1. SENATE POSTPONES ACTION ON TRANSFERRING TENURE, RANK

The University Senate tabled a proposal March 30 on transferring tenure and rank between departments, with senators discussing whether the senate should defer to the AAUP.

Senators Debra Bruch (Fine Arts) and Craig Waddell (Humanities) moved to handle Proposal 20-05 as a recommendation by the senate to the the union and the administration. Senator Bahne Cornilson (Chemistry) said the senate should proceed with the proposal, since the AAUP has not yet negotiated a contract. Senator Walter Milligan (MSE) moved to table the motion, saying the senate shouldn't duplicate the AAUP's effort. The motion passed.

The senate passed Proposal 24-05, which changes the definition of a quorum from two-thirds to one-half of full senate membership. It also passed 25-05, which changes the definition of professional staff to make it congruent with language in the new senate constitution. The professional staff constituency will be defined by the Senate Executive Committee in consultation with the Senate Professional Staff Committee and Human Resources.

The senate began discussion of Proposal 27-05, Late Course Add and Drop Policies. In part, the proposal would eliminate a requirement that first-year students see both their instructor and their advisor before dropping a course. Because the requirement has proved cumbersome, students would only need their advisor's signature during the first three weeks of instruction.

For more information on senate proposals, visit http://www.sas.it.mtu.edu/usenate/propose/2004-05.html

In other business, the senate heard reports from Shea McGrew, vice president of the Michigan Tech Fund, on the upcoming capital campaign, and from Scott Amos, dean of technology and distance learning, on MTU's distance learning program.

_______________

2. NEW OMBUDSPERSON SOUGHT

Michigan Tech is seeking a new ombudsperson to replace Professor Peck Cho (MEEM), who is resigning after seven years in the post.

The ombudsperson serves as a mediator for faculty and nonunion staff, investigating complaints and making suggestions after normal channels have been exhaused. The ombudsperson should be a tenured faculty member and receives one-quarter release time during the first year of service. The position reports to the president.

The ombudsperson is selected by a unanimous vote of a three-person committee, with one member selected by the MTU president, one senator elected by the University Senate, and one academic faculty member at-large selected by the Senate Executive Committee.

A description of the position dating from 1984 is available in the Board of Control Policy Manual, http://www.admin.mtu.edu/admin/boc/policy/ch6/ch6p4.htm .

For more information about the position, call Cho at 487-2891. Anyone interested in serving as ombudsperson may contact University Senate President Terry Monson, 487-3174, tmonson@mtu.edu

_______________

3. OF RUNNING IN PLACE AND RESURRECTIONS: KERFOOT CHASES THE RED QUEEN HYPOTHESIS

"Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "You'd generally get to somewhere else--if you ran very fast for a long time as we've been doing."

"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that."

___________

You don't have to go back to the Jurassic to see evolution in action. Biological sciences professor W. Charles Kerfoot has tracked changes that have occurred since Lewis Carroll began writing "Alice in Wonderland."

And unlike paleontologists, Kerfoot doesn't have to make inferences from the fossil record. He just hatches some eggs.

Layered in the sediments of rivers and lakes are the remains of generation upon generation of tiny animals known as zooplankton. In the 1990s, Kerfoot was among a team of scientists studying these creatures in Germany when they made a startling discovery: The zooplankton weren't all dead. Or at least their eggs weren't.

"They should have died, but they didn't," Kerfoot said. "They revive, and we don't quite understand how it happens."

It doesn't take much to bring them back to life, either. "We just sieve them out of the sediment and wake them up in an incubator," he says. "Then we grow them up. We have entire populations from nearly 100 years ago."

A whole new field, termed by Kerfoot resurrection ecology, is emerging from those original discoveries. Its techniques allow scientists to study organisms from the past and compare them with their modern counterparts.

As reported recently in the journal Limnology and Oceanography, Kerfoot has been doing just that in Portage Lake, reviving eggs from a small, shrimp-like animal, Daphnia retrocurva, from various sediment layers going back to the 1920s.

