The Kirtland Community College Board of Trustees

The Kirtland Community College Board of Trustees can be contacted by calling the President’s Office

at (989) 275-5000, Ext. 253. If you would like to send written correspondence

to the Board of Trustees, please use the following address:

Board of Trustees

President's Office

Kirtland Community College

10775 N. St. Helen Road

Roscommon, MI 48653

FAX:  (989) 275-6706

Regular Board of Trustees meetings are held the third Thursday of each month

at Kirtland House on College Drive.

Kirtland Community College Report to the Community

M-TEC at Kirtland-Gaylord Report to the Community

Board of Trustees meeting minutes

KIRTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Roy Spangler, Chair

spangler@kirtland.edu

When Roy Spangler first joined Kirtland's Board of Trustees fourteen years ago, he was unhappy with the direction the college was going. Now in his third term, which expires in 2008, much has changed at Kirtland that he is proud of. Citing Kirtland's new and constantly expanding vocational offerings, as well as the new opportunities arising with the addition of M-TEC, Spangler looks forward to the changes yet to come. "Kirtland has not been standing still. It stays on the cutting edge of education," said Spangler.

In addition to its expanded offerings, Spangler mentioned what he believed to be Kirtland's strongest attribute: its ability to work with other organizations, such as Michigan State University, the Kellogg Foundation, and C.O.O.R ISD, to bring in programs that would not be available otherwise.

Spangler retired as the Roscommon County Extension Agency Director, and now lives in Roscommon with his wife, Betty.

Patricia Webb, Vice Chair

webbg@kirtland.edu

Patricia Webb, 52, hoped to be starting her second term on the Kirtland Board by now. Instead, after a technicality spoiled some nominating petitions, she failed to win reelection and remained on the board as a special appointee after the sudden resignation of Carole Kuehn. Webb ran for the board in an effort to bring to adults the same thing she strives to impart to her students at Roscommon High School, where she has taught math for 31 years: a lifelong love of learning, something she herself has pursued.

In order to promote education among adults in the future, Webb wants to make more classes available at times that working adults will be able to take them, provide more FLEX classes, and improve the quality of learning among the students through AQIP, or the Academic Quality Improvement Program.

She also looks forward to the healing process relating to the conflicts of the past several months at Kirtland.

After beginning her first term on the board in 1998, Webb chaired the board from 2001-2002, during which time M-TEC, which she considers to be the board's greatest accomplishment, was established at Kirtland-Gaylord.

Webb lives in Roscommon with her husband Richard, and has six children and eight grandchildren.

Roberta Werle, Secretary/Treasurer

werler@kirtland.edu

Bobbie Werle is serving her first term on the Kirtland’s Board of Trustees. She lives in Roscommon with her husband, Jerry, the college’s former public relations director.

Werle graduated from Central Michigan University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and social sciences and a minor in biology and psychology. She earned her law degree at John Marshall Law School in Chicago.

Werle, a retired lawyer, worked for the social security administration after graduation before moving to Illinois for 24 years. After the death of her first husband, she moved back to Michigan.

The couple’s Kirtland connection is strong. Jerry’s oldest daughter, Calla, and several of Bobbie’s nephews graduated from Kirtland.

“We were familiar with Kirtland,” said Werle, “and always charmed by the setting.”

A lifelong learner, Bobbie began taking the classes here that she never had time for before, like photography, ceramics and sculpture and writing, literature and history.

Werle hopes to keep a balance of the many programs that Kirtland has to offer – not making arts less important than technology.

“I hope the college will move forward in a fiscally sound way,” said Werle, “but realize the real appeal is in arts, literature and science while advancing the technical part of it.”

She has hopes of the board being a refuge for people to approach, to bring problems forward as they see them, discuss them as a group.

“However, there are problems out there,” Werle said, citing “lack of trust and communication.” And since Werle has, by her own admission, a tendency to raise and discuss unpopular issues, she is hopeful that characteristic will be an asset to the board.

