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CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

November 14, 2003

TO: CMU Colleagues and Students

FROM: Mike Rao

SUBJECT: CMU Update 36


Here is another update covering a range of topics, including academic priorities and the budget.

RAISING ACADEMIC STANDARDS

High academic standards are critical to the university's future. It is only with the help of my colleagues that we will make significant strides toward our goal of raising academic standards toward the levels of excellence that CMU's students and faculty deserve. I request your continued support and active engagement in efforts to hold expectations high in all areas of the university. While I believe that grades are important, I do not believe that they, alone, will serve as an indication of academic rigor, critical thinking, problem solving, or effective student learning.

I thank my many colleagues who provided great leadership for the third annual CMU Raising Academic Standards Conference on November 7th. Presentations by Drs. Christie, Linrud, Osborn, Riordan and Mary Senter reviewed progress in building shared expectations for learning and strengthening academic policies and practices that foster student learning. The second half of the conference included a presentation by English professors Drs. Brockman, Crawford, Kreth and Taylor. These professors shared their innovative, empirically-based look toward initiatives designed to further develop student writing.

Provost Storch outlined priorities as the foundation for the key initiatives for this year: continuing discussions of grading in department meetings; developing a comprehensive strategy to strengthen student writing; expanding student participation in study abroad, research, capstone and related educational experiences; updating the program review process; and providing high quality multiple measures of teaching effectiveness. Dr. Zakrajsek led a discussion of the importance of student learning and some additional directions for the future.

On January 12, 2004, a series of practical skill-building workshops focused on raising academic standards will take place. Effective grading, how students learn, and understanding and detecting plagiarism will be among the workshop topics. These workshops will be open to the campus community and coordinated by the Faculty Center for Academic Excellence. Please watch http://www.provost.cmich.edu/fcae/ for details. For a portfolio of major activities to date, see http://www.provost.cmich.edu/viceprovost/VP/standards.htm.

Despite other matters with which we must all deal, academic excellence must continue to be our top priority. I urge all members of the CMU community to contribute to ongoing raising academic standards discussions. Fundamentally, improving our core work of engaging students and improving learning and discovery are challenging goals. Faculty colleagues, I ask for your focused attention on all initiatives designed to help achieve these goals. I request your strong support, creativity, and initiative in encouraging students to make the most of their college experience. While there are many ways to encourage students, please:

• Hold high expectations for yourselves and students inside and outside of the classroom, keeping in mind that problem solving, critical thinking, reasoning, and communication expectations should be gauged at a reasonable level-not at the level of a high school student, but also not (at least not in the case of all students) at the level that is expected for those of us who have already earned graduate degrees and have completed research projects for many years. Shaping students who develop a love for thinking and learning for life is a key goal.
  
• Engage students in meaningful research, creative work, or performance (including SRCEE http://www.orsp.cmich.edu/SRCEE_gen.htm).
  
• Encourage and talk about the importance of international learning, including study abroad (including faculty involvement in sponsored academic tours).
  
• Help us involve students in community service and volunteer activities.

PRIORITIES

In the course of attempting to deal with declining revenues, reducing expenditures, and other matters of the moment, it remains important to continue focusing on areas that appear less urgent, but, which are, nonetheless, potentially pivotal in the near future. I thought you might appreciate knowing some of the areas that I am considering and talking about with some members of the university community.

Academic Programs. As you know from reading the first section above, I place academic excellence very high in our priorities and very much appreciate the support of the academic community as we endeavor to strengthen learning and the learning experience at CMU. In addition to the more general ways in which I have encouraged colleagues to expand opportunities for students, I have requested that they also consider other possibilities, such as:

• The creation of new interdisciplinary and hybrid academic programs, in which one or more academic programs bring curricula together, or create new coursework, to consider how a recombination might produce a new interdisciplinary program that would help meet the needs of students who endeavor to become a part of new or emerging fields;
  
• The creation of new combined bachelor's-master's academic programs, in which upon highly successful completion of a designated core of first and second year coursework, a student would be permitted to enroll in coursework at the graduate level in place of similar coursework at the junior and senior levels, thereby earning both a bachelor's degree as well as a master's degree in a shorter time frame and with less duplication; and
  
• Cross-college and cross-disciplinary research opportunities, in which professors and students from one program work with professors and students in other programs to consider and tackle important problems and needs within both fields. I am particularly hopeful that the expertise and talent in the College of Science and Technology can be combined with that of the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions to collaborate on molecular-level clinical research of interest to those committed to the larger-scale advancement of human health. Most certainly, combinations of various other sorts are possible and most welcome, any of which will expand opportunities for student and faculty research.

