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1. SENATE CONSIDERS FINANCIAL PROPOSALThe University Senate heard a lengthy budget presentation Wednesday night and considered Proposal 14-04, "A Senate Statement of MTU's Financial Status." But the meeting adjourned before any action was taken. Jim Pickens (SFRES) and Larry Davis (SBE), co-chairs of the senate finance committee, discussed the university's tuition increases and accumulated deficit. Pickens compared Michigan Tech's tuition increases since 1993 with the average of Michigan state universities. He also reviewed enrollment numbers over the same period. While Tech's tuition increases have been similar to other state universities, Pickens said, the university has seen enrollment decline, while most other universities have seen increases. "Michigan Tech's tuition increases track with those of the other state universities," he said. "Tuition does not seem to be the major factor driving enrollment." Davis presented financial statements back to 1992, looking at the university's current funds. The current funds encompass the general fund, auxiliary fund, designated fund, expendable restricted fund, and retirement and insurance fund. While together these funds showed a positive balance of $67,000 at the end of fiscal year 2003, the general fund continues to show a deficit. At the end of fiscal year 2002, the accumulated deficit totaled about $7.6 million. Most of that, $5.1 million, came in fiscal year 2001. "When you add the $1.8 million deficit from fiscal '03 and a projected deficit of $5.1 million from fiscal '04, we're looking at an cumulative deficit of $14.5 million at the end of this fiscal year," Davis said. The university's current funds show a positive balance because of a healthy surplus in the designated fund, he said. The designated fund is restricted for specific purposes and not available to support the general fund. Davis and Pickens are both part of a university committee, chaired by Board of Control vice-chair Rodger Kershner, to determine the size of the FY04 deficit and projected FY05 deficit. The committee also includes the senate president, Bob Keen (Biological Sciences), the university controller, Mike Hendricks, and the internal auditor, Amy Hughes. The committee held its first meeting this week. After the presentation, Tony Rogers (Chemical Engineering) moved that the senate adopt proposal 14-04, a version of which was adopted Jan. 14 as a sense-of-the-senate resolution. After adopting an amendment making a few minor wording changes, the senate began debate on the proposal. At the senate's customary ending time of 7:30 p.m., however, Martha Sloan (ECE) moved to adjourn. The motion passed on a 15-14 vote. The senate will take up the proposal at its next meeting, Feb. 11. ____________ 2. CARNIVAL EVENTS HAVE STARTEDWhile the Winter Carnival recess won't start for another week, student groups have already started earning points in hopes of grabbing a trophy. Competition in special events--such as broomball, ice bowling, and even curling--has already commenced. Athletes will be out in force on Saturday, with skating and curling at Dee Stadium, ice fishing on Chassell Bay, and snow volleyball and human dogsleds at the SDC practice fields. Cross-country skiers will test the renovated Tech trail system on Saturday, as well. Queen Competition During the competition seven different judges will evaluate the finalists based on poise, first impression, general appearance, originality and talent. There are 500 possible points per candidate, which are broken down into four categories: talent presentation (175), formal interview (150), stage presence and appearance (100) and a student vote (75). The winner not only presides over Carnival, but gets to ride the Zamboni during the weekend hockey games. Tickets to the queen coronation, which begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Rozsa Center, are $10 and are available from the Central Ticket Office, the Rozsa Center Box Office and on-line at www.tickets.mtu.edu Statues Judged February
5 Statues will reflect this year's theme: "What We Love the Most from Coast to Coast." Statue judges look at first impression, the caption, lettering, artistic value, intricacy, proportions, apparent effort, the relationship to the Carnival theme, whiteness of snow and neatness of the site. Stage Revue at Rozsa
Center The productions are evaluated on the quality of acting and presentation, technical production and staging, originality, applicability to the Carnival theme and entertainment value. Stage revue tickets, which are $10, are available at the Central Ticket Office and the Rozsa Center box office, or on-line at http://www.tickets.mtu.edu Varsity Athletes Home The hockey Huskies take on St. Cloud State, with game times 7:05 p.m. on Friday and 5:05 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets for all the athletic events are available at the Central Ticket Office and at www.tickets.mtu.edu Friday, Feb. 6, brings another full day of special events, including snow volleyball, the tug-of-war, snowshoeing, downhill skiing and snowboarding.