Sally J. Galer, Trustee

galers@kirtland.edu

When Sally Galer graduated from Kirtland in 1979, who knew that in just 10 years, she'd find herself sitting on its board of trustees?

Galer was appointed in 1989, filling the vacancy caused by the death of one of its former members.

She graduated from Kirtland in 1979 with an Associate in Arts degree, and then went to Alma to get her Bachelor's degree with a major in history and a minor in political science. She graduated from Notre Dame Law School in 1984 and took the Michigan State Bar Exam that same year.

Now a practicing attorney between Mio and Luzerne, Galer wanted the seat as a way to give something back to the community, and she feels that the board has done that well.

As to the future of the college, Galer said she would like to see relations continue to improve between all of the campus members: faculty, administration, staff, students and members of the community.

Richard Silverman, Trustee

silvermr@kirtland.edu

For the first time in 34-years, Kirtland Community College will begin its fall classes with Richard Silverman absent from its classrooms and its offices – the former Dean of Instruction retired from the college at the end of his contract, June 4. But his “retirement” from service to the college he loves so dearly was shortlived.

Ten days after he retired, Silverman was elected to serve a six year term on the college board of trustees, winning more votes than any of the seven candidates in the field.

Silverman’s election was not without controversy. He spent his last eight months at Kirtland the reluctant focus of a community-wide debate.

In October 2003, college President Dr. Charles Rorie removed Silverman from his post as Dean of Instruction and assigned him to the position of Vice President. The move created an uproar of among faculty, staff and students, led to accusations from all sides, and resulted in feelings of mistrust among faculty, the board and college administration.

But for Silverman, debate among faculty and administration is nothing new. He had seen it all before.

“The first 10 years at the college were very, very stormy years. Much stormier than now,” said Silverman. And like those days from long ago, the recent past is something Silverman has put behind him. While he feels voters were sending a message, he does not feel adversarial and looks forward to working as a team.

“I don’t have an agenda and I don’t feel vengeful. I think it will be a very good working board. I think I know many questions to ask because of my 34 years working at the college,” said Silverman, who began his Kirtland career as an instructor of sociology and psychology, but served the last nineteen years in administration.

Noting he is only one of seven board members, Silverman said, “I have a role. I want to fill it the right way.”

Filling his role is perhaps where the popular instructor and administrator, and now board member is most experienced. Silverman has been witness to much growth over the past 3½ decades.

It was growth he helped instigate and drive.

At his retirement in June more than 100 friends and colleagues celebrated Silverman’s career. Kirtland’s board of trustees honored Silverman with emeritus status and he was praised by board President Jan Farmer.

“You should be proud of your career here at Kirtland,” Farmer said. “Every brick here has your name on it. This is your legacy.”

Silverman is proud if the changes he has seen at the college and places enrollment as number one on his list. When Silverman joined Kirtland in 1970, only a few hundred attended the college. This fall, enrollment is projected to reach more than 2,000 for the third straight year. Of all things for which he is proud of Kirtland, it is the expansion in programs that gives him the most joy.

Silverman lists programs such as poetry readings, theater, athletics, a foreign exchange program and a student newspaper among the things that make Kirtland a special community college.

“We offer many more experiences than just the classroom experience,” said Silverman. “We’ve been pretty progressive as an educational institution. I just hope we can keep that. There is a unique thing about this college. You ask anybody in the state, they’ll tell you that. They say, ‘How do you do all those things up there?’ It’s amazing really.”

It leads to one more change that Silverman would still like to see. “We still have people who have the attitude of, ‘Rich, get real, this is a community college. Why are we trying to be something we’re not?’ Well the students deserve the same kinds of experiences they would get at the larger schools,” Silverman said. “It’s part of the educational process. “The thing is, most of the great things that happen around here don’t come from the administration, they come from the many good, talented people we have here.”

