Northern Essex has something new for those over 50.  This spring, the college will launch its College of Older Learners (CoOL) which features seminars led by seniors for seniors.

The four-week seminars will meet once a week on Wednesday afternoons, and topics will vary from an exploration of sacred geometry to living with hearing loss. The first series will begin March 23 with four topics to choose from.

George Medelinskas, professor of computer science at Northern Essex, came up with the idea of creating a seminar-styled learning opportunity for seniors, spent a recent sabbatical studying programs at other colleges, and then worked with a group of area seniors  as well as his colleagues to create a program at Northern Essex.

“Our goal is learning for the joy of learning,” says Medelinskas.  “Everyone, including the seminar leader, will approach the topic with a beginner’s mind.  All seminars will engage in active learning”.

Peter Spellman of West Newbury, who has been involved in CoOL planning, has experience with seminar learning.  “These things come together from the passion of the person who is teaching it.”

This spring, Medelinskas will lead a group in sacred geometry, adjunct art professor Kate Zehner will discuss Sogyal Rinpoche’s “Tibetan Book of Living and Dying” and community members Richard Mullen and Ben Coughlin will explore the importance of being an informed citizen and deaf culture respectively.

Those interested in a brief overview of what will be offered this spring are invited to attend a seminar sampler on Wednesday, March 9 from 2 to 4 p.m. in the ArtSpace in the Bentley Library on the Haverhill Campus.

For more information, contact Medelinskas at gmedelinskas@necc.mass.edu.

Beginning in April, NECC academic advisors will have a new tool, DegreeWorks, to help them develop and personalize academic plans for students. The students, in turn, will be able to access and review their plans 24 hours a day. Advisors will train the students when they come in for advanced registration at the beginning of the month.

DegreeWorks, is a web-based advisement tool, that enhances the student and advisor’s control over whether the student is enrolled in the correct courses to complete graduation requirements in their program of study.

Accessed through the “My NECC” button on the NECC website, students can use it as a road map to insure they are on the right track. With a few clicks of the mouse, DegreeWorks matches students’ academic and course history against the degree requirements in the course catalog. Students can independently view the degree requirements and identify the courses he or she still needs to complete in order to receive their associate degree or certificate.

Advisors, in turn, can use DegreeWorks as a tool to evaluate a student’s progress.

Perhaps the most important feature of DegreeWorks is the “planner” tab which serves as a communication tool between the student and advisor.

There is a helpful “What If” tab that allows students to plug in a program different from the one they are in to see how credits already taken will apply. They can also plug in a course they are considering enrolling in and see how it will apply toward degree requirements.

In addition, students can view the schedule of classes and select the courses they want to take. They will have access to the course description as well as pre- and co- requisites as well as possible graduation dates.

To see the DegreeWorks overview sign on to “My NECC” go to “self service” click on the faculty tab and then the DegreeWorks link.

A fare thee well party was held in January for Elizabeth “Lissa” Archer, who after more than two decades decided it was time to join the ranks of the retired. During her time here, Lissa worked in several departments mostly recently the mail room.

A college in the Middle East is now benefiting from the important work which Northern Essex has done with Appreciative Inquiry. Lane Glenn, vice president of academic affairs and president-elect, traveled to Doha, Qatar in January to share NECC’s success in using appreciative inquiry as a planning tool with the College of the North Atlantic-Qatar. Interested in building a strengths-based campus, the college invited Glenn to visit and train faculty and staff. “The college hopes to expand their use of Appreciative Inquiry, Strengths-Finder, and other “appreciative” tools the way NECC has been able to do,” says Glenn. “Then, they hope to share their work with other colleges in the Middle East.” The capital of Qatar, Doha is located on the Persian Gulf.

NECC alumnus and current Salem State University student Ozan Haksever won the best director award at the Kennedy Center American College Region I Theater Festival in January and, as a result, will represent Region 1 at the National Festival in Washington DC in April. Haksever competed against student directors from colleges and universities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and East¬ern New York. He will receive his bachelor of fine arts degree from Salem State this May. He was recently appointed as the artistic director of the Ghostlight Theater in New Hampshire where he was involved for many years and directed several plays. He will direct Waiting for Godot this summer there.

NECC Alumna Alexandra Pecci recently wrote a tourism book on the city of Salem titled Salem: A Guide to America’s Bewitching City. It will be released April 1.Here is a link to it on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Salem-Americas-Bewitching-Tourist