Raynold and Sandra Gauvin of Mapleton have long been supporters of NMCC, both as major donors and as active and involved members of the NMCC Foundation board of directors. The two have also been driving forces in the Campaign for the County’s College, the first-ever major gifts campaign undertaken by the College and the Foundation.
That support has now extended to include one of the largest gifts from individuals to the campaign. The Gauvins announced at a reception on the NMCC campus Feb. 14 that they have established the Ray and Sandy Gauvin Faculty Advancement Fund with a $25,000 pledge.
The fund will provide NMCC with the capacity to rapidly respond to evolving needs by providing new curricula and/or services to meet those needs. Specifically, the Ray and Sandy Gauvin Faculty Advancement Fund will be for the purchase of laptop computers for NMCC faculty to advance the use of wireless technology in classroom teaching and learning.
With the Gauvins’ initial pledge payment of $15,000, the College information technology staff ordered 18 laptop computers for faculty in the arts and sciences department and the business technology department at the beginning of the year. After announcing the establishment of the fund at the Valentine’s Day event, the Gauvins presented the computers to the faculty recipients.
“We’re really glad to make this contribution,” said Ray. “Some of the objectives that we were looking at when we were thinking about what to do with our donation was that we wanted to have a significant impact on this institution, we wanted to help the students, and at the same time wanted to help the faculty. We also wanted to make the wireless technology, through the wonderful gift that we got from Katahdin Trust Co., an integration project with this laptop program.
“The College’s laptop initiative is a great boon to the students, as well as the faculty at NMCC. Educators are turning more and more to computers for assistance, and these laptops will be powerful instructional tools, especially in these technological times,” he said. “They will not only help with instruction, but they will save the faculty time that they can re-invest in helping provide students with extra assistance. It will provide an excellent way to keep track of homework and grades, research and learning. In short, it’s a win-win situation all the way around.”
For the Gauvins, the establishment of the advancement fund and its intended purpose to assist faculty hold great personal significance. As a business leader and specifically as president of Advantage Payroll Services, Ray has hired many alumni of NMCC. He proudly boasts that most of his employees are graduates of the College, and is quick to note they have “proven to be knowledgeable, dependable, and hardworking, exemplifying the quality of education that comes from NMCC.”
Sandy, a lifelong educator who retired in 2003 after teaching for 25 years in both SAD 20 and SAD 1 at nearly every grade level and in most subject areas, understands firsthand the importance of supporting the work of the individuals responsible for shaping the minds of future leaders.
“Obviously, the bottom line in education is top quality instruction for students. It’s imperative that we provide teachers with the tools they need to deliver that excellence. These laptops will allow the instructors to not only instruct the students academically, but it will help them stay abreast of the needs of the students, while providing an additional educational support system for the students,” she said. “It is our goal, with this gift, to help the students at NMCC become successful in life, feel good about themselves, and become competent, responsible members of their communities.”
After sitting in on an accounting class at NMCC, Sandy said she learned that laptops “are such a great instructional tool.”
“I found out this is the way of the future. A lot of the textbook companies are now providing a lot of CDs to go with their textbooks. We have a daughter who is taking some classes here, and when she brought her textbook home, I saw all the CDs that she has. It was just incredible, and truly is the way of the future,” she said. “In order to give the top quality education that’s here, you’ve got to give the instructors the tools. Too often teachers are expected to go into a classroom and depend on their own devices, and we want to make sure the faculty here has the tools they need to continue giving students such a wonderful education.
“What really sold me is that instructors can not only keep track of students’ grades, but the computer will tell them what concepts are not being picked up by these kids,” said Sandy. “That way the instructors will be able to go back and review it, so there won’t be a lot of gaps in the students’ education which could happen without the technology.”
NMCC President Timothy Crowley was very appreciative of the Gauvins’ gift.
“Our campus community has benefited time and again from the generosity, benevolence and unwavering support of Ray and Sandy Gauvin. Their involvement with the Foundation, which spans a decade, and especially their leading voices in bringing forth this very successful major gifts campaign, will have a positive impact on hundreds of students who will pass through the doors of NMCC for generations,” said Crowley. “We are so grateful to them both and especially today for this contribution that supports the excellent work of our faculty.”
Joining Crowley in extending their appreciation to the Gauvins were Ronald Fitzgerald, chair of the arts and sciences department, and Dwight Clayton, chair of the business technology department. In addition to receiving laptop computers themselves, the two spoke on behalf of the faculty in their respective departments who received laptops.
“The Gauvins’ generous gift of laptop computers to faculty needing this updated technology will have a positive impact on the delivery of courses to our students for many years to come,” said Fitzgerald, noting he would have crawled to the presentation if necessary. “The availability and use of current technology by faculty in the classroom is an expectation of students today. On behalf of the NMCC arts and sciences department, we thank the Gauvins for their donation of these much needed computers and for their longtime interest and support of the College.”
“The Ray and Sandy Gauvin Faculty Advancement Fund will provide our instructors with the necessary technology resources to expand the College’s laptop initiative to all programs of study within the business technology department. With this generous donation, the instructors of this department will be able to continue with the evolution of classroom instruction from a lectured-based model to a more active learning environment for our students, benefiting the students, as well as the instructors of these business programs,” said Clayton. “On behalf of the faculty members within the business technology department, I would like to express our thanks and gratitude to Ray, and especially Sandy, who visited one of our Accounting courses to see first-hand the implementation of the technology within the classroom.”
Among those also receiving a laptop was Jan Greico, an English/Communication instructor at the College and a recently appointed faculty representative to the NMCC Foundation.
“The commitment and generosity of people like Ray and Sandy Gauvin, who donated these computers, is what makes it possible for faculty to keep pace with technological innovations and to pass our knowledge on to our students so they are well prepared for their careers,” said Greico. “I am constantly impressed with the efforts of the College and the Foundation members to ensure that students and faculty alike get the tools and resources that they need. As the new faculty representative for the Foundation, I am proud and excited to be among such generous and hardworking members.”
In addition to Fitzgerald, Clayton and Greico, other NMCC faculty members presented with laptop computers were Heidi Broad-Smith, Nancy Cowett, Pam Crawford, Richard Duplessis, Lori Googins, Jennifer Graham, Miriam Gregg, Colleen Harmon, Dan Hotham, John Levasseur, Ann Osgood, David Raymond, Robert Scott, Greg Thompson and Paula York.
