Periodic Updates - Update #51
CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
June 24, 2005
Continued Advocacy Important
Thank you to those who have written to legislators to advocate for equitable per-student funding for all universities. If you have not written, please consider doing so. Your support is critical. Talking points that you may wish to include in letters, sample letters, addresses for government officials, and other information can be accessed at http://www.cmich.edu/govrelations.
Without new revenues, CMU would need to reduce $11-$15 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1. CMU remains about 500 faculty and staff positions behind the average staffing in Michigan universities. CMU’s position is among the worst in the state because of the severity of reductions of the past few years combined with having very low per-student revenues in appropriations and tuition and also because of its enrollment growth. If not able to identify additional resources, the university would face its worst situation in history, including:
State Budget Update
Work continues in Lansing on both the House of Representatives and Senate versions of spending bills for fiscal year 2005-2006, including budgets for higher education. Both versions currently contain funding formulas for at least a portion of the operations appropriations to the public universities, which take into account factors such as enrollment, degrees granted, and research. While the budget outcome is still uncertain, I applaud the Michigan House of Representatives, Speaker DeRoche, and Representative Caul for recognizing the need for a state higher education funding formula, in general, and the proposed per-student funding approach, in particular. The accountability factors built into their proposed WIN Plan are logical and demonstrate movement toward a more reasonable funding base for Michigan university students. Much applause to Senator Goschka’s proposal that also establishes a funding formula for higher education with factors that vary from the House version but are also important. Both plans do recognize the critical argument for dollars following students.
International Initiatives
Having recently returned from a trip to meet with CMU’s partners in China and Japan, I remain greatly appreciative of how warmly we were received in both countries. I am also even more aware of the importance of international relationships for any learning organization and the need for deliberate actions to ensure opportunities for students and faculty to engage internationally. As such, I applaud the vision committee’s work in identifying global learning as a priority and look forward to specific initiatives that it will identify to help promote global learning.
Each of CMU’s university partners and the China Daily newspaper showed significant commitment to CMU, its students, and its faculty. I remain grateful to my faculty and administrative colleagues who have developed and fostered these excellent relationships and express gratitude for their efforts to sustain them. Though visas are a challenge, CMU has had about 25 Chinese students annually who come to CMU. For the unusually strong opportunities that we enjoy in Japan through its co-ops, Nagoya and Iwate Universities, and the City of Okaya (Mt. Pleasant’s 40-year sister city), I am grateful to faculty, George Dunn, Paul Preston, and the many Mt. Pleasant community visionaries who have developed relationships for CMU. Currently, CMU enrolls 25 Japanese students thanks due largely to these folks.
The students with whom I interacted in both China and Japan were very internationally focused. I am convinced that we need to focus more internationally, as well. In the coming months, I will work with donors to form a study abroad resource endowment to help encourage students at CMU to go abroad in larger numbers. I am grateful to The Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation for a gift that established an international travel fund.
SAP Campus Management System Implementation Continues
In light of the considerable past and ongoing investment in the SAP Campus Management (CM) system, the vice presidents and I have responsibility for regularly reviewing and monitoring the project’s success. Recently, we shared a new organizational plan designed specifically to facilitate progress and communication, between both the CM core teams and the university community at large. Bruce Roscoe, Dean of Students, has been identified as the Executive Sponsor, charged with direct executive level oversight and responsibility for the project. Additionally, Jill Richards, an external consultant with Inovacent Solutions, has been hired as project manager. Ms. Richards will develop a project plan, identify resources, and ensure the successful execution of the CM implementation. Registrar Karen Hutslar will continue to act as functional lead.
Progress is proceeding according to schedule. One of the more visible CM components - the Academic Structure - “went live” in December 2004 and February 2005. The Academic Structure is a highly interactive website that allows prospective and current students to “build” a complete CMU degree, listing all the necessary program requirements, while simultaneously showing all the courses they can take to meet those requirements. The result is a custom-designed “road map” created to assist students in planning for their future coursework. It also allows students to search for course listings, including course descriptions, and access the master course syllabus. I thank the CM Team (http://www.sap.cmich.edu/cm/project_team.htm), which has worked so diligently on the project implementation over the past year. The team has already accomplished a great deal, and along with a number of members of academic and administrative offices, has invested many hours in an effort to develop and implement CM. During the coming academic year, information will be shared regularly to keep the university community apprised of the plans to “go live” in spring 2006. Additional information can be found at http://www.sap.cmich.edu/cm/default.htm.
Administrative Searches in the Academic Division
The search for a College of Business Administration dean will resume later this summer. In the meantime, Dan Vetter and JoAnn Linrud have both agreed to continue in interim roles. Libraries Dean Tom Moore is the chair of the search committee for the vice provost for academic administration position. Semi-finalist candidates have been interviewed by phone and the committee is in the process of selecting finalists for on-campus visits in late June or early July. Provost Storch is planning a search for the Chief Information Officer position.
Landscaping and Lighting Projects This Summer
Summer outdoor construction projects on campus will address exterior lighting, campus landscaping, sidewalk replacement and ice-melting systems. Student members of the Board of Trustees’ trustees/student liaison committee recommended some of these projects for funding by the Campus Improvement Fee, special funds collected for one-time improvement kinds of projects such as these. More information about this summer’s lighting and landscaping projects may be found at http://www.news.cmich.edu/archived/index.asp?id=672. Information about all campus projects may be found at Plant Engineering and Planning’s project information web site at http://fmgt.cmich.edu/consti/
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
June 24, 2005
| TO: | The CMU Community |
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| FROM: | Michael Rao |
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| SUBJECT: | CMU Update 51 |
Continued Advocacy Important
Thank you to those who have written to legislators to advocate for equitable per-student funding for all universities. If you have not written, please consider doing so. Your support is critical. Talking points that you may wish to include in letters, sample letters, addresses for government officials, and other information can be accessed at http://www.cmich.edu/govrelations.