Technology Transfer. As I continue to learn more about the work of my colleagues in various disciplines, I am struck with the depth and value of their research and interests. I am also struck by the fact that the university has an insufficient infrastructure to help promote and evaluate ideas, interests, and research. At many universities, evaluating ideas and inventions for patentability, licensing, and commercialization is an important function that faculty and research staff rely upon. While the capacity exists at CMU for this function, it occurs in various parts of the university that do not easily connect. As such, I will be working with several parts of the university to recombine their functions (not necessarily organizationally) into more functional working groups. If you have ideas or discoveries that you believe should be evaluated, for the time being, please contact Research Vice Provost Jim Hageman at hagem1jh@cmich.edu.

Partnerships. In addition to promoting further relationships with community colleges to enhance student transfer, we will continue to expand CMU's partnerships with organizations that employ student interns and graduates. Help from faculty colleagues in these areas is essential to any kind of progress and I thank you for supporting these relationships.

Enrollment. CMU has always taken pride in the fact that it attracts students from all regions of the state. We are pleased and honored that so many students from most areas of the state, particularly southeast Michigan, are drawn to CMU. Noting that the number of students from western and northern Michigan have remained fairly flat in recent years, I have been talking with the provost and dean of students office about expanding efforts to recruit students who can benefit from an education at CMU. While CMU receives more than 13,500 applications at the undergraduate level, the university must continue to work toward ensuring that it attracts students who are the best match for the institution, particularly in academic and motivational terms, from all regions of the state. At this point, initiatives are being explored with the dean of students and admissions to help ensure that students from western and northern Michigan are well represented at CMU.

Extended Learning. I also continue to think about how to expand CMU's extending learning opportunities. Extended learning has been an important part of the university's commitment to access.

International education. Lastly, but certainly not least, everyone's help in encouraging international learning through study abroad, recruitment of international students, and internationally-based discussion in the classroom is most appreciated.

All of these endeavors help to broaden the diversity of CMU programs, students, and experiences. Again, I value your support as we move CMU forward by enhancing opportunities for learning and development.

COLLEAGUE RESEARCH, SCHOLARSHIP AND CREATIVITY

Many of you continue to generously share copies of your published books, articles, and originals, photos, or prints of creative work with me. Thank you for taking the time to deliver or send these to Warriner Hall. As you continue to make discoveries, publish, or complete your creations, would you please consider sharing these with me? I am interested in the work of faculty colleagues, staff, and students at any level. If you have any questions regarding how to transmit your work, please contact Jane Fox (fox1jm@cmich.edu). Again, thank you.

RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND EDUCATION CONFERENCE

Staff from the Central Michigan University Research Corporation, the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP), and the La Belle Entrepreneurial Center will present "Integrating University Research, Development and Education: Fostering Ideas at CMU with Commercial Potential" on November 21, 2003, in the new Health Professions Building from 1:15 - 3:30 p.m. The goal of this conference is to walk faculty and staff members through the steps required to go from the genesis of an idea through its full commercialization, either as a licensed patent or a spin-off company which might benefit our community. A crucial piece at the far end of such a process is the application of venture capital to allow the realization of commercial potential. We have engaged a dynamic venture capitalist, Pete Farner of Kalamazoo, to be the central speaker at the conference. All university members are welcome to attend. For further information, please contact the ORSP at 774-3094.

BUDGET UPDATE

As reported in Update 35, the state of Michigan must address a $900 million budget shortfall fairly soon. The effect of this shortfall on Michigan universities is not yet known. We hope that the impact will be minimal, but know that mid-year reductions in 2003-2004 and additional reductions in 2004-2005 are a possibility for all entities that depend on state revenues. As such, the university is planning for expenditure reductions. I reactivated the senior staff budget advisory group, again requesting that the group keep key principles in mind, including the following:

• The university's top priority remains focused on student and faculty learning, geared toward teaching and research
• To the extent possible (and depending on the depth of budget reductions necessary), the number of regular faculty positions I added and authorized will be protected, but growth and efficiencies need to be evaluated when considering the allocation or reallocation of these positions
• Reductions will not be across-the-board

National indicators of a slowly improving economy keep me hopeful that the state's financial situation will eventually recover. This recovery may take longer than most of us will like. For any reduction implemented in this budget cycle, there will be concerns and issues on the part of individuals or advocacy groups. It will be important that these concerns be expressed in a civil manner, understanding that, ultimately, significant items will need to be reduced or cut. It will also be important that the university community move forward during the present and future academic years, particularly in light of the involvement of the senior staff budget advisory group, the Budget Review Advisory Council (BRAC), the university community in forums, and in consideration of the closed manner in which personnel reductions must be decided in order to protect individuals affected.

