Volume 22, Number 5, September 18, 2002
Calendar
News Items
UMC
Chancellor Search
As you know, Chancellor Don
Sargeant is resigning as Chancellor at the end of the 2003 academic
year. I commend Chancellor Sargeant for his outstanding leadership
and service to the University of Minnesota, Crookston and I wish him
the very best as he returns to a faculty position.
I am now in the process of initiating the search for the next Chancellor of the University of Minnesota, Crookston. I am pleased to announce that Robert Jones, Vice President and Executive Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Programs, has agreed to serve as chair of the UMC Chancellor search committee. So that the search process can be as effective as possible, I would like the Crookston campus community to have an opportunity to provide input regarding this critical search while in its initial stages.
If you were unable to attend the input forum on Thursday, September 12, and would like to provide input regarding the search, please send an e-mail to Donna Saathoff, the individual coordinating the Chancellor search in the President's Office, at: d-saat@umn.edu. Donna will forward your thoughts to Vice President Jones and me. We welcome any feedback you may have regarding the search.
I want to thank you for
assisting me with the search process for this critically important
leadership position. Vice President Jones is looking forward to his
visit on the Crookston campus.
--Bob Bruininks, Interim President, University of Minnesota
Torch
and Shield Nominations Sought
Each year the UMC Torch and Shield Award is presented
to individuals who have provided leadership and who have aided in the
development of the University of Minnesota, Crookston. Nominations for
the 2002 Torch and Shield Award are currently being accepted by the
Chancellor’s Office. If you would like to nominate someone, please send
the name and reason for nomination to the Chancellor’s Office by noon on
Friday, September 20, 2002. Past award recipients are listed at
http://www.umcrookston.edu/people/alumni/TnSrecipients.htm. This year
Torch and Shield is set for Wednesday, October 30.
Farewell
Party for Dean McCleary September 26
UMC will host a going away party
for Vice Chancellor Dean McCleary on Thursday, September 26, 2002, from
3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Brown Dining Room, Sahlstrom Conference Center.
Dean has accepted a position as Chief Financial Officer for American
Federal Bank, and he and his family will be moving to the Fargo area.
He has served as UMC’s Vice Chancellor for Finance since 1994. Please
join us in wishing Dean and his wife Natalie and their family well.
State
of the University Address October 3
Interim President
Bruininks will give his State of the University Address on Thursday,
October 3, from 3 to 4 p.m. The address will be available as a live
downlink at UMC in Hill Hall, Room 15. A phone line will be available
for UMC faculty, staff, or students to call in for the question and
answer session immediately following Bruininks’ address.
Use of UMC Logo and
Consistency
The guidelines for use of UMC logos
and colors are posted at
www.umcrookston.edu/campusinfo/policies/logo.htm
(or go to the UMC policies website). That site also provides links to
other important sites regarding guidelines for campus image consistency.
Q: Hey, how come you’re so worried about how I use UMC logo materials?
A: Research and application show that the consistent use of logos and other branding materials (including layout formats, content, and colors) help organizations break through marketing clutter and achieve higher consumer recognition.
Ask yourself, have you ever seen the Coca-Cola logo in purple or blue? Or the Nike “swoosh” with some extra lines or numbers added “Just to spice it up?”
Remember, we get “tired” of our own marketing materials long before consumers do. Why? Because we pay attention. Reality is, our audiences are bombarded with information and our messages don’t always get through. And with the escalating costs of marketing materials and mediums, our ability to connect these messages with intended audiences becomes more and more critical. Consistency is our most powerful ally in this battle.
Thank you for your
attention to and support of this important marketing issue. For more
information or to get answers to specific questions, please contact the
UMC Image Marketing Committee.