"We were testing a fundamental theory, Van Valen's Red Queen Hypothesis," Kerfoot explains. "It's the idea from 'Alice in Wonderland' that you must run just to remain in place."

Less colorfully, Leigh Van Valen of the University of Chicago postulated in 1973 that in an evolutionary system, it's not enough to rest on your laurels. Predators and their prey must constantly evolve in response to each other's changes or perish in the attempt.

In the case of D. retrocurva, Kerfoot wanted to know what, if any, changes it had made over the past 80 years. This was during a time when Portage Lake had undergone major upheavals due to mining, dredging and eutrophication, and those changes had big impacts on the predator populations that had D. retrocurva on the menu.

As it turned out, D. retrocurva, like Alice, followed the Red Queen's instructions to the letter. Eggs from different sediment layers grew up into adults with significantly different characteristics. In particular, their helmets and spines, which make them less appetizing, changed in relation to predators over the 80-year period of the study.

Such microevolutionary adjustments had been observed in Daphnia populations as their predator populations changed, but resurrection ecology now allows scientists to bring the historical record alive.

"It's like having Rip Van Winkle wake up in your lab," Kerfoot says.

_______________

4. SILENT AUCTION, SME ANNUAL MEETING THURSDAY

The Upper Peninsula section of SME (Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration) meets Thursday, April 7, in Ballroom A of the Memorial Union.

The popular silent auction, with more than 100 donated items related to mining, minerals and the history of the Copper Country, will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The auction is open to the public, and everyone is invited look over the items and make a bid. You do not have to be present to win. The bids are blind, so no one knows what others have bid until the auction is closed.

All proceeds support mining and minerals engineering and science programs at Michigan Tech. This year, three scholarships will again be awarded in the evening to SME student members in these programs.

Sessions on geology, mining and mineral processing will be held throughout the day. Wayne Pennington, chair of geological engineering and sciences, will give the keynote address on the national outlook for mining engineering degree programs and Michigan Tech's role in this area.

For more information or if you have auction items to donate, contact Al Johnson at 482-9097 or amj@mtu.edu. If you are interested in attending the proceedings, contact Lori Witting at 487-2263 or lori@mtu.edu.

_______________

5. TECH’S EXSEL PROGRAM HONORED BY STATE

MTU's Excelling in Science and Engineering Learning Program has been recognized by the state's King-Chavez-Parks Initiative as a state Best Practice Model.

ExSEL, which is partially funded by King-Chavez-Parks, is a partnership between Educational Opportunity and the College of Engineering aimed at first-year students. Its goal is to improve retention through academic and social support, peer mentoring and referrals to other campus services.

Pam Martell, evaluator for the KCP Initiative, said MTU's program "has demonstrated strong leadership in the development of Best Practice strategies for the retention and graduation of Michigan Technological University students." ExSEL student retention has increased 18 percent since the program's inception in fall 2000.

The program's best practices include a strong collaboration with the college that ties ExSEL to retention goals, good working relationships throughout MTU, a monthly newsletter, involvement in orientation to raise awareness of the program, on-going staff training and program improvement, the use of peer and corporate mentors and the ExSEL website (http://www.outreach.mtu.edu/exsel).

The King-Chavez-Parks Initiative also recognized ExSEL Coordinator Kerri Sleeman's efforts to share successful program strategies through presentations at national conferences.

"To be honored for so many aspects of ExSEL is a great credit to the program and the entire campus community," Sleeman said. "This could not have been achieved without strong campus-wide faculty and staff support."

_______________

6. RFP: SIGMA XI RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM APRIL 23

The Graduate Student Council and Sigma Xi announce the annual Sigma Xi research colloquium on Saturday, April 23. The colloquium is open to both graduate and undergraduate students.

Abstracts must be submitted by 4 p.m. on April 15. Email abstracts to Neil Hutzler (hutzler@mtu.edu) or Nick Nanninga (nenannin@mtu.edu) or drop them off in Dow 809, M&M 423 or ROTC 101.

The colloquium gives students an opportunity to share their research with other researchers and students. Students also have the opportunity to add a professional presentation to their resume or vita. The colloquium also provides a chance to practice presenting a paper for a thesis defense, senior design presentation or any other situation.

