Keeping a Competitive Edge
By Glenn Mroz '74, President
Michigan Technological University
 “It’s all about people.” How many times have you heard it in your life? But no matter how time-worn the phrase is, it’s a basic truth of making any organization work. With the right people, everything is possible.
Universities are particularly interesting because for the most part, they are only about people.
With all of the stress points in higher education—including shrinking state appropriations—there is no more important concern than our ability to attract and retain good people: students, faculty, and staff.
Students are attracted to a vibrant community where they can learn from faculty who are great teachers, in addition to being top scholars and researchers.
Michigan Tech has a proud tradition of attracting hard-working students and we are dedicated to the simple notion of training them to be the best. In today’s world, this means they have to know how to develop, understand, apply, manage, and communicate science and technology.
While traditional curricula fill many of these needs, our one-of-a-kind Enterprise Programs provide hands-on application and management experience. Combine this with the opportunities for students to work closely with faculty on research, and you can begin to understand why Michigan Tech graduates have the competitive edge. For example, nearly 30 percent of the patent disclosures filed from Michigan Tech include undergraduate students.
Michigan Tech Talking Points
- Consistently ranked in the top half of all national universities in the annual US News & World Report college guide.
- Placement rate that exceeds 90 percent.
- Students begin gaining hands-on experience in the very first semester.
- One-of-a-kind Enterprise Programs enable students to gain practical experience solving real-world problems proposed by companies and other sponsors.
- More than 130 majors, minors, concentrations and certificates related to the broad categories of engineering, business, environmental studies, forestry, science, arts and human sciences, computing, and technology. We help students pursue study abroad opportunities and internships with companies and government agencies.
- A residential campus and the safest campus community in Michigan. The performing arts are prominent on campus, and adventure oriented recreation is just outside your door.
www.mtu.edu
Admissions e-mail: mtu4u@mtu.edu
To insure the quality of a Michigan Tech education, we need to attract the best students we can to all of our programs. We have made recruiting a major priority. Our goal is to increase enrollment by 5 percent in each of the next three years to bring undergraduate enrollment up to our target levels of 6,000 undergraduate, and 1,000 graduate students.
We’ve been quietly making improvements to our web site and we’re upgrading our recruiting materials and strategies.
But networking is key to being successful; recruiting has to be personal to work well. Most students learn about Michigan Tech by word of mouth. This is where I need your help.
Your word of encouragement and explanation to a young person can mean a lot—below, I’ve included a list of key points you can make. If you know of promising young students in their high school years, let us know so we can contact them.
You may become aware of outstanding students through personal or professional contacts or through your local media. Please let us know of these students so we can provide them with more information about Michigan Tech. You can refer students by e-mailing me (gdmroz@mtu.edu) using a form on the web (www.mtu.edu/recommend).
Finally, consider helping us by being examples for our students. During this academic year, we will roll out a program to involve alumni in the admissions process; please consider volunteering.
As an alum and a friend, your example can make a world of difference to a prospective student, because after all, it is all about people.
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