March 15, 2021, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Start at GRCC and go anywhere. Every former student has a story to tell about how GRCC – or Grand Rapids Junior College – gave them the education and opportunity to be successful. We’re sharing some of those stories, and want to hear yours!
We lost a very special person last year. Deb Bailey attended Grand Rapids Junior College and went on to be a leader in the community and business world – but returned to the college to help others have the same opportunities to be successful.
After attending GRJC, Bailey earned a bachelor’s degree at Western Michigan University in communications, English and education, then a master’s from WMU in counseling. She earned a second master’s, in management, from Aquinas.
She taught several years in Kuwait before returning to Grand Rapids, working for the Women's Resource Center, Haworth, Herman Miller, Aquinas College and then 19 years at Steelcase, rising to director of Corporate Global Relations.
She always made time to serve the community, participating on boards and in other ways in organizations including Aquinas College, the Dominican Sisters, Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, Grand Rapids Student Advancement Foundation, Hospice of Michigan, Junior League of Grand Rapids, Saint Mary's Foundation, and the YWCA-West Central Michigan.
Bailey was one of the founders of Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids and received the first Valiant Victor Award from West Michigan Woman magazine in 2019 for her exceptional courage and determination in fighting breast cancer for nearly 30 years.
Her other honors included the YWCA Tribute Award for Community Service, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce Athena Award, the Michigan Women's Forward Woman of Achievement and Courage Award, the Veritas Award from West Catholic High School, Herman Miller's Outstanding Employee Award, and the Aquinas College Outstanding Alumni Award. She was also named one of The Grand Rapids Business Journal's 25 Most Influential Women in West Michigan.
GRCC was among the organizations Bailey served. She was appointed to the GRCC board in 2013 and was elected to a six-year term in 2015.
“Personally, I am a product of public institutions,” she said during her 2015 trustee campaign. “I neither had the grades nor the financial support to go directly to another institution. I know the important need GRCC fills for students financially, as well as personally and academically.”
She received a Salute to Women award from GRCC in 2015 and served as a co-chair of the Grand Rapids Community College Foundation’s successful “A Broader Vision” campaign in 2019.
GRCC President Bill Pink said Bailey was “someone who was – and will remain – a shining example of the impact this college can have on a person and a community. Deb Bailey was as kind as she was smart, passionate as she was brave. Her work touched many people, and we are all better for it. That’s a tremendous legacy.”
Let GRCC help you start your story. The first chapter starts at grcc.edu/apply.
And tell us your story here: grcc.edu/communications/shareyourgrccstory