June 30, 2023

The Department of Facilities Management receives an allocation from the General Fund on an annual basis to perform a wide range of routine services on campus. Non-routine, or non-funded services, require the department to recover costs by billing the department or organization requesting services. More information related to the funded and non-funded services can be found on the Facilities Management website.

Facilities Management regularly monitors cost recovery, and over the past year it has become apparent that departmental billing rates are no longer adequately covering the department’s expenses when performing non-funded work. Facilities Management’s billing rates have remained unchanged for nearly 10 years. Increasing operational costs associated with wages, construction materials and expendable supplies are the primary drivers for this change.

Rate changes will be effective beginning tomorrow (July 1). Rate changes for specific technical staff classifications can be found on the department’s website.

The Retirement Supplemental Voluntary Program (RSVP) is a voluntary retirement program offered to eligible Michigan Tech employees. The enrollment period during which an employee may sign their RSVP election begins tomorrow (July 1) and ends Oct. 31.

Employees electing the monetary retirement option must retire on or before June 30, 2024. The monetary retirement option provides a benefit equal to 20% of the eligible employee’s annual salary (nine-month salary for faculty), up to the cap amount of $55,000 at the time of their actual retirement date.

For further clarification, please see the RSVP policy and the RSVP matrix, which explains the gradual phase-out of all RSVP options.

Prior to electing RSVP, employees must meet with Joanne Chalgren, manager of benefits, for a confidential meeting to verify eligibility. RSVP program information may be found online.

RSVP questions may be directed to Benefit Services at 906-487-2517 or benefits@mtu.edu.

The Rozsa will be closed Monday and Tuesday (July 3 and 4) for the Independence Day Recess. Regular hours will resume on Wednesday (July 5).

Summer Rozsa Box Office Hours:
Wednesday-Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and for one hour before events for walk-up sales.

Summer Rozsa Building and Administrative Office Hours:
Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Michigan Tech cross country and track and field student-athlete Clayton Sayen has been named to the College of Sports Communicators (CSC — formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-America Third Team.

Sayen capped off a historic collegiate campaign for the Huskies in 2022-23. He earned his MBA in May with a GPA of 3.87. 

In the fall, he placed 16th overall at the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships, the best individual finish in program history. His low-stick effort also helped the Huskies to a 10th-place team finish, also tops in program history.

On the track, Sayen broke his own conference record in the 1,500 meters, winning his second straight 1,500m title at the GLIAC Conference Championships with a time of 3:47.22. He ran a season-best time of 3:45.27 at the St. Francis Fighting Chance Invite before placing 15th overall at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Read more about his accomplishments at the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Six photographs taken by John Jaszczak (Museum/Physics) of rock and mineral specimens from the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum were featured
illustrations in an article published in the July 2023 issue of Rock & Gem Magazine.

The article is titled "Fun Michigan Beach Finds" and was authored by S. Jordan-Heintz.  

The illustrated specimens include Petoskey stone, horn coral, Lake Superior agate, fluorescent sodalite-syenite, greenstone and puddingstone.

Paul van Susante (ME-EM/CEGE) was quoted and the Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab was mentioned by SpaceRef in a story about the rising demand for simulant lunar regolith, used in testing of lunar mechanisms and equipment.

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Space Coast Daily and the Space Quip Journal mentioned Michigan Tech in coverage of the conclusion of Phase 2, Level 2 of NASA’s Watts on the Moon Challenge. MTU’s Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab was named one of four winning teams, with each earning $400,000 in prize money and moving on to Level 3 of the competition.

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Dave Reed (VPR) was quoted by WZMQ 19 News in a story about Michigan’s state budget for fiscal year 2024. The state has set aside $5 million for a critical mineral recycling research hub and will partner with Michigan Tech on the project. The University will also receive $870,000 to support its new bachelor’s degree in nursing, according to budget stories by MLive and WLUC TV6.

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Pennsylvania’s New Castle News mentioned Michigan Tech in a story previewing a presentation by archaeologist T. Arron Kotlensky ’06 (M.S. Historical and Industrial Archaeology). Kotlensky will speak on an archaeological investigation of the historic blast furnace at West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, New York, conducted by MTU grad students in 2004-05.

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The Athletic mentioned Michigan Tech in a story about the “biggest NHL draft steals” of the past two decades — one for each team. Former Husky defenseman Matt Roy was named the Los Angeles Kings’ biggest steal. Roy was chosen by the Kings in the seventh round of the 2015 NHL Draft and has become “an important top-four part of the Kings’ defense corps.”

PhD Defense: Yasasya Batugedara, Math

Ph.D. in Mathematical Sciences candidate Yasasya Batugedara will present her doctoral defense at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday (July 6). The event will be hosted in person in Fisher 327B and virtually via Zoom.

Batugedara's dissertation is titled "Higher Accuracy Models and Validation of LES-C Turbulence Models."

Batugedara is under the supervision of Alexander Labovsky.

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Human Resources Office Closure

The Human Resources office will be closed today (June 30) from 2-4 p.m. for a departmental meeting.

Regular summer office hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) will resume on Monday (July 3).

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No Tech Today on Monday and Tuesday

Tech Today will not publish on Monday and Tuesday (July 3 and 4) in observance of the Independence Day holiday.

Submissions for the Wednesday (July 5) issue of Tech Today are due by noon today (June 30).

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CEGE Closed on Monday

The Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering's (CEGE's) office will be closed on Monday (July 3).

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Scheduled Network Upgrade on Sunday

On Sunday (July 2), starting at 9 p.m., Michigan Tech IT will be upgrading the network switches for EERC, DOW, DHH, GLRC and Portage Lake Golf Course. Each building will be offline for approximately 30 minutes while switches reboot. Network, phones and WiFi will be offline during the reboot process.

If you have any questions or concerns, we can help. Contact us at it-help@mtu.edu or call 7-1111.

To have your event automatically appear, please submit them to the University Events Calendar.

Hockey Camp Group 1

June 30, all day | Student Development Complex (SDC), Macinnes Student Ice Arena

Gain fundamental skills and broad knowledge of the sport for all age levels. Co-ed camps and clinics focus on team play, positional play, defensive play, strengthening...

Hockey Camp Groups 2 and 3

June 30, all day | Student Development Complex (SDC), Macinnes Student Ice Arena

Gain fundamental skills and broad knowledge of the sport for all age levels. Co-ed camps and clinics focus on team play, positional play, defensive play, strengthening...