Without new revenues, CMU would need to reduce $11-$15 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1. CMU remains about 500 faculty and staff positions behind the average staffing in Michigan universities. CMU’s position is among the worst in the state because of the severity of reductions of the past few years combined with having very low per-student revenues in appropriations and tuition and also because of its enrollment growth. If not able to identify additional resources, the university would face its worst situation in history, including:
- reductions and eliminations affecting 100 or more staff positions
- freezing faculty position growth plans
- reductions of enrollment at CMU
State Budget Update
Work continues in Lansing on both the House of Representatives and Senate versions of spending bills for fiscal year 2005-2006, including budgets for higher education. Both versions currently contain funding formulas for at least a portion of the operations appropriations to the public universities, which take into account factors such as enrollment, degrees granted, and research. While the budget outcome is still uncertain, I applaud the Michigan House of Representatives, Speaker DeRoche, and Representative Caul for recognizing the need for a state higher education funding formula, in general, and the proposed per-student funding approach, in particular. The accountability factors built into their proposed WIN Plan are logical and demonstrate movement toward a more reasonable funding base for Michigan university students. Much applause to Senator Goschka’s proposal that also establishes a funding formula for higher education with factors that vary from the House version but are also important. Both plans do recognize the critical argument for dollars following students.
International Initiatives
Having recently returned from a trip to meet with CMU’s partners in China and Japan, I remain greatly appreciative of how warmly we were received in both countries. I am also even more aware of the importance of international relationships for any learning organization and the need for deliberate actions to ensure opportunities for students and faculty to engage internationally. As such, I applaud the vision committee’s work in identifying global learning as a priority and look forward to specific initiatives that it will identify to help promote global learning.
Each of CMU’s university partners and the China Daily newspaper showed significant commitment to CMU, its students, and its faculty. I remain grateful to my faculty and administrative colleagues who have developed and fostered these excellent relationships and express gratitude for their efforts to sustain them. Though visas are a challenge, CMU has had about 25 Chinese students annually who come to CMU. For the unusually strong opportunities that we enjoy in Japan through its co-ops, Nagoya and Iwate Universities, and the City of Okaya (Mt. Pleasant’s 40-year sister city), I am grateful to faculty, George Dunn, Paul Preston, and the many Mt. Pleasant community visionaries who have developed relationships for CMU. Currently, CMU enrolls 25 Japanese students thanks due largely to these folks.
The students with whom I interacted in both China and Japan were very internationally focused. I am convinced that we need to focus more internationally, as well. In the coming months, I will work with donors to form a study abroad resource endowment to help encourage students at CMU to go abroad in larger numbers. I am grateful to The Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation for a gift that established an international travel fund.
SAP Campus Management System Implementation Continues
In light of the considerable past and ongoing investment in the SAP Campus Management (CM) system, the vice presidents and I have responsibility for regularly reviewing and monitoring the project’s success. Recently, we shared a new organizational plan designed specifically to facilitate progress and communication, between both the CM core teams and the university community at large. Bruce Roscoe, Dean of Students, has been identified as the Executive Sponsor, charged with direct executive level oversight and responsibility for the project. Additionally, Jill Richards, an external consultant with Inovacent Solutions, has been hired as project manager. Ms. Richards will develop a project plan, identify resources, and ensure the successful execution of the CM implementation. Registrar Karen Hutslar will continue to act as functional lead.
Progress is proceeding according to schedule. One of the more visible CM components - the Academic Structure - “went live” in December 2004 and February 2005. The Academic Structure is a highly interactive website that allows prospective and current students to “build” a complete CMU degree, listing all the necessary program requirements, while simultaneously showing all the courses they can take to meet those requirements. The result is a custom-designed “road map” created to assist students in planning for their future coursework. It also allows students to search for course listings, including course descriptions, and access the master course syllabus. I thank the CM Team (http://www.sap.cmich.edu/cm/project_team.htm), which has worked so diligently on the project implementation over the past year. The team has already accomplished a great deal, and along with a number of members of academic and administrative offices, has invested many hours in an effort to develop and implement CM. During the coming academic year, information will be shared regularly to keep the university community apprised of the plans to “go live” in spring 2006. Additional information can be found at http://www.sap.cmich.edu/cm/default.htm.
Administrative Searches in the Academic Division
The search for a College of Business Administration dean will resume later this summer. In the meantime, Dan Vetter and JoAnn Linrud have both agreed to continue in interim roles. Libraries Dean Tom Moore is the chair of the search committee for the vice provost for academic administration position. Semi-finalist candidates have been interviewed by phone and the committee is in the process of selecting finalists for on-campus visits in late June or early July. Provost Storch is planning a search for the Chief Information Officer position.
Landscaping and Lighting Projects This Summer
Summer outdoor construction projects on campus will address exterior lighting, campus landscaping, sidewalk replacement and ice-melting systems. Student members of the Board of Trustees’ trustees/student liaison committee recommended some of these projects for funding by the Campus Improvement Fee, special funds collected for one-time improvement kinds of projects such as these. More information about this summer’s lighting and landscaping projects may be found at http://www.news.cmich.edu/archived/index.asp?id=672. Information about all campus projects may be found at Plant Engineering and Planning’s project information web site at http://fmgt.cmich.edu/consti/
