Support NMU

Remarks at House testimony

Northern Michigan University response
To House Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee questions
Dr. Leslie Wong, President
April 28, 2008

1. What is your university’s niche in Michigan’s higher education community?
Northern Michigan University is a comprehensive master’s institution with an additional special charter to provide community college curricula. Northern’s technology-rich campus enhances all majors. Additionally, NMU provides a robust environment for digital wireless telecommunication involving portable devices, as well as digitized public radio and television. The notebook computer initiative provides nearly 10,000 students and more than 1,000 employees with one of the most sophisticated teaching and learning environments in the country while creating cost-effective business transactions and efficiencies. Northern serves a largely rural population base with the second-highest Pell Grant awards per campus. About 33% of NMU students are first-generation college attendees and just under 20% enter the university as academically at-risk students. Despite the obstacles related to the latter statistic, we are very proud to say that we are successful at getting at-risk students to the commencement stage. Our programs provide much of the infrastructure of the Upper Peninsula’s business economy and social services. For example, NMU provides most of the U.P. health care professionals, including nurses, and the vast majority of the peninsula’s teachers, principals and superintendents, as well as city managers, police officers, social workers, psychologists, small-business entrepreneurs and technology professionals. In addition, NMU provides staff training for one of the largest employers in northern Michigan (Cleveland Cliffs) and collaborates on medical and health services (including brain tumor research) with Marquette General Hospital. NMU also provides significant workforce training through a comprehensive array of certificate, one- and two-year programs, and non-credit programs. Northern’s Superior Dome provides the only convention-scale venue in the U.P. 

2. How does your mission contribute to the progress and advancement of the State of Michigan?
Northern Michigan University prepares, trains and re-trains a technology-savvy workforce across 180 majors, adding to the diversity of Michigan’s workforce. Our business professionals, nurses, art and design graduates and communication specialists are employed from one end of the state to the other. We have one of the few entrepreneurship majors and minors in the state. In cooperation with Marquette General Hospital, we jointly offer critically needed programs in respiratory therapy, community health, cytogenetics and other clinical laboratory sciences, surgical technology, radiology and emergency technician. In 2007, Northern’s pre-med program placed more than a dozen students in premier medical programs within Michigan. In cooperation with private employers, we provide training for much-needed statewide and region-wide electrical line technicians (with power companies’ and local chamber support), aircraft maintenance workers for AMR (American Airlines) and our teacher education program provides one of Michigan’s most technology-rich certification process for future K-12 teachers. Northern produces associate, baccalaureate and master’s graduates, adding to an educated and well-trained Michigan workforce. Northern’s recent success in securing research and curriculum grants have brought in more federal dollars to the state. Northern is a vital economic engine in the Upper Peninsula, also offering meaningful intellectual, cultural, athletic and entertainment events. A conservative estimate is that Northern students provide well over 85,000 hours of volunteer services annually to Marquette County and beyond, many through our nationally recognized leadership and citizenship programs. Our technological focus has helped to spur technology initiatives in the Upper Peninsula and across the Mackinac Bridge.

3. What role do you think the State should play in university-based commercialization?
Since a highly educated population is an essential resource for a strong local and regional economy, the fundamental role the state should play in university-based commercialization is to provide strong financial support for its public institutions so that they can deliver educational programs that are financially accessible to Michigan residents, and that meet the needs of students throughout the state.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2000), only about a quarter of Michigan residents have a bachelor’s degree, which strongly suggests strong state support for higher education is a compelling need if commercialization is to provide Michigan with a competitive advantage.

Michigan should expand incentive programs such as the 21st Century Jobs initiative, which is intended to support promising commercialization opportunities that will help grow the state’s economy. State legislators should also keep in mind that the commercialization process is not contained in the simple act of taking an idea or a research finding and making it an economic endeavor. The full commercialization process includes educating the workforce that will take the initial conversion from the lab to the global marketplace and sustain it there.  Not all commercialization is about creating products; it’s just as important to create businesses.  This means having a wealth of graduates (who become the working professionals) in business, economics, environment, management, marketing, public relations, economics, international relations, languages, law and technology.  To take the greatest advantage of university-based commercialization, the state should consider how these academic areas can truly give Michigan the edge when intrinsically woven into the commercialization process.

