Megan Gilge, Tech Topics editorial assistant, 906-487-2343

You can reach us via e-mail at ttopics@mtu.edu The deadline for submitting information for Tech Topics is 5:00 p.m. the Friday before anticipated publication.

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FULL-TIME ENROLLMENT INCREASES AT MICHIGAN TECH

For the third year in a row, Michigan Tech's full-time enrollment has increased. The university has also increased the percentage of first-year students that return for their second year.

Full-time enrollment has increased from 5,406 in 2001 to 5,574 this year. The number of new freshmen students is virtually unchanged, with 1,464 this fall compared to 1,465 last year.

Michigan Tech's total on-campus head count, including full-time and part-time students, is 6,078, compared to 5,944 last year. The university has an additional 460 students enrolled in distance learning programs.

The university's retention rate--the percentage of freshmen that return for their sophomore year--has climbed from 76 percent in 2001 to 81 percent this year. University officials credit a number of new programs and strategies to help freshmen succeed.

Other enrollment highlights include:

* Another record number of graduate students (801--a 13 percent increase), with several more expected on campus within the next two weeks.

* An increase in the number of students from Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois.

* A slight decline in the number of students from Michigan

* A decline in the number of distance learning students, as some one-time certificate programs with specific companies run their course.

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FRIDAY IS K-DAY

K-Day happens this Friday, Sept. 5, noon to 5 p.m. at McLain State Park. Classes are dismissed that afternoon, and UAW and POA workers have the time off.

K-Day features free food, live music, a student organizations fair and entertainment. While the event is geared toward students, everyone is welcome. If you have any questions, contact the Student Activities office, 487-1963.

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TECH EXPRESS: NEW SERVICES, NEW HOURS

Starting this week the Tech Express office is officially in its new office, with new services and new hours. Over the summer, a new service counter was constructed on the first floor of the Memorial Union across from the Campus Store. According to Jarrod Karau, manager of tech express, funding for the project came from the MUB student support fees. "Our goal was to provide enhanced services to the campus. We thank the students for their support."

Starting this week, the Tech Express office will be open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. In addition to providing ID card services, the office will offer postage stamp sales, personal mail box rental, ticket sales for all on-campus Rozsa and athletics events, personal UPS shipping, photo processing, lamination services and a mail drop for US mail.

"We're most excited about the new postage and shipping services," said Karau. "You can purchase stamps, weigh your envelopes for correct postage or ship your larger packages through UPS. Now getting postage and sending your personal packages is as convenient as walking to the MUB."

"We have a significant number of students, staff and faculty who do not have local mail delivery, or who have to rent a mailbox for their mail. Getting your mail can be a real trick if your local post office isn't open past 4:30 or 5 in the afternoon." The mail boxes for rent at the Tech Express counter are available to MTU students, staff and faculty. Sizes and prices vary. Renters receive 24/7 access to their mailbox with their Tech Express Card, and can also have packages from carriers such as FedEx and UPS delivered to their new address.

For more information, stop by the new Tech Express service counter in the MUB.

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CRAZY DOG TRIATHLON TO BENEFIT HUMANE SOCIETY

Air Force ROTC is sponsoring MTU's first ever Crazy Dog Triathlon to benefit the Copper Country Humane Society on Saturday, Sept. 20. The race starts at 9 a.m. in the SDC parking lot and will consist of a 500-yard swim, an eight-mile mountain bike ride and a 2.5-mile run on the Tech Trails. Organizers said that they expect most participants to finish by 11 a.m.

After the race, there will be a cook-out and a live band. There will also be drawings for prizes provided by the sponsors for the race, including hats and bags (Asics), bike gloves and shirts (Cross Country Sports and Downwind Sports) and polo shirts and fleece vests (AFROTC). With their entry, participants will receive a ticket for the drawing. They (and anyone else who shows up for the post-race festivities) can buy additional tickets for $2 each. This money benefit the Humane Society.

The registration fee also includes a t-shirt. Before Sept. 5, registration will be $12/person, and the shirt will be available on race day. Afterwards, registration will be $15/person and the shirt will be available after the race. Teams of two to three people can sign up for $30.

You can register for the race at the Air Force ROTC office in the ROTC building. For more information, e-mail John Briner at jhbriner@mtu.edu.

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PARLEZ-VOUS FRANCAIS?

The Cafe Francais, an informal French conversation group, will meet this semester on the first and third Tuesday of each month between 2 and 3 p.m. in the MUB Food Mall. This lively group welcomes people of all skill levels, from beginners to native speakers, and includes students, faculty and staff as well as other members of the local community.

If you have questions, or would like to be included on the weekly e-mail reminder list, please contact Heidi Bostic at hlbostic@mtu.edu or 487-2376.

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ECO-LIT READING GROUP TO MEET MONDAY, SEPT. 15

The first Eco-Lit reading group meeting of the year will be held on Monday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m. in Walker 134.

