SENATE TO ADDRESS CONSTITUENCY CRISIS

The University Senate has pushed the date of its next meeting back one day, from Sept. 29 to Sept. 30, a move designed to head off the virtual dissolution of the senate in the event that tenured and tenure-track faculty vote to form a collective bargaining unit under the auspices of the AAUP.

The senate's constitution excludes union members from its constituency. The language was originally included in an effort to define so-called professional staff as part of the senate constituency. All staff, including nonrepresented and AFSCME, POA and UAW members, have representation on Staff Council.

To address the problem, the senate's executive council presented an amendment Sept. 1 proposing that AAUP union members be part of the constituency. The measure failed to receive the necessary two-thirds vote from the senate.

To change its constitution, the senate must pass an amendment twice with two-thirds majorities and then send the measure to its constituency for approval. If the faculty vote to unionize under the auspices of the AAUP, the union will probably be certified in about two weeks, senate president Terry Monson said. The vote is set for Sept. 28-29.

To take effect, amendments to the senate constitution must be approved by the Board of Control, which meets Oct. 7. Generally, the deadline for adding items to its agenda is two weeks in advance of the meeting. Its next scheduled meeting is Dec. 10.

Unless the senate acts quickly, "tenured and tenure-track faculty will be disenfranchised," Monson said.

Senator Marty Janners (Biological Sciences) asked what would happen if the amendment is defeated. Tenured and tenure-track faculty will no longer be senate constituents, he said, adding, "Does anyone have another solution?"

Senator Susan Amato-Henderson (Education) said that it wasn't clear why UAW members weren't part of the senate and suggested that the senate look at including UAW members as well as AAUP members. Senate secretary Janice Glime said that such a substantial change in the senate's constituency would probably take a year to debate and implement, noting that it took two years to get professional staff in the senate.

The senate is expected to take up the issue of allowing AAUP members in its constituency Sept. 30.

The senate also heard a presentation from a representative of the American Association of University Professors.

Larry Glenn, an AAUP national field representative, recommended cooperation with the university in the event that the faculty vote to unionize. At some universities, senates work successfully with the AAUP, he said. The AAUP deals with wages, hours and working conditions, while the senates address academic concerns.

Senator Mark Johnson (Technology) said that unions precipitated the loss of manufacturing jobs overseas, and that unions in higher education could have the same effect. Glenn said that the economic forces driving jobs offshore were independent of unions, and that American education should compete in the area of quality, not cost. U.S. universities offer much better education than canned instruction outsourced to India, he said.

In the auto industry, unions bred mediocrity, Johnson said, citing 20 years' experience in industry. "You lose your competitive edge," he said.

Professionals don't compete for wages, Glenn said. They are motivated by status. Organizing to get more money doesn't mean that professionals will do less work, he said.

In other business, the senate approved the academic calendar for 2005-06 and Proposal 51-04, which sets criteria for evaluating proposed academic programs.

1. RENOVATING WADS: NOT YOUR GRANDPARENTS' DORM ANYMORE

The day the students left last spring, crews began gutting the 50-year-old kitchen in Wadsworth Hall. And the day before they came back this fall, the health inspector signed the OK that signaled the start of cooking season.

 This brand-new, finished-just-in-time dining room may be the flagship of Wads' ongoing $31-million renovation.

The serving area feels like an airport food court, minus the flashy advertising but with more choices. Residents can fill their trays up with pizza, burgers and fries, a salad bar, pasta, a dessert bar and homestyle entrees, plus make-your-own waffles, subs, stir-fries, and the ever-popular cold cereal bar.

Then, instead of long, brown, institutional tables reminiscent of "Cool Hand Luke," the dining room is furnished with restaurant-style seating.

The cafeteria was pretty good before, but nothing like this. "I'd like to invite anyone who's ever been here to stop by for a visit," says John Rovano, director of residential services.

The changes you can't see may be even more impressive.

"We're bringing Wads into the 21st century," Rovano says. In 1964, the only electric device a student was likely to bring to college was a clock radio "or an electric razor, if they were really affluent," he remembers.

Now, computers, video games and microwaves are commonplace. "We had four rooms on a circuit and power strips on every outlet," Rovano says. "People could lose data when the guy next door turned on a popcorn maker."

Wiring wasn't the only weakness. Plumbing half a century old was showing its age, and the room furniture, built to survive a nuclear attack, was nevertheless sporting scars left by generations of Tech students.

In addition, wheelchair access wasn't convenient, and the university wanted to install sprinklers for fire protection.