As a board member, Silverman hopes to play a leading role in developing a vision for the college, “one which would continue to make Kirtland a comprehensive college. We need to offer cultural experiences, athletics, diversity. “We need to offer these services for the community as well. We need a broader vision and mission in our rural area than that of school in a larger area. We are unique and it should stay that way.”

A kid from Chicago who made his career in the backwoods of Northern Michigan, Silverman most values the relationships he has had with people here, which he said make every minute of the last 34 years worthwhile.

“I love the college, and I love working with the people at the college,” said Silverman. “I think I made the right decision, settling down here and working at Kirtland..

Denis Weiss, Trustee

weissd@kirtland.edu

Denis Weiss retired in 2004 after more than 40 years as a senior manufacturing executive and brings a wealth of management and business experience to the Kirtland board. A resident of West Branch, he is heavily involved in the community in the areas of workforce development, business support, community development, healthcare funding, education and aviation.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from GMI Engineering and Management Institute; a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Michigan; and an MBA from Bowling Green State University. He is president and owner of a management consulting firm, EBA Resources LLC. His prior work experience includes position with several national and international firms and he was most recently vice president of manufacturing/operations for Taylor Building Products of West Branch.

Weiss said he has been able to fulfill one of his life goals in recent years by participating in higher education as an adjunct professor. He has taught business and management courses at Kirtland and said his life experiences have been invaluable in instructing and guiding students toward their educational goals.

“I feel that participation with the community college at the trustee level is a natural continuation of my activities to date,” Weiss said.

Weiss said he feels Kirtland is good at listening to the public it serves and hopes to help the college extend that relationship by asking even more questions of that public. He also believes that the district is growing at a rate that will someday support a four-year college and he would like to see Kirtland move in that direction.

After the October 2005 resignation of Jan Keith Farmer from the Kirtland board, Weiss was interviewed and elected by the board to fill out Farmer’s term, which runs until June 30, 2007.

MaryAnn Ferrigan, Trustee

ferrigam@kirtland.edu

MaryAnn Ferrigan, a resident of Grayling and a local business owner, is back serving the community she’s called home off and on since 1971, as well as the college where she was once a student. Ferrigan took the oath of office on July 1, 2007, and officially took her seat as an elected member of the Kirtland Community College Board of Trustees.

Ferrigan has called Crawford County her full-time home since 1999. But her roots go far deeper than that, having graduated from Grayling High School in 1975. After returning to northern Michigan in 1983, Ferrigan attended Kirtland and in 1986 earned an associate’s degree in business.

“When I moved back to Grayling in 1983, I was a single parent with two small children and needed family support,” she said. “Having Kirtland Community College in our area allowed me, as a single parent, the opportunity to achieve a degree, as well as acquire the confidence to go on and achieve a four-year degree.”

After Kirtland, Ferrigan continued her educational efforts by attending Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1988. She now owns controlling interest in Crawford County Title Insurance Agency in Grayling and in the Roscommon County Title Insurance Agency in Roscommon.

In taking on the challenge of her first elected position, Ferrigan hopes to play an instrumental role in the decision-making process that allows others to grow and take advantage of what community colleges offer their students and the communities they serve.

“I have always felt Kirtland was a very important asset to our community and would like to see Crawford County more involved,” she added. “As a trustee, I believe I can help maintain the financial viability of the college in these difficult economic times. My goal is to encourage the development of new, as well as existing programs, that will help train individuals for Michigan based jobs and jobs that will help support regional economic development activities.”

Besides running a business and raising a family, Ferrigan has also been active in a variety of community and service organizations, including the American Red Cross, American Business Women Association, Grayling’s Junior Miss Scholarship Program, The Weyerhaeuser AuSable River Canoe Marathon, Rotary International and is a member of the City of Grayling’s Park & Recreation Committee.

Ferrigan currently resides in the City of Grayling. Her two daughters are both grown - Angela Floriano, 28, is recent graduate of Ferris State University; and Christina Floriano, 27, who graduated from Oakland University and lives in Royal Oak, working in the Detroit area as a graphic artist.