Attending the colloquium gives viewers an opportunity to learn the research being done in other disciplines, possibly expanding personal research to other areas.

Best presentations/abstracts will be awarded with cash prizes at a lunch banquet. First place will receive $250, second place will receive $150 and three honorable mention winners will receive $50.

Participants must limit abstracts to one single-spaced page or less, printed in Times 12-point font. At the top of the abstract, the participant must include the paper's title, author's name(s), major and academic ranking (undergraduate, master’s or PhD). Participants must include the type of audiovisual equipment required at the end of the abstract. A booklet containing all of the abstracts will be available at the colloquium.

Presentations should be 10-12 minutes with approximately three minutes of question and answer. Presentations should be in either PowerPoint or overhead format.

For further details visit the GSC website at http://www.sos.mtu.edu/gsc/, and for more information contact Nick Nanninga (gsc_academic@mtu.edu).

_______________

7. UNDERGRADUATE EXPO APRIL 14

The Undergraduate Expo is scheduled for April 14, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. in the Memorial Union Ballroom. It provides an opportunity for undergraduate students to showcase their accomplishments in undergraduate research, Enterprise and senior design. This year approximately 70 projects will be displayed, representing the work of more than 700 undergraduate students.

The Undergraduate Exposition lets students present their research, design and independent study projects. The Expo showcases the hard work of many talented students.

The Expo is a combined effort of Educational Opportunity and the College of Engineering. If you would like more information please contact Mary Raber (487-2005, mraber@mtu.edu) or Randi Woodward (rkwoodwa@mtu.edu). Stop in and check out what students have worked on all semester.

_______________

8. FAMILY FUN DAY NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT
Submitted by the Family Fun Day Committee

Family Fun Day will be held May 7. The Family Fun Day Committee is asking for your support in the form of items for prizes. Personal donations are also welcome.

If you have any items, please email rsmith@mtu.edu or call 487-2313, and one of the committee members will be sure to pick them up. The Family Fun Day Committee would like to thank all of the departments and people who did such a wonderful job with donations last year.

_______________

9. TALKS APRIL 12 ON MARKETING HEALTH PRODUCTS OVERSEAS

The president and CEO of Saginaw-based Graminex, a leader in the production and export of organic botanicals and herbal products, will speak at Michigan Tech Tuesday, April 12, on international marketing.

Cindy (Baldauf) May, who earned a BS in Business Administration from MTU in 1976, will give a talk, "Globe-Trotting to Sell Health Products," at 1 p.m. in Room U115 of the Minerals and Materials Engineering Building. She will also give a 7 p.m. presentation to the Inventors and Entrepreneurs Club," in Room U113 of the same building, "Growing an International Business in Michigan."

Both presentations are free and open to the public.

At her first talk, May will discuss the marketing of products from Michigan and Ohio overseas, foreign travel, record-keeping and quality assurance. She will also address the special aspects of the botanical products industry, including FDA rules, foreign regulations and U.S. export restrictions.

At 7 p.m., May will tell how Graminex was started and review its business strategy, financing and competition. She will discuss the importance of patent protection and trade secrets and the difficulties of attracting and retaining talented employees.

She will also speak on the differences between operating plants in Michigan and Ohio, and the difficulties involved in operating in the FDA regulatory environment.

Graminex, which markets its products in 40 countries and six continents, is a leader in the international dietary supplement industry. Graminex supplies bulk ingredients to pharmaceutical and nutra-ceutical industries and markets its own line of dietary supplements, mainly focusing on prostate care and immune system support.

The Graminex plant is located in Deshler, Ohio, and the company manages more than 5,000 acres of farmland in northeast Ohio on which active ingredients for dietary supplements are grown.

May's visit is sponsored by Michigan Tech's School of Business and Economics. For more information, contact Don Savera, 487-2063, djsavera@mtu.edu.

