Institutional Overview and Context

Michigan Tech is a public university committed to providing a quality education in engineering, the sciences, business, technology, communication, and forestry at an affordable cost. We are the only public PhD-granting, nationally-ranked technological university in Michigan. Our unique tradition of education in engineering, science, and related disciplines provides Michigan’s industries with highly qualified graduates, and our research activities assist the community, the State, and the nation in economic and cultural development.

Location

FIGURE 1. Location of the Michigan Tech Campus in the Upper Peninsula of the State of Michigan.

Michigan Tech is located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on the shore of Portage Lake, one mile from downtown Houghton in the heart of the scenic Keweenaw Peninsula (Figure 1). This location has powerfully shaped the mission of the University. At the turn of the last century, the Keweenaw was the heart of a booming copper-mining industry, and Michigan Tech was created by the State legislature to serve this industry. This legacy of service to industrial development, and particularly to the development of natural resources, is embedded in the University’s mission and remains a core activity for all colleges and schools in the University. Today the Keweenaw is the site of the newly established Keweenaw National Historical Park which commemorates copper mining life. Studying the relationships between science, technology, and society has been a unique focus of the liberal arts at Michigan Tech.

The Keweenaw is also the gateway to Isle Royale National Park, an International Biosphere Reserve which encompasses 850 square miles of wilderness and water. Nearby Lake Superior is the world’s second largest freshwater lake, surrounded by forests, rivers, and superb geological formations. While these features provide excellent resources and an invigorating physical environment in which to live, they also shape Michigan Tech’s many initiatives in environmental studies.

Our remote location and cool climate have contributed to the development of a compact main campus, which consists of 50 buildings and a 352-unit apartment complex on 200 acres. Total local University facilities comprise 60 buildings on 900 acres, this includes an Alpine ski hill, Nordic ski trails, and an 18-hole golf course. In addition, the University owns the Ford Forestry Center in Alberta, Michigan, 40 miles south of campus, with its 4,000-acre forest and 36 buildings. A benefit of our location is safety. Michigan Tech was rated the safest public university campus in Michigan and among the top ten in the nation [1]. For a tour of our campus, please see http://www.mtu.edu/mtuinfo/narrate.html or the MTU Viewbook .

History

Michigan Tech began its history in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, created by an act of the Michigan Legislature. With a mission to train mining and metallurgical engineers for the local copper and iron mines and to develop the mineral wealth of the Upper Peninsula, the School began with four faculty members and 23 students. In 1896 it became the Michigan College of Mines and trained nationally and internationally recognized mining engineers. To meet the needs of Michigan’s rapidly growing mass production industries, the College developed new programs in chemical, electrical, civil, and mechanical engineering as well as in forestry, and changed its name in 1926 to the Michigan College of Mining and Technology. By 1931 enrollment reached a peak of 591. “Michigan Tech” as it was now dubbed, graduated its first woman student in 1933 and awarded its first doctorates in 1934.

In the postwar period the college grew dramatically; it enrolled 1,789 students in Houghton in 1948, and 384 at a new branch campus (now Lake Superior State University) 250 miles east at Sault Saint Marie. New programs in engineering administration, physics, and geological engineering were introduced. In 1954, the Ford Motor Company gifted Alberta, Michigan, a Ford forest operations center with an experimental sawmill, to the college, and it became the Ford Forestry Center, which provides assistance to local forest products industries.

By 1963, enrollment had reached 2,700, but only 44 students were enrolled in mining. As a reflection of the breadth of the curriculum and the diminished role of mining, in 1964 the State legislature renamed the college Michigan Technological University,; granting it university status and expanding its constitutional authority. Over the next 15 years, the development and execution of a long-range campus plan created the physical plant we enjoy today: A central campus mall with high-rise buildings and an upper campus with the Forestry Building and the Student Development Complex (SDC), which includes the MacInnes Student Ice Arena and Gates Tennis Center. Physical expansion has mirrored a growth in curricula. New programs were developed in biological sciences, computer science, forestry, engineering and teacher education. In 1968 the Board of Control divided the University into the College of Engineering, College of Sciences and Arts, and School of Forestry. In 1970 and 1982, the Schools of Business and Engineering Administration (now Business and Economics) and Technology, respectively, were upgraded from their status as departments. By 1979, enrollment reached 7,690 students and faculty numbered about 300. The number of faculty who hold doctoral degrees grew and research funding doubled, presaging a new period of growth in graduate education and research in the 1980s and 1990s.

