May 20, 2021

Today is the 10-year anniversary of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). It’s a day for acknowledging and applauding ongoing efforts to identify and improve digital accessibility.

Digital barriers can make accessing websites, reading documents, watching videos or using software more difficult or impossible. Across the world, more than 1 billion people have some kind visual, hearing, cognitive or motor disability. Removing digital barriers can help ensure everyone has access to the digital products that are so important in our daily lives.

In keeping with the spirit of GAAD, consider the following:

• If you’re a teacher, use the Ally Accessibility Report in Canvas to identify content that has digital barriers. Then learn more about how to make it more accessible to all your students.
• If you maintain Michigan Tech web pages or create content that will be posted on the web, make sure the information is accessible to all potential visitors. You can learn more about what makes a website accessible from the training resources of the Accessible Technology Working Group (ATWG).

Contact the ATWG at accessibility-l@mtu.edu for more information on how to create accessible content or remove digital barriers from existing content.

Visit the GAAD website for more information and ideas on how you can get involved.

Registration is open for Keweenaw Mineral Days, July 12 to July 17.

Keweenaw Mineral Days provides a legal opportunity for mineral collecting on rock piles of former native copper mines. The rock pile surfaces will be specifically prepared to help support the collecting opportunities. Each of the four collection events requires General Registration and Collection Registration. Participation in mineral collection events is limited, so sign up early!

General Registration also provides free admission to the museum and a 15% discount in the Gift Shop from July 12 to July 17, as well as exclusive access to our Mineral Surplus Sale and 15% off on Surplus Sale items on July 15.

This event is hosted by the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum in collaboration with Keweenaw Gem and Gift Inc.

Visit our website for more information or to register.

Hello all! The dog days of summer are fast approaching, and with them the return of GSG’s annual Summer Softball Extravaganza!

This no-holds-barred extreme slow-pitch softball league will be held over the summer semester from June 6 to August 8. Games will be held weekly on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 1-3:30 p.m., with Wednesday reserved for makeup games.

Don’t have any softball equipment, you say? Well, no worries here! GSG will provide bats, balls and gloves for every registered player. Though, of course, if you do have your own equipment, you are more than welcome to use it (provided there’s no cork in your bat).

Also, feel free to start recruiting for your team. Anyone not affiliated with a team is welcome to register solo and will be placed with one.

Registration is open and live until May 27 — you can fill out the registration form online.

May 29 will be a quick workshop to get everybody comfortable with the rules and regulations, as well as help get a little practice in before we start.

Be sure to register before the deadline is up and read over the rules and regulations concerning COVID safety.

It was announced this week that the Michigan Tech Testing Center has achieved National College Testing Association (NCTA) Test Center Certification.

The Michigan Tech Testing Center has been a member of the NCTA since it opened in fall 2013. Recently, center staff took on the endeavor to not only be a member of the organization, but to become certified by their standards of testing. The certification is used to show that the center is using best practices for all who use their services.

Thank you again to center staff; Shannon Houle and Mitch Apriesnig for their hard work; and Brigitte Morin and Jason Gregersen, the instructors who helped with the site visit.

The testing center is happy to be a part of the Michigan Tech community and to serve instructors and students. Let us know if there are ways we can help you with your testing needs.

MTU undergraduate Ángela Gutiérrez has received a Michigan Sea Grant undergraduate internship — a program that seeks to provide mentorship and support for environmental stewardship in the Great Lakes.

Her project, titled "Understanding Socio-Ecological and Stewardship of a Contaminated Tribal Landscape (TLS) in Lake Superior," investigates the tribal landscape system (TLS). The term TLS seeks to capture the dynamic and integrated socio-ecological system that includes the lake, watersheds, culturally important resource areas and traditional properties. For nearly five decades, data collected on fish toxicity have shown that tribal communities are burdened with toxic contaminants that bioaccumulate in fish, a culturally essential food source. Contamination of fish disrupts not only the community's health but also their cultural practices.

As a MISG intern, Gutiérrez will join a team of University researchers (faculty and students) and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) for two months in summer 2021. The team co-developed a core set of ethical principles and best practices essential to restoring and stewarding the TLS.

Three questions drive the project:

1. How do contamination and climate-related changes impact TLS dynamics?
2. How do ethical considerations affect perceptions of TLS impairments and community decision-making?
3. Does deep integration of knowledge, theories and methods of the TLS capture complex interactions and dynamics of an impaired lake system?

Gutiérrez expects to improve her understanding of what equitable community decision processes look like. How do we (as researchers) better understand and serve the needs of communities? How is environmental justice also racial justice?

