Town Hall Meeting Update, April 18, 2006

At the April 18, 2006, Town Hall meeting with faculty, staff and students, UDM President Gerard L. Stockhausen, S.J., highlighted the following University activities and updates:

Updates

The Magis Awards, which honor individuals for advancing the Catholic character of UDM, were presented to Sandy Ross, director of Financial Aid, and to student Katie Pidsosny at the Honors Convocation Mass. Senior Mead Goedert was named this year's valedictorian.

The recent exhibit of faculty books, organized by Academic Vice President and Provost Barbara Schirmer and Dean of Libraries Margaret Auer, was an impressive display of the scholarly productivity of UDM faculty and a great opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of our colleagues.

Two significant University-wide self-studies are in draft stage - one for reaccreditation of UDM by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and the other for recertification of UDM's varsity athletics program by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Please provide feedback to the respective committees on these self-studies.

Security

Public Safety is working with the Student Senate on a common project for fall and on a feedback loop to address student concerns quickly. Both of these should increase student involvement in and awareness of improving security. Public Safety is also planning an "eyes and ears" program to encourage the University community to play an active role in enhancing safety and security across UDM. This summer Public Safety will work with the Environmental Safety Officer to conduct containment/shelter drills. Public Safety continues working with Facilities Operations to stripe parking areas, improve roadway signage, and trim foliage to maximize campus lighting. In addition to the two officers hired in January, an investigative/training sergeant has been added to allow for more community training. Work also continues on emergency planning, expanding and upgrading the McNichols surveillance system, McNichols Campus emergency telephones, and overall operational procedures.

Enrollment

Enrollment numbers for fall 2005 and winter 2006 terms are very strong and worth celebrating, although much of the growth is due to strong numbers at the Law School. The full-time growth on the McNichols Campus is encouraging, and it has kept this pace for the last three to four years. Nearly all of the undergraduate growth is in nursing, science, and architecture.

With about 60 percent of students registered, summer registration is running about even with the same time last year. With about 20 percent of students registered, fall registration is up in all categories. Freshman applications and acceptances for fall are up somewhat over last year at this time, with deposits running about even with the last two years. Transfer applications for fall are up 70 percent over last year at this time, and transfer acceptances are up 40 percent.

Capital Projects

Wayne County Community College has completed demolition of the Administration Building on the Outer Drive Campus. They expect to begin construction soon of a new classroom and administrative facility on that spot. I appreciate the patience of all Dental School faculty, staff and students during these campus changes as they continue to provide excellent dental education and patient care.

We have now tentatively allocated University dollars to each project (McNichols, Dental and Riverfront) and are studying whether those dollars plus anticipated fund raising will be sufficient to accomplish what we want - with the added proviso that projects be planned in such a way that spending not get ahead of fund raising. We hope to bring all of this together relatively soon so that the Executive Committee can be ready to make a final recommendation to the full Board of Trustees no later than the scheduled June meeting.

Neighborhood News

Livernois Boulevard: Phase one of the Livernois Boulevard project is starting with work planned from Eight Mile Road to Grove (one block south of McNichols). Phase Two will go from McNichols to Davison, but there's no indication of funding for that phase.

University Commons: Recently the City of Detroit informed us that it wanted University Commons to be a free-standing organization, separate from the NorthStar community development corporation. As I have worked with the various neighborhood and business groups in University Commons to reorganize, it is clear that one result will be that UDM and I will play a major leadership role in the organization. This should enhance our ability to push economic development in the Livernois and McNichols area.

Media Articles

The April 16 issue of the Detroit News had an article on initial pass rates on content area exams (e.g., English, social studies, math, science, etc.) of students in teacher preparation programs in Michigan. An accompanying chart showed UDM as having the lowest initial pass rate. A casual reading of the article would leave the impression that Michigan schools, and UDM in particular, are not doing a good job of preparing teachers for primary and secondary classrooms because a significant percentage of the teachers they turn out cannot even pass the state content exams.

The main fact is that UDM does not certify teachers in a content area unless they pass the state exam in that area and are fully prepared according to the guidelines in the No Child Left Behind Act. Thus UDM's teacher education program, rather than turning out people who do not know their content area, serves as a gatekeeper to make sure only those who do know their content area get certified.

If these people do not pass the content area test on the first try, does that mean that our undergraduate programs have not prepared them in these areas? No. People who enter UDM's teacher education program often do not have their undergraduate degree from UDM. People can take the exam without having been admitted to UDM's program. Finally, people can take the exam more than once; so what matters is that they had to pass it to get certified, not whether or not they passed on the first try.

The April 17 issue of the Detroit Free Press had an article on the Michigan Tuition Grant, a need-based grant of up to $2000 per year for Michigan students attending private higher education institutions in Michigan. The article focused on Baker College whose students last year accounted for over a third of the $53 million in grants, but which has only a 19 percent graduation rate. The question raised by the article is whether tax dollars should go to support enrollment only or actual completion of a degree. However, if the question is framed in those terms, then state support of many public institutions should be at risk as well.