MTU celebrated its centennial in 1985, and launched the Century II Capital Campaign. “Spheres of Excellence” were identified in undergraduate engineering and science; materials and material processing; computer-aided engineering; forest, biotechnology, and natural resources; environmental engineering/science; wood products development; manufacturing; and scientific and technical communication. By the end of the 1980s, annual giving topped $1.8 million, and research funding exceeded $10 million annually.

In 1983, the Michigan Governor’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education named Michigan Tech as one of the State’s four nationally recognized research universities, along with the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University. This recognition brought with it the significant fiscal advantage of allowing the University to receive supplemental line item research funding from the State of Michigan in addition to its regular State appropriations. In 1996/97, Michigan differentiated its 15 public institutions by Carnegie classification (research, doctoral, and masters/comprehensive; see Table 1) and established per student “floor funding” levels (minimum per student funding levels for each classification); for a complete discussion of this new system, (Fiscal Year 1996–97 Higher Education Appropriations Report [4.5C], pp. 2–3). Michigan Tech is currently classified Doctoral II, although we have achieved the threshold for Doctoral I status. When we meet the requirements for classification as a Research II institution (projected for the year 2000), we anticipate a significant increase in state funding.

TABLE 1. 1994 Carnegie Classification of Higher Education.

Category	Requirements (3-year annual average)
Research I	50 Doctoral degrees and $40 million in Federal R&D money
Research II	50 Doctoral degrees and $15.540 million in Federal R&D money
Doctoral I	40 Doctoral degrees in 5 or more fields
Doctoral II	20 Doctoral degrees in 1 field or 10 Doctoral degrees in 3 or more fields
Masters I	40 Masters degrees in 3 or more fields
Masters II	20 Masters degrees in 1 or more fields

Michigan Tech Today

We continue to build on our mission to benefit the State and society through education, research, and public service in science, engineering, and related disciplines. Our vision encompasses developing leaders and communicators who understand the growing diversity of our society, the global reach of industry and its impact on the environment, and the increasing complexity of science and technology. This complexity demands depth of education at the graduate level and interdisciplinary approaches, two aspects of our vision which continue to grow in importance (see Chapter 2 for more information).

Today the University is organized into two colleges and three schools:

• College of Engineering,
• College of Sciences and Arts,
• School of Business and Economics,
• School of Forestry and Wood Products, and
• School of Technology.

In addition to offering degree granting programs, the University has 16 research centers and institutes, each with a focused, interdisciplinary theme. These include the College of Engineering’s MTU Regional Groundwater Education in Michigan (GEM) Center and the National Center for Clean Industrial and Treatment Technologies (CenCITT). CenCITT is a a multi-university consortium established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota; MTU is the administrative lead organization for the consortium. For a complete list of these centers see the Graduate School Bulletin [1.3B, pp. 9–11].

To support MTU’s tradition of excellence in both undergraduate and graduate education and research, 96% of our 349 tenured/tenure-track faculty have terminal degrees in their field. This faculty teaches 80% of our courses. We do not rely heavily on non-tenure-track faculty, adjunct faculty, or graduate students to teach undergraduate students (see Chapter 6 for additional details).

Fall 1996 enrollment was 6,195, including 654 (10.6%) graduate students. Consistent with our mission to serve the State, 74% of MTU students are Michiganders; however, students from 45 states and 64 foreign countries attended MTU last year. Over 64% of our students are enrolled in engineering programs, and 89% in engineering or science. MTU has some of the nation’s largest undergraduate enrollments in metallurgical and materials engineering and mechanical engineering. Approximately 75% of our undergraduates receive financial aid, and about 80% of graduate students receive assistantships or fellowships.

Degrees are offered at the associate, baccalaureate, masters, and PhD levels, and students also pursue interdisciplinary, preprofessional, and secondary teacher certification options. In 1996/97 we granted 81 associates degrees, 1,186 baccalaureates, 164 master’s and 50 doctorates, and in 1996/97 enrolled graduate students in 20 master’s programs and 15 doctoral programs. For additional information, see Appendix 1: General Institutional Requirements, and Appendix 2: Basic Institutional Data Forms.