--Curt Almlie, Chair
Michelle Christopherson
Rae French
Stephanie Helgeson
Leela Hier
Pam Holsinger-Fuchs
Russ Kreager
Mike Meyer
Steve Shirley
Craig Silvernagel
Tom Sondreal
Andrew Svec
Patti Tiedemann
John Zak
Improving
Services to Students with Attention Deficit Disorder
UMC Disability Services together
with the Academic Assistance Center and Student Support Services will be
joining with University of North Dakota Disability Service staff on
Monday, October 14 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the UND Memorial Union to share
materials, resources and expertise on the topic of ADD/ ADHD. Elizabeth
Lamb of UND DS will present on “coaching” students with ADD/ ADHD as a
technique to enhance functioning, and Dr. Tom Petros will present on
effective learning / study strategies and drug treatment of the
condition. Opportunities for discussion and sharing will be provided
throughout the afternoon. This diagnostic category represents the group
of students with disabilities at this campus and many others who have
the lowest rate for retention despite adequate intellectual ability. Any
UMC faculty or staff person interested in participating would be welcome
to do so. There is no cost other than transportation to UND. Please
notify Laurie Wilson at 8587 if you would like to attend.
It is our intention to
follow-up this opportunity with a UMC campus Brown Bag luncheon
dedicated to this topic.
--Laurie Wilson, Counseling and Disability Services
Undergraduate
Research Opportunities Program
Application material for
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program projects to be conducted
from January 1 through June 15 is now available in the Academic Affairs
Office. The maximum award is $1,700 – stipend up to $1,400 (hourly rate
is $10.84) and expense allowance up to $300. Completed applications
should be returned to the Academic Affairs Office by 4:30 p.m. on
October 7, 2002. Late applications will not be accepted. UROP offers
financial awards to undergraduate students for research, scholarly, or
creative projects undertaken in partnership with a faculty member. UROP
affords undergraduates the unique educational experience of
collaborating with a faculty member on the design and implementation of
a project. At the same time, faculty have the opportunity to work
closely with students and receive valuable assistance with their own
research or professional activity. UROP encourages students to conduct
research and pursue academic interests outside of their regular courses
by employing them to work on special projects. UROP applications are
judged on the quality of the proposed project and the educational
benefit to the student. Copies of UROP proposals submitted by UMC
students that have been funded are on reserve in the library.
--Academic Affairs
New Entering Student
Survey Information
The results of the
New Entering Student Survey completed by
students at their initial registration for Fall 2002 have now been
tabulated and posted to the web.
The following are some "highlights" of the findings:
-
UMC was the first college choice of 71.2%
-
62.6% have participated in service learning or volunteer activities in high school, community, or at another educational institution
-
71.5% spend 3 or more hours a week using a computer
-
92.3% have a personal computer at home
-
85.7% have a personal e-mail account
-
39.2% of their parents have earned a bachelor's degree or higher
Major sources of information about UMC were:
-
Visit(s) to the campus (40.0%);
-
UMC website (37.8%);
-
UMC brochure or pamphlet (34.4%); and the
-
UMC catalog (34.3%)
The single most important consideration in choosing to attend UMC were:
-
type of academic programs available (30.7%);
-
size (14.3%), and
-
location--close to home (12.9%)
You can access
the complete survey results from my webhome at:
http://webhome.crk.umn.edu/~nelson/ then selecting:
> Surveys > New
Entering Student Survey, Fall 2002 or
> Surveys > New
Entering Student Survey Summary, 1993 - 2002
--Bob Nelson, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
“Wild, Wild West” Homecoming
Sale at UMC Bookstore
Stop by the UMC Bookstore, 119
Bede Hall, to take advantage of the great sale prices for Homecoming
2002, September 18-27.
-
35% off novelty items, frames, Dreamsicle ornaments
-
30% off t-shirts
-
25% off shorts, hats, selected crew sweatshirts
-
NEW! 20% off women’s collection (shorts, t-shirts, sweatpants)
-
15% off UMC giftware
The bookstore hours are
8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, with special homecoming hours on
Saturday, September 21, from noon to 1:30 p.m.
--Leela Hier, Program Director, UMC Bookstore
Update on UMC Network Performance
Well, it’s about time for a
comprehensive update on the status of the UMC network and the deployment
of advanced technologies that have been underway over the past month.
