Category Archives: College Fun

Ball State at EMU for football today at noon

Posted on November 5, 2011 by | 14 Comments

Once again, it looks like a beautiful day to watch a football game, and once again, I am thwarted from going.  Lots of “life” going on today (all in a good way), and besides, Michigan is playing at Iowa today, which means I’ll be watching that game instead.  Sorry, Emus.  But apparently both games will be on TV at the same time, so maybe I’ll flip back and forth.

It ought to be an interesting one though.  Football enthusiast Eagle Totem has a couple good posts about the match-up, and he points out that this is a chance for the Emus to actually have a “winning streak” against another team.  So we’ll see what happens.

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Posted in College Fun, Sports

The guy who does those “like a rock” commercials performing at convo center

Posted on October 30, 2011 by | 2 Comments

It sure seems like there’s a lot of excitement at annarbor.com for the Bob Seger concert coming up on Wednesday.  Take, for example, this annarbor.com piece, “Bob Seger reflects on growing up in Ann Arbor, looks forward to concert at EMU,” which is a Q&A interview with Seger on growing up in Ann Arbor, etc., etc.

I guess this is a big deal, but I have to say I am missing something.  Seger isn’t exactly my kind of music even as a kind of “oldies” option– I wish I would have been able to go and see the Iggy Pop show at the Michigan Theater instead.  But I guess there are people excited about this, right?

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

Proof that we should have been the Emus a long time ago

Posted on October 26, 2011 by | 4 Comments

A loyal EMUTalk.org reader sent me this first page of an interesting little article the other day, something I think of as a bit of a “smoking gun” in the never-ending discussion about EMU’s mascot.  From way back in April 1991 (I think) comes at least part of the column “Call them the Emus of EMU” by then Ann Arbor News sports editor/now EMU PR/media guy Geoff Larcom.  That link will open a PDF of the clipping.

I am assuming this is referring to some kind of survey/poll conducted by Larcom et al around the name change.  It doesn’t look like there was a whole lot of voters here, but the mascot winner back then by a landslide was the Emu.  Which again makes me wonder: how the heck did we end up as eagles?

Incidentally, second place was “the Hurons,” though not necessarily after the American Indian tribe.  A quote:

[John Bulmer] prefers that name ["The Hurons"]: “1. In honor of the lovely river of that name that flows by the campus; 2. In honor of the Huron valley, in which EMU is located; and 3. It’s a practical name that comes from the name of the main street that runs from I-94 and downtown Ypsilanti to the lovely EMU campus.”

Oh, if EMU had only listened to Larcom and his readers so long ago….

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Posted in College Fun, EMU Branding, EMU Images, In the media...

Emus beat horses 14-10

Posted on October 23, 2011 by | 43 Comments

That’s right– the Emus have won two games in a row against real opponents, beating Western Michigan 14-10.  According to emueagles.com, this means they are now the Michigan Mac Champs, for which there is apparently a trophy and everything.  Read all about it here; here’s a quote:

The win not only helped the Eagles get closer to being bowl eligible at 5-3 overall and 3-1 in MAC action, but it also gave EMU possession of the Michigan MAC Trophy, which is given to the Michigan MAC university that defeats the other two schools in the same sport in the same regular season. This season in the rivalry games, EMU was 2-0, WMU 1-1 and CMU was 0-2.

Bowl eligible?  Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, folks.

Anyway, annarbor.com also has an interesting article, “Yes, Eastern Michigan is actually a good football team; and people care.” Here are a couple of quotes I found kind of interesting:

“I’m a dreamer, so I dreamed about this,” said third-year Eagles coach Ron English. “You know, I just think it’s going to get better and better here and so I’m just glad for all the people that can get involved.”

Sure, English was pleased that people turned out for the game. Is the reported attendance of 6,772 something to get that fired up about? Not really. But for Eastern, it is progress.

and, later in the piece:

Just outside of Rynearson before kickoff, a man in a multi-colored hooded sweatshirt stood with an arm raised, two fingers extended. Eastern Michigan alumnus Ronnie Martin couldn’t believe what he was seeing: A scalper … at an Eastern Michigan football game.

“You can usually get four tickets and T-shirt for 25 bucks,” Martin said.

And “Tailgate Town,” which is usually more like a ghost town on fall Saturdays, smelled of spilled beer and grilling brats. It was a college football atmosphere, off the field and on it.

