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Update #49

CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

March 29, 2005
 
TO: The CMU Community
FROM: Michael Rao
SUBJECT: CMU Update 49


Here’s another update with information that you might find helpful.

Advocacy in State Budget Process

As discussions continue at the state level about 2005-2006 budgets, in addition to plans to solve the 2004-2005 state budget deficit, your advocacy for equitable per-student funding for institutions like CMU that have taken on important work in developing Michigan’s economic future continues to be critical. Thank you to those who have already written to your legislators. Your letters are making an important difference, particularly as you share stories reflecting the impact of such severe budget reductions on you or your area. Talking points that you may wish to include in your letters, sample letters, addresses for government officials, and other information can be accessed at http://www.cmich.edu/govrelations.

Vision Update

On March 3, the CMU Board of Trustees approved recommendations that included a modified vision statement, priorities, and strategies for the next five years, key performance indicators, adoption of a common set of terms, and a strategy for implementing the plan. Many thanks to the campus wide Vision Planning Steering Committee and members of the academic community who helped develop these recommendations. The link http://www.news.cmich.edu/news/index.asp?id=548 provides some details on each of the vision areas. In reality, this vision is quite basic and fundamentally builds on many of CMU’s existing strengths. The key to this vision rests with reversing years of declining funding and the loss of human resources. The university’s key strength is its people.

State Budget Update

The Governor’s Executive Order (EO) includes a $30 million cut for higher education; however, the final EO also includes language that calls for a review of state revenues in May before the cut is taken. If revenues increase, higher education may be able to avoid cuts. If the cuts are implemented, some funding may be available to the universities and community colleges for deferred maintenance projects.

CMU is on the top of the capital outlay funding list with $37.5 million approved for the renovation and expansion of Ronan Hall. Both the EO and capital outlay bills have been approved by the State Senate. However, they will not be considered by the House of Representatives until the week of April 12th.

We especially thank Governor Granholm, Speaker of the House and CMU alumnus Craig DeRoche, Senator Alan Cropsey, Senator Mike Goschka, State Representative Bill Caul, and former State Representative Sandy Caul for their support of the capital outlay funding for the much-needed improvements to Ronan Hall, which is home to CMU’s highly regarded teacher education program.

CMU Explores Tuition Options

On the heels of severe reductions, as necessitated by the state’s economic climate, which have resulted in larger class sizes and reduced services to students, the university continues to explore various revenue scenarios for 2005-2006. Options being considered include an across-the-board tuition increase for all students, a tiered-tuition approach with different tuition rates for lower and upper level division classes, a plan that would guarantee a fixed tuition amount for the period in which a student is enrolled, and differential tuition for programs that cost more to deliver. The university is also exploring the possibility of combining mandatory fees into tuition, thereby making the cost of attendance much clearer to students and their families. Factors important to CMU’s evaluation of options include: providing a financial base that allows the university to sustain the quality of academic programs and services that students and other constituents expect; facilitating better financial planning for students and parents; promoting student retention; and achieving one price for tuition and mandatory fees.

The university needs to consider options that enable it to recover from four consecutive years of major budget reductions by sustaining and rebuilding quality programs and services with revenues. Partly because of CMU’s lower per-student funding base, the workforce reductions of the last four years have significantly burdened the learning process. It is nearly impossible to imagine how CMU could sustain the loss of additional people or other resources if forced to cut again.

It has become clear to many in Lansing that tuition and fees at CMU rank very low compared to many of our peers. CMU is the fourth largest university and one of the most popular in Michigan, yet its tuition and fees and appropriation rank near the bottom of all Michigan public universities, resulting in less to spend on each student at CMU. Reductions to institutions that rank low in revenues arguably affect them to a greater degree. The status quo offers no hope, at least in the short term, of creating revenues needed to preserve the academic learning experience including class sizes that are already beyond room size maxima.

While CMU has been fiscally responsible throughout the state’s severe budget reductions, its greatest responsibility now is to address student needs—which, in my opinion, are great. If sustained, the impact of severe reductions to its appropriation, combined with its low tuition, will show up in the next few years in ways that will devastate the state’s impact in delivering quality academic programs through its fourth largest university. Particularly in light of the state’s interest in increasing the college-educated population in Michigan, reduced revenues per student will run completely counter to building a stronger economic base in the state.

Re-Accreditation Self-Study Efforts Continue
As has been mentioned in previous updates, the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association will be visiting CMU in fall 2005 for a re-accreditation site visit. More information about this process is available at http://www.cmich.edu/hlc-accreditation/. Recently, drafts of the preface and first three chapters of the self-study report have been posted at http://www.cmich.edu/hlc-accreditation/2005-self-study.htm. Feedback on the self-study report and re-accreditation process may be made through the accreditation web site and is welcomed.