Melissa Baird (SS), Valoree Gagnon (GLRC), Evelyn Ravindran (director, KBIC Natural Resources Department), graduate student Larissa Juip (SS) and the KBIC Natural Resources Department are advisors on the project.

The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) is proud to announce that the annual CCHA regular season champion will be awarded the prestigious MacNaughton Cup, known as the premier trophy in collegiate hockey.

"We are thrilled to award the MacNaughton Cup to the CCHA regular season champions," CCHA Commissioner Don Lucia said. "The 40-pound handcrafted pure-silver trophy has been awarded to a college hockey champion since 1951 and we look forward to keeping the tradition alive in the CCHA. The quest for the most tradition-rich trophy in college hockey begins in October."

"Michigan Tech is proud to be the trustee of the most historic trophy in college hockey," Michigan Tech Director of Athletics Suzanne Sanregret said. "We're excited to bring the MacNaughton Cup back to the CCHA. We look forward to competing for a CCHA Championship and returning the cup to its home in the Copper Country."

Read more on the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Former Michigan Tech hockey player Tanner Kero signed a two-year, two-way contract extension with the Dallas Stars, the team announced on Tuesday.

Kero, a native of Hancock, Mich., appeared in 39 games for the Stars this season, tallying three goals and seven assists. In 111 career NHL games with Dallas and Chicago, Kero has 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists).

While at Michigan Tech, Kero was an All-American, the 2014-15 WCHA Player of the Year, the WCHA Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year, an All-WCHA First Team selection, and won the WCHA scoring title. In 153 career games in a Tech uniform, he racked up 111 points on 55 goals and 56 assists.

Read more on the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

Job Postings for Thursday, May 20, 2021  

Staff and faculty job descriptions are available on the Human Resources website. For more information regarding staff positions, call 906-487-2280 or email mtujobs@mtu.edu.

For more information regarding faculty positions, contact the academic department in which the position is posted. 

Building Mechanic III (12 months/ 40 hours/ first shift), Facilities (AFSCME posting May 20 to May 26, 2021 — external applications will only be reviewed after internal applications). Apply online.

Dispatcher (12 months/ 40 hours/ shift varies), Public Safety and Police Services (UAW posting May 20 to May 26, 2021 — external applications will only be reviewed after internal applications). Apply online.

Michigan Technological University is an Equal Opportunity Educational Institution/Equal Opportunity Employer that provides equal opportunity for all, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.  Accommodations are available. If you require any auxiliary aids, services, or other accommodations to apply for employment or an interview at Michigan Technological University, please notify the Human Resources office at 906-487-2280 or mtujobs@mtu.edu.

Petra Huentemeyer (Physics) was quoted by Science Magazine in a story on astronomers’ capture of “extreme photons” — the highest energy light ever, gamma ray photons up to 1.4 petaelectronvolts (PeV) — at a Chinese mountain observatory. In March, such observations at the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov observatory near Puebla, Mexico, were the subject of a Michigan Tech news story.

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In a story on the revival of Arctic grayling in Michigan waters, WZZM-TV ABC 13 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, mentions Michigan Tech as one of the parties that spurred interest in the restoration in 2013, leading to the creation of the Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative.

Fill Out the COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring Form Before Coming to Campus

If you are working on campus while the University is at Health Safety Level Three, remember that no one is permitted to come to campus with symptoms consistent with COVID-19.

Employees are required to monitor for symptoms daily before coming to campus using the Daily Symptom Monitoring Form.

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

UP & Moving Aerobic Exercise, Agility, and Balance Workout

Thursday, May 20, 9:30–10:15 a.m.

We are a group of Michigan Tech graduate students who are focused on improving the health of our community. We are contributing to the COVID-19 response by providing health...

Ping Demo Day

Thursday, May 20, 3 p.m.–7 p.m. | Portage Lake Golf Course

Ping Demo Day

Sustainability Film Discussion: 2040

Thursday, May 20, 7 p.m.–8 p.m.

Facilitated Discussion Held 3rd Thursdays each month, January - May 2021, 7-8 p.m. 2040 (92 min.) What would the world look like in 2040 if we actually implement the...

Music in Sacred Spaces: conScience

May 20, all day

conScience: Michigan Tech Chamber Singers, under the direction of Dr. Jared Anderson, present a series of three recorded mini-concerts in historic sacred spaces in the Copper...

Superior Wind Symphony: Reparations

May 20, all day

The Superior Wind Symphony, under the direction of Dr. Michael Christianson, use the unique setting of the 2020-21 academic year to explore the music of Black composers in a...