News from our members

MWCC Humanities Project Continues with “Girls & Their Ghost Stories” at Athol Public Library

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Mount Wachusett Community College’s Humanities Project continues with “Girls and Their Ghost Stories: Feminism, Philosophy, and Frankenstein,” a free lecture and discussion taking place Thursday, March 24 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Athol Public Library.

The theme of this year’s MWCC Humanities Project, “Myths, Monsters, and Modern Science: Frankenstein’s Legacy,” takes an in-depth look at Mary Shelley’s 200-year-old novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, and its impact in the modern era.

How did Shelley, the daughter of radical thinkers Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin produce, at age 18, the best known Gothic tale of all time? MWCC Assistant Professor of Philosophy Daniel Soucy and Shelley Errington Nicholson, director of community learning at MWCC and an adjunct instructor at MWCC and Springfield College, will discuss the philosophical and political climate that influenced the writing of this classic novel.

The event is sponsored through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and is free and open to the public. For more information, visit mwcc.edu/humanitiesproject

 

4/5 – Free Training Workshop with the North Central Career Center

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We invite you to attend a free workshop on how to access funding to train your staff.  Employee development is critical to engaging, retaining and growing your staff -72% of disengaged employees say they don’t receive enough professional development and 43% of engaged employees say the same thing. Staff training can go a long way in retaining your best employees.

The Workforce Training Fund provides several different types of financial resources to businesses to train their employees — training increases productivity, competitiveness and staff retention.  Businesses can access the Workforce Training Fund for many different types of training including management, leadership skills, lean and productivity.

Attend this free workshop to learn which program best suits your company’s needs. The event is scheduled for April 5th, 9AM-10:30AM at the North Central MA Chamber of Commerce, 860 South Street, Fitchburg, MA.

Pre-registration is required by using this link:      http://www.eventbrite.com/e/workforce-training-fund-information-session-fitchburg-registration-21685150870

To view the flyer, please visit: http://www.ccncm.com/business/default.htm

The Nashua Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America has selected Martin F. Connors, Jr. to receive its Distinguished Citizen Award for 2016.

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Martin Connors joined Rollstone Bank & Trust as President and Chief Operating Officer and was subsequently promoted to President & CEO in 2005.  Rollstone Bank & Trust is an independent mutual savings institution with eight locations.  It is a full service bank serving consumer, commercial and trust customers throughout Central Massachusetts.

Mr. Connors received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Bentley University and a Graduate School of Banking certificate with honors from the University of Wisconsin (BAI).

Mr. Connors is a certified public accountant.  He is Chairman of the Board of Fitchburg State University, Director & Audit Committee Chair of SBLI of Mass., Past Campaign Chairman of United Way of North Central Massachusetts, Past Trustee & Audit Committee Chair of HealthAlliance Hospital and also Past Chairman of the Board of the Chamber of Commerce.  He is Founder and Treasurer of the Bernardian Charitable Foundation and a member of various committees at both the Massachusetts Bankers Association and the American Bankers Association.

Mr. Connors is a Past Recipient of the Mount Wachusett Citizen of the Year Award and a Recipient of the St. Paul Consortium Elizabeth Ann Seton Award.

Mr. Connors and his wife Kathleen have a son and daughter, ages 24 and 18.  Mr. Connors has dual citizenship – the United States and Ireland.

The Distinguished Citizen is chosen for his/her long standing commitment to our communities.  Their efforts have helped improve the quality of life for thousands of people who are less fortunate.  Their tireless leadership, energy and vitality have been a true inspiration to all who service within numerous charitable organizations.  The values learned through the Boy Scouts are much the same as the values held by our Distinguished Citizen.

A celebratory reception will be held in his honor on Wednesday, June 8, 2016 at the Double Tree by Hilton in Leominster.  Proceeds from this event will benefit thousands of Boy Scouts in 33 communities throughout the region.

For ticket information please contact Nashua Valley Council Boy Scouts (978)534-3532.

 

Nashoba Valley Medical Center Opens Center for Pain Management

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Nashoba Valley Medical Center Opens Center for Pain Management

The center is the only comprehensive one in the Nashoba Valley region to provide services to

diagnose and treat chronic pain conditions

Nashoba Valley Medical Center’s (NVMC) recently opened a new comprehensive Center for Pain Management to provide pain management services to residents living in the Nashoba Valley region. The center employs a team of pain management experts who use the most modern techniques to treat a wide range of common chronic pain successfully.

