1. ALUMNI REUNION TO FEATURE HOCKEY HISTORY, ALBERTA'S GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY

Alumni and friends from across the nation will visit Michigan Tech Aug. 5-7 to mark Alumni Reunion 2004.

All alumni and friends are invited to participate. Honored class years include Golden Ms (50-plus years since graduation), 1954, 1964, 1974, 1979, 1984 and 1994. In addition, women's basketball will be spotlighted, with players and friends attending rom all classes. Highlights among this year's festivities will be the kick-off pasty picnic, numerous class-year gatherings, a campus open house, a presentation on the history of hockey in the Copper Country, the alumni awards dinner, a golf outing, the women's basketball alumni game, and the 50th anniversary celebration of the Ford Forestry Center. The full schedule can be found at http://www.mtu.edu/alumni/ .

Everyone is encouraged to preregister for reunion events. Tickets for most events will be available for walk-up guests at the registration desk in the Keweenaw Commons area of the Memorial Union. In addition, the Keweenaw Chapter of Alumni and Friends will have an information station set up nearby with materials on Michigan Tech.

The pasty picnic begins at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 5, outside the Memorial Union. The picnic includes pasties, potato salad, watermelon, dessert and beverages. Hot dogs and hamburgers are available for kids. Tickets are available at the registration desk.

All alumni and friends are invited to the rise-and-shine husky breakfast buffet and presidential address at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 6, in Ballroom A of the Memorial Union. President Glenn Mroz will be the host. Tickets are available at the registration desk.

Everyone is welcome to the university campus picnic, which starts Friday at 11:30 a.m. outside the Memorial Union. The menu includes Vollwerth's hot dogs, brats, burgers, huli huli chicken, vegetarian baked beans, lots of side dishes, beverages and desserts. Tickets are $6.25 at the picnic.

Starting at 1:30 p.m. and continuing through 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon, academic departments will be holding department open houses and tours. You can also visit the Rozsa Center, the Seaman Mineral Museum, the Student Development Complex and the Memorial Union Building.

Hockey History Talk

"Dr. Hockey" Bill Sproule '70 will give a talk, "The History of Professional Hockey in the Copper Country," at 3 p.m. on Friday in the Memorial Union Alumni Lounge.

Sproule, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, is a nationally recognized hockey historian. He will focus on the 100th anniversaries of two key events: Houghton's Portage Lakes hockey team winning the world championship and the formation of the International Hockey League.

The league boasted some of the best hockey players of the era and marked the U.P. as the birthplace of professional hockey in America. Sproule's talk is free and open to the public.

Friday culminates with the alumni reunion awards dinner. The social hour begins at 5:30 p.m. in Memorial Union Ballroom A, followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. featuring lake trout and prime rib. Among those being honored are James A. Mack '59, receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award; Professor Emeritus Edward R. Fisher and former Board of Control chair James A. Mitchell '65, receiving Outstanding Service Awards; Sean P. Asiala '95 and Brian R. VanVoorst '91, Outstanding Young Alumni Awards; and President Emeritus Curtis J. Tompkins, who will receive the Honorary Alumni Award.

MTU Alumni Association Board President Jerry Philo will be master of ceremonies. Tickets will be available at the registration desk.

The alumni golf outing and luncheon kicks off at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday at the Portage Lake Golf Course, with a shotgun start at 9:15 a.m. The outing includes an 18-hole scramble, refreshments on the course and a casual outdoor lunch. Prizes will be awarded, and lunch-only tickets are available for golfers' friends and family. You may purchase tickets at the registration desk but the price does not include golf carts. A limited number are available; call the golf course at 487-2641 to reserve a cart.

Everyone is invited to come celebrate Alberta's golden anniversary on Saturday at the Ford Forestry Center, located eight miles south of L'Anse on U.S. 41. In 1954, the Ford Motor Company donated Alberta and 2,100 acres of surrounding timberland to Michigan Tech. Tickets are $11 for an 11:30-1 p.m. cook-out lunch and tours of the sawmill and village, $5 for tours only. Lunch and tours are free to children under 10. An awards presentation follows at 1 p.m. featuring keynote speaker Roger Rogge, the former manager of the Ford Forestry Center. Visitors can also enjoy the vintage car show at the event.

For more information on Alumni Reunion, call 487-2400.

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2. TWO VICE PRESIDENT FOR DEVELOPMENT CANDIDATES TO VISIT CAMPUS

Michigan Tech will be hosting visits by two candidates for the position of vice president of development and executive director of the Michigan Tech Fund.

Siegfried E. Herrmann, vice chancellor for university advancement and president of the Appalachian State University Foundation, in North Carolina, will be on campus July 28-30 and will give a talk on Friday, July 30.

