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1. Michigan Tech Realigns Student Affairs to Support Diversity Initiatives |
by Jennifer Donovan, public relations director
Michigan Tech is realigning programs and support services for a broad range of students to create an outreach and multicultural affairs center. The center will focus on diversity, providing services for all students, including ethnic minorities, women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.
Some programs in Michigan Tech's Educational Opportunity Office will be incorporated into the new center, which will report to Student Life, part of the Division of Student Affairs. Shalini Suryanarayana, who has headed the Educational Opportunity programs, will be the new center's director.
Other Educational Opportunity programs will move to different sections of Student Affairs or other University departments. Summer Youth and other K-12 outreach programs will become part of Enrollment Services. Teacher training and conference services will become part of the Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences in the College of Sciences and Arts. ExSEL (Excelling in Science and Engineering Learning) will operate under the COMPASS program (Center for Orientation, Mentoring, Parents and Academic Student Success) as part of Student Life.
"Realigning academic support services under Student Life and student recruitment efforts under Enrollment Services makes good sense," said Les Cook, vice president for student affairs. "The new structure will enable us to expand our diversity efforts, to align similar functions and to create new synergies without duplicating efforts. It promises exciting new opportunities for supporting our multicultural students and ensuring their success."
Michigan Tech President Glenn Mroz said, "The realignment and center are congruent with our Diversity Framework. It is critical that we promote the simple notion that we and our students are best served by a climate that celebrates the diversity of people and thought. It's critical for individuals, our University and our country. The time is now to meld many of the core activities of Educational Opportunity into Student Affairs, so that we can focus our resources--talent and money--on building a student population that reflects the diversity of our country and the world."
In conjunction with the restructuring, Cook announced several other appointments and staffing changes. Theresa Jacques, who has been serving as interim registrar, will become registrar. Bill Roberts will become director of financial aid, and Tim Malette will become budget analyst for Student Affairs and senior accounts manager for financial aid. Susan Liebau will remain director of ExSEL and will become associate director of COMPASS. Kerri Sleeman will continue as director of COMPASS and assume additional responsibilities as associate director of housing facilities. Jared Johnson will become director of student activities. |
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2. New Voice Mail System Coming to Michigan Tech |
The Telecommunications department (Telcom) is in the process of updating the University's current voice mail system to provide consistent, up-to-date voice mail services along with the potential for future growth and enhanced service offerings. New system hardware and software has already been installed and is currently being tested.
While the same telephone interface will be used to manage mailboxes, the new Mitel NuPoint Unified Messenger voice mail system will allow Telcom to consider implementing new features such as
* integration of voice mail and email
* fax services
* advanced call processing and automated attendant
* a web interface to allow voice and fax messages to be sorted, saved, sent, received and forwarded from a PC
On Saturday, June 6, and Sunday, June 7, there will be an outage of the voice mail system as Telcom completes the upgrade and moves all existing mailboxes to the new system. The Michigan Tech telephone system and network will not be affected by this outage; however, the voice mail system is expected to be unavailable from 8 a.m. on June 6 until 5 p.m. on June 7. If the conversion process takes less time than expected, voice mail services will be restored earlier.
Before the Conversion
During the outage, the contents of all mailboxes will be transferred to the new system, so Telcom is asking that you clean out your current mailbox prior to the outage to help expedite the conversion process. With the exception of the outage, the transition to the new system should be transparent to most users.
Following the outage, all voice mail capabilities will be restored to normal, and you will be able to continue accessing your mailbox in the same manner and using the same commands with which you are familiar.
After the Conversion
Your message indicator light may need to be reset once the conversion has been completed, so it is important that you dial *74 on Monday, June 8, to check for any messages that you may have received during the transition period.
Current status of the process will be available during the upgrade at http://status.it.mtu.edu/ . If you have any questions or problems associated with this upgrade, contact Telcom customer service at 487-2000. |
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3. President of India Honors Tech Alumnus |
Bhakta Rath, head of the Materials Science and Component Technology Directorate at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, has received the prestigious Padma Bhushan Award of Honors and Excellence from the president of India. The award recognizes highly distinguished service in the sciences, arts and public service.
Rath earned his Master of Science in Metallurgy from Michigan Tech in 1958 and received an honorary doctorate in engineering when he spoke at Tech's December 2007 Commencement. In 2008, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. |
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4. Reminder: Lot 14 Closed June 1-5 |
submitted by Public Safety
Due to construction on US 41, lot 14, located between Fisher Hall and Walker, will be closed from Monday, June 1, through Friday, June 5. During this time, faculty, staff and graduate students may use lot 9 (commuter), located east of the Rozsa Center.
If you have any questions, call Public Safety at 487-2216. |
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5. US-41 Construction Detour onto Cliff Drive to Begin June 1 |
submitted by Andy Niemi, Grounds manager
Northbound traffic on US-41 will be detoured onto Cliff Drive beginning Monday, June 1, and continuing until project completion, Aug. 21. Cliff Drive will remain as a two-way street throughout the duration of the detour, and the speed limit on Cliff Drive will remain at the posted 25 mph. Please use caution, good judgment and patience while driving through the detour.
Remember that fines are doubled in construction zones, so "Give 'em a Break."
If you have any questions or comments, call Niemi at 487-2722. |
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6. Seminar June 4 on External Funding for Students |
The Graduate School and Research and Sponsored Programs invite seniors and current graduate students to a seminar, "An Introduction to External Funding," on Thursday, June 4, from 2 to 3 p.m.
Participants will learn how to
* access and develop strategies for prospect searches on internet databases;
* understand proposal jargon;
* evaluate grant requirements; and
* unravel the seemingly complex processes for proposal submissions.
To illustrate some of these concepts, organizers will discuss the criteria and evaluation process for Finishing Fellowships and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships.
Register at www.gradschool2.mtu.edu/registration/events/ .
Once you register, you will receive a confirmation with the seminar location, date and time. Space is limited. The seminar will be taped and available online at a later date.
If you have any questions, contact Jodi Lehman at 487-3513 or jglehman@mtu.edu . |
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7. On the Road |
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Associate Professor Sonia Goltz (SBE) presented "Perceived 'Fairness' of Groups and Organizations: A Human Foraging Rule?" at the 35th Annual Meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis International in Phoenix on May 25. |
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8. Office Furniture Extravaganza in the Peninsula Room Today, June 1-2 |
submitted by the Memorial Union
The Memorial Union has a large collection of office furniture available for free, including
* three desks with overhead storage units
* tables
* storage cabinets
* file cabinets (five-drawer, four-drawer and two-drawer)
* a bookshelf
* a small conference table
* side chairs, 12 blue and 38 grey
* 100 burgundy chairs
* 18 assorted rolling office chairs
* a three-cushion sofa
* miscellaneous items
Visit the Peninsula Room of the Memorial Union today, Friday, May 29, Monday, June 1, or Tuesday, June 2, to view and take possession of any items your department could use. Come early, as items are expected to go quickly. All items must be removed by the end of the day on Tuesday, June 2.
University property may only be transferred between departments; it may not be given or sold to individuals. |
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