April 19, 2024

The Essential Education Implementation Assessment Working Group is searching for instructors who are teaching General Education courses to fill out a brief survey. This is the final call for your valued input, which will help us build the new Essential Education initiative at Michigan Tech.

Completing this survey will help our working group accomplish three objectives:

1. Get a sense of your interpretation of the Essential Education learning outcomes (aka Essential Abilities or EAs), as currently defined.
2. Understand how current General Education courses support EAs in terms of content, activities and/or assignments.
3. Gather your suggestions for revision of the EA definitions for clarity.

Thank you for your assistance. This information will help guide plans for supporting and assessing EAs in courses and across the program. Faculty will have other opportunities to provide input throughout the process of developing Michigan Tech’s Essential Education program.

The estimated time to complete the survey is 10-15 minutes. Thank you for your time and contributions to the building of this student-focused initiative.

Take the Essential Ability Alignment Survey.

The Essential Education Experience (E3) Working Group is inviting proposals for the design and development of 3-credit Essential Education Experience Courses over the summer.

These courses aim to provide students with immersive, experiential learning opportunities that foster critical reflection, interdisciplinary approaches and ethical engagement with communities or stakeholders.

Proposals will be evaluated based on their alignment with the specified criteria, feasibility of implementation, potential impact on student learning and development, and opportunities to serve as a model or resource for further development of E3 courses. Proposals will be reviewed by the E3 working group co-leads and the Essential Education Implementation Leadership team.

Details regarding course criteria, proposal submission requirements and submission instructions are available in the E3 Working Group's Essential Education Experience Request For Proposals document.

Proposals will be reviewed as they are received, with initial first consideration by a May 3 deadline. Funding priority will be given to courses with larger enrollment.

Mary Jennings, the director of the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts,  has accepted a new role and will step down as director effective May 1. Jennings has been with the Rozsa for a decade and has served as the venue’s director since May 2021.

“I have worked closely with Mary since 2014 and have been so impressed with the leadership that she has provided to the Rozsa Center,” said Jared Anderson, chair of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA).

“We will miss Mary and wish her well as she steps into the role of executive director of the Grand Rapids Ballet, a return to her creative roots as a classically trained ballet dancer,” he continued. “Thank you, Mary!”

The 2023/2024 Rozsa season, which opened with a performance featuring Grand Rapids Ballet, takes its final bow tomorrow (March 20) with the Great Lakes Premiere performance of “Mosaic for Earth.” The performance marks the end of a season boasting a dozen sold-out performances, the rollout of Pay As You’re Able ticketing and the most successful season that the Rozsa Center has experienced since it opened.

“I feel grateful to have been a part of the growth the campus has experienced, and the role the Rozsa has played in contributing to Houghton and the Keweenaw being a vibrant and inviting place to live,” said Jennings. “I hope I have the opportunity to bring Michigan's only classical ballet company back to the Keweenaw for masterclasses and performances in the coming years. I'm excited for the bright future ahead, including the upcoming 25th anniversary, where the Rozsa will continue to be a place of gathering, celebration and joy for decades to come.”

In May, the Rozsa Center and VPA will embark on a search for a new director. Candidates will be reviewed in early summer and the venue plans to have a new director in place for the beginning of the 2024-25 academic year. Matt Jennings (ATH) will continue as head coach of the Huskies volleyball team while the family navigates life between two great Michigan communities. Plans have already begun to prepare for the Rozsa Center's 25th anniversary in the 2025/2026 season.

International Programs and Services (IPS) and the Graduate School have worked to streamline the process regarding the methods by which visiting scholars and exchange students can provide proof of English language proficiency for J-1 visa purposes. View IPS's page, J-1 Exchange Visitor Scholars — specifically, English Proficiency Requirements — to view the multiple options one can use to verify English language proficiency for J-1 visa purposes.

The webpage Visiting Scholar and Exchange Student Online English Language Assessments has been moved from the Grad School's website to IPS's website, but the assessments are still available, if necessary.

Questions? Contact ips@mtu.edu or gradschool@mtu.edu.

The Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra and Michigan Tech Choirs, conducted by Jared Anderson (VPA), will close the 2023/2024 Rozsa Season tomorrow (April 20) at 7:30 p.m. with the spectacular Great Lakes premiere — and second performance ever — of Dwight Bigler's "Mosaic for Earth."

