Monthly Archives: September 2007

Board of Regents Meeting

Posted on September 22, 2007 by | 3 Comments

What follows is a summary of the Board of Regents meeting from Alida Westman, the Faculty Council secretary. I was able to go to the Faculty Affairs committee, which was incredibly informative. Indeed, the presentations were superb—the faculty and Department Heads from Nursing, Art, and English really drove the home the effects of the budget cuts and Regent Parker helped as well in asking great questions after each presentation. Continue reading →

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Posted in Academics, Board of Regents, Budgets, Faculty Life

“EMU Graduate Student Senate marks debut by hosting state graduate student summit Sept. 29″

Posted on September 21, 2007 by | 4 Comments

The following press release was put out by the university public information office, and I was asked by Chris Bylone to post it here.  Glad to do so, and may this event be a great success.
 
 YPSILANTI – Pam Byrnes (D-52nd District), chair of the Higher Education Subcommittee, will be the keynote speaker Saturday, Sept. 29, as the newly created EMU Graduate Student Senate hosts the inaugural Michigan
Graduate Student Summit at the EMU Student Center.

            “EMU has about 5,000 graduate students and this summit will provide an incredible opportunity to all of these students to learn from our counterparts at 21 other Michigan Higher Education Institutions,” said Donna Bobcean, a graduate student and one of the organizers. “We
hope to come away from this summit with a clearer understanding of what it means to be a graduate student in the state of Michigan.”

The summit will feature discussions about graduate assistantships, campus services for graduate students, challenges for graduate student organizations and how to find funding sources.

            “One of the main goals of the summit is to form a new
networking and lobbying group of Graduate Students across the state, entitled: the Michigan Association of Graduate Students, so we can continue to share our discoveries, needs and concerns with each other and Lansing. We are both proud and honored that the very first graduate
summit will be hosted by EMU,” said Bobcean.

Twenty-two schools, including both private and public schools, will attend the summit, according to Bobcean.

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Posted in EMU Events, Student Life

Weekend Events!

Posted on September 20, 2007 by | Leave a comment

This weekend is Astronomy at the Beach at Kensington Metropark. This is a great event to attend for general information about astronomy and to see things through a lot of different telescopes. The weather looks perfect for Friday afternoon/night, so I highly recommend people check this out. There are a lot of talks including the keynote talk titled “The Orion Manned Program and the Mission to Return to the Moon”. It’s free to the public, but you have to pay admission to the park ($6/car, I believe.). The Astronomy Club at EMU is one of the clubs that teams up to put this event on. The even is sponsored by the Great Lakes Association of Astronomy Clubs.

As always, the Astro Club meets every Thursday nights at 7:30pm with open observing following meeting – assuming clear skies. We do have talks lined up for later this semester, along with a special event on October 4th to celebrate 50 years of space flight! Please, come up and check us out. We have a wonderful facility that is quite unique.

More events below..  Continue reading →

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Posted in College Fun, EMU Events, Sports, Student Life

“Brick Walls are there to show how badly we want something”

Posted on September 20, 2007 by | 1 Comment

Last Lecture. What would you say?

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid452319854/bctid1199157902 

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Posted in Uncategorized

“How safe is campus?” (meaning the U of M, but still…)

Posted on September 20, 2007 by | Comments Off

I came across this Michigan Daily article “How safe is campus?” because it mentions EMU and the Dickinson murder briefly. While it is mostly about things at that liberal arts school in Ann Arbor, it does a pretty good job of talking about campus security in general. Here’s an interesting quote:

What everyone might not know is that despite not being at the cutting edge of security, crime at universities and colleges is relatively rare, at least according to statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Education. A few years ago, it reported that crime rates are consistently lower on campuses than public areas. Its report was compiled based on a decade’s worth of crime statistics gathered through the Clery Act of 1990.

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Posted in In the media..., Security and Safety

Are EMU DPS wishing for Tasers?

Posted on September 19, 2007 by | 2 Comments

Maybe this says something about the twisted connections I see between completely different stories I find:

The other day, the Ann Arbor News ran a story with the headline “Ypsilanti police to wield Tasers.” Here’s a quote from the first couple paragraphs:

When Ypsilanti Police officers get Tasers within the next six months, only three Washtenaw County police agencies will be without them.

Saline Police and public safety departments at the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University have not added the weapons, which deliver an electrical charge that incapacitates a person for three to five seconds.

And then, I came across this on my favorite blog Boing Boing:
Continue reading →

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Posted in In the media..., Security and Safety

“Freshman number up at EMU”

Posted on September 19, 2007 by | 10 Comments

From the Ann Arbor News, “Freshman numbers up at EMU.” A couple of quotes:

Enrollment of new full-time students on campus is up about 2.5 percent over last year, according to preliminary numbers. New full-time undergraduate students stand at 2,462, compared to 2,399 at this point last year, said Tom Green, EMU’s vice president for enrollment management.

New graduate students have increased about 3 percent, Green said.

Despite the increase in new students, overall enrollment is down about 0.8 percent – from 22,973 students last year to 22,783.

EMU is seeking to reverse the enrollment slide that has seen the student population decrease by about 5.8 percent since 2002.

It seems to me that part of the challenge here is how to retain some of these new students we have admitted, but it’s good to see some sign of turn-around with these things at EMU.

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Posted in In the media...

“College place street closing is dead”

Posted on September 18, 2007 by | 4 Comments

From Steve Pierce’s All Things Ypsilanti blog comes the news that “College place street closing is dead.” To quote:

Eastern Michigan University has notified the City of Ypsilanti that EMU is withdrawing support of the closing of College Place in front of Pease Auditorium. In a letter to the City of Ypsilanti, EMU told city officials they were deferring commitment to the project until EMU completes their own Campus Master Plan.

Now if someone will agree to repave that road….

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Posted in Buildings and Grounds, In the media...

NCAA president visits EMU tomorrow

Posted on September 17, 2007 by | 11 Comments

Below, I’ve copied a paragraph from EMU TODAY.  This is an interesting chance to hear in person what the former president of Indiana University and current president of the NCAA, has to say.  Unfortunately, these type of conversations tend to be dominated by the athletics department types alone, rather than including broader representatives of the university community (this is true at EMU and elsewhere).  I urge people to go.  What might Dr. Brand have to say about a university that is cutting millions of dollars from academic programs and student services while increasing funding for athletics by 5% across the board?   Indiana would never do such a thing, I’d wager.  I know student athletes who are upset by these screwed up priorities (but they say they have to keep their mouths shut for fear of retaliation by the athletics dept).  

 ***NCAA PRESIDENT MYLES BRAND TO VISIT EMU: NCAA President Myles Brand visits campus Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2 p.m., room 201, Welch Hall. Brand, the guest of EMU’s Athletics Department and the Board of Regents, will discuss the state of the NCAA and current trends and issues in intercollegiate athletics. For more information, call 487-1050.

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Posted in Budgets, Sports, Student Life

Faculty, Adjuncts, & Lecturers (Definitions and Debates)

Posted on September 16, 2007 by | 36 Comments

I should have done this earlier, but I guess that late is better than never.  EMU Lecturer has offered some helpful information about the difference (or lack thereof) between EMU ‘faculty’ and ‘lecturers’ in an unrelated post.  Tho’ unrelated to laptops thefts, it is important enough for a discrete post.  I paste the relevant portions below.  Please forgive the repetition. 

Continue reading →

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Posted in Academics, Faculty Life, Staff Life