October
15, 2003
EXECUTIVE
ORDER LIKELY
With
dismal revenues and a bulging deficit of $900 million just
two weeks into the state’s new fiscal year, all indications
from Lansing point to another executive order that would reduce
funding to Michigan’s public universities for the current
fiscal year.
“I
do not have any concrete information on the level of reduction,
but one report said higher education may be looking at cuts
anywhere from 5-10 percent,” said President Mike Roy.
“To put that in perspective, a 5 percent decrease in NMU’s
appropriation would be $2.3 million. A 10 percent reduction
would equate to $4.7 million.
“I
can honestly say that if an executive order of this size is
issued – on top of all the reductions made in the past year
and a half – it would be the worst budget situation I’ve witnessed
in nearly 26 years at NMU. The '80s were tough, but this would
be even more challenging.” Full
Story
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UNIVERSITY
FORUM OCT. 22
The latest news
on the budget situation will be presented at the second university
forum, scheduled from 3-5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22, in the
commons area of Whitman Hall. The forum will also focus on
technology at NMU.
ASNMU
INITIATES 'HELP' IN TOUGH TIMES
ASNMU
is a driving force behind the Help Higher Education Letter-writing
Program, or HELP. The goal of the statewide effort is to raise
awareness of how support for higher education is critical
to the future of Michigan.
ASNMU
has joined with the 14 other public university student governments
on the project. The goal is to send more than 2,000 letters
to state and local legislators Oct. 20-24. Parents, students,
alumni, faculty, staff and friends are encouraged to participate.
To draft and send a letter, go to HELP.
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USOEC
OPEN THROUGH FY2005
The
U.S. Olympic Education Center will continue operating through
fiscal year 2005. The center had its university funding reduced
this year and is scheduled to lose remaining general fund
support July 1.
The
NMU Board of Trustees last week approved a recommendation
to use up to $80,000 from the general fund, if necessary,
to supplement increased external funding secured by the USOEC
to keep the center open. In order to thrive beyond 2005, the
USOEC will have to find adequate and sustainable funding sources
outside the university.
The
$80,000 would come from net tuition revenues. Net tuition
is determined by the total tuition revenues minus the instructional
costs associated with the 70 NMU students who are either training
or working at the USOEC. Full Story
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BOARD
APPROVES NEW PROGRAMS
The
NMU Board of Trustees approved two new degree programs: master
of arts in education-reading,
designed to prepare certified K-8 teachers for roles as reading
teachers within their own classrooms; and master of arts in
education-reading specialist, designed to prepare certified
teachers to be K-12 reading specialists in a school environment
or private clinical setting, and to establish district-wide
reading programs.
In
other action, the board:
•Participated
in a groundbreaking ceremony for the new DeVos Art Museum
and the Art and Design Studios North addition. From left:
President Mike Roy, Dan DeVos, Board Chair Mary Lincoln Campbell,
and NMU art student Jamie Burton.
•Approved
state budget and capital outlay requests, which universities
are required to submit to the state each year; and
•Accepted
$291,100 in external gifts and grants, including two Primavera
Systems construction software programs for the College of
Technology and Occupational Sciences.
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WORLD
CUP
OCT.
24-26
The
USOEC will play host to a World Cup short-track speedskating
event Oct. 24-26.
About
150 skaters from more than 20 countries are expected to participate,
including all U.S. skaters from the 2002 Winter Olympics who
are not injured and have not retired. This is the only World
Cup event being held in the United States this year, and one
of two in North America. Tickets are $5 for a daily pass and
$12.50 for the entire weekend. For more information, go to
World Cup.
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AAUP
FACULTY HOLD INFORMATIONAL PICKET
AAUP faculty, who
are in the midst of negotiating a new contract, held an informational
picket near the Art and Design groundbreaking last Thursday.
Several also attended Friday's board meeting to hear their
president, Carol Johnson (Business), address
the trustees.
Johnson cited two
primary issues of concern: shared governance, which is faculty
inclusion in setting priorities and developing strategies
regarding curriculum, budget, staffing and mission; and salary/compensation.
"NMU's faculty is the most productive
in the state, yet our salaries are among the lowest among
our peer group of universities for assistant professors and
associate professors, and about average for full professors,"
Johnson told the board. "The administration's compensation
offer will place us sixth out of eight among peer institutions
the first year of the contract, and seventh the second year.
This dismal trend will likely continue the third year."
The AAUP contract
expired in July. The Administrative/Professional Union (UAW
2178), whose three-year agreement ended Oct. 1, is also negotiating
a new contract this year.
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WORLD
FOOD DAY TELECONFERENCE
Northern
will serve as a link site for the 2003 World Food Day Teleconference.
The theme of this year’s event is “Collaboration or Calamity:
Africa in Peril.”
The
teleconference is scheduled from noon-3 p.m. Thursday, Oct.
16, in PEIF 241. It will be broadcast on channel 20.
“The
monumental size of the problem and its complexity calls for
nothing less than an unprecedented rescue effort by an engaged
and committed world alliance,” said Mohey Mowafy (HPER).
“Because of the many factors involved in the problem, an alternative
and holistic approach is needed, rather than focusing on the
limited feature of a food shortage.” Full
Story
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PETTITT
TO PERFORM
Peggy
Pettitt, an off-Broadway actress, playwright and dancer, will
blend the art of solo performance with the voices of urban
America in her one-woman show. In the Spirit: An Evening
with Peggy Pettitt is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Saturday,
Oct. 18, in the Forest Roberts Theatre.
The
show will include a series of stories and character sketches
selected and developed from her full-length works. It uses
humorous skits to describe how family problems get passed
on from one generation to the next, how violence seeps into
people’s self-identities, and how homelessness affects both
the victims and the neighborhoods in which they live. Full
Story
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PROF'S
RESEARCH MAY IMPACT EINSTEIN THEORY
NMU
professor Neil Russell (Physics) may not
be as well-known as Albert Einstein, but he has spent the
past two summers reworking the famous physicist’s research—not
by disproving Einstein’s work but by trying to add to it.
Russell’s
research was featured as the cover story of the Aug. 16 issue
of the New Scientist.
In
that article, Russell explains the work being done by a group
of physicists he’s involved with that could potentially show
that all space (including the atmosphere surrounding us) is
not completely blank but points in one direction.
This
would slightly change Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity.
Full Story
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