Faculty Excellence Awards

At the Faculty Excellence Exhibition held on March 23, it was a pleasure to view the presentations by faculty colleagues and participate in the presentation of awards to faculty in recognition for outstanding research, teaching, and service. Congratulations to the excellent recipients of this year’s awards:

 
President’s Awards Provost’s Awards
Felix Famoye
Pete Orlik		 Brad Fahlman
Mike Pisani
   
Excellence in Teaching Awards Faculty Distinguished Service Awards
Kathy Benison
Luz Hurtado
Mike Kennedy
Lori Ann Pietrandrea
Kathy Rosier		 Claudia Douglass
Jim Gillingham
   
Research Excellence Fund  
Greg Colores
Tracy Galarowicz
Dale LeCaptain and Choon Lee
Alan Jackson, Marco Fornari, Mihai Horoi, Valeri Petkov, Sudha Srinivas
Jim McDonald, Tim Brannan, Shane Cavanaugh, Lynn Dominguez, Ray Francis, Dan Henry, Tom Kromer, Bill Leibfritz

Service Excellence
Since its inception four years ago, the Service Excellence initiative has been a core focus of both the Dean of Students office and Human Resources. The Human Resources department has developed and delivered a wide range of programs tailored to individual offices, which has assisted CMU in enhancing its service delivery. To date, 73% of staff members - representing more than 90 university units - have participated in at least one service excellence training program. Through the Service Excellence Nomination program implemented in 2003, we continue to keep these concepts alive by recognizing our peers for delivering excellent service. For this, I thank the HR staff. To recognize someone for providing excellent service, please contact Human Resources at http://www.hrs.cmich.edu/PCD/ServExcel.htm.

Funding of Graduate Initiatives
Recently, I requested that the colleges, including the College of Graduate Studies, propose several initiatives designed to help promote information about CMU’s strong graduate programs. Though under the current budget model, I have limited flexibility in terms of spending once a budget is established in July, I will provide some one-time funding through savings from my own office. A web page consultant will be hired to evaluate the user interface of graduate program web pages. A plan is also being developed for marketing initiatives for programs, to include items such as direct mailings and web site improvements. Additionally, if resources are sufficient, I hope to assist a few academically strong baccalaureate degree programs that are experiencing lower enrolled majors with marketing, particularly to off-campus populations.

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 send these to me. As you continue to make discoveries, publish, or complete your creations, please consider sharing these with me. I am interested in the work of my colleagues at any level. If you have any questions regarding how to transmit your work, please contact Jane Sasse (fox1jm@cmich.edu). Again, thank you.

CMU Research Corporation Update

With a Ph.D. in organic chemistry, CMU Research Corporation (CMURC) CEO Nathan Long is using his experience as CEO of a biomedical start-up and corporate R&D. His academic background has also been an asset in working with CMU’s talented faculty.

CMURC continues to manage The National Dendrimer and Nanotechnology Center (Dendrimer Center) at CMU, established by the Army Research Laboratories in 2003. The Dendrimer Center has yielded intellectual property with commercial potential, created several new jobs, engaged CMU faculty and students in valuable research, and led to more than $1 million in additional research support from other funding sources.

The Dendrimer Center’s success and growth have led to plans for a 17,000 square foot wet-laboratory facility, which is financially supported by CMU and funds secured by CMURC including a $2.15M grant from the EDA and a $750,000 grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. A team of CMU and CMURC staff are finalizing schematics with architects currently, with a ground breaking ceremony scheduled in May. The wet-lab expansion will house current Dendrimer Center partners Dendritic NanoTechnologies and MultiGEN Diagnostics, and be a central resource for future collaborators and young research firms. This expansion project demonstrates CMU’s commitment to increasing the research capacity of the university, region, and state.

The 4th International Dendrimer Symposium (IDS-4) will be held on the campus of CMU May 18-21st, bringing 350-400 international researchers to campus to hear the latest developments in dendrimer nanotechnologies. CMURC is coordinating the event with CMU and Dendritic Nanotechnologies. This is the first time the conference has been held in the U.S., with former IDS held in Berlin, Tokyo, and Frankfurt. For more on IDS-4, visit www.ids4.org.

CMURC has completed Business Intelligence (BI) projects with Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, Henry Ford Health Systems, Eli Lilly, and Dow Chemical. CMURC is also planning the 4th Annual BI Forum June 9th, which brings 100 professionals from various industries to campus. Business Intelligence activities continue to be an effective model that leverages the computing capacity of CMURC and the content expertise of CMU faculty and students, while providing Fortune 500 firms with insights to very complex business issues.

Congratulations CMU Athletics
Congratulations to the CMU athletic teams, coaches, and student-athletes who, through their achievements, have brought great credit and well-deserved recognition to themselves, their teams, the department of athletics, and the university. MAC team championships were won by the men’s cross country, wrestling, and men’s indoor track teams. The wrestling team was also the MAC tournament champions. Four coaches who are members of the regular faculty at CMU were named MAC Coach of the Year: Craig Fuller (men’s cross country), Jim Knapp (men’s indoor track), Tom Borrelli (wrestling), and Jerry Reighard (gymnastics). Coach Knapp was also named the Regional Coach of the Year for the Great Lakes Region. Additional information about individual championships and honors is available at http://cmuchippewas.collegesports.com/ot/cmu-honor-roll.html.

Alternative Spring Break Programs

Recently, 130 CMU students left for sites all over the country to spend their spring break week volunteering to address issues such as HIV/AIDS, rural poverty, national park preservation, the environment, diversity, disabilities, terminally ill children, inner city rebuilding, an orphanage, and renovating housing in Romania. I offer warm congratulations to these students for their involvement in important public service projects—many of which will have an impact on them for years to come. For more information about alternative breaks programs, please visit http://www.stulife.cmich.edu/volunteer/alternative_breaks.shtml.

Posters in the Capitol

On April 12, CMU undergraduate students will present “Posters in the Capitol,” featuring their work on a wide range of significant problems, issues, and interests. CMU’s “Posters in the Capitol” will take place from 3-7 p.m. in the Capitol Rotunda.