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UM-Flint Campus News
from the Desk of Chancellor Ruth J. Person
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On a freezing cold evening in January, MLK Day to be
exact, about one hundred students, staff and community members gathered
in Flint to dedicate a very special Habitat for Humanity house.
Remodeling this house was a joint effort of our men of Kappa Sigma
fraternity, our Student Veterans Association, and Habitat for
Humanity. The house is now occupied by a U.S. Navy veteran who is
currently a nursing student on our campus.
Habitat for Humanity Dedication
What a great project and an even better story which
so dramatically emphasizes the results of coordination, cooperation, and
synergy. It is truly a "house united" -- united to
continue the restoration of a neighborhood, to serve a deserving veteran,
to provide a vehicle for student community service, and to bring our
campus together with the community.
This combined effort demonstrates what can happen
when an organization develops a "culture of
coordination." If we can move swiftly in this direction as a
campus, we can become even more successful at leveraging our resources
(whether they are financial or human) to accomplish much more than we
could independently. We'll also be able to make an even bigger
impact on the community and the region if we join forces with one another
to effect change.
A letter from a grateful community partner, Whaley
Children's Center, sums up what coordination can do for us all:
"One of the happiest days I have spent at
Whaley was the day the University of Michigan - Flint called to see
if we would host a service site for MLKing day. The communication,
follow-up and coordination I received from Jessie Hurse was second to
none. It was such a pleasure to work with him and be able to make
something so amazing happen inside the wall at Whaley. I have
been doing non-profit collaborative events for 30 years and NEVER have a
seen such a well run, high spirited and effective event. We had
over 50 U of M - Flint Staff and students working in three buildings,
five different areas. Together your amazing team did the work that
I calculated would have taken me almost two year to do alone a few hours
extra a week. The teams worked so very hard for over 7 hours and
had the same positive spirit and energy at 4pm as they did at 9am... There are no words to say that can express our
gratitude, but I can say that I am proud to be an alumni of the
University of Michigan - Flint, proud to have my children attend and
proud to be a part of a community where a University doesn't just say they
want to make a difference....but they REALLY DO!"
Ruth
J. Person
Chancellor
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*COMPETE*
On
January 10, 2011, we held a press conference to announce a new
special designation from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching as an "engaged campus." The Carnegie Foundation
is the organization that classifies American colleges and universities
using available national data. Below is a snapshot of our former
classification and its revisions. Most notably, we moved to
"postbaccalaureate comprehensive" and to the top tier of
Master's programs.
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Classification
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Category
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Undergraduate Instructional Program:
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Prof+A&S/SGC: Professions plus arts & sciences,
some graduate coexistence
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Graduate Instructional Program:
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Postbac-A&S/Other: Post baccalaureate with arts &
sciences (other dominant fields)
Now Postbaccalaureate comprehensive
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Enrollment Profile:
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VHU: Very high undergraduate Now High Undergraduate
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Undergraduate Profile:
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MFT4/S/HTI: Medium full-time four-year, selective, higher
transfer-in Now Medium full-time four-year, inclusive
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Size and Setting:
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M4/NR: Medium four-year, primarily nonresidential
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Basic:
Community Engagement
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Master's M: Master's Colleges and Universities (medium
programs) Now (larger programs)
Curricular Engagement and Outreach
and Partnerships
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(2010 changes in bold print)
In 2005,
the Foundation introduced a new elective classification category,
"Community Engagement." Application for this
classification is completely voluntary, and highly competitive. Of
the more than 4,000 institutions Carnegie classifies, only 311 now have
this classification. We are in very good company! My thanks
to the individuals who worked on our application. It is a daunting
task to compile information about the extent of our community
engagement. I know that we will continue to find more and more
ways to be engaged not just locally, but regionally as well.
Receiving
recognition from Congressman Kildee's Office
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*CONVENE*
On January 27, 2011, the
Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Budget and Strategic Planning held its
annual campus Budget Forum.
It is important for all of
us to understand where our revenue comes from and where it goes, as well
as to know as much as we can about each of our units and the functions
they serve. Why? In the words of one state official when
addressing the need for knowledge in addressing potential budget cuts,
"The easiest cut to make is the one you don't understand."
My initial presentation addressed
the all-important question: "Where does the money come from
(slide 1) and where does it go? (slides 2 and 3)"
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Slide 1
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Slide 2.
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Slide
3
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Attendees then had an opportunity
to hear from members of the campus leadership team about answers to
the following questions for their unit:
(1) The previous
Strategic Plan experienced a resounding success. In this context,
please describe your unit's three most significant achievements in recent
years.
(2) Where do you see your
unit in five years? What particular budgetary challenges will you
face in this process?
(3) How do you plan to
address these budgetary challenges?
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*CONNECT*
It
goes without saying that the single most important thing we do at
UM-Flint is to offer academic degree programs. We continue to add
degrees as the need and demand arise; one of our more recent is the
Ed Specialist program. I had the opportunity to speak to the Ed
Specialist class on Saturday and the chance to connect with Peter
Rosenkrands, CEO of A.B. Heller and UM-Ann Arbor grad in
engineering. While we did not know one another in school, we both
have a deep Michigan connection, and it is always great to hear about
"Leaders and Best," whether you know them or not! It was
an interesting class session and the students were all engaged in
developing a deeper understanding of leadership. That's what we're
about!
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On My Calendar
February 1:
Executive Officers
Meeting (Ann Arbor)
February 3:
MMSDC Luncheon
February 8:
Executive Officers
Luncheon for MSC
(Detroit)
Workforce Development
Board
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*Person(ally)
Speaking*
How
did you spend your Snow Days? As a child growing up in suburban
Maryland, I spent my "snow days" outside, mostly sledding down
a very steep street (into cross-traffic and wearing no protective gear at
all; what were we thinking?), building snow forts, and probably creating
some level of mischief. Now, what I did was stay inside the Ross
House, resisting the temptation to see where I could go in my
4-wheel-drive Jeep, and organizing piles and piles of old files and
papers. Even found an early draft of my dissertation! Much
more productive, but not nearly as much fun as sledding! Meanwhile,
our erstwhile facilities and DPS staff members were hard at work making
sure that we could all return to work safely after two days off.
Thank you for your hard work!
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Thank
you for reading "BlueNotes!"
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