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SENATE SEEKS VICE PROVOST SEARCH COMMITTEE NOMINEES

On the heels of a Board of Control mandate to hire a vice provost, senate president Robert Keen is asking all senators to round up nominees to serve on a search committee.

The position will be similar to the vice provost for instruction job, which has been vacant for about two years. The new vice provost will report directly to Provost Kent Wray.

Wray told the senate July 23 that the Board of Control had informed President Curt Tompkins in closed session that it wanted that position filled to give Wray more help, particularly in the area of instruction.

Under university policy, four faculty members and one staff member must be elected by the senate to serve on the committee.

Keen asked senators to find willing candidates to serve on the committee as soon as possible. The senate can then hold a special meeting to elect its committee representatives.

Anyone interested in serving on the vice provost search committee is asked to notify Keen at 487-2346, rekeen@mtu.edu by Aug. 1.

A DEAN FOR ALL SEASONS

JANNERS LOOKS BACK ON 15 YEARS IN STUDENT AFFAIRS

Student Affairs is like indoor plumbing. You only notice it when something goes awry.

In her almost-15 years as vice provost and dean of student affairs, Martha Janners has been MTU's chief repairer of leaks and unplugger of pipes in the world of student life, grappling with issues from drinking and cheating to assault and suicide. This fall, she returns to quietude in the Department of Biological Sciences, where she'll get reacquainted with her field of developmental biology and work with students who, presumably, will be behaving themselves.

She contemplates her office, where heaps of paper are finding their way into boxes, and heaves a sigh that holds both regret and relief.

"I have very mixed feelings," she admits. "But, it's time. When you've done something for a very long time, for the people you are serving and for your own sake, you should look at doing something else."

Janners got the dean's job in November 1988. Student Affairs is a different place than it was 15 years ago. The First-Year Programs effort, including orientation, illustrates the University's 180-degree swing from the laissez-faire attitude toward freshmen prevalent a generation ago. Greek organizations--in fact, all student groups--have more support than ever, thanks to a new Student Activities Office. The rules and regulations governing academics and student life are clearer and more comprehensive.

While Janners refuses credit for the improvements, deflecting praise to the staff who developed and now run the programs, she repeatedly has gone to bat for MTU's students.

"Marty has certainly led Student Affairs in expanding services to students, in a comprehensive and positive way, and students have seen the effects," says Beth Wagner, assistant dean for first-year programs.

Of all the changes she has wrought, perhaps none are so dramatic as the metamorphosis of K-Day and its corollary, Michigan Tech's attitude toward alcohol.

As a faculty member, Janners had vaguely disapproved of the dissipation surrounding K-Day in the 1980s. But, like most faculty and staff, she'd been blissfully distant from the event.

"Back then, every student organization would arrive at McLain State Park with three or four kegs," she recalls. "We had 4,000 students getting drunk at a university-sponsored event."

Then, as the new dean, she experienced her first K-Day strolling through the park among students who were vomiting and passed out on the ground. "I said, 'Oh my God,'" Janners remembers.

When she came back to campus, Janners began arguing for change. "I framed the issue in terms of risk management," she says. "We have a clear stand now: no alcohol at university-sponsored events."

The keg-free K-Day has survived and prospered. And while the occasional illicit glass may be hoisted, the excess and debauchery have all but disappeared. "One of the best measures of going dry has been the porta-potties," Janners says. "In 1989, there were 10 or 12, each with huge lines. Now, we don't even use them. The park's facilities can handle the crowd."

Not everything has gotten easier since 1989. Twenty years ago, counselors dealt mainly with homesickness and stress. With the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, students with severe mental illnesses now have the opportunity to go to college. "A number of students are on psychiatric medications and have serious problems," she says. While many cope successfully, others do not. "Our counselors are on call 24/7; sometimes we have to hospitalize students and deal with suicide attempts."

Tech has also begun to face issues that had previously passed us by. "One big change I've seen is the increasing number of students who come here without goals, students who struggle," Janners says. "We'd been immune to that because of our engineering emphasis."