It all comes to an end on Saturday, Feb. 7, with the awards ceremony in the Memorial Union Ballroom at 3 p.m. The annual torchlight parade and fireworks will take place that evening on Mont Ripley, starting at 8:30 p.m. A complete Carnival schedule, statue photos, queen photos, results and more information are available at the Winter Carnival web site (http://wintercarnival.mtu.edu), created and maintained by University Relations. Winter Carnival is sponsored and organized by the Blue Key National Honor Fraternity (www.hu.mtu.edu/~bluekey). ____________ 3. PICTORIAL, CARNIVAL DVD ON SALEThe Michigan Tech Lode's annual Winter Carnival Pictorial will be available Friday, Feb. 6, as will a new history of Winter Carnival DVD, produced by Blue Key National Honor Fraternity. The pictorial includes photos from the queens competition, special events and stage revue. The publication also includes photos and final results of all the month-long statues. Pre-order forms will be available at the queens competition, stage revue and at the basketball games on Thursday, Feb. 5. Pictorials, priced at $7, will be on sale beginning Feb. 6 at the Campus Store, University Images and at both weekend hockey games. "World's Greatest Winter Carnival" is the title of a new DVD on sale during Carnival. The production takes a look back at eight decades of Michigan Tech Winter Carnivals, from the one-day event in the 1920s to the current celebration that takes a full year to plan and execute. The DVD includes footage from the Michigan Tech Archives and Copper Country Historical Collection, as well as modern footage from University videographers Jeff Toorongian and Justin Plichta. The DVD was created by Six Productions, a division of WLUC-TV6 in Marquette. Funding is provided by the Michigan Tech Alumni Association. The DVD is $15, or is available as a package with the Winter Carnival Pictorial for $20. You can purchase "World's Greatest Winter Carnival" at the Campus Store, University Images and online at www.bookstore.mtu.edu ____________ 4. EIGHT WEB CAMS CAPTURE CAMPUS, CARNIVAL AND BROOMBALLWhile students at Michigan Tech focus on building snow statues, web cams are focused on them. Students are gearing up for Winter Carnival. Now parents, friends, alumni and anyone with an Internet connection can watch. The University has eight cameras providing campus views and glimpses of students building their towering snow sculptures and playing broomball. Winter Carnival takes place Feb. 4-8 this year. To tune in to the web cams, go to http://www.admin.mtu.edu/urel/cams/ ____________ 5. DIVERSITY ACTION TASK FORCE MEETS THURSDAYThe Diversity Action Task Force (DATF) will hold its second forum Thursday, Jan. 29, 6-9 p.m., in Memorial Union ballroom B. "DATF is a group of students, faculty and staff who formed to improve the climate at MTU's campus," organizers said. "The group wants to hear your ideas, as well as inform you of their recent meeting with the Board of Control and their plans for this semester." Everyone is welcome. For more information contact DATF via e-mail at stratplan-l@mtu.edu . ____________ 6. TEACHING AT TECH: UPDATE ON STUDENT RATING OF INSTRUCTION SCORESby William Kennedy, Director, Center for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development Last fall's teaching evaluation scores have been tabulated and the results sent out. This "Teaching at Tech" will present some summary data about the teaching evaluation scores and what they might be telling us about instruction at Michigan Tech. The teaching evaluation form has 20 specified questions and room for 10 additional items that may be added by the instructor on one side. On the back side, there are two open-ended questions about things that worked and things that could be done better. Most instructors report that the two open-ended questions provide them with better information than the 20 items. I always get many more responses to those open-ended items when I remind students that I really pay attention to what they write in those spaces. Infamous item 20 is a summative-type item that asks students to respond to the statement, "Taking everything into account, I consider this instructor to be an excellent teacher." Students can respond to this statement by indicating their level of agreement along a five step scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. If all the instructor's students strongly agree, the instructor will receive a 5.0 on this item. If all strongly disagree, the score would be 1.0. In the fall 2003 semester, we processed just over 24,000 evaluation forms from just over 1,100 sections. The average score on question 20 for this term was 4.08. I take this to mean that the average student in the average class who fills out one of these forms says that they agree that their instructor was an excellent