“Prior to the opening of the Center for Pain Management, our patients had to travel to Nashoba’s sister hospital, Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, to receive care for pain problems,” said Salvatore Perla, president of Nashoba Valley Medical Center. “We are consistently evaluating the evolving health care needs of our patients, and the new center gives our patients accessibility to these services, close to home, which is especially important for someone experiencing chronic pain.”

NVMC’s Center for Pain Management is the only center in the Nashoba Valley region to provide services to diagnose and treat chronic pain conditions. Common chronic pain problems the center’s highly trained pain specialists treat include: arthritis; back pain; cancer-related pain; chronic neck pain; diabetes-related pain; fibromyalgia; intercostal neuralgia; ischemic-related pain; myofascial pain; neurogenic pain; osteoporosis; polymyalgia; post-operative pain; reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD); sciatica, shingles; stress-related pain and TMJ.

The center offers a wide range of services, including state-of-the-art fluoroscopic-guided spinal injections for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, medical management of pain and

related medications, interventional procedures, physical and occupational therapy, psychological support, opportunities for learning skills that minimize or prevent recurring pain, and education on specific chronic pain syndromes and treatment plans.

“Our multidisciplinary team of pain management experts work with each patient to evaluate the causes of their pain and develop a treatment plan that aims to maximize their personal potential and increase their functional capacity,” said Frederic Gerges, MD, director of the Center for Pain Management at Nashoba Valley Medical Center. “We strive to improve their ability to return to the activities they once enjoyed.”

For more information about NVMC’s Center for Pain Management, visit www.nashobamed.org/pain or call 866-698-7533.

Leominster Credit Union Spreads Warmth from Blanket and Warm Clothing Drive

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BlanketDrive2016withGinnysLeominster Credit Union donated over 65 new blankets and 110 pieces of warm clothing, from coats to boots, to area homeless shelters and charities.  LCU has participated in the Cooperative Credit Union Association’s initiative along with area Credit Unions since 2011.

LCU was one of twenty-seven Credit Unions who participated in the Cooperative Credit Union Association’s record-breaking blanket and clothing drive with a total of 825 blankets and 2000 pieces of warm clothing.

Blankets and warm clothing were distributed to the following area organizations: Clinton Senior Center, Battered Women’s Shelter in Leominster, Sterling Fire Department, Holden Senior Center, Jeremiah’s Inn, Worcester, Abby’s House, Worcester, Ginny’s Helping Hand, Leominster, Montachusett Opportunity Council, Fitchburg, Our Father’s House, Fitchburg, Montachusett Interfaith Hospitality Network, Leominster.

Mount Wachusett Community College wins 2016 Deval Patrick Award

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Mount Wachusett Community College wins 2016 Deval Patrick Award
$50,000 annual prize given for innovative school-employer partnerships

BOSTON – Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced at a Boston Foundation forum Tuesday afternoon that Mount. Wachusett Community College is the recipient of the 2016 innovation prize named for him.

“I’m particularly happy to award this year’s prize to Mount Wachusett Community College,” Patrick said, lauding the college’s manufacturing job training programs. “When I proposed changes to the way we think of community colleges, this is the type of outcome I had in mind.”

The Boston Foundation created the Deval Patrick Award for Community Colleges in 2014 to recognize progress and excellence in establishing partnerships between employers and community colleges, in the process building effective career pathways for students from one of Massachusetts’ 15 Community Colleges.  The annual $50,000 award is given to a community college selected by a volunteer committee of representatives from the higher education, workforce and business communities.

“During his time as Governor of Massachusetts and since his return to private life, Deval Patrick has always demonstrated a commitment to advancing and improving educational and career opportunities for all residents of the Commonwealth, but especially to those most in need,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “In hosting and presenting the Deval Patrick Award, the Boston Foundation seeks to honor Governor Patrick’s passion and reiterate our own support for collaboration between the academic and business communities. Mt. Wachusett Community College’s unique job training programs demonstrate the high level of timely innovation called for by the Patrick Award.”

MWCC, which serves 4,700 credit students at its main campus in Gardner and satellite campuses in Devens, Leominster and Fitchburg, was selected for developing its Advanced Manufacturing Technology Programs – stackable programs in advanced manufacturing that address local employer training needs and provide for multiple entry and exit points. Interested students can take non-credit or credit classes that lead directly to employment opportunities, industry credentials, and a pathway for completing additional credit courses at the college. Over the past two years, 291 students have enrolled in the program.

“We are honored that the Boston Foundation has recognized the value of the opportunities we are offering our students,” said MWCC President Daniel M. Asquino. “We are very fortunate to be working with industry partners to ensure we are providing employers with a trained and skilled workforce so that we can support and grow our regional economy.”