Of course, there are still engineering students who hate engineering but won't admit it, students who just don't get math and physics and still want to be engineers, and students who want to be in a field that pays a lot of money, whether or not they enjoy the work or can even do it.

"It's like wanting to be a professional hockey player without being able to skate," Janners says with exasperation. "I tell them to change to something they'll enjoy, so they'll feel confident and proud of their achievements."

However, she says, some of her most satisfying moments have come from helping students refocus their goals and priorities, so they can be both happy and successful.

Changes in American culture, including violence and sex, are also playing out at Tech. "My sense is that students are so desensitized to visual images and sexual language that they do the stupidest things; they aren't shocked anymore," says Janners. "We have people inserting pornographic images into homework as a prize for the teacher." The teachers are not grateful.

"We recently had our first rumble in the cafeteria," says Janners. "I said, 'This is not a reform school. Grow up.'"

While not as dramatic as fisticuffs among the pasties, another discipline problem has arisen with more far-reaching implications. "We spend a lot of time in judicial affairs on ethics development," says Janners. "We have a lot of ethically challenged people here."

Cheating and intellectual property theft have become very, very easy with the rise of computers and the Internet. "And copyright infringement, especially with movies, music and software, has become a national issue," she says. "I don't know where it will end up."

Much of the turmoil has swirled around illegal file sharing, particularly of copyrighted music. While the attitude among many college students has been that it's just fine to take music without paying for it, those who are nabbed by Student Affairs sometimes emerge from the experience with another perspective.

"I think that, because the issue has focused on music, students aren't thinking broadly," says Janners. "There are products out there that we haven't even dreamed of, and our students will create them. They'll want to protect them," she says.

She asks the student on the other side of her desk to imagine that they'd developed a wonderful new game or program. Would it be OK if someone copied it and put it on a Web site for everyone to download for free?

That scenario can be an eye opener for students, since it calls into question their ability to earn a living. But Janners hopes they'll also apply the Golden Rule and consider how their actions affect others. "We try to talk about ethics more than the law," says Janners. "Anytime there's an explosion of knowledge, ethics take time to catch up. Just because you're capable of doing something doesn't mean you should."

What else is different? "This group of parents are the most-involved with their kids," she says. While it's good to have parental support and involvement, some students are having trouble standing on their own two feet. "They haven't figured out how to make decisions, even how to schedule their day," says Janners. "There are more and more students with no self-management skills, who can't solve problems on their own."

"A student will have all Fs, and their parent will call and say, 'What do I have to do to get my son or daughter back in school?'" Janners recounts. "It's very strange."

By extension, some students seem to think consequences are for other people. "Some write appeals as directives instead of requests: 'I will not accept this. I want my enrollment to begin immediately.'"

Yet, being kicked out of school can be a valuable wake-up call. "Not an insignificant number request reinstatement by saying, 'Thank you so much for making me leave; you helped me understand the value of an education,'" says Janners.

Being a dean of students can be complicated as well as difficult, and the Student Affairs staff praise Janners for her skills in navigating the complexities of the job. "Often students associate the office with being the 'keeper of the rules' or the purveyor of bad news, such as academic probation or suspension," says Associate Dean Gloria Melton. "But it's also the office that acts as a liaison and interpreter of academic expectations, that assists with various personal crises, and that helps students to develop healthy activities and alternatives in a challenging environment.

"Marty expected Student Affairs staff to reflect that balance of functions and services. She encouraged us to extend our own talents and professional development," Melton says. "She was proud of our student body. Her background as a teacher provided a great connection and credibility for our academic-related responsibilities. In turn, she could serve as a student advocate in other aspects of student affairs."

Beth Wagner, assistant dean for first-year programs, agrees. "She genuinely cares about the services students receive at Michigan Tech. Under her leadership, Student Affairs has become a true advocate for the students."

"She's a wonderful person," says Secretary Linda Watson. "And she's been a wonderful boss."