As national studies have indicated, the United States is a service-based nation and a lot of the job growth will be in the service industries. The recent Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth report supports this in its findings for the state’s most critically needed occupations of the next decade.  As the state has learned in a most painful way, it is important to have a diversified economy. To support that, the state must also have diversified education opportunities that train the most diversified workforce possible.

4. What is your university doing to foster entrepreneurship in Michigan?
Northern Michigan University plays an active role in furthering entrepreneurship across the state of Michigan. The NMU College of Business offers an academic major and minor in entrepreneurship.  These academic programs prepare graduates who possess the knowledge and skills to successfully pursue new business ventures and other entrepreneurial activities. It also sponsors an annual New Business Venture Competition where students apply entrepreneurship principles and practices to develop new business proposals and compete for $10,000 (donor-provided) in awards, operates an interactive financial stock trading room and oversees a student-managed investment fund – all of these are open to all NMU students, not just business majors. We will be offering a master’s in business administration, which will equip current and future business propositions with even greater skills to create and sustain highly successful enterprises.

A significant number of other NMU academic programs such as marketing, management, finance, art and design, construction management, hospitality management, outdoor recreation leadership and management and cosmetology also prepare graduates to become business owners, entrepreneurs and employers throughout the state and beyond.  Several of these NMU’s non-business programs have the equivalent of a business minor built into the required core of the major.

Many of our art and design students aid area, regional and national businesses in their entrepreneurial endeavors. For instance, NMU graphic design students have recently been commissioned by Unilever to develop new product packaging and advertising for their Axe line of deodorants and human-centered designed students have been developing a series of prototypes of rural mailboxes that would withstand the rigors of a winter of constant snowplowing. The students presented numerous design solutions to the clients who are currently seeking a manufacturer. This process of supporting clients from the community will be formalized in a new program called SEED (Studio for Experimental and Eco-Design) that will foster design innovation and green and sustainable product development.

NMU, in collaboration with the regional economic development bank ShoreBank Corporation, houses Northern Initiatives, a spin-off non-profit community development corporation that began as an NMU economic center in the 1980s and still resides on campus. Today, Northern Initiatives provides business development services and technical assistance to over 200 companies annually across a service area that includes the 15 counties in the Upper Peninsula, 29 counties in the northern Lower Peninsula and the 5 Wisconsin counties that border the U.P.  NMU students work with Northern Initiatives in internship assignments to gain real-world experience in entrepreneurial activities. NMU administrators have permanent seats on the Northern Initiatives board.

NMU’s Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship advances K-16 understanding of entrepreneurship, market economics and personal finance; provides K-12 educator training programs and educational programs in entrepreneurship for children and young adults. NMU also is home to the Sam M. Cohodas Scholar for economic development in the Upper Peninsula. The center’s staff work with regional businesses, organizations and other economic development experts to provide economic development research for enhancing entrepreneurship and the U.P. economy.

Northern Michigan University also serves as the principal “public space” in the Upper Peninsula for forums and discussions regarding economic development in the region. NMU hosts a variety of university-based conferences and meetings every year to convene leading stake holders from business, industry, government and educational institutions for the purpose of fostering economic growth and successful entrepreneurship across the U.P. and throughout Michigan.

5. Please describe your university’s employment picture since 2002.
Northern has consistently been a leader in staffing efficiency in the state. Our current total staffing levels are the most efficient in the state. On a per-student basis, Northern’s total administrative staffing efficiency is the highest in the state and is at a rate that is 50% above the state average, having almost 20 more students per administrative staff member.

While Northern’s administrative staffing was declining (about 1%) over the past five years, our enrollment grew by more than 10%, the combination resulting in an increase of 12%  in overall efficiency of students per administrative staff. This was achieved by staff members taking on multiple roles. The situation is similar for our service staff, which includes clerical staff. The number of service staff has declined by almost 18% since 2002 and they now serve 36% more students on average than five years ago.

