October 11, 2021

Melissa Baird (SS) is the recipient of Michigan Tech’s 2021 Distinguished Teaching Award in the Associate Professor/Professor category.
 
“I see the classroom as a space to create knowledge collectively,” Baird says. “I try to provide students with the space and tools to foster open conversations about the world around them. I present opportunities to learn independently and to develop their voices through critical analysis and contemplation.”
 
Read about her approach to teaching on mtu.edu/news.

Mike Hyslop (CFRES) is the recipient of Michigan Tech’s 2021 Distinguished Teaching Award in the Lecturer/Professor of Practice/Assistant Professor category.

“A lot of students comment after the fact that they really understand GIS more after learning to integrate their own field data,” Hyslop says. “The act of collecting your own data and combining it with other information makes it concrete for students, and they see the value in what they’ve learned. It’s always nice to hear from students who have been gone for a while who say, ‘Thank you, I feel like you gave me a solid grounding and that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing now.’ My take on this is, ‘I have a job I like because of your class.’”

Read about his approach to teaching on mtu.edu/news.

Michigan Technological University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), and part of the accreditation process includes a site visit every 10 years. An HLC review team will be on campus Oct. 25 and 26, and we invite faculty, chairs, deans, staff and students to participate in one or all of the open forums focusing on the criteria for accreditation.

All open forums will be held in the Rozsa Center for Performing Arts Lobby.

MONDAY, OCT. 25:

• 1:30-2:20 p.m. — Teaching and Learning (HLC Criteria 3&4)
• 4:30-5:20 p.m. — Institutional Effectiveness, Resources and Planning (HLC Criteria 5)

TUESDAY, OCT. 26:

• 9-9:50 a.m. — Mission & Integrity: Ethical and Responsible Conduct (HLC Criteria 1&2)

An overview and links to more information on the HLC Criteria for Accreditation are available on the Academic Affairs website.

Nominations are now open for the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) Excellence in Teaching Awards.

Michigan Tech may nominate one student at the M.S. and Ph.D. level, and each graduate program may nominate one student at the M.S. and Ph.D. level. Nominations are due to the Graduate School no later than 4 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2022.

Eligible students:

• Will have been enrolled at Michigan Tech during the 2021 calendar year and have a teaching appointment.
• Will have earned the Michigan Tech Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award.
• Will have an excellent teaching portfolio and student evaluations.

See the application page for complete details on what is required for a nomination.

Effective immediately, the new submission deadline for paper timesheets and revised timesheets is noon on Tuesday of payroll weeks. The Deadlines Affecting Payroll Processes PDF and the HR blog have been updated.

Human Resources would like to ensure that any and all timesheets submitted by the department are accurately processed. In order to do this, we need your help. The following are some important reminders for departments and timekeepers. Receiving timesheets with incomplete information will only delay payroll for those employees.

In addition to the change in paper timesheets and revised timesheets deadline, Payroll Services would like to remind everyone completing these timesheets to fill them out accurately so they are able to be processed.

Common errors that will cause a timesheet to be returned and an employee to possibly miss a paycheck are:

• missing position numbers,
• two positions numbers on the same timesheet,
• incomplete timesheets,
• employee signatures missing,
• supervisor signatures missing,
• employee signatures being signed by supervisors, and/or
• someone else signing in both employee and supervisor line.

In order to process the timesheet, it must be submitted with all the correct information and all the appropriate signatures by noon on Tuesday of payroll weeks. Timesheets received after noon on Tuesdays will be processed the next pay period. Timesheets returned for correction will need to be run on the off cycle at the cost of the department.

Next, make sure all approvers have set up a proxy to approve time in their absence. Having a proxy is a great way to cover for any regular timesheet approvers who may go on vacation, may be unexpectedly on leave or unable to get to a computer and approve time. As a reminder, should the regular or primary approver leave the department or University, the proxy will NOT automatically become the new approver. The department will need to submit an EPAF for a new primary approver.

Reallocation form reminder: The department is responsible for getting reallocation forms requiring Sponsored Programs Accounting (SPA) signatures to SPA for index override approval. (See the form for the list of indexes needing SPA approval.) Once SPA approves the index overrides, the reallocations forms are then ready to submit to Payroll Services. Make sure to have SPA approve reallocations first before submitting to Payroll Services. Reallocation forms requiring SPA approval that are missing SPA signatures will be returned to the department.

In order to help remind time approvers and provide the best customer service possible, Payroll Services will send one email reminder to approvers after 2 p.m. on Mondays and will make one phone call reminder on Tuesday mornings.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Payroll Services at 906-487-2130.

