Periodic Updates - Update #36
CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
November 14, 2003
To: CMU Colleagues and Students
From: Mike Rao
Ref: 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:
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:
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:
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.
