Biology Students Enjoyed a Lab Curriculum Update in Spring 2018

Micropipette Lab Materials

by Dr. Maureen Whitehurst and Ms. Michelle Lee, Biology Instructors. 

It is wonderful when it all comes together! Palmer General Biology (BIO 101) and Microbiology (BIO 225) students enjoyed a significant laboratory curriculum upgrade during the Spring 2018 semester. A Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) device was acquired via mini-grant funding from the TTC Foundation.

Adding samples to an electrophoresis gel

This device amplifies a small quantity of DNA and allows students to visualize the results. It is up-to-date technology and we are proud to incorporate this new lab into our curriculum. Students learned how to dispense tiny quantities of chemicals (microliter amounts, 1000^th of a milliliter), how to add samples to an electrophoresis gel, how operate the PCR machine, and finally interpret data.

Loading the gel electrophoresis

Palmer teamwork allowed this example of student success. Earlier mini-grant success provided the iPad tablet to control the PCR machine and allows students photograph their results and send the results to their email accounts. This was possible because IT has installed WiFi in the PL 160 biology laboratory, funded by Foundation Capitol improvement dollars.

The Lab Manager, Connie Bryant organized all the logistics and readied the supplies for our students. Faculty modified the manufacturer’s protocols to suit our needs. Overall, it was a great Palmer team effort!

New Mercedes-Benz Vans Course to be Offered on TTC-Downtown Palmer Campus

The TTC -Downtown Palmer Campus will be hosting classes for students who are training to potentially work for Mercedes-Benz Vans. The Post and Courier reports that "With its $500 million manufacturing campus expected to open during the second half of this year, Mercedes-Benz Vans is participating in a pair of events next week aimed at finding the 1,300 workers who will build Sprinter vans at the company's Palmetto Commerce Park site . . . Charleston County will host meetings on Jan. 18 and Jan. 20 to help county residents interested in working for Mercedes-Benz Vans obtain information about available positions and find the training they will need. Among the jobs that will be available are those in the body and paint shops as well as in assembly and maintenance." Campus Dean Dr. Lou Robinson and Assistant Dean Dr. Amy Hudock will be attending these info sessions to assist students who need training to move toward employment with Mercedes-BenzVans. 

The Jan. 18 meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at North Charleston High School at 1087 E. Montague Ave. Doors will open at 5 p.m. with the session to follow at 6 p.m. Registration is required and space is limited to 800 people.

The Jan. 20 meeting will be held at St. John's High School at 1518 Main Road in Johns Island. Doors will open at 9 a.m. with the session to follow at 10 a.m. Registration is required and space is limited to 450 people.

Registration information for both meetings is available at www.ChooseCharleston.org.

Time to Register for Fall Courses!

Now is the time to register for Fall Courses!  To find out what courses we are offering here at the downtown Palmer Campus, you can go do Course Search on our webpage. This is the most up-to-date listing. We offer Full-Term Fall classes (14 weeks), Fall 1 compressed courses (7 weeks), and Fall 2 compressed courses (7 weeks) as well as evening and online options. Whatever your scheduling needs, we have options for you!

If you are planning to transfer to a four-year-college, ore getting your general education classes out of the way for another of our programs, here are your classroom course options at the downtown campus:

Flex Your Schedule! Downtown Palmer Campus Offers a Variety of Schedules to Meet Your Needs

Come flex your schedule at the Trident Tech Downtown Palmer Campus. We offer a variety of schedules so you can plan your classes around your work, family, and summer fun. We offer:

• Maymester with 3-Week Classes (May 8-26): Short but sweet. Take a class, get ahead, and still have the rest of your summer!  
• Summer Full with 10-Week Classes (May 30-Aug 7): The advantages of this option include having more time to work on difficult courses like Biology and Math, as well as not having to devote large blocks of time in one day to individual classes. Spread it out. Slow it down.
• Summer 1 with 5-week Classes (May 30-June 28). The advantages of this schedule include getting done with your classes more quickly. And if you want some summer fun time, you can take have the other 5 weeks off for vacation or work. Or you can add in the Summer 2 session to get a complete summer load. 
• Summer 2 with 5-week Classes (July 10-Aug 8). Didn't meet the earlier deadlines for classes?  No problem. Start in July! The advantages of this schedule include getting done with your classes more quickly, and teamed up with a Summer 1 schedule, completing a full load of classes in this summer, while still having a nice 4th of July week off in the middle. 

We are registering students now. Send your adviser an email to set up an appointment, but if you need someone right away, or you have trouble contacting your adviser, come see Dr. Hudock, Assistant Dean, in room 123 (Dean's and Admissions Offices).  

Want to Become a "Master Student?"