The Retirement Supplemental Voluntary Program (RSVP) is a voluntary retirement program offered to eligible Michigan Tech employees. The enrollment period for which an employee may sign their RSVP election is currently open through Oct. 31.

Employees electing the Monetary Retirement Option must retire on or before June 30, 2022. The monetary retirement option provides a benefit equal to 50% of the eligible employee’s annual salary (nine-month salary for faculty), up to the cap amount of $75,607 at the time of their actual retirement date.

As announced in July, the University will gradually phase out the RSVP over the next four fiscal years (FY22-FY25). All options available under the current RSVP policy will remain in place during the phase-out.

For further clarification, please see the RSVP matrix, which explains the gradual phase-out of all RSVP options.

Prior to electing RSVP, employees must meet with the Benefits Office for a confidential meeting to verify eligibility. RSVP program information may be found online.

RSVP questions may be directed to Benefit Services at 906-487-2517 or benefits@mtu.edu.

The Spring 2022 Tuition Reduction Incentive Program (TRIP) form is now available on the Benefit website. Once completed, forms can be emailed to benefits@mtu.edu.

Spring forms are due by Dec. 1, 2021. The form can be accessed online.

Federal regulations require Michigan Tech to send the Medicare Part D certificate of creditable coverage disclosure form prior to the annual Medicare Part D election period, which begins Friday (Oct. 15) and runs through Dec. 7.

The disclosure only applies to those employees who are age 65 and older or who have a dependent enrolled in Medicare. Michigan Tech’s prescription coverage is creditable, meaning that it is expected to cover on average as much as the Standard Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. The certificate of creditable coverage notice can be viewed online.

The Van Pelt and Opie Library will be hosting a special hockey research talk by local researcher John Haeussler in the East Reading Room on Thursday (Oct. 14) at 6 p.m.

In his presentation, "Irish by Invironment*," Haeussler will share his research on and photographs of local hockey players who made it big with Notre Dame in the early 1900s.

When Notre Dame played its first informal hockey game in 1912, a student from Calumet was one of the stars. When the Irish began intercollegiate play in 1921, their roster featured three more Calumet High School alums. Notre Dame’s first intercollegiate game was at the Amphidrome in Houghton and its first intercollegiate win at the Colosseum in Calumet.

In this 100th anniversary year, the presentation highlights the Copper Country’s contributions to Notre Dame Hockey’s formative years. This presentation comes a night before the Michigan Tech Huskies host Notre Dame at their hockey home opener on Oct. 15.

Haeussler has authored one book on Hancock history and co-authored another. His current project is a biography of Bill Gray, the first Calumet High School alumnus to star at Notre Dame.

This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For more information, please contact University Archivist Lindsay Hiltunen at 906-487-3209 or lehalkol@mtu.edu.

* The University of Notre Dame Football Review 1921, quoting legendary ND coach Knute Rockne, had this to say about Calumet’s Hunk Anderson and Ojay Larson: “Neither is of Celtic origin but as Rockne puts it, ‘they are Irish by invironment.’”

Please join us tomorrow (Oct. 12) from 5-6 p.m. in the Walker Arts and Humanities Center (Walker), Room 120C, for an hour of laid-back Francophone setting with French natives and other Francophiles. All levels welcome.

Upcoming Café Français dates: Oct. 26, Nov. 9, and Dec. 7.

Tinuade Folayan, Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemical Engineering, is the recipient of the 2021 NOBCChE Green Chemistry and STEM Education Division Oral Presentation Award. This award is based on her contribution to scientific research, and the quality and clarity of her talk presented at the 2021 NOBCChE conference in September.

NOBCChE, the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, is a nonprofit professional organization dedicated to assisting Black and other minority students and professionals in fully realizing their potential in academic, professional and entrepreneurial pursuits in chemistry, chemical engineering and allied fields.

Michigan Tech Professor Emeritus Bill Sproule is the 28th recipient of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tom Donahue Service Award.

Sproule was honored at the Fall GLIAC Management Council reception Oct. 4 in Big Rapids, Michigan.

Sproule, who worked in government, consulting, university teaching and research in Canada and the United States, served as Tech's Faculty Athletic Representative from 2010-21. He served on numerous GLIAC committees, including Executive Committee, Awards, Constitution & Bylaws, Eligibility and Membership. He attended the NCAA FAR Fellow (2012) and Advanced Fellow (2017) Leadership Institute.

Sproule has mentored many, including new GLIAC FAR appointees, and been a valuable leader to the GLIAC's evolving membership.