The second university budget and financial planning forum sponsored by BRAC is scheduled for Wednesday, November 19, at 10:30 a.m. in the Bovee University Center Auditorium. The forum is open to CMU students, faculty, staff, and community members. Presenters will provide updates on the budget challenge facing the state of Michigan, the likelihood of additional cuts to higher education, and the activities of the university's senior staff budget advisory group. The forum also will include a question-and-answer session.

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

Increasingly, the nation's economy appears to be rebounding. The momentum is improving, as indicated by strong expansionary monetary and fiscal policies. So, why is Michigan's economic growth predicted to be more conservative? Leading economists seem to agree that Michigan's dependence on manufacturing, and the shift of lower skill industries to low-wage countries hits the state particularly hard. Michigan's employment experience in the early 2000s has been substantially worse than during the early 1990s. Another factor is that automobile sales are flat, which affects Michigan. These factors affect the amount of revenue collected by the state from income and sales taxes. All of this seems to signal that higher-end business creation will be important to our future as one of the ten largest states in the nation. Undoubtedly, universities will play a significant role in this regard. CMU will continue to endeavor to help Michigan expand in the areas of data mining, polymer nanoscience, and other key areas important to its technology transfer focus.

STUDENT RECRUITMENT AND LEARNING

Many thanks to everyone involved with CMU's great progress with service excellence. The Service Excellence initiative has fostered important conversations on the shared values of care, knowledge, availability and follow-through, and the resulting goal-oriented strategies, programs, and activities that continue to broaden awareness and improve service delivery. Likewise, the success in the shared responsibility of achieving our enrollment goals is critical to our academic integrity and financial viability. To achieve many outcomes relative to student recruitment and learning, we all share a critical responsibility-that is, every person at CMU helps shape prospective and current student perceptions about CMU. In the months ahead, I will be asking more of us to engage in conversations and implement collaborative strategies that will enhance our collective awareness of and responsibility for achieving our goals for student learning and recruitment.

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP

Congratulations to the coaches and student-athletes of the men's cross country team, which recently won the Mid-American Championship for the second straight year. Special congratulations also to Coach Craig Fuller, who was named MAC Coach of the Year for the third time. My best wishes to the team, ranked number 22 in the nation, as it moves on to the NCAA Regional meet at Indiana State University on November 15.

ENGINEERING PROGRAM

Recently, CMU's new bachelor's degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering were approved at the Academic Affairs Officers meeting of the President's Council of State Universities of Michigan. These programs will replace programs in manufacturing technology and electronics technology, respectively. This is an important movement for CMU, as these new undergraduate degrees better position CMU to prepare students for internships and jobs with higher salaries, and increase Michigan's ability to attract new companies with higher skill and higher income opportunities. Furthermore, the university's engineering building, completed in 1988, will be better utilized. Thank you to the faculty of the IET department, Chair Daniel Chen, Deans Bob Kohrman and Rich St. Andre, Vice Provost Catherine Riordan, and Provost Storch for their outstanding work in pulling this together in the timeframe we set back in 2002.

HIGHER LEARNING COMMISSION ACCREDITATION

The accreditation self-study steering committee, preparing for our institutional accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission, has now formed five sub-committees based on the five accreditation criteria of mission, future planning, learning and teaching, acquisition and application of knowledge, and engagement and service. The time line includes gathering information by the end of this academic year, and pulling the report together next year. Our campus visit will take place in 2005-2006. The steering committee members are Wayne Osborn, Tim Hartshorne, Ray Christie, Jonas Cook, Monica Holmes, Maxine Kent, Maria Marron, and Gary Shapiro. Units should expect contact from the various committees regarding information for the self-study. For further information, contact Tim Hartshorne at harts1ts@cmich.edu, or 774-3632.

NORTHERN EXPOSURE UPDATE

Last fall, individuals representing CMU, the Clare/Gladwin RESD, and Mid-Michigan Community College gathered to discuss how they could work collaboratively to help that district on issues of literacy. Dianne Mark, interim associate dean in the College of Education and Human Services, and Sheryl Presler, director of the Clare/Gladwin RESD, spearheaded this collaboration, known as the Northern Exposure initiative. Several exciting projects have come to fruition since last year. A Summer Reading Program was held in Farwell last summer, with plans to offer it in Harrison next summer. Pam Gates, associate dean of the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences, will continue discussions with district superintendents regarding professional development and professional development schools. A meeting was held recently to provide additional updates on the status of securing grants, "clustering" of student teachers, and possible strategies for connecting with other departments and colleges at CMU. Thanks to all for their work on this great initiative.