President's Town Hall Meeting summary, April 12, 2007

At the April 12, 2007 Town Hall meeting, UDM President Gerard L. Stockhausen, S.J.,  provided the following University updates:

Neal Shine Media Center

On Wednesday, April 11, Detroit said farewell to one of its great citizens, Neal Shine '52.  Next Wednesday, April 18, UDM will proudly memorialize one of its great alumni when we dedicate the Neal Shine Media Center.  This new home for the Varsity News was funded by many alumni who had worked on the student newspaper during their years at the University.  There will be a joyful memorial mass in the St. Ignatius Chapel in the C&F Building at 4:30 p.m., followed by the dedication on the third floor of the Briggs Building at 5:30 p.m.  All are welcome.

Good news

The University received the written report from the site-visit team of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. UDM has met all five criteria for reaccreditation, and is recommended for a full 10-year term with no required actions. 

The visit team highlighted four areas of significant accomplishment for UDM:

• Innovative programs
• Service and community involvement
• Promoting Catholic identity while being open and inclusive
• Shared governance

The team recommends that the University pay attention to the following areas over the next 10 years:

• Consider modifying the way we report financial information to help us more accurately benchmark with other institutions;
• Making sure that UDM follows through on its plans for assessment and program review;
• Monitoring the transition between the departure of a faculty member from the University and the hiring of a new faculty member;
• Completing the core curriculum review and implementing regular assessment and review of the core. 

The Higher Learning Commission Board of Trustees should ratify the team's recommendations this summer.

In addition, UDM has been recertified by the NCAA Division I Committee on Athletics Certification for another 10 years.  This follows a site visit last September.

Strategic planning

UDM senior leadership has been involved in a strategic planning process. The first draft of the plan is completed and will be disseminated broadly for feedback.  An interactive web site will be available next week, containing the documents and a feedback mechanism. While awaiting feedback, the University will implement some of the more obvious strategies of the plan (e.g., fund-raising campaign and capital projects) and make room in the FY 2008 budget for others (e.g., grants office).

Congratulations

Congratulations to the Dental School on its successful site visit from the American Dental Education Association.  The peer-review team made 13 commendations across the whole range of dental programs, and it made one recommendation for change that was implemented even before the team left town.

Congratulations also to the Law School.  Its students have had outstanding success in a number of national moot court competitions, often beating out teams from prestigious law schools.  Also, for the third year in a row, the Law School was listed as having one of the top 20 Legal Writing Programs in the country by U.S.News & World Report.

Macomb University Center programs

UDM will offer bachelor's and master's degrees in Financial Economics at the Macomb University Center this fall in addition to the Health Professions programs currently offered at the Center.  This will allow us to increase our presence in Macomb County with its growing population without UDM having to invest in any bricks and mortar.  It will also provide a platform for recruiting more students from Macomb County to the McNichols Campus.

Laptop program

For the 2007-2008 academic year, the School of Architecture and the College of Engineering & Science are recommending freshman students in Architecture, Digital Media Studies, Engineering, and Science take advantage of a new Notebook hardware/software package to enhance their educational experience at UDM. The University has worked with vendors to develop an outstanding package of software available at a very low price for students who purchase a high-end laptop that can run the software. 

Enrollment highlights

Summer registration is a little behind compared to this time in 2006. However, fall enrollment is looking strong. Compared to the same time last year, freshman applications and admits are up 8%; deposits are up 19%; and registrations for summer orientation sessions are up 80%. Similarly, fall registrations of full-time undergraduates are up 10%; part-time undergraduates up 34%; and graduate students up 2%. Overall, this is an 11% increase over the same time last year. Good enrollment news makes for good fiscal news.

Banner system

The installation of the hardware and software for the Banner system has begun. The Steering Committee and the larger Implementation Committee are in place.  The process involves setting up a mock UDM system on Banner that will allow for testing and experimentation before going live with the final version.  Various components of the system will be ready for use at different times over the next 18 months.

Capital projects

The new Dental School project is proceeding on time and within budget.  The new architectural firm for the Riverfront Campus should have cost estimates soon for the first phase of that project and then will begin renderings and construction documents.

Design work on the multi-purpose artificial surface track and field on the northeast corner of the McNichols Campus is well under way with completion of the project targeted for early October.  Tuck-pointing of the Student Center continues; replacing the Ford Life Sciences roof has just begun; and plans are in process to upgrade the entryway to the Fisher Building and the Admissions area. Once students move out of the residence halls, the Holden Hall windows will be replaced and the electrical infrastructure will be upgraded, and work will begin on the Shiple Hall bathrooms.

Kudos

The Magis Awards winners for this year are Alan Hoback, associate professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering & Science and Sarah Shaffer, a senior in the College of Liberal Arts & Education.