First, the Computer Services staff would like to thank all of you for your understanding through a very difficult time with an underperforming network. The speed and responsiveness of our systems has been much less than acceptable. That said, we have now resolved a number of problems and are seeing significant improvements in reliability and dependability. Let me give you a little more detail.
Question - Why did the network
performance get so bad?
Answer - This is complicated.
Reason #1 - Once we had all faculty, staff, and students on campus, we pushed the network for the first time with a much more powerful computer. The new Dell computers have an advanced microprocessor with a good deal more memory than our previous machine. They simply place more demands on our network.
Reason #2 - With the upgrade of our network servers to Windows 2000 and our messaging system to Exchange 2000, we installed new technologies that will allow us to provide an advanced set of services on campus as well as improve your working experience from home. The configuration of this new system has required that we work with communications services that assure as many as 10 servers communicate and depend upon each other. It has taken time to bring up the new, retire the old, and to synchronize everything. We now believe we have resolved nearly all the problems that developed because of the network and software upgrade.
Reason #3 - Most significantly, with the move of the computer center from Dowell Hall to Kiehle Hall, the campus switch and router that manage on-campus and out to the Internet traffic required a complicated reconfiguration. That reconfiguration demanded significant tweaking to work effectively. A major adjustment was made Tuesday, September 10. As needed, we will continue to enhance the configuration with the assistance of Networking and Telecommunications Services from our Minneapolis campus. This change helped a great deal in connecting to Outlook and other internal resources such as printers.
Reason #4 - Many students and staff have also installed and are enjoying the services of downloading music and video files from the Internet. Programs such as KaZaa, Limewire, Morpheus, WinMX and others take huge amounts of network bandwidth. Skyberg Hall and McCall Hall have had very poor network service and much of the problem has been traced to unusual amount of traffic from these applications. We have installed some bandwidth management routing rules and sometime in the next month hope to install additional equipment to help us manage this bandwidth even further. While performance in the dorms is still nowhere near where we want it to be, it should have improved in the past 24 hours. A follow-up message on how to configure these music/video download programs to use a reasonable amount of bandwidth will be distributed by the end of the week. Once the new hardware is installed, and we get the sharing programs properly configured, we will see much needed performance improvement in the dorms. As you can see, addressing this problem is a work in progress.
Well, I hope that the above info is helpful. We will continue to work diligently to assure that networking services become your most valuable learning resource. It is our goal that the network will be available, fast, and reliable.
Again, thanks for your patience. Please let
us know if you are having problems and we’ll work to resolve each and
every issue in a professional and time sensitive manner.
--Jeff Sperling, UMC Computing Services
Beyond Boundaries
Conference at UND
The University of North Dakota
and the Conference Planning Committee enthusiastically invite you to
attend the First Annual Beyond Boundaries - Integrating Technology into
Teaching and Learning Conference, September 19-20, 2002. The conference
will be held in UND's Memorial Union, Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Please take some time to review our conference website at: <www.conted.und.edu/elearning>. As you review the conference website, you will find a diverse conference schedule full of renowned keynote speakers, concurrent oral and poster sessions, online course showcases, and vendor exhibits that highlight best practices for integrating technology into teaching and learning. We encourage you and your colleagues to attend and share your knowledge, research and experience with other faculty & administrators from across the region.
More information about the conference sessions and registration details are outlined on the website. Please distribute this email information to other faculty & administrators in your area that may be interested. You may also register online at: <www.conted.und.edu/elearning>.
Please join us in going beyond the boundaries of technology and education to find solutions in an era of continuous change and challenges. See you there!
Sincerely,
--CK Braun, Chair, Conference Planning Committee, University of North
Dakota
Editor’s Note: Seven UMC faculty, staff, and students will present sessions at “Beyond Boundaries: Integrating Technology into Teaching and Learning,” a technology conference, Sept. 19-20, at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. UMC presenters include Mary Margaret Pringle, David DeMuth, Jerry Knutson, Tim Gerla, Hilary Bertsch, and Jane Sims.
