TechAlum News, January 30, 2006

January 30, 2006 (Vol. 12, No. 34)

A weekly electronic newsletter for alumni and friends of Michigan Technological University

Edited by Dennis Walikainen (MS ’92), Director, Web Development, University Marketing and Communications
dkwalika@mtu.edu

For past issues, see our archives.

In this issue:

From the President
At Tech
Tech Sports
Around Town
From the E-mailbag
E-mail Updates/Welcome to new subscribers
Alumni Chapter Events
Job Opportunities

From the President

In a recent article, the Detroit Free Press accused Michigan Tech and other state universities of "big waste." <http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006601260475>

My response, submitted to the Free Press, follows:

Readers of Thursday's article "Big Waste Found at State Universities" may have concluded that Michigan's universities were squandering public funds. That's unfortunate, particularly at a time when the state's stellar higher education system is suffering as a result of dwindling state support.

We welcomed the audit, which covered the period from July 2000 to August 2003, as an opportunity to improve our operations. Indeed, that has been the outcome. During their visit here, auditors found that Michigan Tech's procedures for reporting on sabbatical leaves were not uniformly enforced. We were grateful for their insight and immediately acted to correct the problem.

The auditors gave the university high marks in the area of teaching improvement. In particular, they praised our "well-developed process for timely and clear identification of below-satisfactory teaching." Their only suggestion in this area was that we do more to identify its causes. Quality teaching is a core value at Michigan Tech, and we are using the auditors' recommendations to make improvements.

The auditors cited a number of areas of excellence, including Michigan Tech's national leadership in the number of invention disclosures and licenses, and our commitment to economic development through the Michigan Tech SmartZone. They also singled out our Enterprise program as a unique, proactive education experience for undergraduates.

Michigan Tech views state audits as far more than necessary oversight by the legislature. Audit reports help us to do our job better. Our only regret is that this valuable process was used to unfairly accuse Michigan Tech and other universities of "big waste."

Glenn D. Mroz
President

Snowfall Update
(Website http://www.admin.mtu.edu/alumni/snowfall/)
As of January 28, 2006

Snowfall to Date, On the Ground

This Week: 137.5" 20"

Last Week: 133" 22"

Last Year: 102.88" 38"

ALUMNI BULLETIN BOARD: Remember the alumni bulletin board for you to use for discussions related to this newsletter, Tech sports, or anything else: <http://www.admin.mtu.edu/pps-cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl>

At Tech

DOW FOUNDATION GIVES $1.2 MILLON TO SBE FOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT: A group of Tech students will be developing custom software for nonprofit organizations, thanks to a gift from the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation. The foundation is underwriting the five-year, $2.0-million Non-Profit Application Development Initiative, which includes $1.2 million for the School of Business and Economics. The funding will be used by the IT Oxygen Enterprise to develop computer applications for nonprofit groups such as United Way. Students in Michigan Tech's Enterprise program work in teams and take on real-world projects, often on behalf of industry. The remaining $800,000 of the Dow Foundation grant will be given to the Michigan Molecular Institute, in Midland, which will serve as the liaison between the nonprofit community and IT Oxygen. "The students will be developing applications that nonprofits need to run their businesses," said Bob Maatta, a lecturer in the SBE and the IT Oxygen advisor. Students in the project will be paid for their work, and as they graduate, new students will join the Enterprise, providing continuity for the clients. "They'll be solving real problems for people," Maatta said. "Eventually, we hope that they will spin off businesses or use it to launch their careers. The Non-Profit Application Development Initiative will tie in with the Michigan Tech SmartZone high-tech economic development effort. "We hope this will help create more high-tech business in the Copper Country," said Jim Frendewey, associate dean of business and economics. "Our long-term goal is to instill an entrepreneurial spirit in the students, so that some of them will be motivated to start a business of their own." For more information, contact Maatta at 906-487-2529, rwmaatta(at)mtu.edu, or Frendewey, 906-487-2139, jimf(at)mtu.edu

BREWERY TOUR AND TASTING EVENT: The Detroit Alumni Chapter is hosting the event Saturday, February 11, 1:00-3:00 p.m. at the Arbor Brewing Company. 114 E. Washington Street in downtown Ann Arbor, just off of Main Street. Cost is $25 for adults; children under 12 FREE includes appetizer buffet, beers distributed across tasting stations, and programs with descriptions of all the products from the professional staff of the brewery. (Root beer also available.) They'll also have Michigan Tech trivia for prizes, pickled eggs, raffles, and activities for the kids. All proceeds from this event will support student scholarships at Michigan Tech. Please RSVP. Money will be collected at the door. Reserve your spot by sending your name, address, email and phone number, by February 4, 2006, to: Cynthia Hodges 4020 E Loch Alpine Drive Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Email: Chodges1(at)comcast.net Telephone: 734-426-4940

Tech Sports

MEN MAKE IT NINE IN A ROW! The Michigan Tech men's basketball team added two games to its winning streak with a 60-51 decision over Saginaw Valley State last Thursday and a 60-49 victory over Northwood last Saturday. The Huskies have won nine games in a row, improving their record from 3-8 in early January to 12-8 now. Michigan Tech also owns a 8-3 conference record, good for third in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference North Division standings.