The Donahue Service Award, established in 1988, is selected by administrators from around the league. It is presented to a current or former administrator at a conference school who made significant contributions to the GLIAC and intercollegiate athletics and exemplifies the highest standard of dedication to the league and its student-athletes set by former GLIAC commissioner Tom Donahue.

The award was last presented in 2017 to former Grand Valley State Director of Athletics Tim Selgo. Sproule is Michigan Tech's third recipient after Rick Yeo was honored in 2006 and Ted Kearly in 1990.

Read more about Sproule on the Michigan Tech Athletics website.

The College of Business is proud to announce that its Bachelor of Science in Engineering Management is ranked No. 12 out of 25 in the "Best Bachelor's in Engineering Management for 2022" list compiled by bachelorsdegreecenter.org.

Nested between No. 13 Vanderbilt University and No. 11 Johns Hopkins University, the program is in good company on the list, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology holding the top spot.

The list features only accredited institutions "known for their quality and ROI." Factors contributing to ranking included tuition, student satisfaction and potential salary (using current IPEDS and Niche data).

Michigan Tech's College of Sciences and Arts (CSA) Pre-Health Program will host a Graduate Health Programs Fair next week, Oct. 18-22.

Graduate health programs will offer informational group admissions presentations and/or one-on-one advising appointments throughout the week. Some events will be virtual; others will be in-person. Students will be able to register for events starting today (Oct. 11) through the Career Fair Plus app.

For more information, please visit the Michigan Tech Graduate Health Fair web page.

The Friends of the Michigan Tech Library (FMTL) will hold their 2021 annual meeting from 4:30-6 p.m. on Oct. 21 on Zoom. All are encouraged to attend.

The meeting will consist of a short business meeting followed by a presentation by speaker Faith A. Morrison, who recently retired from Michigan Tech after 30 years of teaching, scholarship and service.

Morrison's presentation will center on issues addressed in her recent book, "Uncertainty Analysis for Engineers & Scientists," published by Cambridge University Press this year. Measurements form the backbone of scientific and engineering discovery and understanding, but no measurement value is known with 100% confidence: Equipment limitations, random events and calibration issues all conspire to make it difficult sometimes to interpret the meaning of a measurement. Uncertainty analysis is the process by which data-takers face, assess and continuously improve the reliability of their measurements. Knowing at least a little bit about uncertainty analysis would be good for everyone — it would help us to better understand decisions made with numbers, such as those used to determine the healthfulness of what we eat and drink or the efficacy of medicines and vaccines.

Join the Zoom meeting.

Guy Meadows (GLRC) is the principal investigator (PI) on a project that has received a $119,136 research and development grant from the University of Michigan.

The project is titled "Machine Learning for Automated Detection of Shipwreck Sites from Large Area Robotic Surveys."

This is a potential two-year project.

University Archivist Lindsay Hiltunen was an invited speaker as part of the Great Michigan Read (GMR) programming series at Dearborn Public Library on Oct. 7.

Hiltunen presented a talk on the Michigan Copper Miners' Strike of 1913-14 and the Italian Hall Disaster as part of a programming series to promote this year's GMR book, "The Women of the Copper Country."

Hiltunen will be sharing her presentation at several public libraries across the state as part of the GMR.

An article by Timothy Havens (CS/ICC) and Siva Krishna Kakula '00 (CS) has been published in the October 2021 issue of the journal IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems.

The article, titled "Novel Regularization for Learning the Fuzzy Choquet Integral With Limited Training Data," is available on IEEE Xplore.

Additional co-authors of the article are Anthony Pinar (ECE/ICC), and Muhammad Aminul Islam and Derek Anderson of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Missouri, Columbia.

Read more on the Computing News Blog.

Face Coverings Required in Classrooms, Labs, Library

Michigan Tech remains at Health and Safety Level Two. Face coverings are required in certain locations — classrooms and laboratories during classes and lab courses, and in the library — and may also be required during instructors' office hours. In all other settings, face coverings are encouraged but not required. This applies to all students, employees, and visitors, regardless of vaccination status.

Michigan Tech strongly recommends that all employees and students receive the COVID-19 vaccine and continue with handwashing and hand-sanitizing practices, especially in light of the virulence of the COVID-19 delta variant. Please be aware that if you are exposed to COVID-19, quarantine guidelines vary depending on vaccination status. 

In Level Two, students and employees are not required to monitor their symptoms daily prior to coming to campus. But, individuals should be mindful of their own symptoms. A useful monitoring tool is available from the CDC. 

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On-Demand COVID-19 Testing Available on Campus

Walk-in, on-demand COVID-19 testing is available to Michigan Tech students and employees during the fall 2021 semester.