teacher. Of over 1,100 evaluated sections, only 53 sections averaged below 3.0 on question 20. Even the most conservative reading of this data would seem to suggest that, by and large, the vast majority of our students truly appreciate the efforts that we put into our teaching. I point this out because it is difficult to keep this affirming fact in mind when a particularly blunt student complains vociferously about some aspect of the class or the test while the other 49 often say nothing in our defense. Teachers, like parents, often run the risk of forgetting all the good days because of one or two particularly distasteful experiences ("You did what to the car?"). Many instructors ask me about the influence of other variables on student rating of instruction scores. One such variable is section size. In engineering sections this fall, instructors in very small enrollment sections (less than 15 students) averaged 4.25 on question 20, while sections with enrollments over 35 yielded averages of 4.02. Many of the smaller sections, however, were graduate classes that tend to result in higher evaluation scores, regardless of section size. In non-engineering sections, the respective spread between smaller sections and larger sections was 4.38 and 3.92. Another hot topic regarding teaching evaluation scores these days is the notion that students give higher marks to faculty as they progress through their educational programs. There are various plausible reasons for this broadly-noted effect. Continuing attrition progressively removes students who are unable or unwilling to do the work. Upper division students move into course work associated with their majors. For the fall of 2003, the average score for courses with 1000 designations was 4.0. 2000-level courses averaged 4.14. 3000 averaged 4.13. 4000-level courses averaged 4.19. 5000-level courses averaged 4.47. An MTU faculty member recently pointed out a contemporary study that found that teaching evaluation scores are positively correlated to the perceived beauty of the instructor. The good news is that I can tell you that in my particular case this is simply not true! The bad news is, I'm not sure whether I should be happy or sad. 7. GO FOR BAROQUE!submitted by University Cultural Enrichment Audience members laugh at the humorous explanations and witty asides and are taken aback at the extraordinary costumes and the fast-paced interaction with the performers. This is no ordinary concert of early music; this is Red Priest, an exceptionally different British ensemble, whose members are intent on sweeping away the cobwebs from the usually serious and staid performance of the music of the 16th through 18th centuries with fresh ideas about programming and presentation. This flamboyant gang of four will appear at MTU's McArdle Theatre in the Walker Arts and Humanities Center at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 30, to present "Carnival of the Seasons," a rollicking no-holds-barred program which will include all four movements of Vivaldi's Four Seasons Concerto with additional music of the period by Purcell, Corelli and others. The Denver Post says to expect a performance that is "nothing short of electrifying . . . a supremely accomplished level of musicianship . . . with an almost super-human energy and a sense of showmanship." In short, something completely different! The Four Seasons, possibly Vivaldi's most enduring work, was made familiar to a broad 20th century audience in the soundtrack of the movie of the same name. Vivaldi would have loved Red Priest's dynamic and theatrical performance of this joyful and colorful work. His musical narrative of the four seasons, the birdsong and pastoral dance in spring, the summer storm, the antics of the peasants and the hunt in fall, and the bitter winds of winter are all brought to life by Red Priest. These virtuoso musicians perform mostly from memory, which allows them to roam among the audience--a compelling reason for presenting the performance in the McArdle Theatre rather than in the Rozsa. They are first class showmen, who believe that music should entertain and invigorate their audiences, rather than lull them to sleep. Red Priest has redefined the performance of Baroque music by combining their impressive musical skills with creative re-interpretation backed up by serious, intensive research. Piers Adams, who is widely regarded as one of the world's greatest recorder virtuosi, is the leader of the group. Julia Bishop (baroque violin), whose style is described as "psychedelic" in the BBC Music Magazine, Howard Beach (harpsichord and piano), and Angela East, one of the most brilliant and dynamic performers in the period instrument world, are the other members of the ensemble. All are in high international demand as soloists and as performers with other world-class ensembles