sports editor of the campus newspaper, The Southwester, in 1981.

Costumed Audience Slips into Character at Creepy Concert

“Spooktacular,” Southwestern Michigan College’s Halloween-themed fall band concert Oct. 25, lived up to its name and then some. A 16-month-old toddler vigorously conducted the Symphonic Band for the Alma Mater, her baton a blur.