Campus
Communicator
JANUARY • 2014
Northern Honors MLK Day, Black History
She has volunteered at Laughlin
Memorial Chapel since 2000. She
was volunteer choir director in 2005
teaching the youth choir and continued to volunteer even after she retired
from Verizon Communications in
June of 2007.
In the fall of 2007, she was asked to
take the position of director of programs at the chapel where about 150
children attend the after-school and
summer programs. She was appointed
interim director in 2010 and executive
director in 2011.
Northern’s president, Dr. Martin J. Olshinsky, at right, was given the Martin Luther King Jr.
Award at ceremonies marking Wheeling’s commemoration of Martin Luther King Day this
year. From left are the Rev. Darrell Cummings, who is chair of the WVNCC Board of Governors and who received the “Living the Dream” Human and Civil Rights Award from West
Virginia’s Martin Luther King Jr. State Holiday Commission; the Rev. Marci Allen who received
the Rosa Parks Award; Dr. Helen M. Faso, dean of health sciences at Wheeling Jesuit University
and a long-time member of the local committee.
The Martin Luther King Jr. committee, coordinated by Wheeling
Jesuit University, on Jan. 19 honored
President Olshinsky with the Martin
Luther King Jr. Award. Also presented
by the committee was the Rosa Parks
Award.
Dr. Olshinsky and WVNCC have
been long-time supporters of the
MLK committee and events sponsored by the committee to honor
Martin Luther King and his vision. In
addition, the college has consistently
sponsored activities and events marking Black History Month in February.
Gregory Gibson Kenney
Presentations
Northern’s
three campuses
The recipient of the Rosa Parks award
will celebrate
was the Rev. Marci Allen of Laughlin
Black HisMemorial Chapel in Wheeling.
tory Month
Allen was ordained a minister in 2002.
in February
Prior to that, she was on the board of
via a tribute
WISE Ministries (Women In Search
to comedian
of Excellence) teaching, preaching,
Bill Cosby, one
singing and ministering to women in
Gregory Gibson Kenney of the most
need from 1995 to 2002. She served as
famous entertainers in the world.
a volunteer counselor for A Women’s
Concern Pregnancy Center, in Wash- Pittsburgh actor Gregory Gibson
Kenney will present his one-man
ington, Pa., from 2000-03 when she
show, “Hey, Hey, Hey: The Life of Bill
enrolled at Shiloh Bible Institute and
Cosby,” during special Lunch & Learn
graduated from Shiloh Bible Institute
sessions in Wheeling, Weirton and
in 2006.
New Martinsville.
Continued next page...
Wheeling Ca mpus
ern’s Wheeling campus for a Lunch
& Learn to celebrate Martin Luther
King Day. He performed as Dr. King
and presented excerpts from several
of King’s speeches to an appreciative
audience of 89 persons.
Gregory Gibson Kenney appears as Dr. Martin Luther King before a large audience Jan.
23 on the Wheeling campus.
All performances, which are free
and open to the public, will be held
at noon with a light lunch served at
11:30 a.m. Dates are Tuesday, Feb. 4,
at the B&O Building auditorium on
the Wheeling campus, 1704 Market
St.; Wednesday, Feb. 5, in Room 242,
Weirton campus, 150 Park Ave.; and
Thursday, Feb. 6, Room 110, New
Martinsville campus, 141 Main St.
All those wishing to attend, including
students and the public, should RSVP
to Ida Williams, student activities
program coordinator, at 304-214-8917
or by e-mail at iwilliams@wvncc.
edu prior to noon on Monday, Feb. 3.
Please stipulate which campus performance you wish to attend.
The program has been made possible
by a grant through the Diversity for
Equity program of the Higher Education Policy Commission and the
Community and Technical College
System in West Virginia.
Kenney’s program charts the “motivational, inspirational and funny
journey” of Cosby “from his humble
beginnings in the Philadelphia projects to becoming one of the most successful and respected performers in
the world.” The entertaining look describes how Cosby “reached his goals
through hard work, education, laughter and believing his dreams.” Cosby
recently announced a new chapter in
his life: he is interested in beginning a
new television comedy series.
Kenney is from Educate Us Productions. He appeared Jan. 23 at North-
Free of Charge
Stop in and – Get a Charge at your
library! Does your cell phone need
charged? Didn’t bring your charger?
The libraries on each campus now
have charging stations for your cell
phones and other small devices.
Each stand has eight charging cables
(four Apple (includes iPhone5), three
micro, one mini). These charge nearly
100% of devices. The charger pictured
is on the Weirton campus.
Annual Friends Dinner
Dr. Mary Marockie, long-time educator and volunteer in Wheeling, in
West Virginia and the nation, will be
honored for her service by Northern
at the upcoming annual fund-raising
dinner.
Dr. Marockie will be in the spotlight
at the event sponsored by the Wheeling campus Friends of the College and
the Foundation, to be held on Saturday, March 15, at the EC.
