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1. Black History Month Begins Today |
by John Gagnon, promotional writer
Black History Month kicks off today with a performance by the Michigan Tech Concert Choir, the first of 13 events over the next month celebrating African-American history and culture.
The choir will sing spirituals beginning at 4 p.m. in the J. R. Van Pelt and Opie Library. As well, there will be pictures and profiles of African-Americans, including students, associated with Michigan Tech. Afterward, there will be an overview of Black History Month. Refreshments will be served.
The importance of Black History Month is "to remember the struggles that African-Americans have had in the past, to recognize our accomplishments and to enjoy the hopes of tomorrow," said Kari Brown, coordinator of this series of events.
Brown, a PhD student in mechanical engineering, is the interim coordinator of African-American Student Support in Educational Opportunity.
She said all events are open to people of all color and "celebrate our future as a people."
The schedule of activities follows. Weekly notices of upcoming events will be posted.
* Sunday, Feb. 1--monthlong exhibit of pictures and bios of African-Americans in the Keweenaw, Carnegie Museum
* Monday, Feb. 2, noon--a one-hour seminar on, and a sampling of, African crops and slave cuisine, Memorial Union Alumni Lounge A and B
* Friday, Feb. 6, 7 p.m.--black film festival, M & M U115
* Tuesday, Feb. 10, 11 a.m.--buffet, ethnic foods, Memorial Union Food Mall
* Wednesday, Feb. 11, noon--black fraternities and sororities, Memorial Union Alumni Lounge A
* Thursday, Feb. 12, 6 p.m.--reception, Carnegie Museum
* Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2 p.m.--"The 'N' word," Memorial Union Alumni Lounge A
* Thursday, Feb. 19, 7 p.m.--"A Night in Harlem: Stompin' at the Savoy," Horner Lobby of the Rozsa Center
* Saturday, Feb. 21, 8 p.m.--open mic for songs and poems, Wads G17-19
* Thursday, Feb. 26, noon--Lt. Col. Otha Thornton, US Army, Tech alumnus, Red Metal Room, Memorial Union
* Friday, Feb. 27, 5 p.m.--C. S. Giscombe, author, poet, editor, Walker 134
* Saturday, Feb. 28, 6 p.m.--dinner, Memorial Union Ballroom
* Saturday, Feb. 28, 8 p.m.--music, food and dancing, including a performance by the Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts, Rozsa Center
Besides Educational Opportunity, sponsors of Black History Month include the Visiting Women and Minority Lecturer/Scholar Series, the city of Houghton, the Graduate Student Council, the Black Student Association, the African-American Students Organization, the Department of Humanities, and Dining Services. |
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2. Winter Carnival: A Frigid Place Gets a Blast from Space |
Michigan Tech's Winter Carnival recess starts officially Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 10 p.m. By then, however, students will be well into the All Nighter, that bone-chilling marathon ordeal before the judges begin evaluating their snow statues Thursday morning. The theme this year: "A Frigid Place Gets a Blast from Space."
Carnival events, sponsored by the Blue Key Honor Society, have been heating up over the last few days, with curling at the historic Drill House in Calumet, broomball at rinks throughout campus and ice bowling at Dee Stadium. To learn more, visit www.mtu.edu/carnival/ .
Want to check out some of the excitement?
Curling
Bundle up and watch this oddly intense shuffleboard-on-ice at 6 p.m. tonight, Friday, Jan. 30; 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 31; and 8 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 1. All matches are held at the Drill House in Calumet, located off of Red Jacket Road, near the Calumet Armory. For detailed directions, visit the Blue Key Winter Carnival site, http://bluekey.students.mtu.edu .
Ice Bowling
Its name does not do this quirky event justice. Opposing teams compete by flinging fellow team-members across the ice into an array of pins. The final games are set for 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3, at Dee Stadium in downtown Houghton, near the waterfront.
Ice Fishing
The search for the biggest northern pike or walleye begins at 8 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, on Chassell Bay. Teams and individuals may compete, but you must register to be eligible for prizes. No frozen fish allowed: only live fish are considered for scoring.
Snow Volleyball
Matches are held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 31; Sunday, Feb. 1; and Friday, Feb. 6; in the practice fields behind the SDC. The balls are yellow, the better to see in the snow, and you won't see anyone in beach gear.
Skating
Relay races start at 8 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 31, in Dee Stadium.
Human Dogsled Races
The mushing begins at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, in the practice fields by the SDC. Woof.
