ALPENA–New computers will outfit libraries and computer labs at Alpena Community College, and a $45,000 grant will allow the college to provide safety training for workers in Northeast Michigan, college leaders shared at Wednesday’s meeting of the ACC Board of Trustees.

The board passed with no discussion a motion to spend $43,051 to purchase 35 Hewlett-Packard desktop computers to replace old units in the libraries and learning centers at ACC’s Alpena and Oscoda campuses.

The average lifespan for a desktop computer is five years, ACC President Don MacMaster reported. The retired lab computers, purchased in 2014, will be either rotated to staff or sold to students at a minimal cost.

Meanwhile, Dawn Stone, director of workforce development at ACC, announced that the college has tentatively been awarded a $45,000 safety training grant by the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The school has received the grant in the past, Stone said, but this year’s grant is nearly double that awarded last year.

The grant is used to provide free safety training for local workers and companies in construction, manufacturing, medical and residential care facilities, and forestry. This year’s grant included funding that will allow the school to work with Thunder Bay Tree Service, which works closely with the line service technician industry. That’s one of ACC’s course offerings, making the offering of safety training in that field an intuitive fit for the school, MacMaster said.

ACC is first among the Michigan’s 28 community colleges in enrollment growth for the 2019-20 school year, MacMaster said in his president’s report, with increases in both dual enrollment and early college programs as well as traditional student programs. Videoconferencing enrollment, allowing students to access ACC classes remotely, increased from 203 to 412 students.

“This is pretty explosive growth,” MacMaster said, giving the school a competitive position. The growth means, he cautioned, that the school needs to make sure it is equipped to maintain its high-quality offerings.

The school is at a maximum stretching point in terms of staffing and ability to serve the community, he said. If the school wishes to continue to grow, “and I think we do, we need to manage the support of it, and make sure we’re not overpromising and under-delivering,” the president said.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.

In other business

The Alpena Community College Board of Trustees on Wednesday also:

∫ Heard from President Don MacMaster that 30-some people have applied to replace longtime registrar Lori Dziesinski. After 43 years working as the face of the registrar’s office, Dziesinski is retiring at the end of December. The school hopes to have the new registrar in place by mid-November, MacMaster said.

∫ Six international students appeared before the trustees, sharing their impressions of ACC. Students from Nigeria, Turkey, Mongolia, Australia, and Japan spoke of helpful professors and the friendliness of the city. Several of the students reported they had been exchange students at Alpena or Alcona high schools and chose ACC because they liked the area and wanted to stay.

“So far everything is good,” the student from Nigeria said, “except the weather.”