Wheeling campus Friends board
members have selected a dinner
theme to honor Dr. Marockie’s heritage and those in attendance will be
treated to gourmet dining as prepared
and served by the WVNCC Culinary
Arts department and students. Theme
for the 2014 dinner is “An Evening in
Tuscany” and there will be live entertainment, silent and live auctions and
a menu that promises to capture the
essence of that sunny Italian region.
Nick Zervos, president of the Friends
board, said, “Dr. Marockie’s dedication to education in general and to
West Virginia Northern in particular
is remarkable and deserves to be recognized and applauded. Please join us
in honoring her, and in raising funds
for the benefit of Northern’s students.”
Dr. Marockie is nearing completion
of her sixth year as president of the
WVNCC Foundation Board of
Trustees.
Chef Marian Grubor, college academic division chair and Culinary
Arts program director, has planned
a special menu for the evening in
Tuscany. The theme was a natural
one for Grubor who, as a volunteer,
is president of the Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival. She has
fashioned a meal that starts, of course,
with antipasta of cold meats and pears
with cheese and proceeds to zuppa
(a Tuscan vegetable soup), a dish of
wide pasta with light tomato sauce
and a main choice of either Tuscan
style pork roast or chicken roulades
with sage or a vegetarian choice. The
main dishes will be accompanied by
a broccoli rabe with white wine sauce
and roasted potatoes with herbs. Of
course, as with any truly Italian meal,
the insalata is served next and La
Dolce Vita will be tiramisu.
The dinner activities are held in the
Education Center lobby, Culinary
Arts dining room and multi-purpose
room. Ticket information can be
obtained by calling Rana Spurlock,
the college’s fund raising and development assistant, at extension 8906.
Dr. Marockie, who received her doctorate from West Virginia University
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Charleston. In addition, Dr. Marockie
served on the Dean’s Visiting Committee of the WVU College of Human
Resources and Education.
Dr. Marockie was instrumental in
co-creating the Ohio County Tutorial
Program which has been in operation
for 30 years. She was the founder and
impetus behind Ohio County’s awardwinning Beginning Teacher Program.
That program, which she developed
and built, became a prototype for the
statewide program. In addition, Dr.
Marockie created and designed the
Teach Reteach Process, a method to
prevent academic failure, which was
used throughout the state.
Dr. Mary Marockie, seated, will be honored
by West Virginia Northern Community College at its annual fund-raising dinner March
15 at the college. Standing, from left, are Nick
Zervos, president of the board of the Wheeling campus Friends of the College, and Rana
Spurlock, the college’s fund raising and development assistant.
in curriculum and instruction and
psychology, has credentials that have
taken her throughout the U.S. as a
consultant and speaker. She has done
doctoral graduate study at Ohio University and the University of Michigan, received her master’s from WVU
and her bachelor’s from the University
of Charleston where she majored in
education and psychology and was a
summa cum laude graduate.
The honoree was director of curriculum and research and was interim
director of the Regional Education
Services Agency, RESA-6, in Wheeling. She was chief consultant for the
Jefferson Right-to-Read Project in
Parkersburg; in-service coordinator
for the PACE Diagnostic Reading
Clinic for which she wrote the operating grant and served as psychometrican and has taught at WVU on campus for six years and for the Extension
service for three years, and at Ohio
University Eastern and Ohio University, Athens, and in Glenwood School,
As a much sought-after speaker, she
has given major presentations in 35
states and provided keynote addresses
for all Center for Professional Development institutes in West Virginia.
She is the only West Virginian elected
to the board of the International
Reading Association, with more than
100,000 members throughout the
world, and served as an association
presidential nominee.
Dr. Marockie was active with the
Association of Teacher Educators,
serving as chair of the State Council of
Presidents; member, National Commission on Induction; and member,
Blue Ribbon Commission on Reform. She also was president of the
West Virginia Association of Teacher
Educators. She served as vice chair
of the West Virginia State Vocational
Council, an appointee of the governor, as chairman of the West Virginia
Advisory Council on Reading and as
president of the West Virginia State
Reading Association. She writes a
quarterly publication for that organization. She received the Citation of
Merit from the West Virginia Reading
Association, the highest honor bestowed by the association.
As a consultant, she served schools
and colleges in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia, New
York, and others, and also was the
researcher and writer of numerous
grants and articles, serving on editorial boards of three major publications.
As a volunteer, she served as a state
board officer in the Black Diamond
Girl Scout Council, Newcomers Club
of Wheeling, American Association
of University Women, Parkersburg,
the YWCA of Parkersburg, and the
Wheeling Jesuit University Charter
Guild, and has volunteered with the
Wheeling Hospital Auxiliary, Florence
Crittenton Home, the United Way
and as a Wheeling City Council Ward
Delegate, among numerous others.
She is married to Dr. Hank Marockie.
They have a daughter, Felicia, who
is married to Michael Fisher, and a
grandson, Luke, from New York.
New Martinsville Ca mpus
Mathalicious
Jennifer Lantz, transitional education mathematics instructor, recently premiered Mathalicious, a project she did with her
Math 86 class on the New Martinsville campus.
