The coming of age musical, “Edges: A Song Cycle” will be presented by Northern Essex Community College’s Top Notch Players on Friday, February 19, and Saturday, February 20, at 7:30 p.m. in the Chester W. Hawrylciw Theater on the third floor of the Spurk Building on the Haverhill campus.

The musical was written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul in 2005 when they were 19-year-old undergraduates in musical theatre at the University of Michigan. They wrote their own show after being unhappy with the roles they were assigned in musical theatre productions.

The NECC adaptation will be directed by Northern Essex student Geehae Moon of Haverhill, with fellow NECC student Christian Doyle of Newburyport as assistant director. The musical director is Brian Nickerson of Amesbury.

Edges is a musical that confronts the trials and tribulations of becoming adults and the search for love, commitment, and meaning, says NECC theater professor Jim Murphy.

Tickets are $10 for general admission and $8 for students and senior citizens. Tickets are available at the door or at www.MVarts.info.

The musical’s most famous song, “Be My Friend”, has come to be commonly known as the “Facebook song”

In 2006 Pasek and Paul won a $20,000 Jonathan Larson Award, becoming the youngest to ever win the award, which was established by the estate of “Rent” composer Jonathan Larson to encourage composers, lyricists, and book writers at the beginning of their careers.

NECC offers an associate degree in Liberal Arts: Theatre Option which offers the opportunity to sample various aspects of theater. Individuals can take courses in acting, directing, improvisation, children’s theater and may earn credits for working on college productions in stage management and technical theater. Graduates can pursue many career paths or transfer to a bachelor’s program in acting, directing, or technical theater for employment as an actor, theater manager, house manager, stage manager, set, lighting, costume or sound designer, technical director, or scenic artist director.

For additional information or to request sign language interpreting contact Murphy at jmurphy@necc.mass.edu or 978-556-3377.

The Music Program at Northern Essex Community College will offer two free master classes in the art of piano playing by NECC music faculty member Christina Dietrich, Sunday, March 6, at 5 p.m. and Sunday, April 3 at 4 p.m. in the Hartleb Technology Center on the Haverhill campus, 100 Elliot St.

The purpose of these free workshops will be to give pianists the chance to perform and learn in a cooperative group setting. Solo piano works and instrumental and vocal works with piano accompaniment of various levels of difficulty will be explored. Various aspects of piano performance and preparation will also be discussed. Students at all levels of playing ability will benefit from attending these workshops.

Professor Dietrich has appeared as a soloist with several orchestras. She has performed on the stages of Jordan Hall in Boston, Symphony Hall in Boston, and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York. She earned a bachelor’s in music from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, her master’s in music from Boston University and pursued her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at that institution.

In addition to maintaining a concert career, Professor Dietrich is currently piano faculty and new department co-chair at Indian Hill Music, new faculty at the Steinway Piano Academy Boston/Natick, adjunct professor at both Mount Wachusett Community College and Northern Essex Community College, and founder/director of the Chopin Conservatory of Music on the North Shore.  She has held faculty positions at the New England Conservatory of Music, Brookline Music School and North Shore Community College. Professor Dietrich regularly presents master classes in the art of piano performance, and is the artistic director of the Summer Music Festival at Northern Essex Community College, now in its sixth season.

For more information about these workshops contact Christina Dietrich at cdietrich@necc.mass.edu.

Northern Essex Community College offers an Associate of Arts Degree in General Studies: Music and a Music Technology Certificate.

Dr. Carlos Santiago, the Massachusetts commissioner of higher education, was the special guest at the February 3 meeting of the Northern Essex Community College Board of Trustees.

After spending a day at Northern Essex, meeting with students, faculty, staff, community partners, and business leaders on both the Haverhill and Lawrence campuses, the newly appointed commissioner reported that he was pleased with what he saw.  “Your students are thankful and appreciative of the education they get here.  And the links between the college and the community are strong.”

Dr. Santiago is visiting all campuses within the public higher education system to share his vision for public higher education in the state and learn more about each campus.

As commissioner, Dr. Santiago reported that he will be focusing on the three priorities outlined in the Vision Project: boosting college completion; closing achievement gaps; and attracting more students from underserved populations.

With each group that he met with, including the trustees, the commissioner shared statistics illustrating why educating more Massachusetts residents is critically important.

According to the commissioner, 50 percent of residents currently have a bachelor’s degree in a state where 80 percent of jobs require a bachelor’s degree.

“Employers tell us if we don’t find the talent, they will go elsewhere.  We need to be sure that Massachusetts remains on top.”

In order to achieve these goals, he said the DHE will focus on creating additional pipelines for transfer from community colleges to four-year colleges.  “This is part of getting students through more quickly,” he said.  Affordability will also be a major focus, and the commissioner hinted that a new initiative to make a public bachelor degree even more affordable than it currently is may be announced soon.

The first Latino Commissioner of Higher Ed in Massachusetts, Dr. Santiago is an economist who is a former CEO of the Hispanic College Fund and the former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  Here’s a link to his bio.  He was appointed as commissioner by Governor Baker in July of 2015.

 

Academic Support Services

Is Focus of Educational Report

 

Donna Bertolino, assistant dean of academic support services, reported that the college’s PACE (Pathways to Academic and Career Excellence) program, which has been on campus for 35 years, providing support services for 250 low income, first generation students each year, has been refunded for five years.

The $2,195,760 million grant will fund four staff people.