Again, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here, folks.

Yesterday was a picture-perfect day to watch a football game, it was homecoming, and they promoted the hell out of that game, probably more than any game since I’ve been here at EMU.  It was still easy to get tickets, so I have a feeling that “scalper” was a little confused, and while I am as big of a fan of tailgating as anyone, I’m not sure spilled beer, brats, and around 7,000 fans is a complete turnaround.

But sure, it’s an improvement, and relatively speaking for the MAC, it’s an improvement worth noting.  For whatever reason, ABC had on the Northern Illinois-Buffalo game on while the EMU game was going on, and I noticed that that game was being played to a largely empty stadium.  So compared to other MAC schools, Saturday’s game was a good showing.

Still, I’m conflicted.  I don’t want to be a hater, I really really don’t, but I have to wonder if all of this is “worth it” for EMU.  Sure, it’s great that the Emus are a lot better this year (though don’t buy your bowl tickets quite yet), but I am pretty sure the folks who were laid off this summer weren’t exactly overjoyed.

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Posted in College Fun, In the media..., Sports

Martin Rappells

Posted on October 9, 2011 by | 6 Comments

Martin Rappells I missed this the other day (it’s been a busy week with the day job):  As reported in annarbor.com, Susan Martin went rappelling with the ROTC folks last week.  She did it “to show her support of the program.”  And the PR ain’t bad either.

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Posted in Administrator Life, College Fun, EMU President, In the media...

The best and the worst universities using dubious measurements

Posted on October 7, 2011 by | Leave a comment

I came across a couple of interesting “best” and “worst” of universities today.  First, there’s Forbes Magazine’s “The World’s Top Universities 2011.”  As the article acknowledges, their rankings don’t correspond in most ways to the infamous ratings from U.S. News and World Report, but it’s still interesting.  And I like this opening passage:

The debate about primary and secondary education is still raging in the U.S., with statistics backing up the sense that the system is failing too many students. One Department of Education study found that 30 million adults in the U.S. were functionally illiterate. Another Department of Ed report ranks the U.S. at 24 out of 65 countries for math proficiency among 15-year-olds.

But when it comes to higher education, the U.S. does better than any other country, according to the eighth annual ranking of the world’s top universities, put out by Times Higher Education, a London magazine that tracks the higher ed market. The 2011 World University Rankings are dominated by U.S. schools. They hold 75 spots among the top 200, up three schools since last year. Seven U.S. schools are in the top 10. The U.K. comes in a distant second, with 32 schools in the top 200 and three in the top 10.

So maybe higher education in the U.S. isn’t going to hell in a handbasket.  By the way, that liberal arts university in Ann Arbor with the football team finished 18th on the list.

On the flip-side of this is “25 Colleges With the Worst Professors 2011.”  Keep in mind that the definition of “worst” is defined by ratings on Ratemyprofessor.com.  As my wife pointed out when she saw this, it might perhaps be better called “universities in America with the grumpiest students.”  Still, it’s interesting that MAC and/or Michigan rivals Central Michigan, Western Michigan, and University of Toledo are on the list.

 

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Posted in Academics, College Fun, In the media..., Student Life

Congrats to the “superior” Beta Alpha Psi accountants and their leader Howard Bunsis

Posted on October 7, 2011 by | Leave a comment

A loyal EMUTalk.org reader and PR guy forwarded me this link to an EMU press release, “Dandy dozen: EMU chapter of Beta Alpha Psi recognized as “superior” by national accounting honors organization for 12th year in a row under the leadership of professor Howard Bunsis.”  Here’s a quote:

The Eastern Michigan University chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, a national accounting honors organization, has been recognized internationally as a superior chapter for the past academic year.

In a letter announcing the honor, Beta Alpha Psi president Mary Stone cited the leadership of accounting professor Howard Bunsis, faculty advisor of the EMU chapter.

“Recognition as a superior chapter is a significant accomplishment,” said Stone. “Under the leadership of Howard Bunsis, the Epsilon Omega Chapter has far exceeded the minimum requirements of Beta Alpha Psi, and has excelled in the areas of academics, professionalism and leadership.”

Dang, that Bunsis is a busy dude.  Congrats to him and his accounting student charges!