Telephone Voice
Response System Will End December 31
The University's interactive
voice response (IVR) system, which provides information on grades,
registration status, housing, loans, and student finances for all four
campuses, will be discontinued after December 31. IVR system use
has fallen dramatically as the same information has become available on
the Web. The IVR system was introduced in 1997. It goes by the name
Golden Eagle Informer (Crookston), the UMD Student Line (Duluth), the
Morris Student Line, and the Gopher Student Line (Twin Cities).
Use peaked at more than 70,000 calls during some months. In May this year, the IVR system was accessed only 10,126 times, while grade information on the Web received 150,000 hits in the same time period.
Representatives from each campus registrar, housing office, and student finance office, along with the Office of Information Technology, decided that maintaining two systems to provide essentially the same information is not cost effective.
The IVR system will
provide notice of its end date beginning in September.
--From The Record newsletter, August 2002
Homecoming
Court
On Tuesday, September 17, UMC
students will select a king and queen, prince and princess from the
following nominees:
Queen: Susan
Boeddeker, Jaime Brause, Megan Brorson, Alaina Burt, Lisa Voth
King: Josh Kuchinka, Ben Loll, Tony Lorentz, Tim Mareck, Jeremy
Pape
Princess: Steph Brodeur, DeAnn Ebert, Sara Krippner, Ellen
Larson, Andrea Prudhomme
Prince: Dan Beitzel, John Burger, Pete Kvien, Kyle Rollness,
Brandon Sykora
Coronation is scheduled for Thursday, September 19, starting at 8 p.m. in Bede Ballroom. Congratulations and good luck to all the nominees!
Accolades
Dan
Svedarsky, Professor of Natural
Resources at UMC and Research Biologist for the Northwest Research and
Outreach Center, has produced a booklet A Landowner’s Guide to
Prairie Management in Minnesota. Additional contributors include
M.A. Kuchenreuther, G.J. Cuomo, P. Buesseler, H. Moeching, and A.
Singh. Ross Hier, John Loegering, Bruce Flaig, and John Zak also lent
their talents to the production. A PDF version of the publication is
available at <www.umcrookston.edu/research>.
Pam
Elf,
Assistant Professor of Biology, has published two articles relating to
her research work with yolk hormone levels in various reptile eggs:
-
Elf, P.K., J. W. Lang and A.J. Fivizzani. 2002. Yolk hormone levels in the eggs of snapping turtles and painted turtles. General and Comparative Endocrinology (Gen. Comp. Endocrinol.) 127:26-33.
Special Dates
Births
Jason Tanquist, Program Advisor for
Student Support Services and Head Men’s Golf Coach, and his wife Renee
are the proud parents of a new baby boy: Easton Paul Tanquist. Easton
was born September 16 and weighed in at 8 lbs., 11 oz.
Birthdays
September 22 -- Bill Peterson
September 25 -- David DeMuth
Anniversary
September 23 – Angelika and Mark Huglen
September 24 -- Krista and Mike Proulx
l
25th Anniversary
Reminder: Faculty and staff are encouraged to share well wishes for birthdays, anniversaries, births, etc. with the rest of the campus. Please send items for this week’s special dates via e-mail to Andrew Svec at asvec@mail.crk.umn.edu and/or Sue Dwyer at sdwyer@mail.crk.umn.edu. Thanks.
UMC Insight
UMC
Insight, the weekly radio show about UMC, will air on KROX Radio 1260 AM
Saturdays at 8:45 a.m.
Tune in Saturday, September 21, to hear Kristina Gray, Instructor of Composition at UMC, talk about her travels. This edition of Insight is hosted by Andrew Svec, UMC Director of Communications.
UMC
Bulletin
The UMC Bulletin is posted at:
<http://www.umcrookston.edu/campusinfo/wkbulletin/bulletin.htm>
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