ICERS HIT THE ROAD: After a weekend off, the hockey Huskies travel to Mankato, Minn., for a pivotal Western Collegiate Hockey Association series against Minnesota State Friday and Saturday. Michigan Tech and MSU are currently within four points of each other in the league standings. Opening face-off is slated for 8:07 p.m. (ET) both nights.

AIROLDI PACES NORDIC SKIERS AT TELEMARK: Adam Airoldi ranked fourth in the 10 kilometer classic race (36:47.4) and sixth in the 10 kilometer classic race (30:17.5) among collegiate skiers to lead the Michigan Tech Nordic skiing team at the Telemark NorAm SuperTour stop in Cable, Wis., over the weekend. The Huskies host the Michigan Tech Carnival Kickoff next Saturday at the Tech Trails.

WOMEN SPLIT WEEK; STILL OWN 9-2 GLIAC RECORD: Michigan Tech's women's basketball team split its two games last week at the SDC Gym. The Huskies now own records of 13-5 overall and 9-2 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, second-best in the league. Tech has won 27 of its last 32 GLIAC games dating back to the 2003-04 season.

Around Town

107TH COMES HOME: There was snow at his feet, his daughter at his side, and he was far from the Abu Ghraib Detention Center. But Sgt. First Class Joseph Battisfore of the Michigan National Guard's 107th Engineer Battalion still couldn't believe he was home. "It feels great," he said, standing next to his luggage outside the Baraga Armory, waiting for his wife to bring the car around. "It's been a long year." His 17-year-old daughter, Jessica, was beaming. And there were plenty of smiles as Jessica's father and 111 fellow soldiers from Companies A and C of the battalion returned home Wednesday after a 15-month deployment to Iraq. "I'm pretty glad to see them all come home with no serious injuries," said Capt. Scott Etelamaki, battalion administrator officer for the unit. And so were the hundreds of families, friends and community members that gathered at the armories--flowers, teddy bears and tissues in hand--and more that lined snow-packed streets to wave red, white and blue as a convoy of fire trucks, emergency vehicles and soldiers passed. The 56 soldiers from Co. A were called to active duty in November 2004 and sent to Camp Attebury, Ind., for mobilization training. They arrived at Camp Beuhring, Kuwait, in early February and from there, they deployed to Iraq. The 56 soldiers from Co. C took the same route, but returned to Gladstone Wednesday. Both units are utility companies consisting of carpenters, plumbers, electricians, masons and equipment operators. While in Iraq, they provided base camp construction in and around Baghdad.

HANCOCK TO DEVELOP REC PLAN: One aspect of operating a government involves planning years into the future and the city of Hancock is doing that with its soon-to-be-developed five-year recreation plan. City Manager Glenn Anderson said besides just being a good idea for the operation of a government, five-year plans are required by the Department of Natural Resources before a community can apply for certain DNR grants. Anderson said the city's most recent five-year recreation plan expired in December. "We accomplished about half (of the planned projects) in the last five years," he said. Some of the projects completed include transient docking, a launch ramp and a boardwalk at Porvoo Park and construction of a fishing access dock on the waterfront. Anderson said funds were received for purchase of easements to expand the Maasto Hiito recreational trail, also. Unfortunately, agreements couldn't be reached with property owners so the money had to be returned. Two of the projects from the last five-year recreation plan which haven't been completed and which are still on the city's wish list include replacement of the swimming dock at the city beach and construction of a roof over the Laurn Grove ice rink. At its Jan. 18 meeting, the council voted to authorize spending $1,000 to hire the Western Upper Peninsula Planning & Development Regional Commission (WUPPDR) to conduct the city's next five-year recreation plan.

HOUGHTON TO HOLD DOWNTOWN WORKSHOP: Wider sidewalks? More benches? No matter what your vision of downtown Houghton's future is, you'll have your chance to be heard next week. The city will host a downtown streetscape workshop from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday night at the Houghton City Centre. "We really want to get people to tell us ... what kind of things they'd like to see in downtown," said Houghton City Manager Scott MacInnes. Starting the process of rebuilding the downtown streetscape was the top recommendation of a study conducted last year by the city and Virginia-based consulting group HyettPalma. Houghton-based design firm U.P. Engineers & Architects will be assisting with the workshop. The meeting will begin with a presentation by UPEA, said company president and project manager Pat Coleman

From the E-mailbag

Snow Ball Fight Record
Tech must have broken the Guinness World record for the number of snowball fighters several times back in the 80's. I can remember the first snowfall during fall "quarter" would bring thousands out for a dorm on dorm snowball fight. I'm sure there weren't official numbers back then, but without any real planning it seemed like more than 3,000 people out there. The police would shut down US-41 it would get so big. Then again time does have a way of clouding memories.

