Tompkins Outlines New Strengths, New Directions for Michigan Tech
Related Stories HOUGHTON--Michigan Tech President Curt Tompkins outlined new strengths
and new directions the institution will employ to enhance its position
as a "university of choice" during his annual President's Convocation
address Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 20).
Noting that this was the first Convocation held in the new Rozsa Performing
Arts Center which will be dedicated Oct. 5, Tompkins said the Center will
serve as a cultural hub for the Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin.
"This beautiful facility is symbolic of the fact that Michigan Tech can
do whatever we have the will to do and that our friends are willing to
support our progress," said Tompkins. Private donors provided more than
$20 million toward the construction of the Center.
Tompkins said one of The University's goals is to establish a technology
enterprise park. "By October 16, the cities of Houghton and Hancock will
join with Michigan Tech to submit our final proposal to the Michigan Economic
Development Corporation to be designated one of the charter 'Smart Zones'
under state legislation passed last June," he said. "The Michigan Tech
Enterprise Park is to be developed within the Smart Zone and will be home
to an enterprise incubator center, corporate research facilities and,
possibly, our new Engineering Enterprises program."
Tompkins said a Designing Engineer Initiative has been developed with
General Motors to provide a 25-semester-credit program for GM designers
and engineers. Most of the courses in this program will be delivered by
Michigan Tech faculty from the campus in Houghton via distance delivery
methods including video streaming over the Internet. Michigan Tech was
chosen by GM to be a lead partner in the development and delivery of the
program, with some courses provided by the University of Michigan and
Purdue University. GM has given Michigan Tech a gift of Unigraphics Solutions
Systems software valued at $34 million. The program will begin this year
with about 700 students, is expected to grow to 2,500 students next year,
then expand to include thousands of students from other corporations.
"This is a significant development for Michigan Tech, moving us at an
accelerating pace into a global market using Internet technology," said
Tompkins.
"The General Motors development indicates that Michigan Tech is already
a national university of choice for GM. Likewise, Norsk Hydro, the second
largest corporation in Norway, has declared that Michigan Tech is an international
university of choice, being the only U.S. university chosen to work with
that company on light metals research. We've also developed a good working
relationship with the University of Science and Technology in Beijing,
China and we expect to expand our activities with that institution during
the next several years."
Tompkins noted that MTU for many years has had alumni chapters in the
Canadian cities of Toronto and Calgary, and now has an active alumni chapter
in Norway. The University is also developing alumni chapters in Singapore,
Malaysia, Thailand, the Peoples Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong,
and Brazil. The number of international students enrolled at Michigan
Tech increased this fall to 576 from 532 last year. The number of American
MTU students involved in study abroad also increased--from 40 last year
to 61 this year.
"As Michigan Tech becomes a global university, especially through Internet
delivery of continuing education, we will increasingly benefit from our
international network of alumni and friends," said Tompkins.
He said that as the University looks toward the year 2010, it will continue
to refine and strengthen its strategic plan, which will include a revised
campus master plan based on a comprehensive assessment of future facility
needs in light of MTU's goals and priorities.
"We will complete our current $140 million capital campaign by 2003 and
move right into the next campaign by 2005 so that by 2010, the year that
I retire and we celebrate Michigan Tech's 125th anniversary, we shall
have at least a $400 million endowment," said Tompkins. "I expect federal
research funding to exceed $60 million by 2010. As we build our research
program, we will continue to build our doctoral programs, steadily and
surely, to encompass at least 20 fields and enroll at least 500 doctoral
students by 2010.
"Also, ten years from now, the funds received for sponsored research
and from philanthropy should exceed the sum of state appropriations plus
tuition and fees. The Michigan Tech Enterprise Park will be well established
and still growing in 2010. Our Internet-based course offerings will be
taken by thousands of students of all ages, literally around the world,
and we will have active alumni chapters in at least two dozen countries.
Our proposed Center for Integrated Learning will be a reality with modern
library and classroom facilities as well as state-of-the-art physics,
computer science, and mathematics facilities."
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