Looking back, Janners has plenty of things to feel good about. While alcohol abuse remains a problem here as elsewhere, binge drinking is no longer a sacrament at Michigan Tech. "I think we've changed the culture around alcohol," she says.

Student Affairs now has a Student Activities Office to provide a home base for groups as diverse as the Lode, Greek organizations and the Muslim Students Association. "It's amazing that we've been able to struggle along without staff, with 150 student organizations," she says.

Orientation has been transformed into an award-winning program drawing national attention. And LeaderShape gives dozens of students the tools and vision they need to transform their futures. Janners insists that she has played a secondary role in these changes. All she did, she says, was ask for the funding; her staff did the work.

Lastly, there are all those opportunities to make a difference, one person at a time. "If you do the discipline right, the student generally doesn't go away mad.

"When it's over," says Janners, "they realize they've had an important conversation."

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PAVEMENT ENTERPRISE TEAM TAKES TOP HONORS IN COMPETITION

by Laura Walikainen, student writer

The MTU Pavement Enterprise team won both the regional and national Wisconsin Asphalt Pavement Association 2003 hot-mix asphalt competitions. This was their first year participating in the events.

Teams designed an economical asphalt pavement using materials that meet Wisconsin Department of Transportation requirements. The team also provided a video presentation and comprehensive report in addition to samples of their asphalt mix. The asphalt mix focused on combating pavement rutting, or deformation.

"We felt really confident going into the regional competition because we went so far above and beyond the requirements," said team member Archie Kollmorgen.

MTU's team included members of the Pavement Design, Construction, and Materials Enterprise team. The team members were chosen through an internal competition and election within the University's enterprise program. The rigorous selection process paid off with two wins in the end.

In addition to the team's victories, the students came away with a valuable experience.

"The WAPA competition is great because students design something that is ready to go out into the real world to address some of the problems in actual infrastructure," said team member Chris Robinette. "The attention to rutting and other performance features addressed in this competition can have real impacts on better-performing, longer-lasting highway facilities in the future. The exposure to these issues and the technology currently used in industry has been a tremendous benefit to everyone's undergraduate education."

The Pavement Design, Construction, and Materials Enterprise team is supported by the Thompson Scholars program of Michigan Tech. The program grants scholarships to students interested in transportation materials and pavement engineering. Members of MTU's winning team are Mike Cirino, Melzar Coulter, John Fernandez, G. Archie Kollmorgen, Pat Leow, Chris Robinette, Brett Stanton, George Troth and Brett Williams. Assistant Professor R. Chris Williams was the team's faculty advisor.

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NORTHWEST AIRLINES ANNOUNCES AIR SERVICE CHANGES FOR HOUGHTON

Northwest Airlines is terminating service between Houghton County Memorial Airport and Detroit effective Sept. 2. Northwest will continue to operate three daily flights between Houghton and its Minneapolis hub.

Northwest Airlines will continue to offer service to Detroit from Marquette. Houghton area passengers will be able to reach Detroit through connecting flights in Minneapolis. Service between Marquette and Minneapolis will end Sept. 2.

The Houghton County Memorial Airport currently has five outgoing and six incoming flights during week-days. Beginning in September, the three remaining daily flights between Houghton County Memorial Airport (CMX) and Minneapolis (MSP) will be as follows:

Depart CMX   Arrive MSP     Depart MSP    Arrive CMX

7:26 a.m.         8:00 a.m.         11:15 a.m.       1:35 p.m.

1:55 p.m.         2:26 p.m.         4:30 p.m.         6:52 p.m.

7:20 p.m.         7:51 p.m.         9:00 p.m.         11:25 p.m.

Northwest reports that it has been losing money servicing both the Houghton and Marquette markets with aircraft coming from either Detroit or Minneapolis. More Houghton passengers travel to Minneapolis to make connections, while the majority of Marquette passengers travel to Detroit for their connections. Athough the number of flights is being reduced, Houghton will actually end up with six additional seats per day since it will no longer be sharing aircraft with Marquette.