Cross-Country Ski Races
At 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, at the Michigan Tech Trails
Queen's Coronation
The Winter Carnival Queen will be crowned Saturday, Jan. 31, in the Rozsa Center. The show starts at 7:30 p.m.
Beards Competition
Fuzzy faces galore show up at 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, in Fisher 135.
Stage Revue
Amateur theatrics on the Rozsa Center stage Thursday, Feb. 5, with performances at 5 (family friendly) and 9 p.m. (you might want to leave the kids at home).
Yooper Sprints
Snowshoe races at 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 6, at the SDC practice fields.
Torchlight Parade
Skiers bear lights down the slopes of Mt. Ripley at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7.
Fireworks
At 8:45 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 7, at Mt. Ripley.
The Sno-Ball
Kick up your heels and be merry starting at 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7, in the Memorial Union Ballroom, because classes resume on Monday. |
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3. Winter Carnival Apparel Now Available at University Images, Campus Bookstore |
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Winter Carnival apparel is now available at University Images and the Campus Bookstore. Get the 2009 carny logo, "A Frigid Place Gets a Blast from Space," on hoods, crews, and long- and short-sleeved tees at your Winter Carnival apparel headquarters. |
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4. Spring Semester Enrollment Increases |
by Jennifer Donovan, public relations director
Spring enrollment figures indicate that Michigan Tech's enrollment continues to grow. Students registered for the spring semester total 6,626, which is 230 more students than registered for spring semester last year. The undergraduate student body grew to 5,649 (a 2 percent increase over last spring), while the number of graduate students increased to 977 (an 11 percent increase), including 62 displaced General Motors employees who enrolled in a graduate-level course in propulsion technology.
Said John Lehman, assistant vice president for enrollment services, "In light of these trying economic times, we're encouraged by these enrollment figures. It's clear that our students recognize that Michigan Tech continues to be a sound investment in their future."
Supporting progress toward goals outlined in the institution's strategic plan, the number of new PhD students rose to 25, compared to last year's 18 new students, and new master's-level students totaled 50, compared to last year's 43 students.
Total credit hours taken by the entire student body rose by 4 percent. |
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5. January Issue of Facilities News Now Available |
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Facilities Management has released another issue of Facilities News. To view the newsletter, visit www.admin.mtu.edu/fm/ , scroll down to Newsletters and click on January 2009. You may subscribe to Facilities News by sending a request to dgilbert@mtu.edu . |
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6. Reminder: Bigfoot Snowshoe Event Saturday |
The HOWL Students (Healthy Options for a Wellness Lifestyle) from Counseling and Wellness Services and the Outdoor Adventure Program invite you to participate in the 12th Annual Bigfoot Snowshoe Event, to be held tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 31, from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Tech Trails. A prize drawing will follow from noon to 1 p.m.
This is a great opportunity to get out, get active and enjoy the winter weather with your friends or family. Don't worry--it's not a race. There will be three different courses (short, medium and long) available for you to enjoy at your own pace.
To participate, arrive early and register. Prices are $12 for students and children and $15 for everyone else. The registration cost includes a free long-sleeved T-shirt, a loaner pair of snowshoes, refreshments and a chance to win lots of great raffle prizes.
Email questions to wellness@mtu.edu or call Counseling and Wellness Services at 487-2538. |
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7. Grad Student Lunch and Learn Today |
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The Graduate Student Council will host a Lunch and Learn today, Friday, Jan. 30, at noon in the Memorial Union Alumni Lounge. Deb Charlesworth (Graduate School) will present "Tips and Tricks to Writing Your Thesis or Dissertation," and a free soup and salad buffet will be provided. All graduate students are welcome. Any questions can be directed to Susan Balint at shbalint@mtu.edu . |
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8. HuskyPAW Lunch and Learns to Be Held Feb. 6, 12 |
The TechCommunity Wellness Committee will host two Lunch and Learns in the Memorial Union to kick off HuskyPAW 2009, its new incentive program. More information about HuskyPAW will be available at the sessions, to be held Friday, Feb. 6, at noon in Peninsula Room B and Thursday, Feb. 12, at 5 p.m. in Alumni Lounge A.
Please bring your lunch, and beverages will be provided. |
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9. ECE Faculty Candidate Seminar Feb. 2 |
Postdoctoral research associate Aranya Chakrabortty, of the aeronautics and astronautics department at the University of Washington, will give a seminar, "'Novel Methods for Model Identification and Reduction of Large-Scale Power Systems Using Synchronized Phasor Measurements," Monday, Feb. 2, 2-3 p.m. in EERC 122.
