Addendum #3
PRESIDENT'S REPORT TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES – 5/6/05
NMU Student All-American Athletes:
I am pleased to present five NMU student-athletes who have been recognized as Members of the All-American First Team in their sport. These young people excel academically and in their sport and are a credit to the university. Will each student please come forward as I say your name.
Bryan Cook. Bryan is a cross country skier. He is a senior from Rhinelander, Wisconsin, majoring in International Studies. He finished 5th in the 10K classic race at the 2005 NCAA Skiing Championships. Bryan has been an outstanding team captain who has led by example. He also won both the CCSA Regional Championship Ski Events leading up to the NCAA Championships. Congratulations, Bryan.
Stephanie Howe. Stephanie is a cross country runner. She is a junior from Forest Lake, Minnesota, majoring in Management of Health and Fitness. She won the 2004 GLIAC Cross Country Championships and finished 20th in the NCAA II National Cross Country Championships. She has worked hard for three years toward the goal of being an All-American. Congratulations, Stephanie.
Jennie Lahr is unable to be here today because she is competing in the conference championships. Jennie is a track and field athlete and a senior from St. Cloud, Minnesota, majoring in Elementary Education. She placed 3rd in the mile at the 2005 NCAA Division II indoor track and field championships, she won the GLIAC indoor track and field championships, and she holds the NCAA Division II 2005 nation's best time in the mile.
Lindsey Weier. Lindsey is a cross county skier. She is a sophomore from Mahtomedi, Minnesota, majoring in Social Work. She placed 8th in the 5K classic race at the 2005 NCAA Skiing Championships. Lindsey is a 2002 Olympian as well as Junior World team member and has been a fantastic addition to the NMU Ski Program. Congratulations, Lindsey.
Lindsay Williams. Lindsay is a cross country skier. She is a junior from Hastings, Minnesota, majoring in Sports Science. She took 2nd place at the 2005 NCAA skiing championships in the 5K classic race and 4th in the 15K freestyle race. She won the U.S. National Sprint Championship as well as several other U.S. National events and was NMU's 2004-2005 Female Athlete of the Year. Congratulations, Lindsay.
And the Coach responsible for all of these athletes, Sten Fjeldheim, please come forward. He is the Head Coach for Women's Cross Country Running, the Men's and Women's Ski Team, and Women's Track. Coach Fjeldheim was an outstanding NMU student-athlete and All-American who earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Northern. He is well known and widely recognized as one of the country's top coaches, earning several "Coach of the Year" designations and coaching Olympians and World Champions. His teams are known for excellence in their sport and in the classroom. Congratulations on your success, Sten, we are proud of you.
May 2005 Commencement Speaker and Honorary Degree Recipient:
Mr. Dennis George is in private law practice in Seattle, Washington. Prior to 2003, he served as an executive officer and general counsel of Dendreon Corporation, a Seattle-based public biotechnology company. He was instrumental in establishing a collaboration between NMU and Dendreon which has grown into student internships, a research project, and the chance for NMU to be actively involved with cancer research.
Mr. George was born in Ironwood. He received his undergraduate degree from NMU in 1960 and his law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1966. He received the NMU Distinguished Alumni Award in 1996, served as Executive in Residence for the NMU College of Business in 2003, and is currently serving on the NMU Foundation Board of Trustees.
I am proud to recommend him as commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient. The recommendation is in the Formals.
2005 TLC Staff Award Recipients
This year, for the first time, Northern Michigan University presented TLC awards to staff. These awards recognized exemplary staff use/support of TLC laptops and/or associated technologies in the areas of teaching or university business practices. The recipients are:
In 1998 Senior Engineer Gerry Ely developed a system to allow an IBM ThinkPad computer to be quickly connected to a video projector and networking cables using a computer monitor support arm. Gerry researched, experimented, designed, built, installed, and modified docking stations throughout campus, saving the university thousands of dollars while helping faculty to utilize technology to improve teaching.
A system that will allow all students in any course, online or in person, to evaluate a course through the web was developed by Systems Network Administrator Karl Mulder and promoted by Control Coordinator Jan Crawford. It is recognized as addressing the need of conducting course evaluations for web-based courses in a secure manner and converting to a web format. This project improves the mechanism for student feedback and access to evaluations and potentially saves time and resources.
As Northern's student recruitment efforts expanded into new markets a way to reach more potential students without increasing costs was needed. Tony Bertucci (AdIT) and Gerri Daniels (Admissions) developed a method to automate these processes which allowed us to disseminate information electronically rather than on paper; to use automated communications which increased our connection to students; and to use automatic population of forms reducing staff need for data entry. Without increasing the budget, this process allowed Admissions to more than quadruple their recruitment outreach.
2005 TLC Student Award Recipients
This year, for the first time, Northern Michigan University presented six TLC awards to students. These awards recognized innovative uses of laptop computers in the academic environment. The recipients are:
Patricia Hernandez, from the Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, for her project entitled “Addressing Deficiency Needs in Rwandan Children through Sports Programming”. Patricia is an undergraduate student.
Brock Jensen and Robert Bowen, from the Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, for their project entitled “The Effects of Added Weight on Power Output and Heart Rate: Treadmill vs. On Road Cycling”. Brock and Robert are graduate students.
Mike Lemke, from the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, for his project entitled “Java as a Turing Machine”. Mike is an undergraduate student.
Elisa Neckar, from the Department of English, for her project entitled “Developing a Web Site for the Writing Center”. Elisa is a graduate student.
JoeyLynn Paquette, from the School of Education, for her project entitled “Inspirational Teaching and Learning”. JoeyLynn is an undergraduate student.
Alumni Award for Trustee Larry C. Inman '76:
I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Larry Inman who is being honored by his other alma mater, Northwestern Michigan College, as recipient of the 2005 NMC Outstanding Alumni Award. The award will be presented at a dinner on June 3rd, attended by members of the NMC college community, area alumni, and community leaders. Congratulations, Larry, on this honor.
NACUBO Rising Star Award:
I would also like to take this opportunity to recognize Gavin Leach who has been awarded the NACUBO 2005 Rising Star Award. The Rising Star Award identifies future leaders in higher education – up-and-coming individuals in the areas of finance, administration, and business known for their innovative, meaningful contributions to the improvements of their profession and the efficiency of their institution. Congratulations, Gavin, on this well deserved honor.
New Business Dean
I am pleased to announce that Rajib Sanyal is the new dean of the Walker L. Cisler College of Business, effective July 1. Dr. Sanyal has served as professor of management in the School of Business at The College of New Jersey since 1987, including four years as department chair. He was selected for an ACE Fellowship for the 2004-05 academic year at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He holds a doctorate in business administration from Georgia State University in Atlanta, a master's degree in industrial relations from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a master of commerce degree in general business from the University of Delhi-India, and a bachelor of commerce degree in accountancy from the University of Calcutta-India.