To allow an earlier arrival in Detroit, Northwest is considering replacing its 7:26 a.m. flight with a 5:45 a.m. flight. The 7:26 a.m. flight would arrive in Minneapolis at 8 a.m. and connect with a flight arriving in Detroit at 11:30 a.m. Alternately, the 5:45 a.m. flight would allow travelers to arrive in Detroit by 9:45 a.m. The 5:45 a.m. departure from CMX would also allow travelers to connect with a Minneapolis flight to Grand Rapids arriving at 9:22 a.m., or with a connecting flight through Detroit to Lansing, arriving in Lansing at 11:00 a.m.

The Houghton County Memorial Airport is inviting comment from travelers on whether they would prefer a 5:45 a.m. or a 7:26 a.m. flight. You can contact the airport at 482-3970 or via e-mail at hocoairport@pasty.com.

NEW STAFF

Ian Kallay has joined the Athletic Department as assistant hockey coach. He was formerly employed as the general manager and head coach for the Drayton Valley Thunder. Kallay received a BBA from the University of North Dakota.

Kari Kerkhoff has joined the Athletic Department as assistant women's basketball coach. She was fomerly employed as a graduate assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Kerkhoff received a BS in Physical Health and Health Education from the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Heath Lane has joined the Rozsa Center staff as manager of building operations and technical director. He received a BFA at Arkansas State University and an MFA at Penn State University. He is married to Valerie Lane, and he enjoys scuba diving, fishing, camping and snowshoeing.

____________

IN THE NEWS

Professor Rolf Peterson (SFRES) and his long-term study of wolves and moose on Isle Royale are mentioned in the New York Times Science Times section story "Following the Wolves, Number by Number," written by Claudia Dreifus. You can read the story at http://www.nytimes.com:80/2003/07/22/college/coll22CONV.html?ex=1136692800&en=378801665ee3b84f&ei=5034

Articles about Professor Patrick Martin's (Social Sciences) work to excavate the West Point Foundry have appeared in the New York Times, Westchester edition and The Journal News. The foundry produced cannons and locomotives that were used by the Union Army during the Civil War. You can read more at http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/062003/b03p20foundry.html

____________

NEW FUNDING

Research Scientist John Erickson (SFRES) has received $103,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry for his project, "Construct and Evaluate the Performance of Six Timber Bridges Using Local Species in Northern Michigan."

____________

MICHIGAN TECH POSITIONS AVAILABLE

Job descriptions will be available at 1 p.m. on Friday, or by e-mail at <JOBS@MTU.EDU>.

The following positions will be posted Friday, July 25, 2003, at 1 p.m. through noon, Friday, August 1, 2003, in the Human Resources Office or at http://www.admin.mtu.edu/hro/postings/

Laboratory Technical Assistant--Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics (Regular, part-time position; 30 hours per week; variable shifts)

Engineering Program Coordinator/Advisor--Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Assistant Professor/Associate Professor of Management--School of Business and Economics

Secretary 3--Biological Sciences (Regular, part-time, nine-month position; 30 hours per week; UAW internal and external posting)

Secretary 4--Biological Sciences (Regular, part-time, nine-month position; 30 hours per week; UAW internal and external posting)

Office Assistant 4, two positions--Vice President for Research (Regular, part-time position; 30 hours per week; UAW internal and external posting)

Office Assistant 5--Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics (Regular, part-time position; 30 hours per week; UAW internal and external posting)

University employees are reminded to apply in writing prior to noon, Friday, August 1, 2003, to be considered as internal candidates for bargaining unit positions only. Applicants from the recall pool will be given first consideration for non-bargaining-unit positions only. Vacancy announcements are normally posted every Friday at 1 p.m. in the Human Resources Office. Complete job descriptions are available in the Human Resources Office or by calling 487-2280. More information regarding employment opportunities is available by calling the Job Line at 487-2895. Michigan Technological University is an equal opportunity educational institution/equal opportunity employer.

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