Trent Shea McGrew, vice president for university relations at Capital University, in Ohio, will be on campus Aug. 1-3. He will address the MTU community on Tuesday, Aug. 3.

Both talks will be held  9:15-10:15 a.m. in Memorial Union Ballroom B. All members of the university community are welcome.

While at Appalachian State, Herrmann was responsible for executing a capital campaign that raised $83.2 million, exceeding its $50 million goal. He was previously chief development officer for all five campuses of Miami-Dade College, in Florida. During his tenure, the college ranked first in fundraising among more than 1,200 U.S. community colleges.

At Capital University, McGrew has been responsible for marketing, development, alumni relations, public relations, publications and more since joining the institution in 1998. Among his accomplishments, he led a successful, $11 million campaign for a new athletic and recreation facility, raising $12.7 million. Previously, he was director of development and director of major gifts at the University of Cincinnati Foundation, where he had extensive involvement with $50 million in gifts. During his tenure, the institution received the 1996 CASE Circle of Excellence Award for Fundraising Improvement.

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3. DEPARTMENTS OF INTERNATIONAL ADVANCEMENT, COMMENCEMENT AND SPECIAL EVENTS, AND INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION REORGANIZE

As part of the university's effort to streamline services and increase efficiencies, the International Advancement Programs and Commencement and Special Events offices have been dissolved, and the Center for International Education has been reorganized, Vice Provost and Dean for Student Affairs Les Cook has announced.

The changes eliminate the positions of coordinator of commencement and special events and executive director of international advancement. The executive director of the Center for International Education position will be put on hold for an indefinite period of time.

Duties and responsibilities for commencement and special events have been shifted to a number of areas. The responsibility for planning commencement has been shifted to the executive director of alumni relations and Student Affairs staff. Building dedications and related activities will be organized by Office of the President, Facilities and the tenants of the new building. The Office of the President in conjunction with the Provost's Office will organize faculty-related functions including dinners and award programs, and Board of Control functions will be the responsibility of the Office of Governmental Relations.

While no staff will be assigned to international advancement, academic deans, department chairs and others will continue their fundraising efforts with international alumni and friends. The International Advancement Advisory Council will continue to provide advice and counsel to President Glenn Mroz.

The focus for the Center for International Education has been redefined. The English as a Second Language program will now report to the vice president for research. All other CIE functions will now report to Student Affairs, and the name of the department will shift from the Center for International Education to International Programs and Services.

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4. REORGANIZATION IN ADMISSIONS, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Two units overseen by Vice Provost and Dean for Student Affairs Les Cook have been restructured, a move that consolidates operations and reduces the number of employees reporting directly to Cook.

Director of News and Information Services Dean Woodbeck has been promoted to a new position, senior director of University Communications, formerly University Relations. Reporting to Woodbeck are Bill Tembreull, director of design and publication services; Dave Fischer, director of athletic communications and marketing; Dennis Walikainen, director of university web development; media relations manager Marcia Goodrich; promotional writer John Gagnon; managing editor Paula McCambridge; video reporter Justin Plichta; and senior secretary Mary Peters.

In the Admissions Office, Rob Forget continues to direct undergraduate recruitment and has assumed new admissions responsibilities. Two admissions representatives, Allison Carter and Bill Roberts, have been promoted to assistant director positions, reflecting their expanded duties.

Carter is moving back to campus from her former post in southwestern Michigan, and her recruitment activities will be absorbed by other admissions representatives downstate. She will assume the responsibily for most Admissions communications, including publications, telecounseling and content for the web portal.

Roberts, who formerly split his time between student recruitment in Wisconsin and coordinating campus visits, will now be based permanently on campus, focusing his efforts on the campus visit program and other related activities. Another admissions representative will be hired to recruit Wisconsin students.

Assistant directors Rochelle Danquah and Mark Provoast continue to report to Forget.

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5. FIRED UP ABOUT WARBLERS: PRESCRIBED BURN MAY CREATE NEW HOME FOR RARE BIRD

Research at Michigan Tech could ignite a return of the rare Kirtland's warbler to the Baraga Plains.

In an effort to regenerate jack pine habitat, several one-acre, clear-cut plots were set ablaze south of Camp Alberta July 22. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources conducted the prescribed burn on Michigan Tech land under gray skies in drizzling rain. Despite the dampness, the pitch-rich pine debris burned fast and hot, a prerequisite for jack pine regeneration.

"Jack pine is a fire-adapted species," said lead researcher Andrew Storer, an assistant professor in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science. "Its cones often stay closed until there's enough heat to open them and release the seeds."