This month's book is is Sigurd Olson's "Listening Point," which is available at Northwind Books in Hancock. Make sure to mention that you are with Eco-Lit in order to receive a 20 percent discount on your purchase.

The film "The Wilderness World of Sigurd Olson" will be shown at the meeting.

As always, everyone is welcome, so feel free to bring your friends and family.

VICE PROVOST SEARCH COMMITTEE NOMINEES SOUGHT

Staff Council will be electing two staff to the vice provost search committee. If you are interested in serving on the committee, please e-mail Becky Christianson at rwchrist@mtu.edu or call 370-4976.

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MTU CAREER CENTER--A BRIDGE FROM CLASSROOM TO CAREER

Jim Turnquist, director, University Career Center, will present a program on Monday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m. in room G002 of the U. J. Noblet Forest Resources and Environmental Science Building.

Turnquist will summarize the activities at the center and the services available to students to help them find and start their careers. He will illustrate what recruiters are looking for in today's Tech graduate.

Services are also available at the Career Center for Tech alumni considering career changes. Turnquist's talk is sponsored by the MTU Keweenaw Alumni and Friends Chapter, and is the first of its 2003-04 programs.

Light refreshments will be served. The program is free and is open to the public. For more information, please call Sharon Haapala at 487-1994 or e-mail sjhaapal@mtu.edu

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TEACHING AT TECH: COST CONTAINMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION

In his latest book, "Honoring the Trust: Quality and Cost Containment in Higher Education," William Massy asserts that traditional colleges and universities must improve their ability to deliver high quality education while containing costs.* They must do this in order to regain the public trust and overcome a host of increasingly vigorous market challenges. According to Massy, president of the Jackson Hole Higher Education Group and former vice provost and dean of research at Stanford University, colleges and universities, which once held a virtual monopoly on postsecondary education, will face increased competition from nontraditional providers employing rapidly emerging information technologies. In addition, higher ed institutions are likely to face a rising chorus of critical voices from consumerists in the public and private sectors who see public higher education as one of the last of the publicly funded sacred cows.

Why haven't colleges and universities been able to rein in costs? Massy says that not-for-profit educational institutions differ fundamentally from for-profit corporations in that colleges and universities raise money with the primary intention of expending all of their resources creating and disseminating knowledge. Corporations, on the other hand, earn money with the primary purpose of producing healthy dividends for their shareholders. Corporate managers aggressively and unapologetically produce marketable products as cheaply as they can in order to maximize these dividends. Massy says the idea of aggressive cost containment in higher education, a notion that forms the very fabric of leadership in corporate settings, is a concept foreign to many that labor in the academic vineyard.

Drawing direct comparisons between the economics of corporations and colleges is not as simple as it might sound. For a long time, market demand on high-prestige institutions formed a sort of pricing umbrella that enabled even much less prestigious institutions to successfully secure increased resources without negatively impacting demand for their services. Need and merit-based financial aid programs, which selectively return about a third of all tuition dollars to students in the form of financial assistance, also enabled institutions to cushion and selectively apply the tuition burden to fit the needs of an ever-changing marketplace. It's no secret that state and local appropriations, which provided about half of the support for public universities in 1989, have been evaporating at an alarming clip. At the same time, online providers are ramping up their offerings hoping to shave market share from brick and mortar providers. All in all, Massy suggests, the days of expecting more and more have come to an end.

To surmount these challenges, Massy argues that institutions must improve their ability to deliver high-quality education at affordable costs. He says "while professors do research and scholarship and make knowledge available to the students that take their courses, most spend little time on the processes of teaching and learning. They don't focus on the backgrounds, needs and learning styles presented by their students. They don't think deeply about the assessment of learning outcomes or about quality assurance. They don't concern themselves sufficiently about costs, and they don't exploit the full potential of technology."

Massy argues colleges and universities must "1) improve education quality processes, 2) adopt paradigm changing technology, and 3) become more cost conscious, in order to 4) rebuild their core competency in education."

Next week, we'll examine Massy's action agenda for improving the quality and reducing the cost of higher education.

*Anker Publishing, Bolton, MA, 2003.

THERE'S SOMETHING FISHY GOING ON AROUND HERE: FISHING TOURNEY COMING TO MTU

submitted by Jim Junttila

There's something fishy going on all along the Keweenaw Waterway, from the Breakwaters to Keweenaw Bay.

The In-Fisherman/Professional Walleye Trail Mercury Championship is coming here Sept. 12-14. But the action starts on Sept. 4-11 when 51 of the finest professional walleye anglers in the world show up for pre-championship practice.

After a grueling season of six high-stakes tournaments along the PWT, only the top qualifying pros have earned the right to compete for all the marble-eyes in the prestigious Mercury Championship, dubbed the "World Series of Walleye Fishing."