Want to become a "master student?"  Then the course COL 102 - College Skills may be for you.  This course includes such topics as career planning, study skills, leadership, stress management, self-esteem, and others designed to facilitate student success.  You can take it in the classroom or online, and it will help you in whatever you do! 

Palmer Campus offering Writing for Social Media Class starting March 13th

The Palmer Campus will be offering Writing for Social Media (ENG 263) starting March 13th.

Social media helps raise money for social justice, run political campaigns, sell products, raise awareness, organize movements, and more. This course will introduce you to the principles behind writing for social media, as well as explore some of the more popular social media platforms. Over time, the platforms will change and develop, but the principles behind the communication will remain steady.  This course will help you learn those principles so that when the technology changes, you can adapt to new audiences and virtual environments. 

 The course will start with principles of social media marketing, and then apply those principles to different genres of social media. Each genre has its own approach, and your writing will need to adapt to the different formats, audiences, and purposes. Throughout the course, you will develop a marketing plan showing how you will use these genres to promote an idea, a product, a business, or a cause. In end, you will write a marketing proposal to sell your plan. 

• Week 1: Principles of Social Media Writing and Content Management
• Week 2: Macro Blogging: Tubmlr, WordPress, Blogger, or Wikis
• Week 3: Micro Blogging: Twitter, or Facebook
• Week 4: Image-Based: Instagram, Pinterest, or Snapchat
• Week 5: Video-Based: YouTube, TedTalks, Vine, or Skype
• Week 6: Slide-Format: Prezi or Slideshare
• Week 7: The Marketing Proposal

The course is offered MWF at 12:40-2:35, and the prerequisite is ENG 101.  The course is part of the Certificate in Professional Writing. 

New Evening One-Day-a-Week Business Classes Starting at TTC's Downtown Palmer Campus on March 13

Advanced Creative Writing Course Offered Spring 1

Do you have a novel, chapbook, memoir, or screenplay you want to finish? Palmer Campus will be offering Advanced Creative Writing (ENG 242) in the classroom during Spring 1 so you can do just that. This course differs from Intro to Creative Writing (ENG 238), which focuses on experimenting in four different genres: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and screen/scriptwriting. In Advanced Creative Writing, you will work on one of these genres: 

• You get to pick one project to work on for the entire class. 
• You can work on your novel, memoir, chapbook, or screenplay. 
• You set your goals. What do you want to achieve in this semester? 

The class will help you meet those goals through:

• Warm-up exercises
• Structured writing time
• Practice with literary elements in your work
• Revision suggestions, guided readings, support from other writers
• Instructor feedback

You will also learn about how to market your work as a professional writer through creating a platform, finding an agent, working with editors, and submitting your work for publication. We will also discuss self-publication options. You will learn about the writing profession.

The prerequisite for the course is ENG 101. The course meets Tues/Thurs 11:30-12:55 and also has an online workshop for further feedback from other students.  This course is part of the Certificate in Professional Writing.

ESL Classes to Begin at Palmer May 31st

World Literature Class Offered at Palmer this Summer

by Dr. Richard Hartnett 

What should an educated person have read in school? What have most highly successful people read? Ever felt like there’s something you’re missing? 

Taking World Literature is a way of solving that problem. College is perhaps the only time in your life that you may read those things that every educated person that you meet will assume that you have read. How much may depend on your understanding the boss’ love of Basho? On your laughing at the interviewer’s clever Voltairian quip? On following it with a witty retort of your own? On convincing a crowd to vote for revolution with a quote from Rousseau? On getting the song’s reference to Verlaine and Rimbaud? On impressing the right person with your take on Hedda Gabler? Or on quoting Octavio Paz to make someone fall in love with you just a little be more passionately? If you don’t know most of these references, you should, and you can. Learn what you should know to be an educated person in English 209, World Literature from the 17^th Century to the Present. All the successful kids are doing it.

The course is offered in the 10-week summer schedule on Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:30-12:50, here on the Palmer Campus. 

The Charleston Clemente Course Looking for New Students

The Charleston Clemente Course offers 2 free college-level humanities classes to the homeless and the under-resourced. Clemente students are given free tuition, a meal each class, bus passes for transportation, and books. The students are matched with mentors, who are volunteers from the faculty and staff of TTC and from the Charleston community. HSS 102, which is offered in the fall, focuses on American history and art history. HSS 101, which is offered in the spring, focuses on literature, philosophy, and writing. Candidates for Clemente do not have to have a GED or a high school diploma. Potential Clemente students need to contact Dr. Mary Ann Kohli. Her office is located at Palmer Campus in room 210C. Dr. Kohli’s phone number is 843 720-5713, and her email is maryann.kohli@tridenttech.edu. 

GED Classes at Palmer Campus Starting Soon!