There's plenty of jack pine on the Baraga Plains, but that's not enough to attract the Kirtland's warbler for more than a visit. The showy, blue and yellow birds nest only in jack pine forests of a certain age, about five through 10 years old.

Storer's team will study plots treated in three different ways and see what sort of forest results. In addition to the fire-treated plots, researchers are studying areas that are disrupted by dragging chains over the soil, and plots that have been both disrupted and burned.

"Kirtlands need a high density of young trees, and we are anticipating that at least one of these treatments will create that density," Storer said.

Kirtlands have been spotted in the area, but just in passing. Lacking proper habitat, they haven't stayed to nest.

In the meantime, Storer's team will see how other forest creatures respond to the new habitats. "If we do produce that density, how will it affect other organisms?" he said. "We'll be looking at insects and other species that use the forest floor, particularly predatory ground beetles, ants and spiders. It may be that by creating dense forests, we could hurt some species that prefer an open woodland."

The Kirtland's warbler could be considered a poster child for the success of the Endangered Species Act, says ornithologist David Flaspohler, an associate professor in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science. "It was one of the first species listed under the act," he said. "They've done well as a direct result of human management, including habitat restoration and the control of the brown-headed cowbird in their habitat."

Cowbirds lay their eggs in warbler nests. Hatching before the warblers, the cowbird young get fed first, grow quickly and often outcompete the warbler chicks for food. This can cause massive reproductive failure, which for the short-lived Kirtland's warbler, with its two- to three-year life span, can cause rapid declines in the entire population.

"Without management, Kirtland's warblers might have disappeared," Flaspohler said. "They need a jack pine forest that's not too young and not too old; they are ultra-specialists, more so than any other species of warbler. Even in pre-European settlement times, they probably were not all that common."

Some have suggested that the Kirtland's warbler, which nests only in eight Lower Michigan counties, be honored as the state bird. It would replace the robin, which is found throughout North America. "Thousands of people don't come to Michigan to see robins, but they do to see Kirtland's warblers. It's a very special bird," Flaspohler noted.

The one-acre test plots near Camp Alberta aren't big enough to support a breeding population of warblers, but they could determine whether or not its possible to create warbler habitat on the Baraga Plains.

"If we can achieve that kind of density in a jack pine forest-and if there's the political will to establish a second population of warblers-these tools could be used over a larger area," Storer said.

A series of photographs taken before, during and after the burn at the Ford Center are available at http://fordcenter.mtu.edu/research/jackpine.html

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6. STUDENTS HONORED AT PHI BETA LAMBDA NATIONAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

Jake Miller and Ryan Layton from MTU-Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) were honored at the Phi Beta Lambda National Leadership Conference, a professional association for students pursuing business careers. Competing in the Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda (FBLA-PBL) national awards program, Miller and Layton and the MTU chapter of PBL were presented with awards for 9th Place Telecommunications, and 3rd Place Finance, as well as Largest Increase in Membership and Largest Percentage Increase in Membership in the North-Central Region, respectively.

The awards were part of a comprehensive competitive events program sponsored annually by FBLA-PBL. Individuals, state teams and local chapters are encouraged to compete in 40 different events representing a wide range of activities and the business and leadership development focus of FBLA-PBL.  The winners of these highly competitive and prestigious awards are selected from among FBLA-PBL's membership of 250,000 students and advisers and represent some of the best and brightest of today's youth.

The almost 7,000 delegates to the National Leadership Conference participated in a structured, four-day meeting for each division that included business and leadership training workshops and seminars, corporate tours and the election of national officers.

FBLA-PBL is the national business education association that prepares students for careers in business and business education. Its members, belonging to more than 6,000 chartered chapters, included students from the United Stated, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Europe. FBLA is the high school division, and PBL is designed for postsecondary and college students.  For membership information, contact the National FBLA-PBL Headquarters at 1-800-325-2946, and for local Michigan Tech chapter contact information, please visit http://www.sos.mtu.edu/pbl.

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7. GET HEALTHY: SIGN UP FOR MICHIGAN TECH HEALTH WATCH EMAIL LIST

Submitted by Maryann Wilcox

The Michigan Tech Benefits Office keeps an email list for anyone in the Michigan Tech community interested in announcements concerning health information events held on campus or in the surrounding area, or for anyone who may be interested in an occasional health or wellness article. Employees and other members of the Michigan Tech community are invited to subscribe to this email list. Announcements and articles will be submitted to the list by local health care providers and others. To subscribe, send an email to majordomo@mtu.edu, leave the subject blank, and in the body of the email type

subscribe techhealthwatch-l@mtu.edu

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If you have any questions, please call Maryann Wilcox at 487-3309 or email her at mawilcox@mtu.edu.