With a growth of more than 800 FYES in the past five years, the one area where Northern has had to add staff is in the faculty ranks. This was a necessity to protect the quality of instruction. Over the past five years NMU has added 50 faculty members. Despite this, NMU still maintains the highest efficiency level in the state at 21 students per faculty.  Recognizing that we are beyond our optimal level of students per teaching faculty, NMU is addressing the situation by adding faculty in high-growth academic areas.  The increase in faculty will continue over the next three years as we try to move closer towards the state average student-to-faculty ratio. 

In administrative and service areas, Northern is facing staffing pressure for student and financial services due to our growth, the changing economic circumstances of students and the ever-changing regulations all institutions of higher education face at the state and federal level. While our current overall staffing levels are the most efficient in the state on a per-student basis, we are recognizing that they are also at a stress level that is difficult to sustain.  Further reductions in appropriation cannot be absorbed by further reductions in staffing levels, as our staffing is now at a level where further reductions would be counter-productive to achieving higher graduation rates and enhancing the quality of programs that Michigan needs.

It is also important to note that NMU is one of the largest employers in the Upper Peninsula, providing economic stability to close to 1,000 individuals and their families, and attracting highly skilled faculty and staff to the state.

6. Please describe the salary range within the above-mentioned categories since 2002.
Northern’s compensation costs on a per-student basis are the lowest in the state. Over the past five years our administrative staffing costs per student increased an average of only 1.2% per year, faculty costs per student increased an average of only 1.6% per year, and service staffing costs per student declined by an average of 3.6% per year. All of the rates were substantially below the rate of inflation. While keeping costs down, NMU faces significant pressure to offer competitive compensation to attract and retain high-quality faculty and staff. Additionally, our faculty and staff recruitment process is more complex than many universities due to our distance from urban centers. Our compensation per staff member appears higher when looking at it on a per-staff member basis, but this is primarily due to  providing additional compensation to the fewer staff members who are taking on more roles as positions have been eliminated, and having significantly fewer staff overall. We continually review the market to maintain competitive salaries for Northern’s highly efficient and effective faculty and staff.  As part of our on-going accreditation, we strive for continuous quality improvement in all areas of the campus. Since the 2000 implementation of NMU’s campus-wide technology program, Northern has automated many operations, thus significantly increasing efficiency, but we’re now reaching the point of limitation for much more automation.

7. In light of recent violent crimes on campuses across the nation, what actions has your university taken to ensure safety for your students and faculty?
Northern Michigan University prides itself on having a history of being a safe campus. While we are not crime-free, our annual statistics back up that claim. However, like all colleges and universities across the nation, the recent campus tragedies have caused us to self-evaluate our safety policies and procedures and make changes, as needed.  At NMU, some of the things we can publicly share are the following:

• Extensively reviewed our policies and procedures.
• Tested our systems, including such things as electronic lockdowns of buildings and university telephone emergency messaging.
• Developed a new emergency e-mail program for quicker distribution of emergency messages to all university e-mail addresses.
• Partnered with an external company to provide emergency text alert messaging to NMU faculty, staff and students at no charge (other than what their cell phone carrier charges).
• Installed large monitor screens in the university facilities with the most daily traffic, which can provide emergency messages quickly and efficiently.
• Created a computer screen freeze program that provides an immediate emergency message to all all NMU  computers (issued to students, faculty and staff) that are turned on and freezes the functioning of the computer until the message has been acknowledged.
• Created a set of condensed crisis plans to complement the full emergency plans (that are eight-inch binders) into 8-10 page documents that are more likely to be read and discussed by the second and third-tier members of our emergency response units (the non-public safety officers).
• Have given more presentations to faculty, staff, departments and students groups about responses to various emergency situations than ever in the past.
• Increased training for primary- and secondary-level emergency responders on campus for various scenarios.  More training will continue each year. Historically NMU has and will continue to rehearse and train with U.P.-wide public safety and public health agencies.
• Revamped the Public Safety Web site and have put an “Emergency” link with basic steps to take in any emergency situation that now appears at the bottom of all the new NMU Web pages.
• NMU also has an electronic parent newsletter with about 3,000 subscribers and a community newsletter (about 700) which can be utilized for emergency messaging in an expedient manner, and has designated phone lines for the sole purpose of creating hotlines in a manner of minutes. We’ve also put on-campus phone banks (in public broadcasting and in our NMU Foundation) into use in U.P. emergency situations (e.g. wild fires), so we’ve had experience converting those resources into emergency response tools.