_______________

10. TEACHING AT TECH: WHAT BELONGS IN A SYLLABUS
by William Kennedy, director of the Center for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development

I am told that an MTU senate committee will be taking up consideration of what should be contained in a course syllabus. In producing a syllabus, I take my own cues from Wilbert McKeachie, University of Michigan professor emeritus of psychology and author of the best-selling university teaching primer, “Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research and Theory for College and University Teachers.*” In my eyes, McKeachie is to university teaching what Walter Cronkite was to network news, a consummate professional with a highly distinguished career. A thinker aware of all the theorizing and research and hoopla, but seasoned and experienced enough to separate what is likely true, useful and enduring from what will likely prove effluvial over time.

McKeachie suggests that the core of a good syllabus might be a general schedule of key topics detailing what they are and when they will be covered throughout the term. Under these topical headings, an instructor might list assignments with specific due dates. Good students will build these dates into their planners and less organized students will need them in order to survive.

McKeachie suggests that instructors should clearly outline their expectations and policies regarding class attendance and other course-specific policies. Given the growing concern over issues of conduct, cheating and incivility, it might just be a good idea to devote a paragraph or two delineating reasonable expectations relating to those issues that increasingly arise in an instructor's classroom.

McKeachie also suggests that instructors build in alternate methods by which students can achieve course goals in the event of an unavoidable absence or conflicting event. This is consistent with the notion that a well-designed course provides students with many means of mastering course material and multiple means of displaying that mastery. In my experience, this is easy to say and harder to do. Our strong tendency seems to be to glom on to our own preferred way of learning and foist our own variation on that theme on our students.

McKeachie writes that instructors should be clear and unambiguous in indicating to students how and when their learning progress will be formally assessed. Like it or not, many students are achievement oriented and will delegate their time and energy among their courses based on these scheduled assessments.

McKeachie says the syllabus is also a good place to cite additional resources such as websites, interesting readings, strategies for maximizing learning and specific suggestions for students experiencing difficulty with the course material. Access to and the availability of learning centers, office hours, supplemental instruction sessions and study groups can be described and advocated in the syllabus.

But won't a detailed syllabus telegraph rigidity and turn students off? McKeachie cites dated research that indicates exactly the contrary. Mann et al found in 1970 that many students felt less formal approaches to indicating course goals and procedures telegraphed a lack of genuine interest in student learning on the part of the instructor.

I think the syllabus should also contain statements regarding the institution's policies prohibiting discriminatory practices and should encourage students with disabilities to make themselves known to the instructor early on so that appropriate accommodations can be made before tragedy ensues.

Finally, instructors should review their completed syllabi to determine the overall tone and tenor of the document. Does it telegraph the message of a concerned and interested instructor who wants diligent students to succeed? Or is it a sterile, bare-bones checklist that telegraphs a sense of just going through the motions?

First impressions are lasting impressions. Take a look at your syllabus and see if it needs a facelift. We stand ready and willing to assist you in this effort.

*Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2002.

ENTERTAINMENT AND ENRICHMENT News  |  Entertainment & Enrichment  |  Seminars and Workshops | Regular Features  |  Calendar

11. FULKS PRESENTS A SOLO VIOLIN RECITAL
Submitted by the Department of Fine Arts

Jubal Fulks, concertmaster of the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra, will present a solo violin recital on Sunday, April 10, at 3 p.m. in McArdle Theatre. The recital, sponsored by the Department of Fine Arts, is free; no tickets are required.

Featured works include Bach's Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin, Prokofiev's Sonata for Solo Violin, Biber's Passacaglia for Solo Violin, “Gaia” by Ellen Lindquist and “Riconoscenza per Goffredo Petrassi” by Elliott Carter.

The first half of the program, featuring “old music,” will be played on an instrument especially adapted for the music of Biber and Bach, using the techniques of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Fulks earned a doctor of musical arts degree at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he received the Ackerman Award for excellence in performance. While at Stony Brook, he performed the Alban Berg Violin Concerto with conductor Gunther Schuller as winner of the graduate concerto competition. In June 2004, Fulks participated in the International Festival for Contemporary Performance at the Mannes School of Music in New York, where he performed with pianist Ursula Oppens, violinist Curtis Macomber and members of Speculum Musicae. At the other end of the historical spectrum, he has performed early music with soprano Dawn Upshaw, harpsichordist Arthur Haas and various period music ensembles in New York.

