Office of the President

The President’s Perspective

December 2009

Dear Colleagues:

We are at the close of fall semester. It has been a wonderfully productive few months for our campus community—students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends. Before we close for the holidays, I want to take just a few moments to recap some of our accomplishments and look ahead to some happenings that will mark the coming new year.

Medical school

With the Board of Trustees endorsement of the medical school planning process at its November meeting, we’ll be moving swiftly ahead into the next phase of work on that front. We’ve also received an anonymous gift of $1.8 million to help us continue our efforts.

Soon after the start of the new year, we will initiate a search for a dean pro tem and meet in Chicago with the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) to begin the accreditation process. This is an initiative that is still in its beginning stages, but we’re looking at a step forward that, if taken, has tremendous potential to both build our University and boost our region’s economic development.

More ‘green’ credentials

The past few months have brought significant progress and recognition for our sustainability efforts and our focus on the environment.

In October, Congressman Fred Upton came to campus to announce that our green manufacturing work would receive a $1 million earmark from the federal government.

Dr. John Patten, chair of manufacturing engineering and director of the WMU Center for Manufacturing Research, directs that work, which is focused on collaborating with area manufacturers, especially smaller businesses, to help them build greater energy efficiency into their manufacturing processes and promote recycling of materials to further reduce costs.
Also in October, the annual Sustainable Endowments Institute Report Card placed WMU in an elite cadre of 80 institutions nationwide that it calls ‘Campus Sustainability Leaders.’

The University is one of only two Michigan universities in the group.
In November, we learned that ongoing geosciences work in carbon sequestration on our campus will see a $601,158 boost in federal support for research that could help Michigan become one of the nation’s leaders in capturing and storing greenhouse gas emissions below the earth’s surface.

That work is led by Dr. Dave Barnes with Drs. Bill Harrison and Duane Hampton, and graduate students and staff in the Department of Geosciences and the Michigan Geological Repository for Research and Education.
And we’ve just learned that our campus has been recertified by the Arbor Day Foundation as a Tree Campus. We’re one of just two campuses in the state to hold that coveted designation, which honors those schools that have made a “major commitment to protecting, caring for and adding to their campus forests.”

Our Landscape Services group deserves our thanks for making our campus both beautiful and eligible for this award.

Contributions soar past our campus goal.

United Way generosity and holiday giving

This is the season of giving and this year’s economic problems have created huge pockets of need in our community. With that thought in mind, I could not be more proud of this campus community’s response to the increased need in our area. The University’s contributions to the Greater Kalamazoo United Way soared past our campus goal of $240,000 and surpassed the $260,000 mark.

How did we do it?

We had 1,160 contributors from every part of the University.
We had 262 new contributors and 394 who increased their gift from last year.
We had eight departments and offices with 100 percent employee participation.

Our campus truly showed what it means to “Live United,” and I thank you for your generosity. That spirit of generosity and sharing continues to be in evidence on the campus this holiday season in a number of other ways.

Members of the College of Arts and Sciences, for instance, decided to forgo office holiday celebrations and focus on providing holiday support for members of our Seita Scholars program—young people who have aged out of foster care. The college has been collecting gifts and arranging activities for the scholars enrolled in arts and sciences majors.
Our AFSCME employees have once again stepped up to help Seita Scholars move from across campus to the residence hall that will remain open for them over the holidays. This is the second year they have made that commitment.
All across campus, offices are choosing to celebrate the holidays by holding food drives and reaching out to those in need. Walwood Hall departments, for example, just concluded a food drive for Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes that collected some 150 pounds of food and $300.

Commencement

Commencement is this weekend, Dec. 19, and, as is always the case, I’m looking forward to celebrating this milestone of success with our students. I am deeply appreciative of the number of faculty members who have committed to being at their respective college ceremonies. Faculty presence makes the day even more meaningful for our graduating seniors. Time and again families tell us how moved they are by that showing of care and commitment.

Saturday’s noon commencement ceremony will include a graduate with a compelling personal history. Tererai Trent, who will receive her doctoral degree in interdisciplinary evaluation, is from Zimbabwe and has overcome incredible obstacles to reach the level of achievement she will celebrate on Saturday. Her story has been chronicled on the pages of the New York Times, in a new book, “Half the Sky,” by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, and on the “Oprah Winfrey Show.” It’s a wonderful story, and I invite you to familiarize yourself with it and share it widely.

New year will be off to a fast start

Before our spring semester is even under way, our students will be busy competing and demonstrating their accomplishments in two venues.

Students in our nonprofit leadership program in the School of Public Affairs and Administration will head to Phoenix and compete Jan. 3-6 as representatives of one of just two collegiate programs in the nation being considered for the American Humanics Program Excellence Award. Our students are in competition with the University of Central Florida for the award, which is designed to recognize programs dedicated to preparing the next generation of nonprofit sector leaders. American Humanics is a national alliance of nearly 70 colleges and universities nationwide and more than 60 national nonprofit organizations.

“Good Death,” an original piece, from the Department of Theatre.

Our theatre students will compete with their production of “Good Death” in regional competition. This is the third time in the past five years a troupe of University theatre students has been invited to perform in the Region III competition of the American College Theater Festival, which will take place this year Jan. 5-9 in Saginaw, Mich.

This is the first time the Department of Theatre is competing with an original piece of theatre work—the celebrated production of “Good Death.” The play was performed to wide acclaim on campus in October. There will be a preview performance of the play on campus in the Williams Theatre at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 3, before the troupe leaves for competition.

Linda and I wish you all the very best this holiday season. Enjoy the time away and take advantage of the opportunity to rest and recharge. Our Board of Trustees and I hope to convey that message to you in person at the campus holiday reception set for 2 to 4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18, in the Bernhard Center ballrooms.

John M. Dunn
President

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