Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012

Governor's Budget Announced

Gov. Rick Snyder’s fiscal year 2013 executive budget proposal, unveiled Thursday, begins to restore the state’s investment in higher education. The amount of new money allocated to public universities would vary according to a new performance formula based on four metrics: increased degree completion; increased degree completion in the “critical skill areas” of science, technology, engineering and math (known as STEM) and health care; serving Pell-eligible students; and exercising tuition restraint with increases of no more than 4 percent. Full Story

Obama Emphasizes Tuition Restraint

President Barack Obama called for federal reforms to address college affordability during a

Jan. 27 speech in Ann Arbor. He proposes offering incentives to schools that exercise tuition restraint and shifting aid away from those that don’t.

“We are putting colleges on notice,” said Obama. “You can’t assume that you’ll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can’t stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down.” Full Story

Outcomes Assessment Continues to Evolve

Linda Suskie, former head of assessment at Middle States Commission on Higher Education, delivered a half-day workshop on academic outcomes assessment at NMU last week. Each academic department was asked to send at least one representative. Of the 41 participants, more than half were faculty members. Program learning outcomes assessment evaluates what students have learned throughout their in-major courses, providing important feedback for departments on potential improvements. Full Story

U.P. Bibliography Available Online

An expansive bibliography of published articles on Upper Peninsula history and culture is now available on the Center for U.P. Studies website. Portals to the Past is a searchable resource that covers diverse topics ranging from agriculture to mining to World War II.

Russell Magnaghi (History) had published the original bibliography in the late 1970s for his “History of the Upper Peninsula” course syllabus and partially revised it two decades later. Recognizing a major re-work was in order, he spent his fall 2010 sabbatical on the project. Magnaghi used the major libraries and archives of the region to compile a list of printed material that could serve as primary or secondary sources. Full Story

OneSearch Earns Positive Reviews

NMU’s Lydia Olson Library implemented a new search engine this past fall. It is called OneSearch and, according to Mollie Freier (AIS-Library), it lives up to its name.

“The old one would search multiple databases simultaneously,” said Freier. “OneSearch provides access to the indexing for databases we've always subscribed to, as well as repositories and free web content, and they're continually adding indexing. If you search for a keyword, every single database will interpret it differently. But if you have one big index, it’s going to interpret everything the same so you don’t get as many false drops.” Full Story

Intel Competition Results Announced

The first Intel-NMU Compute Continuum App Programming Contest ended last week with student presentations, judging and an awards ceremony. Teams of one to five NMU computer science students had spent two months learning Intel's new programming platform, the Compute Continuum System Developers Kit.

"NMU is the first and only university to gain access to the CC SDK before its worldwide release, so our students are among the pioneer app developers for Intel's new mobile computing platform," wrote Jeff Horn (Mathematics and Computer Science) before the final event. Full Story

WinterFest Community Skate Feb. 21

The NMU and Marquette-area communities are invited to WinterFest Open Skate Night from 6-9 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, at the Berry Events Center. Free skating, rentals (while supplies last) and hot chocolate will be available. Skaters can meet NMU athletes and have their pictures taken with Wildcat Willy. "WinterFest 2012: The Ice Age" runs Feb. 19-26. For more information, visit WinterFest.

Largest Wildcat Night Across the Country Set The NMU Alumni Association will host its largest-ever Wildcat Night Across the Country on Saturday, Feb. 18, as part of Hockey Day in Michigan. More than 20 parties are lined up in several states, from California and Nevada to Florida and Georgia. Attendees will be able to mingle with fellow NMU alumni from their area while watching the Wildcats face off against the Wolverines at 5:05 p.m. on Fox Sports Detroit. NMU employees who want to participate can attend the Marquette party at Buffalo Wild Wings. To see the full listing of other party locations, visit WNAC.

Sue Young’s role as principal secretary in Criminal Justice is the closest she has come to fulfilling her youthful aspiration of becoming a police officer. She will retire in May after serving NMU in various capacities for 41 years.   Young chose full-time employment over college upon her graduation from Negaunee High School. She spent seven months working as the secretary for NMU’s credit manager in the basement of Kaye Hall before landing a civil service job with Northern’s ROTC program. She recalls the turbulence on campus during the final years of the Vietnam War. Full Story