Since the hall was going to be massively torn up for electrical, plumbing and life-safety renovations, staff decided now was the time to address those quality-of-life upgrades they'd been dreaming about. "Fifty percent of what we've done we had to do," Rovano said. "The rest we firmly believe appeals to the students and are an important aspect of recruitment and retention."

Rooms for about 520 students have been remodeled. Space for another 150 or so will be completed at the end of the semester, with the last block of rooms scheduled to be finished next summer. Though not exactly spacious, the new rooms and their furniture provide a far more efficient use of the available square footage.

The new hallways are bright and welcoming, almost sunny. Rovano walks down one to what may be his favorite part of the whole project, a student lounge done up in vibrant, retro hues with a fully equipped kitchen. It was designed to give residents an inviting, accessible area to study, visit, cook or just get out of their rooms. "You can play with your computer, make popcorn or bake a cake here," he says. Once the remodeling is complete, in August 2005, 18 of these getaways will be sprinkled throughout Wadsworth. "I love these lounges," Rovano confides. "I want students to feel this is their space, their living room."

In terms of private space, the new restrooms probably represent the biggest change in dorm living. While you can still enjoy the thrill of communal showering and tooth-brushing with friends, you can also find that rarest of commodities in dorm living: privacy. In every new lavatory are several small, private bathrooms, each with a shower, toilet and sink, and each with a lockable door.

The goal of all these improvements is straightforward: to make Wadsworth Hall a more desirable place to live. Many students have their own bathrooms at home, to say nothing of their own bedrooms, and Michigan Tech must take that into account.

"On-campus housing is the second most important issue for students when it comes to choosing a university," Rovano said. "And their parents too take a big interest in what we're doing on this side of the street."

Is it working? Of the 390 new beds available to returning students, all but 22 were reserved by 2003-04 residents. "They said, 'I want to stay on campus, and I want to stay in Wads,'" Rovano said. "We've accomplished what we hoped."

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2. MEMBERS SOUGHT FOR COMMITTEE TO ENHANCE CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY

On the advice of the University Senate, the administration is forming a committee charged with developing and promoting ideas and projects to enhance Michigan Tech. Interested students, faculty and staff are encouraged to submit nominations. Self nominations are welcome.

The committee will be based on the senate's Proposal 9-04, Enhancing the Campus and Community, at http://www.sas.it.mtu.edu/usenate/propose/04/9-04.htm .

The proposal states that, because most students attend colleges less than 600 miles from home, Michigan Tech should make an additional effort to  "entice prospective students with a combination of programs, price and place . . . "

According to the proposal, the committee will invite members of the MTU community to submit their ideas to enhance the university and will then evaluate them for possible support and funding. "The effort should be broadly construed to include everything from renovating residence halls to improving classroom design." Another example is the recent and ongoing ski trail project.

"In reality, this group will be less about committee meetings, and more about commitment to make things happen," President Glenn Mroz said. "The committee members should be ready to work with people to get campus approval for projects, and shepherd people through the process of getting things from the idea stage to the implementation stage."

If you are interested in serving on this committee, please send a letter stating why you would like to be on the committee and a short one-page resume to the President's Office via campus mail or email Roberta Dessellier at rmdessel@mtu.edu.

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3. CAMPUS FORUM SEPT. 22

President Glenn Mroz will host a campus forum on Wednesday, Sept. 22, at 3 p.m. in the Rozsa Center. He will discuss a variety of topics, including the budget, current enrollment and enrollment goals. All members of the MTU community are invited. Release time will be granted to Michigan Tech employees who attend.

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4. SALE ON HUSKIES GEAR FRIDAY

As part of the celebration of Husky Fridays, University Images and the Campus Store are giving Michigan Tech students and employees 25 percent off any one gold, black or silver item this Friday only. MTU ID must be presented, and the discount is for one item per person only.

On Husky Fridays, students, faculty and staff are encouraged to wear school colors to show support for MTU athletic programs.

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5. KLIAKHANDLER: USING MATH TO BET ON THE FUTURES

Semantics are important to Igor Kliakhandler. "The word 'predict' is not a good word," he says, choosing his own words with care. "It's a reasonable system of betting."

Kliakhandler, an associate professor of mathematical sciences, has developed sophisticated algorithms to study, not predict, the futures market. He uses the information to bet, or, in the parlance of money managers, to speculate. Futures speculators buy and sell contracts to

purchase products at some specific time in the future for a specific price. With this expertise, he manages small funds for himself and a handful of acquaintances.