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Posted in College Fun, EMU-AAUP, Faculty Life, Student Life

The WIDE-EMU is a free “unconference” on October 15 in Pray-Harrold Hall

Posted on October 3, 2011 by | Leave a comment

WIDE-EMUThis might fall into the category of shameless self-promotion, but I’ll post it anyway:  The EMU Written Communication program and MSU’s Writing in Digital Environments Research Center are going to be hosting a free ”unconference” on Saturday, October 15 in Pray-Harold Hall.  The theme of the conference is “what evidence do we have that teaching writing– especially in digital environments– works?”

We sent out the call for participation a while ago and it looks like we’re going to have at least 20 (maybe more) different presentations from folks coming to the unconference from all over Michigan and parts of Ohio and Indiana.  We’ll be having a keynote of sorts featuring Danielle DeVoss, Elyse Eidman, and Troy Hicks, authors of Because Digital Writing Matters.  And given the spontaneous nature of the event, we’re also expecting lots of surprises along the way.

It’s an “unconference” in the sense that we see it as a participation-driven event that could change as the day goes on, though we are putting together a schedule based on ideas that presenters proposed.  It’s free because we’re not providing attendees with anything– no coffee in the morning, no luncheon, no reception, not even nametags– and we’re fortunate enough to be holding this in the newly remodeled Pray-Harrold Hall.

It promises to be an interesting event, so I hope a lot of curious EMUTalk readers take a chance to stop by.  And did I mention it’s free?

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Posted in Academics, College Fun, EMU Events

Emus vs. Zips (and band day!)

Posted on September 30, 2011 by | 5 Comments

Sadly, it’s another bad weekend for me to see a home football game because of life and because of catching up with that pesky day job.  But it looks like if the weather holds, it might be a lovely day to see the Emus take on the Akron Zips.  People who know better will correct me on this, but this is essentially the first “real” game of the year.  EMU should win– I think I saw them as an 8 or 9 point favorite– and if they don’t win, it’ll be a major bummer/setback for English et al.

One of the oddities of this game (and I guess a lot of other college games tomorrow) is they’ll be celebrating the Ronald Reagan centennial with a coin toss.  Here’s a CNN story about it, and a quote:

The 100th anniversary of the late President Ronald Reagan’s birth is getting the football treatment in September, with teams across the country kicking off their games by flipping a Reagan Centennial Commemorative Coin.

Games played during the weekend of September 23 through 26 will commence with the coin flip, followed by a loudspeaker announcement and Reagan football tribute video, according to the Reagan foundation. Reagan was born on February 6, 1911.

I’m not quite getting this, but whatever.

But more important than any of this– including the game, frankly– is that it is once again band day.  I went to see that once a couple years ago and it is indeed a site worth seeing at least once.  The press release on the EMU sports page says there’s going to be 11 high school bands; that along with the EMU marching band means there’s going to be a lotta tubas and trombones out there.  Check it out!

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Posted in College Fun, EMU Events, Sports

“The Myth of College as a Fairy Tale”

Posted on September 23, 2011 by | Leave a comment

I suspect this is mostly preaching to the choir, but I thought Justin Martin’s column from Inside Higher Ed “The Myth of College as a Fairy Tale” was worth sharing.  Here’s a quote:

The collegiate fairy tale myth supposes that I spoiled myself in early adulthood by avoiding “work” and going to college. Presumptuous garbage. Like my students today, I had in college an enormous and time-sensitive workload, social pressures, empty pockets, and little sense of physical continuity. Any psychiatrist will tell you that moving domiciles is one of the most stressful life events that humans experience, and yet we make college students move around like carnies, in and out of dorm rooms, and perhaps urging them to relocate to off-campus housing as upperclassmen. On September 13, the fraternity house of Pi Kappa Alpha at the University of Maine, where I teach, was condemned and 22 students were tossed out. My, how lucky they are to know nothing of real-world pressure!

Incidentally, today is the Academic Student Success Summit and it features a presentation by Cathy Small who wrote My Freshmen Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student under the pseudonym Rebekah Nathan.  It’s a somewhat controversial book because of her research methodologies, but I read it a few years ago and it definitely addressed the life pressures issues that Martin discusses here.

I’m sure the summit will be useful, but with that name and the very common use of abbreviations and acronyms at EMU, all I can think of is who came up with the name “ASS Summit?”

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Posted in College Fun, In the media..., Student Life