Michigan Tech Makes Capital Outlay Proposals to State

At its regular meeting on Oct. 16, 2015, Michigan Technological University’s Board of Trustees approved three capital outlay proposals for fiscal year 2017. The proposals are for

• A Health Sciences and Medical Engineering Building.
• Student-maker spaces to encourage students to actively participate in hands-on design, construction, characterization and testing of products and materials, and studying and modifying the behavior of natural and built systems.
• A Net-Positive Exergy Microgrid Research Building.

State universities submit capital outlay proposals annually. Not all proposals are funded. Funding includes state and university contributions. The Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) at Michigan Tech is a capital outlay proposal that was funded.

Health Sciences and Medical Engineering

The Health Sciences and Medical Engineering building would comprise 125,000 square feet of new and renovated space at an estimated cost of $52 million. It would strategically support Michigan Tech’s investment in human health research, bringing together key faculty from biomedical engineering, kinesiology and integrated physiology, chemistry and other disciplines. This would enable Tech’s health-related researchers and educators to work together in a synergistic engineering and science environment to train future practitioners and to develop innovative health treatments, practices and devices.

The building is a high priority because of the growing numbers of health-related researchers at Michigan Tech and the recently established multi-million dollar Community Health Partnership between the Portage Health Foundation and the University.

In other action, the Board:

• Granted professor emeritus status to Edward Lumsdaine, Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics.
• Voted to award Carrie Hessler-Radelet, Tech’s Spring 2016 Commencement speaker, an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree. Hessler-Radelet has been director of the Peace Corps since June 2014. She is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Western Samoa, 1981–83) with more than two decades of experience in public health focused on HIV/AIDS and maternal and child health.

• Awarded the Board’s Silver Medal to John Calder, CEO and owner of Cincinnati Controls, Inc. The Silver Medal is presented to persons who, through personal and professional achievement, are outstanding examples to more recent graduates. Calder is a Michigan Tech alumnus with a BS in Mechanical Engineering (1967) and an MS in Business Administration (1976). He is currently a member of the Michigan Tech President’s Advancement Council. Calder and his wife Joan established the ME-EM Calder Systems and Controls Laboratory.
• Approved a change in policy on second bachelor’s degree requirements, as recommended by the University Senate.

Enrollment Up 

Provost Jackie Huntoon reported on fall enrollment figures, including 5,717 undergraduates and 1,521 graduate students, setting a Graduate School record for seventh year in a row.

David Reed, vice president for research, reported that government and corporate sponsorship of research totaled $58,680,019 in fiscal year 2015, more than $10 million more than the previous fiscal year.

Board Treasurer Julie Seppala gave a financial report and informed the board that Michigan Tech had received clean audits. She praised the Financial Services staff for their efforts that lead to a clean audit report.

University Senate President Brian Barkdoll presented a report from the Senate, raising Senate concerns about faculty pay, benefits and trust issues between faculty and administration. He said the annual evaluation of President Glenn Mroz and the executive team will be released around the end of the year.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.