Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program is back for 2014!

KSI will be doing their Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program again this year. VITA is designed for students that have been through Foundations of Taxation to assist with simple income tax returns for low-income families and students who couldn’t otherwise afford to hire a CPA. KSI will be starting the program  today & will go through Tuesday, April 15th.
VITA is available February 24th - April 15th. No appointment needed!
All sessions will take place in G010D of the AOB, and there is no need to make an appointment. Just stop on in & see them! No sessions will be held over spring break, but otherwise the schedule is as follows:
  • Monday: 3-5pm
  • Wednesday: 12-2pm
  • Thursday: 12-5pm
Please pass this along to anyone you may think may be in need of this service!

Spring 2014 Grads: Order Cap and Gowns now!

Spring 2014 Gradfest is from 12:00 - 5:00 on 2.26.14 in the Campus Bookstore!

Cap & Gown Orders


You can order your regalia online or during Gradfest at The Campus Bookstore.  Just need a tassel or want an extra one?  You don’t need to order anything!  Stop by the store during regular hours the week before the ceremony.

  • Undergraduate Degree Regalia Order Form
  • Graduate Degree Regalia Rental Form
  • Faculty Regalia Rental Form
  • If you have any questions, contact the Campus Bookstore at (906) 487-2410.

    For online orders you should receive a confirmation email within 2 business days.  If you do not, please contact Beckie at the Campus Bookstore to make sure she received your order capandgown@mtu.edu.

    Once you receive your order, check out an instructional video for your:


    Cap And Gown Pricing


    For orders placed by midnight on March 2:
    Undergraduate Package $31.00 (plus tax)
    Masters/PhD Package Rental $55.00 (plus tax)

    Orders placed after March 2:
    Undergraduate Package $50.00 (plus tax)
    Masters/PhD Package Rental $55.00 plus expedited shipping (plus tax)


    Prices subject to change.

    Undergraduates will have “green” gowns – not in color, but in spirit!  They will be black, as usual, but made of Repreve, 100% recycled yarn made from plastic water bottles.


    Spring 2014 Gradfest


    February 26, 2014     12:00 pm – 5:00 pm

  • Enjoy free popcorn and refreshments
  • Take 25% off Michigan Tech insignia items – diploma frames, clothing, and souvenirs
  • Undergraduates: order your cap and gown!
  • Grad students: order your rental regalia
  • Talk to representatives from Alumni Relations and the Career Center
  • Order your class ring and printed announcements

    Can’t make it to Gradfest?  Place your order now using the appropriate form above!

  • For more information about commencement, visit www.mtu.edu/commencement.

    Breffle Earns Props for Profs Award

    Associate Professor of Economics William Breffle recognized for going above and beyond for a student.

    The Props for Profs program through the Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning asks students to nominate an instructor who has gone over and above the typical in their teaching or mentoring duties for students.

    This week’s Props for Profs winner is William Breffle, an associate professor of economics in the School of Business and Economics. The anonymous nominator started by explaining Breffle’s excellence as a professor, but when the student faced the death of a close family member, Breffle not only accommodated missed work and gave condolences, but contacted the Dean of Students Office and provided information about counseling services available to the student. This student felt Breffle provided a great deal of help and guidance at a very difficult and uncertain time, going well above and beyond the role of a professor–and for that he deserves some mad props.

    Both Breffle and his nominator will receive a $5 gift certificate to purchase a snack or drink at the Library Café or several other locations on campus. If you know a prof who has gone over and above, send some props today and maybe you’ll be next week’s winner.

    Michigan Tech MBA Online Ranked 36th by US News and World Report

    Break down the classroom walls and earn an MBA your way- from anywhere in the country!

    Michigan Tech’s online graduate programs in business and engineering rank in the top 40 of such programs nationwide. Best online rankings released today by US News and World Report rated Michigan Tech’s online graduate engineering program 35th of 74 programs and Tech’s online MBA program placed 36th of 239 programs.

    “This is very good news for Michigan Tech,” said Jacqueline Huntoon, dean of Michigan Tech’s Graduate School. “Given our remote location, our efforts to provide graduate education online allows us to reach a larger number of students than we can otherwise.

    “We at Michigan Tech know that we have high-quality offerings, and it is great to see that we are beginning to receive the recognition we deserve,” Huntoon went on to say. “Of course, the faculty members involved in teaching the courses and advising the students are the ones who deserve the most credit for these achievements.”

    Wayne Pennington, interim dean of the College of Engineering, was pleased with Tech’s online graduate engineering programs ranking.

    “We are proud that our online graduate electrical and mechanical engineering degree programs are directed toward real-world applications where skills and expertise are greatly needed, and where employment opportunities are strong,” he said. “In addition to our MS and PhD degree programs, our graduate certificates in advanced electric power engineering and hybrid vehicle engineering help to meet the needs of today’s highly skilled workplace.”