Over 150 local musicians will gather on the Rozsa stage for this awe-inspiring performance by the KSO and Michigan Tech Choirs. The concert will also feature the Houghton Area Children’s Chorus, prepared by Hillary Arundel, and guest soloists Soren Schmidt, Lara Neves, Kathryn Summersett and Drake Dantzler.

Throughout the 100-minute concert, audiences can expect to be swept away by breathtaking visual scenes designed to accompany the music. Together, they showcase the beauty of our planet and our responsibility to protect it.

Concert Details:

• What: "Mosaic for Earth" Presented by Michigan Tech Music
  • Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra and Michigan Tech Choirs
• When: Saturday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m.
• Where: Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts
• Tickets: Pay As You’re Able ($20 full ticket fee). Student Rush included with Experience Tech fee. Get tickets.

The College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) has been collecting data on the salary received by higher education administrators for almost 60 years. For the past 20 years they have been collecting data on the gender of their respondents, and for the past decade they have been collecting racial-ethnic information, which has allowed them to assess their data in new ways. A recent report authored by Melissa Fuesting analyzes information from over 900 higher ed institutions, encompassing salary information of nearly 28,000 administrative positions every year, which have been categorized into 106 distinct administrative positions as deans, provosts or chief human resource officers. The article contains a wealth of interesting information and summary figures!

In most of the administrative positions tracked by the survey data, representation of women increased over the 20-year time period of 2002-2022, and on average the representation of women among administrative positions increased from 43% to 51%. Pay disparities remained persistent in the data, however, as the median woman administrator was paid a salary of 93% relative to comparable men administrators in the same position.

Compared to a representative population of graduate degree holders in the U.S., people of color are disproportionately underrepresented among higher ed administrators. The pay imbalance experienced by different racial and ethnic groups has improved in the past 10 years, according to available data from the CUPA-HR survey, across all of the categories collected by the organization. Native American and Black/African American women still lag the most behind their white men counterparts, earning 83% and 87% of their white men counterparts, respectively, when controlling for differences in position type.

One recently developed mechanism that Michigan Tech uses to ensure fair hiring practices for faculty is the use of equity advisors for faculty and department chair search committees. Equity advisors provide advice to search committees to ensure that diversity and equity remain at the forefront during every step of the search/hiring process and that federal, state, and University employment laws/policies are followed. If you are interested in learning more about these equity advisor positions, please contact Shari Stockero at stockero@mtu.edu.

Today’s feature was shared with us by the ADVANCE A3B and Advocate teams. If you have an article you think we should feature, please email it to advance-mtu@mtu.edu and we will consider adding it to the ADVANCE Roundup.

Paul van Susante (ME-EM), assistant professor and Lou and Herbert Wacker Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is the recipient of the 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Outstanding Technical Contribution Award.

According to ASCE Aerospace's website, "The Outstanding Technical Contribution Award and the Outstanding Professional Service Award are the highest awards offered by the Aerospace Division. These are awarded based on nominations from division committees, and selection by the Executive Committee." The technical contribution award is "given to an individual who has contributed substantially to advancing the state of the art in aerospace engineering, sciences and technology, and space exploration and construction with application to civil engineering."

Van Susante's award for 2023 was announced at the ASCE Aerospace Division's Biennial International Conference on Engineering, Science, Construction and Operations in Challenging Environment. The 19th meeting of the conference, known as ASCE Earth & Space, was held in Miami, Florida, on April 15-18 hosted by Florida International University. Van Susante and other award winners are highlighted on page 19 of the conference program.

Van Susante advises two prize-winning NASA challenge teams and the Multiplanetary Innovation Enterprise (MINE) team at Michigan Tech. He heads the Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab (PSTDL, or HuskyWorks).

Michigan Tech hockey first-year defenseman Chase Pietila is ranked No. 108 in the NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters for the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft.

Pietila skated in all 40 games for the Huskies in his first year. He led the team with 19 assists while scoring three goals. Pietila ranked fourth in the CCHA and eighth nationally amongst first-year defensemen in assists. He also led the league and NCAA first-years in penalty minutes (60).

Future Husky Matthew Van Blaricom is also on the list and checks in at No. 139 in North American Skaters.

Read more at Michigan Tech Athletics.

Fresh off a quality weekend of competition in Iowa, the Michigan Tech track and field squad is traveling to La Crosse, Wisconsin, for its final regular season meet of the year at the Phil Esten Challenge hosted by UW-La Crosse.