Though the words "speculation" and "futures" have a negative cultural connotation, the activity of speculators willing to take the risks are critically necessary for the functioning of modern financial markets, Kliakhandler notes.

It's an investment activity not without its risks. Novices reputedly have about as much chance of making money on futures as they do of winning Powerball. However, Kliakhandler prefers the tumultuous futures market to the tamer world of equities.

"I'm afraid to deal with stocks for logistics reasons," he says. "Futures are easier. Collecting data for stocks is much trickier."

Kliakhandler uses robots--computer programs that perform one narrow task--to gather and analyze information from a variety of databases relating to the price of commodities. At the end of each trading day, the entire set of market information is automatically retrieved. On the basis of that, he decides whether to buy, sell or do nothing.

This does not mean that he's shouting orders into two phones every evening for a couple hours. What's his latest trade? "Three days ago, I shorted lumber," Kliakhandler says.

"Houghton is a very good place to do this," he adds. "Today you don't have to be in Chicago or New York. There are people doing sophisticated trading right here in Houghton."

Unlike daytraders of the recent past, he says he's not in this to get rich quick.

"I'm doing this because I love it," he says. "Many mathematicians are getting into finance." High-end math has become a big deal in all major trading firms: You're almost as likely to see a PhD in financial mathematics walking the halls as an MBA.

Thus, in addition to his entrepreneurial effort, Kliakhandler involves graduate students in his work. While MTU does not offer a degree in financial mathematics, the skills his students learn give them an introduction to the burgeoning new field.

And because it takes more than a calculating intelligence to succeed in the futures market, Kliakhandler has one unusual prerequisite for students wanting to work on his project. "Open an account and make a few trades,"  he says. "Common sense is overlooked as a value when you are trying to make it as a business. It's an invaluable skill."

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6. ONE-ON-ONE TIAA-CREF COUNSELING SESSIONS SEPT. 29-OCT. 1

TIAA-CREF consultants will be on campus Wednesday-Friday, Sept. 29-Oct. 1, in the Memorial Union Red Metal Room to help you make financial decisions that are right for you.

To schedule an appointment, sign up online at http://www.tiaa-cref.org/moc or call Kandyce Walker at 1-800-842-2044.

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7. SEND IN YOUR C2E2 PROPOSALS

The Century II Campaign Endowed Equipment (C2E2) Fund Committee is soliciting proposals. This year, the submission deadline is 4 p.m., Oct. 25, and no proposals will be solicited during the rest of the academic year.

C2E2 grants generally support small equipment purchases. For more information on the grants and how to apply, visit http://www.admin.mtu.edu/research/vpr/internal/century.html . Call Joanne Polzien, 487-3043, if you have any questions.

 Send your application electronically to jpolzien@mtu.edu and eight hard copies to Polzien in the Vice President for Research Offfice, Administration 317.

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8. ALUMNUS MAGAZINE AVAILABLE IN DEPARTMENTS

Three copies of the August issue of the Alumnus magazine have been sent to each department on campus. In the past, copies have been sent to employees, and this will happen again in the future, but only if the magazine editor remembers to check his math and orders the right number from the printer.

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9. SHELTON DONATES RUSSIAN MINERAL COLLECTION TO MTU'S SEAMAN MINERAL MUSEUM

William O. "Bill" Shelton is donating an extraordinary collection of thousands of mineral specimens to the Seaman Mineral Museum.

Shelton's gift includes more than 350 types of minerals, one-of-a-kind rarities and display-grade pieces from classic mineral-collecting sites in the former Soviet Union, as well as reference materials. In addition, a portion of Shelton's estate will be donated to help the museum acquire more specimens.

"This past June, Bill drove out to the Keweenaw from Massachusetts and brought with him a remarkable group of specimens, the tip of the iceberg," said Stanley J. Dyl II, the museum's director of development and planning.

Among them are a 14-inch plate of smoky quartz crystals-with one six-inch crystal, from Russia's Polar Urals; a six-inch nodule of rich blue turquoise from near Tucson, Ariz., a one-inch, single emerald crystal from the world famous mines of Muzo, Colombia; a cranberry-red, 2.5-inch rhodochrosite crystal from the Sweet Home Mine, Colo., and an eight-inch slice of the Brahin Meteorite, found in 1810 in Minsk, Byelorussia, Russia. The Brahin Meteorite is a high-grade pallasite--a rare meteorite type showing an olivine/nickel-iron intergrowth.