    Eugene Klippel, dean of the School of Business and Economics, said: “We are pleased that the US News and World Report rankings confirm the success of our efforts to provide an outstanding MBA online program. Contributing greatly to the success of our Tech MBA Online program is a knowledgeable and experienced faculty. This program offers a unique curriculum designed to strengthen the business skills of professionals working in an environment characterized by rapid-paced innovation and technological change. We are extremely pleased by the demonstrated success of graduates from this program.”

    US News evaluated online programs on the basis of student engagement, admissions selectivity, peer reputation, faculty credentials and training, and student services and technology.

    Don’t let the bed bugs bite…

    New U.P. business putting bed bug fears to rest

    Victoria (Tannehill) Gariepy uses SBE degree to start her own business!

    A new Upper Peninsula business is helping find and rid the region of a returning pest, the bed bug.

    Lady Killers Bed Bug Management was formed by the duo of Munising-area mo

    tel owners Victoria Gariepy (2004 School of Business and Economics Alumn) and Angela Tiernan over the summer, when they realized a need to have bed bug abatement services more readily available in the U.P.

    “Wherever there’s travel and tourism, there are bed bugs” Tiernan said. Munising just happens to be one town that sees travelers from all over the world, and as a result, bed bugs have indeed shown up. With the nearest abatement specialists several hundred miles away in Minnesota, however, Gariepy and Tiernan realized that they – and all U.P. motel and hotel owners – would be left with possibility of having to keep rooms closed for weeks while awaiting treatment.

    “It’s such a growing problem. It’s a fear that we all have,” Gariepy said about potential bed bug infestations in their motel rooms. “It was about June, and a friend was concerned that she had one,” she added. At that time, Gariepy and Tiernan realized that something more could be done locally in the cases where bed bugs are found, to help alleviate the fear and to decrease the response time when extermination services are needed.

    By August, after much research, the pair had purchased equipment that could take care of bed bugs for good, or at least until the next customer unknowingly carries more in. Now operating under the “Lady Killers” name, the women began to utilize special extreme heating units in affected rooms to safely and cleanly kill the bugs, which tend to hide in dark, tight corners, including in bed creases, behind headboards, and more. The heating unit is placed in the room, until it reaches and maintains a temperature of 150 degrees Fahrenheit. To reach all of the bugs, the room is taken apart to expose as many hiding places as possible, and room components rearranged a couple times during the heating period in order to negate any cold spots.

    In addition to leaving no residues, the heating process differs from chemical treatments in that it more effectively kills bed bugs in all life stages, including the eggs, thus preventing natural reinfestation.

    Now, after just a couple months of success using the heating units and gaining feedback from customers, Gariepy and Tiernan have decided to expand Lady Killers to include another step, a bed bug diagnostic service.

    Beginning in December, the duo will begin using special bed bug-sniffing dogs to help facility owners assess whether or not they do have bed bugs present. “The first defense against bed bugs is their customers in the room,” Tiernan said, adding that this is just about the last thing motel owners want to have to discuss with their guests on any given morning. She and Gariepy were not alone in this thinking; owners of larger U.P. motels asked if Lady Killers would offer the dog service locally, since, like the Minnesota heating unit service, the nearest trained dog comes from quite a distance, out of downstate Kalamazoo.

    Like those trained to sniff out drugs or bombs, dogs can be taught to smell and indicate the presence of live bed bugs. Humans can inspect a room, too, the women said, but the process takes a substantial amount of time, and each room must be torn apart in order to look in all types of hiding places. The dogs can perform the same task much more quickly, and without the need to take apart anything. “With the dogs, you’re in and out of a room in minutes,” Gariepy said. Tiernan also noted that the dogs can execute the task at a much higher accuracy rate than humans.

    The duo opted to go straight to the person considered to be the country’s authority on the issue, Bill Whitstine, who has been featured with his trained bed bug-sniffing dogs on the Travel Channel’s “Hotel Impossible.” Gariepy and Tiernan will soon spend a week at Whitstine’s training facility in Florida, learning how to work with their two new dogs and to read their cues, before returning with them ready to get to work in the U.P. and the Upper Great Lakes region.

    Lady Killers Bed Bug Management’s heating and bed bug diagnostic services will be available to more than just motels and hotels; Gariepy and Tiernan will happily work with any facility that may harbor the pests, including nursing homes, apartments, and even houses. “You can get a bed bug anywhere,” Tiernan said. More information about Lady Killers’ services may be visited online at www.ladykillers.me. They may be contacted directly by emailing BedBugHitman@gmail.com, or by calling Gariepy at 906-202-0812 or Tiernan at 920-737-8349.