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April 22, 2004
Continuation
Budget Proposed
Interim
President Mike Roy told the attendees of
Wednesday’s (April 21) university forum he will recommend
that the NMU Board of Trustees adopt a continuation budget
at its next meeting, April 29-30.
“At
this time the state budget picture is rather fluid,” said
Roy. “My intention is to recommend that we continue to operate
under the 2003-04 budget and implement the $3.3 million in
reductions previously identified by the Budget Alternatives
Committee and President’s Council.”
Roy
said the proposal means there would be no recommendation on
tuition and fee rates this month, but added that a decision
is likely by July 1. Full
Story
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Future
of Public Broadcasting Stations, USOEC Discussed
Also
at the forum, Fred Joyal (Academic Affairs)
previewed his presentation to the board regarding future funding
of WNMU radio and TV. Joyal said input from the campus and
general community, the WNMU staff, a community advisory committee
and an external consultant resulted in three possibilities:
solicit a non-commercial buyer; become a partner in a joint
operating agreement; or continue to directly operate the two
stations with an annual stipend from the university of no
more than $250,000. Full Story
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Wongs Visit Campus
Les
and Phyllis Wong were
introduced to faculty and staff attending Wednesday’s
forum. They have returned to campus this week for the first
time since Les was named Northern’s 13th president. He is
meeting with students and employees in an effort to acquaint
himself with various aspects of the university in advance
of starting his new appointment.
Wong
used a baseball metaphor to describe the transition period.
Full Story
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Contest
Produces Name for SSC Dining Area
The
dining area in the new Student Service Center will be known
as “Fieldhouse Food Bar.” The reference to the former Hedgcock
Fieldhouse, which was housed in the facility being converted
to the SCC, was adapted from the winning entry among more
than 100 submissions in a contest.
Pictured
at the construction area are (from left): Michael Adams, ASNMU
Dining Services Representative; senior Jared Lawson, 2nd place;
Sharon Carey (Dining Services), Judy
Hopper (AdIT), 3rd place; senior Casey Allen, 1st
place; and Dick Wittman (Dining Services).
Full Story |
Math
Makes Music
John Kiltinen (Mathematics
and Computer Science) recently combined his professional expertise
in math with his avid personal interest in music. The project
began shortly after Kiltinen wrote a book on permutation puzzles
– challenges similar to a Rubik’s Cube that involve
the scrambling and reordering of several pieces, but in numerical
order.
He uses ‘80s-era
puzzles such as Top Spin and the Hungarian Rings
in his abstract algebra classes “to give students a concrete
representation of how group theory provides the mathematical
structure to understand and solve the puzzles.”
Kiltinen developed
a CD-ROM of puzzle programs as a companion for the book. In
the software, each move is accompanied by an audible tone.
“As you reach the
final steps of solving a permutation puzzle, you have to repeatedly
use moves known as commutators – the process of doing a first
thing, then a second thing, then reversing the first and finally
reversing the second,” he said. “This combination of moves
produces a characteristic sequence of tones. I use the sounds
as a feedback device in the software, but I got to thinking
that they might also serve as a theme for an interesting musical
composition.” Full Story
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Summer
Flextime Begins May 3
The
2004 summer flextime schedule goes into effect Monday, May
3, and ends Friday, Aug. 20. To see the policy, go to Summer
Flextime.
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