Testing is located in the Datolite Room at the MUB on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. There is no cost to be tested, and no appointment is needed. 

Read more COVID-19 Testing Information on the MTU Flex website.

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CTL Coffee Chat

The William G. Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning will present its next coffee chat at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday (Oct. 14).

The subject will be: "Planning for Regular and Substantive Interaction in All Classes."  

As we pivoted to remote teaching, many of us completed courses in online teaching. The U.S. Department of Education requires that all online courses using federal financial aid "ensure that there is regular and substantive interaction between students and instructors." But now that most of us are back to in-person teaching, it's worth asking: What if we applied the same standard to face-to-face courses?

In this workshop, we'll dig into these definitions and try to answer that question. We'll also explore ways to initiate regular and substantive interactions with all of your students, regardless of the course size or instructional mode.

Please register in advance to attend. Participants who wish to attend remotely should indicate this in the comments of their registration.

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Husky Health Checklist Reminder

Remember to complete your Husky Health Checklist with the activities you completed between Jan. 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2021, to earn up to $450 in health incentives for benefits-eligible employees.

Jan. 10, 2022, is the last day to submit Husky Health Checklists for the 2021 reporting period. 2021 Husky Health payout incentives will be received in early 2022.

Check out the Husky Health website for more information and links to webinars and fitness programs that count toward the Husky Health incentive. Find out more information about Husky Health and other wellness benefits by visiting our website.

Questions? Contact the Benefits Office or call 906-487-2517.

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Garment Exhibit: 'Apparel for the Anthropocene'

"Apparel for the Anthropocene," a display of garments designed by Cori Champagne, is presented by the Institute for Policy, Ethics, and Culture at Michigan Technological University.

The exhibit opened yesterday (Oct. 10) and will be on display until Oct. 31. It is located in the Upper Atrium of the U. J. Noblet Forestry Building at Michigan Tech. An opening reception will be held on the Lower Atrium of the Forestry Building on Thursday (Oct. 14) from 4:30-6:30 p.m.

Champagne is best known for her garments and attire, which transform into temporary shelters. Crossing borders, fleeing climate extremes, transitioning to a new life — her body of work responds with an adaptive design solution intended to manage challenging conditions.

"Apparel for the Anthropocene" presents four ensembles from this series:

• "Gulf/PR" addresses the needs for flood-prone areas and subsequent repair and rebuild.
• "Tsaile" provides protection needed in areas experiencing desertification.
• "Shishmaref" and "Lukeville" consider the needs for shelter and mobility during rapid migration.

Champagne’s work has been exhibited all over the U.S. both as an independent artist and in collaboration with the artist collectives Bunny Sandwich Collective and ArtShape Mammoth. Currently, she is a member of Boston Sculptors Gallery, and is preparing for a 2022 solo exhibition.

In addition to her studio practice, Champagne is adjunct faculty at Boston Architectural College's School of Architecture, and is a program administrator at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Campus Master Plan Town Halls on Wednesday

Last spring, we began the process of developing a new Campus Master Plan  (CMP) to guide future decisions, and this work has continued over the summer and now into the fall.

Last April, May and June, we conducted numerous focus group meetings, a virtual town hall and a couple of campus surveys. Over the summer, we met with other community and staff groups, as well as the CMP University Advisory Committee. SmithGroup, the CMP consultant, also reviewed and analyzed the extensive data provided to them regarding our classroom, research, housing and other space on campus.

It is now time to re-engage the University community in this process as we begin to develop solutions and priorities to the issues identified during the process noted above.

Therefore, we invite you to participate in one of two CMP Town Hall meetings scheduled for Wednesday (Oct. 13), at noon and 6 p.m. Please register in advance using the following links:

• Noon on Wednesday (Oct. 13) — Register in advance
• 6 p.m. on Wednesday (Oct. 13) — Register in advance

In addition, we strongly encourage you to visit the Campus Master Plan website. A lot of new information has been posted in the past week, and there is an interactive component we encourage you to investigate.

We look forward to your participation!

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EPSSI Seminar

Rasha Abbasi, assistant professor in the Department of Physics at Loyola University Chicago, will present a virtual seminar today (Oct. 11) at 4 p.m. via Zoom.

Abbasi’s presentation is titled “Atmospheric Electricity Observations by the Telescope Array Surface Detector.”

This virtual seminar is sponsored by the Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences Institute (EPSSI). Read the abstract at the University Events Calendar.

Register in advance for the Zoom seminar. Please register early!

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ACSHF Forum

The Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences will host speaker Stefka Hristova, associate professor of digital media in MTU's Department of Humanities, for the next Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF) Forum.