8. Please share your thoughts on formula-based appropriations versus across-the-board increases in university appropriations.

• Providing a minimum hedge against inflation for higher education is an important component of any funding model.  The most recent proposal by the Senate to provide an overall increase for higher education of 3% is very positive after several years of decreases or less-than-inflationary increases in the higher education appropriation. Looking forward, a good start toward healthy public policy would be to include a minimum increase to cover inflationary costs impacting higher education and should allocate additional funds for achieving desired state results. 
•  
• Northern Michigan University does not believe applying one formula to all institutions is in the best long-term interests of the State of Michigan. The goal should be to provide funding that will create a diversified economy and meet the needs of the different regions of the state, which vary immensely.
• The following are aspects of the formula that we believe should be studied in greater depth:

Areas of Study

In an effort to diversify to a knowledge-based economy robust throughout all sectors of Michigan, focusing too much on certain degrees (e.g. STEM), commercialization and research may have a damaging effect on the future economy. The Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth Report projected areas of job growth through 2014 will be in the areas of education and health services, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality and retail trade. The report points to the fact that the economy needs a diversified educational base of students and more of them, rather than focusing on specific areas (e.g. “industrial planning by the State”). This was the point of the Cherry Report.

Degree Completion

Degree completion is a measure of success that should be considered in rewarding universities for their performance. The difficulty with degree completion as an outcomes measure is coming up with a fair way to calculate a rate that truly reflects what the university is accomplishing. If a university provides students greater access to higher education by allowing students with lower ACT scores and high school grade point averages admission, then that institution will likely have a lower degree completion rate. Should those institutions receive a lower appropriation because they are providing greater access to students? In addition, there are other mission-related factors that should also be taken into consideration in developing a fair measurement of degree completion success.

Operating Costs

Other factors that should be considered in any formula include economies of scale, climate and state mandates that differ from institution to institution, and rural versus urban factors. Northern continues to recommend a system of 15 formulae, one for each institution, acknowledging rural-based, urban-based and mission-based differences. A formulaic approach that focuses on increasing the number of students attending and graduating, and one that encourages a diverse range of graduates for a diverse economy and provides inflationary support to cover the base operations and infrastructure of institutions would be more beneficial to the long-term interests of Michigan. The goal should be to provide funding that will create and sustain a diversified economy and meet the needs of the different regions of the state. Northern would like to participate in any discussions to develop a funding mechanism.

9. What is your university’s position on implementation of a P-20 tracking system?
Northern Michigan University is committed to the implementation of information systems whose primary outcomes are to improve student success and to enhance institutional performance. The proposed P-20 tracking system could give institutional data more comprehensive meaning as related to how a university is actually performing. There are challenges the state would face in implementing a student tracking system, but if Michigan’s public universities are going to be judged, potentially funded and, subsequently, have the possibility of being either negatively or positively affected based on student input-output statistics, then the argument for a student tracking system strengthens.

The obstacles of a state-developed and operated student tracking system include student privacy issues; the enormous cost of developing, implementing and maintaining such a system; and finding a way to develop a system that is efficient in both collecting and distributing useful data to appropriate stakeholders. It requires a common administrative software system and/or a common fields used by all public and private colleges and universities, community colleges and the K-12 system that do not now exist on the systems being used. These are significant concerns that states such as North Dakota, which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to date, have not been able to overcome in creating a successful tracking system. Also, it may make more sense for the state to track student movement than for individual institutions to do so. Students increasingly move from one institution to another and the state has access to some data, such as tax returns, that universities do not.

If Michigan plans to measure universities by such data, then the state needs to financially support a way to derive accurate information that gives policymakers the most comprehensive understanding of what is taking place at each institution and, to the extent that it can, explain why certain patterns exist and why certain outcomes take place.

Northern Michigan University’s position on the implementation of a P-20 tracking system is that, if such a system is appropriately designed and funded, it could provide valuable information to the universities and to policymakers, and it could enhance universities’ existing efforts to improve educational outcomes.