The Advanced Manufacturing Technology Programs offer four levels of training:

  • The six-week Industrial Readiness Training (IRT) that provides skills for entry-level employees in manufacturing and addresses workplace success (soft) skills, technical content, and numeracy/literacy.
  • The optional 40-hour Quality Systems Training (QST), which is offered as stand alone or in conjunction with the IRT, prepares students for American Society for Quality certification, and provides three credits for a college course. The QST employment placement rate exceeds 77%.
  • The one-year certificate in Mechatronics (Automation and Robotics) and a one-year certificate in Analytical Laboratory and Quality Systems.
  • And finally, the optional 2-year A.S. Degree in Manufacturing Technology – Plastics or a 2-year A.S. Degree in Biomanufacturing with a Quality concentration.

Several other speakers addressed the audience at the Patrick Award forum Tuesday, including Grogan; Massachusetts Secretary of Labor Ronald L. Walker II; Joseph Fuller, Harvard Business School professor of Management Practice; Lane Glenn, President of North Essex Community College and president of the Massachusetts Community Colleges Executive Office Council of Presidents; Bob LePage and Jeff Hayden from the Springfield Technical Community College/Holyoke Community College partnership – past winners of the Patrick Award; and Elizabeth Pauley, Boston Foundation Senior Director of Education to Career.

Walker gave a talk titled, “The Economic Imperative,” followed by Fuller’s presentation, “Addressing the Job Skills Mismatch.” Fuller and Walker then discussed job creation together.

MWCC Trustees Appoint Committee to Find President Asquino’s Successor

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The search for Mount Wachusett Community College’s third president in 53 years has officially begun.

MWCC’s Board of Trustees has named a Presidential Search Committee to find the successor to Daniel M. Asquino, who announced last month that he will retire in January 2017 after 30 years at the helm of the college and 47 years of service in Massachusetts public higher education.

“Under Dr. Asquino’s astute leadership, Mount Wachusett Community College has become known for excellence in academics, workforce training, K-12 and community partnerships, student support services, civic engagement and sustainability,” said Trustee Richard A. Cella, who will chair the search committee.

“I am confident we’ll attract outstanding candidates for this position, given MWCC’s reputation as an innovative institution with an extraordinarily strong endowment for a community college,” said Mr. Cella, an attorney in Leominster and Gardner.

“Mount Wachusett Community College has grown exponentially over the past three decades under President Asquino’s bold leadership,” said Board of Trustees Chair Tina Sbrega, who will also serve on the committee.

 

The college serves nearly 12,000 credit and noncredit students at its main campus in Gardner, satellite campuses in Devens, Leominster and Fitchburg, and online, said Sbrega, president and CEO of GFA Federal Credit Union. “Our programs now include more than 70 academic degree and certificate options, tailored to our specific workforce needs.”

The nationwide search, conducted under the guidance of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, will be an open and transparent process that will involve the entire college community, Ms. Sbrega said. The committee plans to hire an executive search firm to coordinate the process, and anticipates it will present a recommendation to the Board of Higher Education for approval by late fall.

Dr. Asquino, currently the longest serving president among Massachusetts’ public institutions of higher education, was appointed in August, 1987. He succeeded the college’s first president, Arthur F. Haley, who was appointed when MWCC was established in 1963.

“Over the next 10 months, we will work together to address all of the challenges and opportunities for Mount Wachusett Community College, with a goal of a seamless transition to work at least one month with the new president,” Dr. Asquino said.

In addition to Attorney Cella and Ms. Sbrega, other committee members include: Trustees Scott Howard, executive vice president of business development of Bemis Associates, Suzanne Farias, general manager of the Double Tree by Hilton in Leominster, and Joana Dos Santos executive director of the United Neighbors of Fitchburg/Cleghorn Neighborhood Center; business and community leader Jim Garrison, former board chair and current member of the MWCC Foundation; MWCC Foundation board Chair Ray Martino and foundation member Chuck Bowles; state Board of Higher Education member Patricia Marshall; Gardner Superintendent of Schools Denise Clemons; Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella; business Professor Elmer Eubanks; Financial Aid Director Kelly Morrissey; Shaunti Phillips, senior outreach specialist; Cheryl Oliveri, staff assistant in the Planning, Development & Institutional Research department; Carla Morrissey, library assistant and circulation supervisor;  Student Government Association President Cathy Teague; and ex-officio member Diane Ruksnaitis, vice president of human resources & payroll and affirmative action officer.

“There really are no words to express the gratitude and appreciation for all President Asquino has done,” Ms. Sbrega said. “Dan is synonymous with words like tireless and innovative and creative. These are going to be very difficult shoes to fill, so rather than fill them, we’ll have to find new shoes.”