Hristova's presentation, titled "Emptied Faces: In Search For An Algorithmic Punctum," will be held from 2-3 p.m. today (Oct. 11).

Attendance is invited both in person in the Harold Meese Center (Meese), Room 109, and virtually via Zoom.

This talk explores the ways in which human faces have become reconfigured in the context of algorithmic culture. More specifically, it details the decomposition of the face in the context of big data and machine learning algorithms and its two subsequent distinct rearticulations: one linked to predictive algorithms and the other linked to the generation of deep fake portraits.

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Michigan Tech Chemistry Selected as ACS Bridge Partner

The Department of Chemistry is excited to announce that Michigan Tech has been selected as a partner in the American Chemical Society Bridge Program (ACS-BP).

The ACS, as part of the Inclusive Graduate Education Network (IGEN), is working to increase the participation of Black, Latinx and Indigenous students entering graduate studies in STEM fields. The mission of the ACS-BP is to strengthen the chemical sciences by creating opportunities that bolster the number of doctorates awarded to underrepresented students throughout the United States.

Michigan Tech, UC Berkeley, University of Maryland, Yale, Columbia, Lehigh University and UC Irvine are the newest partners of ACS-BP, joining 29 other affiliated doctoral-granting institutions.

Benefits from this partnership include both the recruitment of students who have applied to graduate school through ACS-BP, and opportunities to work with and learn from other network institutions in sharing best practices for a diverse and inclusive graduate education.

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Happy Minerals Day!

The A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum would like to wish you a Happy Minerals Day today (Oct. 11) with 10% off everything in the gift shop.

Admission to the museum is waived for all MTU students, staff and faculty with their Tech ID. 

We are open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Valid today only. Cannot be combined with other discounts.

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

Hyperconnection: A New Series by Tiffany Lange

Monday, October 11, 8 a.m.–8 p.m. | Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Gallery: A-Space

Tiffany Lange’s newest series “Hyperconnection”, examines overstimulation and anxiousness through abstraction. After a year of increased screen time during quarantine and...

Cori Champagne: "Apparel for the Anthropocene"

Monday, October 11, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. | U. J. Noblet Forestry Building, Upper Atrium

Apparel for the Anthropocene is presented by the Institute for Policy, Ethics and Culture at Michigan Technological University from October 10-31 in the Upper Atrium of the...

The Spirit of the Hunt: Ecological Art Exhibit & Public Wolf Discussion

Monday, October 11, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. | U. J. Noblet Forestry Building, Atrium and G002

Art Exhibit: August 30-October 15 Monday-Friday from 9:00am to 4:00pm Noblet Atrium, Michigan Tech College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Opening...

ACSHF Forum: Stefka Hristova, Humanities

Monday, October 11, 2 p.m.–3 p.m. | Harold Meese Center, 109

The Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences will host speaker Stefka Hristova (Associate Professor of Digital Media, Humanities) at the next Applied Cognitive Science...

Emerging from the Pandemic Workshop

Monday, October 11, 2 p.m.–3 p.m.

Are you worried about bursting your COVID-19 bubble and unsure of your 'new normal'? We get it - the pandemic has disrupted our daily lives and added a ton of stress! Learn...

A Tale of Two Metals: Fe in Groundwater and Pb in Drinking Water

Monday, October 11, 3 p.m. | Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC), 202

Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar Michelle Scherer, Distinguished Chair and Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of...

EPSSI Seminar: Rasha Abbasi, Loyola University Chicago

Monday, October 11, 4 p.m.–5 p.m.

Atmospheric Electricity Observations by the Telescope Array Surface Detector In this talk I will present the recent breakthroughs in the study of atmospheric...

Search Smarter Not Harder

Monday, October 11, 4 p.m.–5 p.m. | J. Robert Van Pelt and John and Ruanne Opie Library, East Reading Room

Attend this presentation to learn where 80 percent of the job market is and the most effective way to access it.

Strength Training and High Intensity Interval Training ("HIIT")

Monday, October 11, 5:30 p.m.–6:15 p.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...

Net Zero: How Do We Get There?

Monday, October 11, 6 p.m.

Husky Bites presents Special Guest Amlan Mukherjee Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering Michigan Technological University Co-host Heather Dylla,...

Open Rock Climbing

Monday, October 11, 6 p.m.–8 p.m. | Student Development Complex (SDC), Multipurpose Room Climbing Wall

All ages (we can allow all ages to climb as long as we have the proper fitting equipment). No need to sign up, just stop by the Climbing Wall between 6 and 8 pm Monday through...