These pieces are on display at the museum, which is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday and through September on weekends, noon-5 p.m. All are in the museum's elevator lobby, case 139, except for the meteorite, which is in case 16, in the museum.

Shelton, of Westfield, Mass., has spent nearly four decades building one of the finest private Russian mineral collections in the U.S.

"Mineral collecting represents my love of nature and desire to know more about the world around me; it is my on-going quest to better understand one of the most fascinating aspects of the natural system," Shelton said. "A hidden beauty lies within the earth in the form of minerals and gems."

"News of Bill's gift was an unexpected and welcome surprise." Dyl said. "Major gifts from friends who are not Michigan Tech alumni are becoming a trend, largely because they support the museum's mission and it's plans to expand to a new site on Quincy Hill."

Shelton agreed. "In this time of closure and storage of mineral collections, I see a place that is intent on displaying minerals for the public to enjoy," he said. "The Seaman Museum is one of the few places that is actively expanding and has a public systematic collection available for viewing.

"Collectors should take note and support the cause they believe will best secure a future place for people to go and see minerals."

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10. BUDGET OFFICE STAFF CHANGES ANNOUNCED

Debbie Lassila has accepted a two-year appointment to serve as acting budget director, President Glenn Mroz has announced.

Lassila, the director of faculty personnel, was responsible for developing MTU budgets for several years in the 1990s before taking on her current position in Human Resources. She will retain her faculty personnel responsibilities.

Amy Hughes, who has completed her six-month appointment as interim budget director, has returned to her previous post as director of internal audit.

Lastly, Julie Hendrickson has transferred to the Budget Office as the budget analyst. She was previously the electrical and computer engineering academic advisor. Hendrickson has a BS in Business Administration from Michigan Tech and a master's degree in public administration from Northern Michigan University.

"Amy did a superb job leading the development of the 2004-05 budget and putting Michigan Tech on track to build next year's budget," Mroz said. "Everyone on the Executive Team appreciates the effort she's made over the last six months. We're also pleased that Debbie has agreed to take on these additional responsibilities. She is very familiar with the university and it's budget process, and brings a wealth of knowledge to the position."

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11. CAMPUS SECURITY ACT REPORT AVAILABLE

The Campus Security Act Annual Report is available at http://www.admin.mtu.edu/psafe/annualcrimereport.pdf or in printed form at any of the following offices: Student Affairs, Counseling Services, Residence Life, Affirmative Programs, Human Resources and Public Safety.

The report includes three sections. The Campus Crime Awareness Report addresses how to report a crime, crime prevention and the MTU campus crime statistics over the past three years.

The MTU Sexual Misconduct Policy explains issues of confidentiality, reporting requirements, options for victims, rights of the victim and the accused, and university regulations concerning student behavior and sexual misconduct.

The MTU Alcohol and Drug Policy includes MTU regulations concerning the use and abuse of alcohol, illegal use of drugs, guidelines for the use of alcohol at social events, and disciplinary action taken when faculty, staff, or students violate the policy. The policy also explains the consequences of alcohol and drug abuse in the university environment, and it refers readers to helpful services on campus and in the local community.

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12. STUDY TO LOOK AT FUTURE OF NORTHERN FORESTS, WATER RESOURCES

Forests are like giant pumps. Tree roots take up water from the soil, and the leaves release it into the air as vapor.

This cycle is powerful enough to affect the climate in and near forests and can even impact local aquifers. But no one knows how those dynamics may change in the next 50 years as concentrations of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and ozone continue to rise.

John King, an assistant professor in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, has received a $450,000 grant to explore how atmospheric change may affect tree physiology and, in turn, water resources in the Upper Midwest.

The grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program, through the Water Resources and Watershed Processes Program.

The research will be conducted at Aspen FACE, in Rhinelander, Wis. Aspen FACE (Free-Air CO2 Enrichment) is the world's largest, open-air climate change research facility, and the only FACE site where scientists can study the effects of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and ozone on forest ecosystems.

For trees, more carbon dioxide means more leaves. Studies also show that, per square inch, those leaves release less water vapor into the air.

"Because we don't fully understand the tradeoff, we don't know what the net effect will be," King said. Trees grown in a carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere also have bigger, deeper root systems, which means they can reach water farther underground.

"Contrast that to ozone," King said. "Under elevated ozone, trees are less vigorous, grow smaller and increase water loss per unit of leaf area. In addition, ozone is thought to deteriorate leaf tissue, so they have less leaf area." And their root systems are punier, so ozone may make trees more vulnerable to drought.