Bertolino also shared that the college’s tutoring center, which was restructured last year to provide integrated tutoring services for students in developmental and college level courses, is helping an increasing number of students.  There has been a 28 percent increase in the number of students who are in college level courses visiting the center; a 68 percent increase in students using online tutoring; and a 7 percent increase in attendance at supplemental instruction review sessions, which are available weekly in selected courses.

According to Bertolino, the Testing Center in Lawrence has seen tremendous growth and is now offering walk-in testing four days and evenings per week.  The Haverhill Campus Testing Center was recently certified nationally as a Pearson VUE Test Center, offering 1000 certification exams.  The Testing Center was also recertified nationally and locally as a certified center for CLEP, HiSet, the College Board, and ATI testing.

 

Updates to Campus Smoking Policy

 

When the college’s current smoking policy—which allows smoking on campus in private vehicles only— was approved in 2008, devices like electronic cigarettes and vapors weren’t an issue.

Those devices have now become popular and, as a result, the college requested an addition to the current policy which would clarify that these kind of devices are not allowed on campus.

Trustees unanimously approved the new wording:

“The policy establishes the college as a smoke free environment at Northern Essex Community College and for the purpose of this policy smoking includes the burning of tobacco or any other material in any type of smoking equipment, including but not limited to cigarettes, cigars, pipes, or other devices such as e-cigarettes, or vaporizers.”

 

NEASC Gives NECC the Go-Ahead

 

President Lane Glenn reported that the college received good news from NEASC (the New England Association of Schools and Colleges), the college’s regional accrediting association.

The college fifth-year interim report was approved, meaning no additional reporting is required until the 2020 full ten-year report.

NEASC also approved two “substantive changes” for the college: an off-campus instructional location at Greater Lawrence Technical School (GLTS) and implementation of competency-based education.

The college has plans to launch an Advanced Manufacturing degree and selected courses will be taught at GLTS.  GLTS received $1.2 million in state funding two years ago to equip an advanced manufacturing lab that would be used by GLTS and NECC students.

The college also received permission to offer competency based education (CBE) programs, specifically in computer applications and art.  Competency based education is a new model of teaching and learning, which allows students to proceed at their own pace, receiving credit when they have mastered the material.

 

New Appointments

 

Trustees unanimously approved what President Lane Glenn called “a significant new position” at the college.

Effective in April, Kelly Saretsky will be the college’s dean of planning, institutional research & effectiveness.

“We’ve combined three areas of the college into one,” said Glenn.

Saretsky has been most recently the director of institutional research and planning at the College of North Atlantic in Qatar.  She has a PhD in higher education leadership from the University of Calgary.

The board also affirmed the appointment of eight employees who were hired during the winter intersession, including Daniel Richer, director of admissions & recruitment; Daniel Malave, director of student conduct, Jason Termini, instructor, Computer Information Sciences; Frederico Curty, staff assistant, Academic Technology, Library; Vengerflutta Smith, enrollment/academic counselor; Susan Leonardi, assistant librarian; Katelynn Donnelly, staff assistant, Public Safety and Transportation; and Revathi O’Neal, technical support analyst, Enrollment Services.

 

Dr. Carlos Santiago, Massachusetts commissioner of higher education since July, visited Northern Essex Community College on Wednesday, Feb. 3. to share his priorities with faculty, staff, students, trustees, and community partners.

Dr. Santiago, who is the state’s first Latino commissioner of higher education, said he will focus on getting more people enrolled in college, increasing college completion rates, and closing achievement gaps.

This is important, he says, because only 50 percent of Massachusetts residents have a bachelor’s degree, and 80 percent of jobs require a bachelor’s.   He also reported that one third of our workforce is 55 years old or older, predicting a “slew” of retirements in the next 10 years.

“We need to create pipelines to help more Massachusetts residents graduate from college,” said Santiago.  “Employers tell us if we don’t produce a workforce with the skills they need they will go elsewhere.”

While in Lawrence, the commissioner met with staff and students in the NECC Student Success Center, which provides services including counseling, mentoring, and career exploration to approximately 600 students each year, the majority of whom are first generation Latino students.

He asked students what has been most helpful to them and what could be improved.

Maireny Rodriguez-Aquino, an engineering science major from Lawrence, described the challenges of trying to complete an associate degree in two years and the cost of textbooks.  “I will take fewer credits, so I have the money to buy books.”

Another challenge, especially for first generation students, is navigating the path to college.  “You need to encourage people to go to college.  Dealing with the MCAS, SATs, and college applications can be crazy,” said Rodriguez-Aquino.

The commissioner spent the morning on the Lawrence Campus.  In addition to visiting the Student Success Center, he attended an open house for the Guided Pathways to Success in STEM program, a grant funded program that helps align college programs with workforce needs; visited with the college’s education partners, including President Hays of Regis College, Jeff Riley, superintendent, Lawrence Public Schools; and John Lavoie, superintendent/director,  Greater Lawrence Technical School; and members of the Lawrence Partnership, a consortium of community and business leaders.

He spent the afternoon in Haverhill, meeting with President Lane Glenn’s cabinet and the college’s board of trustees.

Dr. Santiago is an economist who is a former CEO of the Hispanic College Fund and the former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.   He was appointed as commissioner by Governor Baker in July of 2015.  His visit to Northern Essex was part of his plan to visit all of the 29 colleges in the Commonwealth.