Thad Bishop '91

***

Dennis: Although it may seem like a lot of money, the curves on M-26 have seen many problems over the years and its time for them to be made safer. Nov. 1979, @ 10 am, just a few days before Thanksgiving, a driver paying attention to her child and not driving, mis-judges the middle curve and plows into a Tech student car heading south. Tech car totaled and two students slightly hurt, 26 years later, the injuries still linger. Cost to repair...26 years to late. I know the money could be used for lots of good things, but I also know what the cost was for those in the car, because I was in the passengers seat. Its time.

Jeff P. 1993

***

Dennis,
Nice to hear some good news about the hockey team. As a loyal fan who goes way back to the great teams of the 60s I'm always cheering them on but it's a lot easier when they win. Keep up the good work and GO HUSKIES!.....

MARTY OLDFORD('64)

***

Hi from Texas,

I'm one of the original 36 that started the weekly newsletter with Woodbeck (Les Reid/Forestry/'51). This week's newsletter re: the Chicago Tribune hockey item prompts this note. For several years since my retirement as a dept head at TAMU my passion has been to try to help the struggling A&M ice hockey club--no funds, no local ice. With a major investment from a group of A&M grads, we finally got an off-campus ice palace built, and revitalized the club's program. Hockey in Texas? Yep ! More professional teams than any other state. We're now part of College Hockey Southwest--8 major universities (Texas U, Baylor U, Tx Tech U, SMU, Okla State, Tulane U...)

These 2 photos are this year in a post-game shot (our new rink has 1,000 seat capacity--lots more than the Dee when I was at Tech). The 2nd photo was after playing Texas U in Austin last Saturday to a 2-2 tie, and a chance to have a team photo with the Stanley Cup was at the Austin rink that night. I only played intramurals for the Forestry Club while at Tech, but was the practice jock for Bob Bunney my forestry roommate from Canada who was Tech varsity. I'll be 77 this May. Never lost my passion for hockey and treasure my connection to Tech hockey and Randy (McKay).

TechAlum Subscriber Stats

We currently have 7,281 subscribers. Changes to your TechAlum newsletter subscription should be made via commands to majordomo(at)mtu.edu. Questions? Contact Dennis Walikainen (dkwalika(at)mtu.edu).

Here are the recent new email addresses:

1969 John R. Mino johnmino(at)hotmail.com

1971 Robert M. Mitchell jbmitchell(at)kc.rr.com

1975 Nick Milicia nick.milicia(at)shawgrp.com

1979 Allen C. Tredeau watredeau(at)comcast.net

1981 Joel J. Franck jjfranck7(at)hotmail.com

1982 G. S. Kiefer gskiefer(at)adelphia.net

1984 J. Duane Karvonen hangabur(at)gmail.com

1987 Allen R. Sorgenfrei allen.sorgenfrei(at)jci.com

1995 David S. Hengesh dhengesh(at)lakesandrivers.com

1997 R. Jason Clark jason_clark(at)urscorp.com

2000 Diana L. Kennedy (Johnson) diana_l_johnson(at)hotmail.com

2001 Richard A. Chapman II rawlchapman(at)yahoo.com

2001 Adam P. Koronka apkoronk(at)hotmail.com

2001 Brent G. Tamulion brent.tamulion(at)new.rr.com

2001 Laura B. Watenpool (Dole) laurawatenpool(at)yahoo.com

2003 Michelle M. Rognerud michelle.buller(at)dot.state.mn.us

2004 Jeremiah D. White jwhite13(at)nd.edu

2004 Amanda C. Lavoy yzergirl19(at)gmail.com

You can update your information at: http://www.mtf.mtu.edu/update

Alumni Association Programs

CHAPTER EVENTS: For more information on alumni chapter events,
e-mail mtu_alumni at mtu.edu or see the alumni chapter site on the web.

February 1 Minneapolis: Presidential Reception

February 2 Chicago: Presidential Reception

February 8-12 Winter Carnival: Michigan Tech vs. Minnesota Hockey

February 11 Ann Arbor: Tasting Event: Arbor Brewing Co., Washington St., Call Cynthia at 734-426-4940

February 12 Atlanta: National College Fair

February 15 Cincinnati: Presidential Reception

February 16 Atlanta: Presidential Reception

February 16 Grand Rapids: Men's/Women's B-Ball vs. GVSU

February 23-24 Pittsburgh: National College Fair

February 27 Tampa: Presidential Reception

February 28 Orlando: Presidential Reception

http://www.admin.mtu.edu/alumni/new/events.htm

Job Opportunities This Week

ON CAMPUS: Complete job descriptions are available by e-mailing jobs at mtu.edu

Associate Vice President for Student Affairs-Student Life--Office of Student Affairs

Lecturer--Electrical and Computer Engineering

OFF CAMPUS: For off-campus positions, visit the alumni section of the career center's web site ( http://www.career.mtu.edu/alumni.php)