Daily weigh-in ceremonies and festivities at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena will feature stage shows, entertainment, music and, of course, wall-to-wall walleyes. PWT pros will meet and greet fans and sign autographs during the weigh-ins and at the Boat & Sport Show at the Gates Tennis Center next door, 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. All events are free and open to the public, and kids especially are encouraged to attend. PWT sponsors cater to kids by donating fishing line and lures, and will be giving away 500 Plano tackle boxes and 1,000 Shakespeare rods and reels during the event.

It should come as no surprise that the PWT chose Houghton-Hancock for its prestigious 14th Annual Championship--there's always something fishy going on around here. Michigan Tech is conducting leading-edge research on coaster brook trout and sturgeon. Fish and fishing are as much a part of the culture as saunas, hockey and deer hunting.

The PWT Mercury Championship features the country's hottest walleye pros, all fishing for the top title and fattest purse in the walleye world. The three-day championship is expected to lure thousands to the community and the Tech campus.

A special Celebrity Day tournament will be held on Sunday, Sept. 7, where you can spend a day fishing with a top pro for $350 and learn everything you ever wanted to know about walleye fishing in a one-on-one setting. All gear is furnished. To reserve your day with a pro, contact Pat Coleman, U.P. Engineers & Architects, 482-4810, e-mail pcoleman@upea.com. Proceeds will be used to offset local expenses associated with hosting the PWT championship.

There's more than $1.25 million in cash and prizes on the line and the chance to become a millionaire on the spot. Quantum, maker of Performance Tuned rods and reels, is putting up a $1 million bonus for the PWT angler who breaks the 17-pound, 3-oz. Michigan state walleye record during the competition. Could happen; state fishery research nets have trapped them much larger in these waters.

"Rumors of monster walleyes have always come out of this system," said long-time In-Fisherman host Dan Sura, who caught his personal best, a 16-pound (33-1/2 inches long, 19-1/2 inch girth) walleye a few years ago on Portage Lake. "This water grows the some of the biggest walleyes in the country."

PWT pros will appear at area schools and other public venues and will conduct fishing programs and seminars.

For photos of qualifying PWT anglers and up-to-date standings and stats, visit http://www.professionalwalleyetrail.com

Don't miss the all the hot In-Fisherman/PWT Mercury Championship action direct from Houghton and Michigan Tech on TNN, Sept. 28, 9:30 p.m.

Local sponsors for the event are the City of Houghton, Keweenaw Peninsula Chamber/Tourism Council, Best Western Franklin Square Inn, UPPCO, Yalmer Mattila Contracting and Michigan Tech.

For more information, contact Jim Junttila, jjunttila@chartermi.net, 337-1866.

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FINE ARTS PRESENTS CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERT

Trios by Haydn and Mozart will be featured in the fine arts Department's first chamber music concert of the 2003-04 school year on Saturday, Sept. 6, at 7:30 p.m. in McArdle Theatre (Walker Arts and Humanities Center). Musicians are Neil Paynter, piano, Cori Somers, violin, and Tracy Greer Noel, cello.

This is the first of four chamber concerts by professional musicians to be presented in McArdle Theatre this year. Tickets for the event are available from the Rozsa Center Box Office (487-3200, http://www.tickets.mtu.edu) and at the door for $6 general, $3 students.

More information is available from Fine Arts, 487-2067.

NEW FUNDING

Associate Professor William Sproule (CEE) has received a $1,500 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration for an Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship for Kristina Fields.

Assistant Professor Scott Post (MEEM) has received a $149,960 grant from the National Science Foundation for his project, "Acquisition of High Speed Digital Imaging System for Multidisciplinary Research at MTU."

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IN PRINT

Professor Vladimir Tonchev (Mathematical Sciences) published a paper, "Unitals and Codes," in Discrete Mathematics, vol. 267:23-33. His coauthors are A. Betten (Colorado State University) and D. Betten (Kiel University, Germany).

Professor Iosif Pinelis (Mathematical Sciences) published a paper, "Evolutionary Models of Phylogenetic Trees," in Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, Ser. B, Vol. 270.

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ON THE ROAD

Professor Barry Solomon (Social Sciences) gave an invited talk, "Power to the People: Electric Utility Reform and the Commitment to Renewable Energy,"at the Second International Asian Energy Conference on Energy Market Reform: Issues and Problems, held at Hong Kong Baptist University in Kowloon, Hong Kong, China, Aug. 25-26.

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September

4--Thursday

  12:15-12:45 p.m.--Weight Watchers meeting--MUB Red Metal Room

6--Saturday

  10 a.m.--Women's Tennis, Saginaw Valley State at MTU--Gates Tennis Center

7--Sunday

  10 a.m.--Women's Tennis, Northwood at MTU--Gates Tennis Center

  7:30 p.m.--Neal McCoy--Rozsa Center

11--Thursday

  3:30 p.m.--Women's Tennis, Ashland at MTU--Gates Tennis Center

12--Friday

  10 a.m.--Women's Tennis, Mercyhurst at MTU--Gates Tennis Center

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No New Positions This Week

No new positions are posted this week at Michigan Tech. 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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