Because carbon dioxide and ozone affect tree size, they also affect the forest micro-climate. "A denser canopy under elevated carbon dioxide conditions causes less sunlight to reach the soil," King said. Researchers expect that to result in cooler surface temperatures and less evaporation. Under elevated ozone, more sunlight reaches the ground, which should mean higher temperatures and more evaporation.

King's team will study plots of trees growing under four different scenarios: elevated ozone, elevated carbon dioxide, elevated ozone and carbon dioxide, and normal atmospheric conditions.

"Because carbon dioxide and ozone tend to have opposite effects on tree physiology and growth, we're especially interested in what happens when both of these gases affect the ecosystem simultaneously, as is predicted to occur across large areas of the globe," he said.

In a world where fresh water is increasingly rare, King's research could provide insights into how the forests of the future will affect the aquifers of the future.

"Possibly trees will take up more water from the soil," he said. "We want to find out how all these variables interact to affect the site, which could affect the amount of water that enters the aquifer."

Aspen FACE is funded jointly by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research; the National Science Foundation; Global Change Program, USDA Forest Service; North Central Research Station, USDA Forest Service; Michigan Technological University; the USDA National Research Initiative Program; Brookhaven National Laboratory; and Natural Resources Canada.

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13. TEACHING AT TECH: TEACHING TO THE TEST

Submitted by William Kennedy, director, Center for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development

Measuring learning is a tricky business. "What makes a great poet?" is a fundamentally different sort of question from "When is it appropriate to use a t-test?" or "How much stress is on this member?" We routinely attempt to measure student learning for a host of dissonant purposes. We generate tests, exams and assignments to assess how well our students are mastering the new ideas, skills and values associated with our disciplines. The very same assessment tools can often be conveniently used to generate course grades. Composing tests and assignments and then carefully reviewing student performance levels can also serve as a basis for our ongoing attempts to improve the impact of our teaching.

K-12 educators across the U.S. are facing the daunting challenge of preparing students of widely varying abilities and inclinations to perform uniformly well on state-mandated standardized tests. The unwritten dictum is that, regardless of what else they do, teachers must consistently bolster test scores at the same time that they are attempting to inspire students to become self-actualizing lifelong learners and not to pass notes in class or punch each other in the hallways. No wonder many veteran teachers are retiring early. If course grades drive the behaviors of many college students, you can bet that standardized test scores will soon be the central driving force behind K-12 course content and teaching methods.

Most educators readily recognize the folly of what is called "teaching to the test." Picture a class where the teacher passes out the final exam on the first day of class and then spends a few hours providing students with the very best answer for each and every question. The rest of the term could then be spent drilling students with flashcards to make sure that each and every student will be able to parrot back every answer on that all-important final exam. Most teachers would say that such an arrangement is patently absurd and is antithetical to what they are trying to do in their classes. Even if the students all got 100 percent on the final, it wouldn't mean much. It is absurd, some teachers would say, because such an arrangement doesn't present students with the ambiguous and complex sorts of challenges that they are likely to face in the real world. Okay, so let's provide students with 100 possible questions and then choose 10 to ask on the exam! Still too artificial? Then, let's make the questions similar but not identical to those we shared with students on the first day's scoop. The earnest teacher might reply, "Education is more than being able to pass tests!" This view is, apparently, lost on some.

I was recently disturbed to read a comment made by a local school superintendent who was quoted as saying, "If you teach what's being tested, the kids are going to do better." From this blinding flash of the obvious, it would appear that teaching to the test has gained some measure of acceptance as a viable approach to educational planning in our K-12 schools. I have heard tell that teams of teachers regularly huddle together to divine what questions are likely to be on this year's MEAP test and then prepare drills to be used in their classrooms to ready students for those test items. How far is that from our absurd scenario? And who could blame the teachers? Scores on these standardized tests determine the course of teaching careers, local property values and the perceived quality of the entire school system.

Moreover, generalized testing schemes reinforce the illusion that becoming educated means memorizing some agreed upon set of facts and a set of methods of solving problems employing those facts. Could it be that valuing and ranking students and school systems based on their performance on standardized tests tend to favor the disciplined, compliant students with good study skills, good reading skills, and good memories? How does this square with preparing students to create the future?

There is good reason that the finest automobiles are still finally fitted together and finished largely by hand by highly skilled workers. Could it be that there is no substitute for the human touch in all matters of lasting consequence?

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