Fulks has performed solo, chamber and orchestral music at Carnegie and Alice Tully Halls as well as throughout Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. In addition to serving as concertmaster of the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra since September 2004, he is artistic director of the Copper Country Suzuki Association and, during summers, a faculty member at the Kinhaven Music School in Weston, Vt.

_______________

12. FOURTH ANNUAL DON KERANEN MEMORIAL CONCERT APRIL 8
Submitted by the Department of Fine Arts

The Department of Fine Arts showcases its award-winning jazz bands and outstanding student musicians in a year-end concert on Friday, April 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Rozsa. Mike Irish will direct the Jazz Lab Band and the R&D Big Band in this musical celebration, the Fourth Annual Don Keranen Memorial Concert, which honors the founder of MTU's jazz studies program. 

Each year, the spring jazz showcase combines the best of many jazz styles, from the Caribbean rhythms Don Keranen loved to the music of Coltrane, Mingus and Mantooth. Irish promises a lively, entertaining evening with MTU's bands at the peak of their form. “Our kids are pumped,” he says, “and have prepared a program with a huge amount of variety and interesting music.”

The recipient of the 2005 Don Keranen Award will be announced during the concert. The award honors the student selected as the most improved in the jazz groups.

Tickets for the concert are available from the Rozsa Center Box Office (487-3200, http://www.tickets.mtu.edu) and at the door for $8 general, $4 students.

_______________

13. MOVIES ON CAMPUS THIS WEEKEND

The Film Board will be showing the movie “Coach Carter” on Friday, April 8, and Saturday, April 9, at 5:30, 8:30 and 11:30 p.m. in Fisher 135. Tickets are $2.

SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS News  |  Entertainment & Enrichment  |  Seminars and Workshops   |  Regular Features  |  Calendar

14. FACULTY AND STAFF INVITED TO STUDY ABROAD WORKSHOP

The Center for Teaching, Learning and Faculty Development is conducting a workshop entitled “Encouraging Study Abroad” on Tuesday, April 12, from noon to 1 p.m. Lunch will be available at 11:45 a.m. to those who register by Thursday, April 7.

Learn more about Michigan Tech's Study Abroad Program and what you can do to encourage students to make best use of this important educational resource. Study Abroad Director Beth Taylor will describe the program and discuss the range of benefits students accrue through participation in it. She will also review teaching abroad opportunities for faculty members.

To register, call 487-2046 or e-mail Marlene Brown (mbrown@mtu.edu) by Thursday, April 7.

_______________

15. MEEM GRADUATE SEMINAR THURSDAY

Professor R. Ryan Vallance of The George Washington University will present a graduate seminar entitled “Research Towards Nano Machining with Field-Emitted Electron Beams from Carbon Nanotubes” on Thursday, April 7, from 3 to 4 p.m. in MEEM 112.

_______________

16. PHYSICS COLLOQUIUM APRIL 7

Two physics graduate students will present colloquiums on Thursday, April 7, at 4 p.m. in Fisher 139. Haiying He will present a talk entitled “A Theoretical Study of Spin-Polarized Electron Tunneling Along a Molecular Wire” and Kah Chun Lau will present a talk entitled “First-Principles Study of Elemental Boron Nanoclusters and Nanotubes.”

For more information, contact Yoke Khin Yap (ykyap@mtu.edu, 487-2900) or Ranjit Pati (patir@mtu.edu, 487-3193).

_______________

17. LUNCH AND LEARN APRIL 12

The Benefits Office is sponsoring a lunch and learn from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, April 12, in the Memorial Union Ballroom B. Erin Carter, MS, wellness coordinator for BHK Child Development Board, will present a talk entitled “BHK and Fitness: It's a Family Thing.” Participants will have a chance to try some fun exercises that can be done at home and will also learn how to fit exercise into already busy lifestyles.

Feel free to bring your lunch and dress light for exercise. Water and pop will be provided. The lunch and learn is free and open to the public, including students. Show your BCBSM group 55248 ID card and be eligible to win some great prizes.