Chakrabortty is a candidate for a faculty position in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Refreshments will be provided. For more information, contact Assistant Professor Wayne Weaver, wwweaver@mtu.edu or 487-1461. |
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10. RSI Seminar Feb. 2 |
The Remote Sensing Institute Spring Seminar Series will continue with a colloquium by Alexander Marshak (NASA Goddard), "How Simple Radiative Transfer Helps to Interpret Satellite Measurements: Examples from Active and Passive Remote Sensing," on Monday, Feb. 2, at 4 p.m. in M & M U113.
An abstract is available at www.phy.mtu.edu/~cantrell/RSIseminar.html . |
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11. Teaching at Tech: Learned Helplessness |
by William Kennedy, director, Center for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development
The dominant theme in higher education pedagogical reform over the last decade or so has been the call to move toward more student-centered instructional models. Proponents say we need to move the focus away from the "sage on the stage" and shift it to the student learner in and out of class. Turns out, we are told, it's not what we say in class that's so critical to student intellectual growth and maturation, it's what the student chooses to do in and out of class to embrace what they are learning, to put it to some use, and to make it their own.
Innovative physics educators are moving away from large lecture sections broken up with whiz-bang demos to reconfigure instruction around a problem-based learning model in which small teams of students work to solve complex and ambiguous problems under the watchful eye of a professor and a group of teaching assistants. The professor may provide a brief conceptual overview of the principles to be learned in his or her class of 80 students, divided up into groups of four or five students, but then puts those groups to work wrestling assigned problems designed to stretch their understanding. The preliminary results look good--markedly higher success rates and less attrition.
In the traditional "listen-to-me-talk, guess-what's-important, take-the-exam, and then-we'll-move-on-to-my-next-topic" model of education, the instructor calls all the shots. What are we going to learn, when, why and how? All are decided by the instructor. This tendency reinforces the underlying assumption of mass education: that it's really about the transfer of some desirable subset of foundational ideas from the instructor's head to the students' heads. Teaching is based on "covering material." Good students are operationally defined to be good readers, good time managers and gifted memorizers who can regurgitate the proper subset of the material. It is a pedagogical valuation process borne of the need to move masses of students through the system while producing some measure of quality assurance for present and future stakeholders.
Those who dutifully "play the game" are rewarded. We label any deviation "incivility."
What about divergent thinkers? What about those who learn through disputation and debate? What about those who don't like the way the cards have been dealt? No room at the inn.
Dependence on the instructor is an undesirable byproduct of teacher-centered educational processes. I'm always taken aback when a senior-level undergraduate student sheepishly asks me if it's okay that they went out on the internet to seek some additional explanation or clarification of something we're studying in class. They usually start out with something like "I hope you don't mind, but I was looking at some websites last night and . . . "
Hope I don't mind? Are you kidding me? Of course I don't mind. In case you didn't notice, you're graduating soon, so pretty soon I will no longer be up here lecturing you to sleep. I want you to learn how to use everything you can get your hands on. Learn to use the web. But learn to use Google Scholar, as well. Search out podcasts in your area of interest and subscribe to the journals in your area before you graduate.
Develop a network of people who share your interests and keep up to date by tapping into whatever streams of information become technologically enabled.
In some ways, I fear, some of our undergraduate educational programs are too much like a driver's ed course that's all theory and no labs. I wonder why it is that everybody can eventually pass their driver's ed course and such a reduced percentage can work their way through a four-year degree program? Aiming a two-ton projectile through the Copper Country this time of year must take some knowledge, skill, intuition and a healthy dose of seat-of-the-pants physics, as well. |
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12. New Staff |
Janelle Hosafros has joined the staff of Human Resources as an office assistant. Hosafros holds a certificate in dog grooming from Nash Academy of Animal Arts, located in Lexington, Ky., and lives in Dollar Bay.
Joe Thompson has joined the Keweenaw Research Center as a research engineer I. Thompson was previously employed by the KRC as a student engineer. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Tech and lives in Houghton. |
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13. New Funding |
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Bernard Alkire (CEE) has received $50,000 from the Federal Highway Administration for "Michigan Tribal Technical Assistance Program." |
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14. In Print |
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Assistant Professor Aleksey Smirnov (GMES) published a paper, "Grain Size Dependence of Low-Temperature Remanent Magnetization in Natural and Synthetic Magnetite: Experimental Study," in Earth, Planets and Space, volume 61. |
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