The most recent round of College of Business grants and endowments support civic engagement, promote community health, and foster project management excellence.
Grant Opens New Opportunities for Civic Engagement
With the help of a $10,000 grant from the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation, Jon Leinonen, teaching professor in management, is creating new opportunities for students to make a social impact in the western Upper Peninsula region.
The two-year project supports health-related community projects to be pursued by students enrolled in Leinonen's MGT2000 Team Dynamics and Decision Making course. The award provides funds to cover project expenses and employ student teaching assistants.
In MGT2000, students learn by doing, applying individual and group problem-solving skills in support of positive societal outcomes by researching, assessing, and recommending opportunities that promote community health in the western Upper Peninsula.
Leinonen says that the course's educational goals emphasize effective communication and team interactions, problem solving, and decision making. Students engage in direct civic engagement as they learn about community needs and work to identify solutions, helping them become aware, engaged, and responsible citizens.
Past class projects include the development of a community statistics dashboard for community health indicators, a scholarships database, and a community support service providers database. More projects can be found on the EmpowerUP website. Empower UP is an educational social innovation project managed by students at Michigan Tech.
One team will support research being pursued by undergraduate finance major Marguerite Goldman through Michigan Tech's Undergraduate Research Internship Program (URIP). Working with the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation, Goldman will research the physical, financial, and health-related challenges faced by area high school students as they attempt to reach their educational goals.
"Students want meaningful learning experiences that produce societal impact. In the MGT2000 course they are achieving that," says Leinonen. "The class is a great opportunity for students to develop team skills while serving people in the community."
"We're grateful for Copper Shores' support. Hands-on projects like this make an impact in the community and enrich our students' education," says Leinonen.
Project Management Institute Establishes Endowment
The Project Management Institute, Michigan Capital Area Chapter (MCAC), has established a $43,000 endowment to advance project management education in the College of Business.
For students enrolled in project management classes, the endowment supports reimbursement for classes and tuition, student and faculty participation in THEProject Competition, funding for Women in Project Management membership and events, project management certifications, and boot camps or seminars.
Michigan Tech was selected for the gift among numerous organizations, including three other Michigan educational institutions. "The dedication of the champions who teach project management at MTU and their willingness to make project management part of their curriculum has been exemplary," said Gabrielle B. Haskins, past president and CEO of the Project Management Institute MCAC. Haskins is CEO of Project Executive LLC, a consulting firm specializing in project and change management coaching, mentoring, and training.
Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to nearly 7,500 students from more than 60 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, 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.