Today (April 19) is a multi-event day for most teams competing, with the evening track session showcasing Isaac Steers and Cedar Gordon in the 10,000-meter. The rest of the Huskies will compete tomorrow (April 20), with throwing events starting at 1 p.m., field events at 2 p.m. and running events at 3 p.m. with the 5,000m — an event that features 14 student-athletes for the Black and Gold.

View a livestream and live results of the meet.

Read more at Michigan Tech Athletics.

Michigan Tech hockey has an online BSN Team Store open until April 29 featuring CCHA Mason Cup Championship and Great Lakes Invitational Championship apparel.

The exclusive shop features T-shirts and sweatshirts with men, women and youth size options.

Shop Now.

Ezra Bar-Ziv (ME-EM) was mentioned by Waste Dive in a story about the REMADE conference held April 10-11 in Washington, D.C. Bar-Ziv presented research on a pilot-scale chemical recycling method that uses solvents to extract polypropylene at the conference.

*****

Lei Pan (ChE) was quoted by Yahoo! News in a story about the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s Critical Minerals Recycling Grant Program. The program will offer $4.75 million in matching grants for research projects focused on recycling critical minerals found in electric vehicle batteries and other technologies. The story was picked up from Michigan Advance and originally published by Interlochen Public Radio.

*****

UPword mentioned Michigan Tech in a story about the 2024 Upper Michigan Safety Conference, coming to Bay College’s Escanaba campus next Friday (April 26). MTU was mentioned as a host of past professional conferences held in the Upper Peninsula.

Upcoming Banner-Related Production System Maintenance

Production system maintenance is scheduled for Sunday (April 21) from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. The following production services will be unavailable during that time:

• Banner
• Banweb
• MyMichiganTech
• Aspire
• Course Tools
• Fischer/mylogin.mtu.edu
• mtu.edu/tips
• OAP Rental System
• Oracle Reports
• Papercut Printing
• Perceptive Content (Imagenow)
• Pinnacle
• Sunapsis
• UC4/Appworx
• Virtual Cashiering
• WebFocus

If you have any questions or concerns, we can help. Contact us at it-help@mtu.edu or call 906-487-1111.

*****

Pajama Party!

The semester is nearly done and finals are coming up, so we’re letting loose in our pajamas! Join us Saturday (April 20) from 8-10:30 p.m. for a Late Night Program and Film Board Pajama Party in Fisher 135 and 132.

Come as you are or wear your favorite pajamas, slippers and/or robe. Bring a stuffed animal to show off. There will be gluten-free and vegan snacks available and copious amounts of popcorn. "Monsters University" (2013) will play (for free!) in Fisher 135 and board games will be available in Fisher 132 for all players. Bring your friends and have some downtime in your pajamas watching a movie, eating snacks and playing games.

See Involvement Link for more information!

*****

KIP Seminar with Brittney Borowiec

Please join the Department of Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology (KIP) for our final graduate seminar of the spring today (April 19) from 3-4 p.m. in Fisher 132 with guest speaker Brittney Borowiec from the University of Waterloo.

The title of the presentation is “Lessons Learned as a Scientist-Science Writer.”

For more information about Borowiec and her work, please go to the KIP Newsblog.

*****

McNair Scholars Program Open House

The McNair Scholars Program at Michigan Tech is excited to invite the campus community to an open house event today (April 19) from 12-3 p.m. The event will be held in the west side of the Center for Diversity and Inclusion (Hamar House).

The open house provides an opportunity for students, faculty and staff to tour the McNair Scholars' new work and study space and learn more about the program. McNair Scholars Program staff will be available to answer questions and share information about the valuable resources and support the program offers to eligible students. Light refreshments will be served.

The McNair Scholars Program is a federal TRIO program that prepares undergraduate students from disadvantaged backgrounds for doctoral studies. By providing research opportunities, faculty mentoring and other academic support, the program aims to increase the attainment of Ph.D. degrees by students from underrepresented segments of society.

All members of the Michigan Tech community are welcome and encouraged to attend this open house event. For more information, please contact the McNair Scholars Program at 906-487-2513 or mcnair@mtu.edu.

*****

ChE Holding Convocation 2024 Today

Students, faculty and staff will be presented awards today (April 19) at the Department of Chemical Engineering (ChE) Convocation, held in the MUB Alumni Lounge starting at 2 p.m.