such as the Academy of Ancient Music, the London Mozart Players, and the English Concert. The quartet, named after Antonio Vivaldi who was in fact a red-haired priest, is one of the major success stories on the international music scene. Founded in 1997, they now appear frequently on TV and radio and give over 60 concerts each year in some of the most prestigious venues in Europe, Australia and America. Tickets are on sale at the Rozsa Center Box Office (487-3200, Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m.) or online at http://www.tickets.mtu.edu. The Red Priest performance is made possible by funding from the Michigan Tech Committee for Campus Enrichment and is coordinated by University Cultural Enrichment (487-2844). ____________ 8. FINE ARTS PRESENTS "MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING"The Department of Fine Arts will stage one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, "Much Ado About Nothing," Feb. 6-8 in the Rozsa Center, on a stage resembling the original Globe Theatre. Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 6-7, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 8, with assistant professor Christopher Plummer (Fine Arts) directing. Much Ado, one of the most delightful and appealing of Shakespeare's plays, has always been a favorite of audiences. It's familiar to many as the award-winning 1993 movie starring Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh as Beatrice and Benedick, the independent-minded pair who declare they will never marry anyone, and certainly not each other. As always, Shakespeare weaves together intriguing characters from several walks of life, including Don Pedro of Aragon and his court, the villain Don John, a variety of young lovers with their gossiping friends and families, plus one of Shakespeare's most memorable comic characters, Constable Dogberry. The play starts by welcoming battle-worn troops home from the front into a world of festivity, comfort and affection, an apparently frivolous and happy world. But the comedy doesn't obscure the play's more serious theme, Shakespeare's penetrating analysis of relationships. The play challenges easy assumptions and exposes the mistakes people commonly make in building relationships, arguing in a thoroughly modern way for a foundation of trust and affection. "Shakespeare's skill at showing the depth and detail of imperfect relationships makes this play, which can seem a fun bit of fluff, something more serious and fully capable of holding its own against any of his other works," Plummer observes. Since Shakespeare is as famous for his words as his characters, the Michigan Tech actors take care to make the words clear. This is particularly important in Much Ado, where "no character is ever thwarted by lack of expressive power," as one critic noted. Beatrice and Benedick in particular are as well-known for their razor-sharp tongues as for their feisty independence. Dozens of Michigan Tech students, faculty and staff have been preparing this production since last October. The cast includes Jeremiah McConnell as Benedick, Elithe Zoglman as Beatrice, Sayward Touton as Hero, Jeremy Rahn as Don Pedro, Paul Himes as Claudio, Charles D. Hul as Don John, John Manno as Leonato, and Chris Schwartz as Dogberry. The crew includes assistant director Kelly Thomas, stage manager Aaron Guertin, scene and costume designer Mary Carol Friedrich, lighting designer Adam Manty, technical director and sound designer Heath Lane, scene shop manager Ted Soldan, music director and vocal coach John Manno, and students from Michigan Tech's technical theatre program. Plummer joined the Michigan Tech faculty in January 2002 after earning an MFA in theatre and sound design at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, and receiving the prestigious national Sound Achievement Award from the U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology. His many credits include extensive work with the Hangar Theatre and Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, as well as the University of Illinois. Tickets are $10 general, $5 students, at the Rozsa Center Box Office, 487-3200, www.tickets.mtu.edu, other Michigan Tech box offices and at the door. More information on the play and on group discounts is available from the box office.
9. PHYSICS COLLOQUIUM THURSDAYGraduate students Da Gao and Qiang Yang (Physics) will present two talks, "Monte Carlo Simulations of Surface Morphology Dynamics" and "Optimization of Deformable Mirror for the Hokupa'a-85 Adaptive Optics System," Thursday, Jan. 29, 4-5 p.m. in Fisher 139. ____________ 10. MEEM GRADUATE SEMINAR THURSDAYAssociate Professor David Shonnard (Chemical Engineering) will present a MEEM graduate seminar, "Eco-Efficiency Analysis of Chemical Products & Processes," Thursday, Jan. 29, 3-4 p.m. in MEEM 112.