As outlined in Appendix 3: Federal Compliance Requirements, MTU offers programs that are accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and the Society of American Foresters (SAF). The School of Business and Economics is currently in candidacy (third year in a five-year cycle) for accreditation by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). MTU has been continuously accredited since 1928 by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools - Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (NCA-CIHE).

In the ten years since our last self-study, Michigan Tech has embarked on many initiatives designed to meet the challenge of its vision to be a nationally and internationally recognized leader in undergraduate and graduate education and research in sciences and engineering. In the report which follows, we will explore these initiatives and evaluate MTU’s progress toward its strategic goals.

Several initiatives have laid the groundwork for change.

• Executive Leadership . Since 1991, we have built a new team of leaders:
  
  
  • Dr. Curtis J. Tompkins became the President in 1991,
    
    
  • Dr. Dale R. Tahtinen became Vice President for Governmental Relations and Secretary to the Board of Control in 1991,
    
    
  • William J. McGarry became Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer to the Board of Control in 1992,
    
    
  • Dr. Fredrick J. Dobney became Executive Vice President and Provost in 1993, and
    
    
  • Dr. John D. Sellars became Senior Vice President for Advancement and University Relations in 1996.
    
    

The product of multiple national searches, this new leadership arrived with a wealth of experience and accomplishments demonstrated at other institutions of higher education.

• Shared Governance. A major goal of University leadership has been to create a system of shared governance, which has been accomplished by restructuring the University Senate to include staff as well as faculty, and by the consistent use of University committees and task forces for advice in decision making.
  
  
• Total Quality Education. The President established an office of Quality Service Education to spearhead TQE initiatives across campus.
  
  
• Strategic Planning Process. The Executive Vice President and Provost initiated a University-wide strategic planning process in 1994 to increase involvement in planning at all levels of the University (see Chapter 2 for details).
  
  
• Graduate Program Growth. We have significantly expanded our focus on research and graduate studies. Since 1988/89, seven new PhD programs and 3 masters degree programs have been established. Enrollment has grown from 465 to 654, an increase of 41%, primarily in PhD programs (see Chapter 7 for details).
  
  
• Undergraduate Student Life. Since 1987, Student Affairs, Educational Opportunity, Enrollment Management, and many academic departments have significantly expanded services to undergraduate students that support student success both on campus and in pursuing careers (see Chapters 3–5 for details).
  
  
• Faculty. Consistent with our goal to expand graduate education while maintaining undergraduate teaching excellence, we have aggressively pursued high-quality new faculty in a favorable academic job market. Forty-three percent of our tenured/tenure track faculty have arrived on campus since 1988, increasing the number of faculty by 26%, from 278 to 349 (see Chapter 6 for details).
  
  
• Information Technology. Since 1988, we have moved from a centralized system to a distributed computing environment. To enable this move, we have installed a fiber-optic backbone to support data networking, recabled campus buildings, and standardized protocols to allow for easy access to networked resources for the more than 2,500 networked computers across campus (see Chapter 10 and the Information Technology Self-Study [2.6H9] for details).
  
  
• Facilities. New facilities and renewals are improving the quality and quantity of space available for teaching, research, and student life. The $47 million Minerals and Materials Engineering Building was completed in 1991, the $7.5 million remodeling of the Memorial Union Building (MUB) was completed in 1989, the $1.5 million Meese Center was completed in 1997, and the $44 million Dow Environmental Sciences and Engineering Building will be completed in 1998. Planned initiatives include the Performing Arts and Education Center, which will feature a 1,200-seat performing hall and will bring great events to the campus and community, and expansion of the Forestry Building (see Chapters 11 and 12 for details).
  
  
• Academic Calendar. MTU is the only Michigan public university organized on a quarter system (three 10-week quarters plus a 10-week summer quarter held concurrently with two 5-week intensive terms). In May 1997, the faculty voted overwhelmingly to switch to a semester system, and a task force is now developing a formal proposal for consideration by the Board.

New leadership, new processes, and new organizational structures, plus growth in programs and faculty, all set the stage for a $100 million capital campaign to commence in 2000 in order to move Michigan Tech into the 21st century.

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