Student award recipients will be announced for the following:

• Chair’s Award for Outstanding Chemical Engineering Senior
  This award recognizes a graduating ChE senior for their academic achievement, experiential learning activities and community engagement. This award consists of a certificate and monetary award in the amount of $1,000.

• Outstanding Sophomore and Outstanding New Student Awards
  These awards recognize an outstanding second-year student and an outstanding new student in chemical engineering who have demonstrated exemplary academic performance in coursework and exhibited excellence in related academic enrichment activities such as research, internship/co-op work experience and the Enterprise Program.

• Excellence in Communication Award
  This award acknowledges the critical role that effective communication plays in successful leadership and recognizes a graduating ChE senior for their effective use of communication of the highest standard.

• Professional Ethics Award
  This award recognizes a student who has exhibited exemplary ethics and admirable professional conduct during Plant Design and Unit Operations experiences and throughout their academic career at Michigan Tech.

• Prevent Accidents With Safety (PAWS) Award
  The PAWS Undergraduate Lab Safety Program is a comprehensive safety program requiring training, constant vigilance and incident reporting and documentation systems — all with an eye toward critical review and continuous improvement. The PAWS program provides a framework to develop the necessary safety culture within the student community.

• Dow Chemical Marriott W. Bredekamp Award
  This award recognizes outstanding technical skills in the laboratory, outstanding teamwork and professionalism, effective oral and written communication and strong adherence to process safety practices as recognized by your peers and supported by the faculty of the department. This award is in memory of Marriott W. Bredekamp.

• Senior Design Team Awards
  John Patton, as chair and faculty member, initiated much of today's design course content in ChE. He brought his experiences at Exxon to the classroom to provide students with a systematic way to design and analyze a new, large-scale capital project. This award recognizes the student team in CM4861 that created the best plant design and recommendation for Fictitious Chemical Company.

• Davis W. Hubbard Outstanding Rising Senior Award
  The eligible candidate for this award has completed all their junior-level core chemical engineering courses. Selection is based on GPA for coursework done at Michigan Tech, research engagement and internship/co-op work experience. The award consists of a certificate and monetary award in the amount of $1,000.

• Department Awards
  Additionally, ChE students will vote on these categories to honor our outstanding department employees and awards will be presented for:
  
  Teacher of the Year
  Research Mentor of the Year
  Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year
  Undergraduate Grader of the Year
  Staff Making a Difference
  Peer Mentor and Coach of the Year

*****

BioMed Seminar Series Speaker: Wen Li

The next and final guest speaker in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BioMed) Seminar Series will present today (April 19) at 3 p.m. in person in Dillman 204 and virtually via Zoom.

Wen Li from Michigan State University will present "Miniaturized, Hybrid Opto-Electro-Chemo Neuroprosthetic Devices."

Read the abstract and speaker bio at the University Events Calendar.

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

Graduating and Still Looking? Walk In for Coffee and a Chat

Friday, April 19, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. | Administration and Student Services Building, 220 Career Services

Are you graduating soon and need help finding a job? Come in for a coffee and chat with one of our career advisors. We can help tailor your search, review your resume, bounce...

McNair Scholars Program Open House

Friday, April 19, 12–3 p.m. | Hamar House Center for Diversity and Inclusion, 101

Please join the McNair Scholars Program at Michigan Tech for an open house on Friday, April 19, 12-3:00 p.m. in the west side of Center for Diversity and Inclusion (Hamar...

Miniaturized, Hybrid Opto-Electro-Chemo Neuroprosthetic Devices

Friday, April 19, 3 p.m. | Grover C. Dillman Hall, 204

Biomedical Engineering Research Seminar Wen Li Michigan State University Abstract Biomedical microelectromechanical systems (bioMEMS) enable translational engineering...

American Red Cross Lifeguard Certification Blended Learning Course

Friday, April 19, 4–8 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Pool

Earn your American Red Cross Lifeguard Certification in this 4-day intensive training course located at the Michigan Tech SDC Pool April 18-21. The certification includes...

(Men's Tennis) Michigan Tech at Ferris State

April 19, all day

Men's Tennis: Michigan Tech at Ferris State

(Women's Tennis) Michigan Tech at Ferris State

April 19, all day

Women's Tennis: Michigan Tech at Ferris State

Phil Esten Challenge

April 19, all day

Phil Esten Challenge, at UW La Crosse - La Crosse, Wis.