During the semester the class learns about fractions and percentages. Later, circle graphs were covered. This project
combined those concepts, and the students got to choose a pack a candy (Skittles, M&Ms, Starburst.) Before they could
eat the candy they had to determine the percentage of red candies in the pack, blue candies, brown, etc. Then they had to
make a circle on Excel using their candy data.
“Overall, it was a lot of fun,” Jennifer said. “It even helped them brush up on their computer skills from CIT 117.”
ArtsLink Starts New Year
ArtsLink, the arts council of Wetzel and Tyler counties for which
WVNCC is a major sponsor, kicked
off its 13th year with the annual meeting on Jan. 13 at the Francis Creative
Arts Center in New Martinsville.
New Martinsville Campus Dean Larry
Tackett and Dean of Community
Relations Bob DeFrancis continue
to serve on the board while Miranda
Stokes, a former Northern employee
and daughter of faculty member
Charleen Stokes, was elected president
of the board.
All board meetings are open to the
public. Regular board meetings are
held on the fourth Monday of each
month except December, January and
July.
More information about ArtsLink is
available at the website, www.artslinkwv.org, by emailing artslink@artslinkwv.org or by calling 304-455-2278.
Welcome Back!
The students enjoyed pizza during
their first week back to college in January. Thanks to Student Activities for
sponsoring this event and for showing
our students that they are important
to us. This event was just one of the
first week’s welcome back activities
planned by Student Activities. CAB
member Ariel Monroe provided chips
and drinks to go along with the pizza
and she took the opportunity to talk
with as many of the students as possible about participating in CAB and
Student Government. It was a great
start to the semester.
From left, Ariel Monroe, CAB member;
Samantha Hawkins , Steve Carroll and Heidi
Watterson enjoy the pizza during Welcome
Back festivities.
Mechatronics at the New
Martinsville Campus
Thanks to the hard work of Ina Robinson, interim counselor; Larry Tackett,
dean, and Mike Koon, vice president
of workforce development, the New
Martinsville campus will be offering
some of the Mechatronics courses
beginning in February. These courses
were set up to help the displaced
workers from Ormet who lost their
jobs when the plant closed in October
2013. This group of new students will
begin classes in print reading, basic
electricity, workplace safety and technical math.
Because of this opportunity, the campus is welcoming two new adjunct
instructors, Dana Indermuhle and Byron Lehew, who will be teaching the
Mechatronics classes. Jennifer Lantz,
transitional education math instructor, added a section of technical math
as well.
6th Semi-Annual Biology Symposium
The 6th Semi-Annual Biology Symposium was held Dec. 4 and topics presented during this event are those which the
students have chosen and researched for their final project in Dr. Sherri Buerdsell’s Anatomy & Physiology and Microbiology classes.
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Student Christmas Party – Mega Game Show
There were big winners at this year’s Mega Game Show with Don Chamberlain and Louis Nickolas. The
student lounge was packed with students who eagerly awaited their turn to try to win a spot to go into
the Money Machine. Even some of our faculty and staff got involved with the fun and excitement! This
event was sponsored by Student Activities.
Everyone who came to watch or play enjoyed the antics of Don and Louis as they tested their knowledge of Christmas trivia. Those who got to get into the Money Machine were cheered on by their
friends as they tried to catch as much of the money as they could before it flew past them; they realized
that it is really harder to do this than it looks and the winners got to keep the money they collected.
Don Chamberlain, left, and Louis Nickolas, right,
meet the winners, from left, Katelyn Tennant, Kathy
Hicks and Patricia Wright.
Katelyn Tennant in the cube.
The New Martinsville
Christmas Parade
It was a cold night, but all had a great time
riding the WVNCC float and walking
alongside handing out candy to the children. The New Martinsville campus had
lots of compliments on our beautiful float,
and of course, the Thundering Chicken.
Thanks to everyone who braved the cold
to show the community that WVNCC is
a proud member of the New Martinsville
community.
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Tis’ the Season... for Christmas Memories! Good
times were had by all during this year’s Christmas
Party. Bottom left: Christmas Game Show winners
Thomas Bowman and Alayne Orison show off their
prizes with the hosts of the show Louis Nickolas
and Don Chamberlain. Middle: Jeffrey Yoklic grins
happily after winning almost $200 in the Cash
Cube! Bottom right: From left, Lisa Soly, JP Felekey
(Thundering Chicken 1), student Lita Burton and
Mark Moore (Thundering Chicken 2) proudly show
off the first place float trophy won in the Weirton
Christmas Parade. Lita and JP are student senator.
All rode on the float.
C h ri st m a s M
Ida Williams prepares
to take hand sanitizers
donated by the Weirton
nursing students to
assist Kanawha Valley
Community and
Technical College.
Ida and an SGA
representative will
travel to the Charleston
campus that was recently impacted by the
chemical contamination
to deliver the supplies.
e m o ri e s