NEW FUNDINGJohn Sutherland, Richard & Elizabeth Henes Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has received a $692,000 award from the National Science Foundation for his project, "IGERT: Achieving Environmental Industrial, and Societal Sustainability via the Sustainable Futures Model." Professor Bernard Alkire (CEE) has received a $10,000 award from the US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration for his project, "Tribal Technical Assistance Center for All States East of the Mississippi River and Minnesota." Associate Professor Gerard Caneba (Chemical Engineering) has received a $16,000 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Johnson Space Center, for his project, "Carbon Nanotubes--Polymer Dispersions for Space Applications." ____________ PROPOSALS IN PROGRESSResearchers, their proposals and their potential sponsors are *Michele H. Miller, Ghatu Subhash (MEEM), "Wheel Design for Cost-Effective Grinding of Ceramics," NSF *Ghatu Subhash (MEEM), "Sabbatical Research at Sandia National Laboratory," Sandia National Laboratory, ABQ *Ibrahim Miskioglu, B. S. Altan (MEEM), "Collaborative Research: Investigation of Simultaneous Increase of Strength and Ductility in Zn-Al Alloys by Equal Channel Angular Extrusion," NSF *Bernhard Bettig (MEEM), "Declarative Design Using Systems of Geometric Equality, Inequality and Local Optimization Declarations," NSF *William J. Endres (MEEM), "Multi-Attribute Analysis of Performance Evolution for Optimal Selection of Cutting Tools," NSF *J. Bierbrauer (Mathematical Sciences), "Highly Symmetric Objects in Coding Theory," NSF and NSA *Bruce A. Mork, Leonard J. Bohmann, Dmitry Ishchenko (ECE/PERC), "Reducing Blackout Likelihood via Advances in Tripping, Reclosing, Load Shedding and System Separation Strategies," NSF *Seth W. Donahue (Biomedical Engineering), "Grizzly Bear Bone Mechanics and Metabolism," Washington State University *Tammy Haut-Donahue (MEEM), "Collaborative Research: Biothermomechanical Fields in RF Chondroplasty," NSF *S. Pandit, Jason Dreyer (MEEM), "Data Dependent Systems (DDS) Approach to Nondestructive Evaluation of Inline-Compounded Compression-Molded Long-Glass Reinforced Thermoplastic Str.," ASNT *Jian Liu, Haiying Liu (Chemistry), Stephen A. Hackney (MSE), "NER: Semiconductor Quantum Dot-Based Artificial Enzymes. Rational Design and Development," NSF *Elias Aifantis (Engineering), "Novel Experiments and Models for Nanomechanical Analyses of Metallic Nanowires and Polymeric/Collagenic Nanofibers," University of Virginia *S. K. Kawatra (Chemical Engineering), "Suppression of Dust from Finished Iron Ore Pellets," US Egypt Joint Board *Patricia Sotirin (Humanities), "Theorizing the Aunt," Santa Clara University *Yoke Khin Yap (Physics), "NER: Toward Large-Scale Synthesis of Nanotubes with Tunable Energy Band Gap," NSF *Noel R. Urban, Judith A. Perlinger, Martin T. Auer (CEE/RSI), "Organic Carbon Cycling in Lake Superior," NSF *Ching-Kuang Shene, John Lowther (Computer Science), "The Use of Discrete Choice Models to Reveal the Causality in Assessment Practice," NSF *John S. King, Christopher R. Webster (SFRES), "Development of an Ecophysiology-Based Silvicultural System for Restoring Eastern Hemlock in Areas of Intense Deer Herbivory," Berryman Institute East *Huann-Sheng Chen, Shuanglin Zhang (Mathematical Sciences), "Mapping Complex Disease Genes Incorporating Age-At-Onset," NIH *Timothy James Scarlett (Social Sciences), "Phase I Research for a Pioneer Pottery Exhibit at This is the Place Heritage Park," This Is The Place Heritage Park ____________ CALENDAR: January28--Wednesday 6-8 p.m.--Marketing and Competitive Analysis Videoconference--EERC B11 30--Friday 7:05 p.m.--Hockey, MTU v. Colorado College--MacInnes Student Ice Arena 7:30 p.m.--Red Priest--McArdle Theatre 31--Saturday 7:05 p.m.--Hockey, MTU v. Colorado College--MacInnes Student Ice Arena 7:30 p.m.--Winter Carnival Queen Coronation--Rozsa Center February 5--Thursday 4 p.m.--Winter Carnival Stage Revue--Rozsa Center 5:30 p.m.--Women's Basketball, Ferris State at MTU--SDC Gym 7:30 p.m.--Men's Basketball, Ferris State at MTU--SDC Gym 8 p.m.--Winter Carnival Stage Revue--Rozsa Center 6--Friday 7:05 p.m.--Hockey, St. Cloud State at MTU--MacInnes Student Ice Arena 7:30 p.m.--Much Ado About Nothing--Rozsa Center ____________ MICHIGAN TECH POSITIONS AVAILABLEJob 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, Jan. 30, 2004, at 1 p.m. through noon, Friday, Feb. 6, 2004, in the Human Resources Office or at http://www.admin.mtu.edu/hro/postings/ Assistant Volleyball Coach--Athletic Department University employees are reminded to apply in writing prior to noon, Friday, Feb. 6, 2004, 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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