Category: News

Provost Max Seel has announced that he will be returning to the faculty as soon as a successor is found and can begin work. Seel has served as Michigan Tech’s provost since February 2010.

“Max has done an outstanding job as provost during what is arguably a tipping point for Michigan Tech,” said President Glenn Mroz. “Well over half the tenured and tenure-track faculty have been hired on his watch, and working with the deans, chairs, exec team, Board of Control and Senate, he’s moved the University toward our long-range goal and vision.”

Read more at Tech Today, by Jenn Donovan, director of news and media relations.

Physical therapy doctoral program offered at Michigan Tech

So far, 12 students are registered for the program at Michigan Tech and will receive their degree from Central Michigan University. Michigan Tech administrators say the partnership will be a good demonstration on how universities can work together.

“They more importantly have a strong connection of what are called clinical sites because students do hands-on training in real hospitals and clinics and offices and it takes a long time to build a clinical network,” says Bruce Seely, Dean of the College of Science and Arts at Michigan Tech. “So we have that to gain from central. They have our research reputation.”

Read more at Upper Michigans Source, by Sarah Blakely.

See also Michigan Tech, Central Michigan University Launch Collaborative Physical Therapy Doctoral Program in Michigan Tech News.

Last spring, the Center for Teaching and Learning’s second annual Creative Canvas Course Contest (C-4) saw students nominate Canvas courses from almost every department that they felt were intuitive and easy to navigate, provided convenient access to course information and materials, and offered resources and activities that helped them succeed.

Of the nine courses were selected, three were by faculty in the College of Sciences and Arts:

* HU3151, Assistant Professor Lauren M. Bowen (HU) 
* CH1160, Associate Professor Paul Charlesworth (Chem)
* FA3650, Assistant Professor Kalen Larson (VPA)

Read more at Tech Today.

Senior Lecturer Erin Smith, director of the Humanities Digital Media Zone, and alumna Suzanne Jurva ’82 have been named the Finlandia Foundation National’s Lecturers of the Year for 2014. The filmmaking team produced the documentary, Yoopera!

The film’s title combines the word for UP residents–Yoopers–and the Finnish word for opera–ooppera. The documentary tells the story of the collaboration of Finnish and American talent in the making of “Rockland: the Opera,” an opera that focuses on events around the shooting deaths of two Finnish miners during a labor strike in the UP mining town of Rockland in 1906. “Rockland: the Opera” premiered in Houghton and in Finland in 2011.

“Our film looks at how our small, remote community was able to commission a major opera and build an audience for it through the efforts of community artist Mary Wright and her Story Line Project,” says Smith. “We are just completing a new edit of the film for submission to film festivals and are screening the film at various Finlandia Foundation chapter events around the country this year.”

Jurva, an award-winning filmmaker and Michigan native who now lives in Atlanta, directed and produced the documentary. Smith, who teaches digital media and film at Michigan Tech, is its editor.

From Tech Today.

Professor Emeritus Robert H. “Bob” Mount, a longtime member of the physics faculty, passed away July 2 at his home in Hancock. He was 86 years old.

Mount came to Michigan Tech in 1954 from Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co., where he was employed as the chief geologist. He retired from the University in 2000. For much of his career, he taught introductory physics courses. “His 46 years of service is the second-longest in department history—the longest being James Fisher,” said physics professor Bryan Suits.

His colleagues remember Mount as health conscious. “His extensive early-morning exercise routine was very important to him,” Suits said. “He would retire early so he could get up at 3 or 4 a.m. to do his workout. Hence, he often passed when it came to attending the department’s evening events—they were past his bedtime.”

Read more at Tech Today.

On Wednesday, May 14, faculty and staff members, along with their guests, gathered at the Memorial Union Ballroom for an awards dinner recognizing 25, 30, 35, 40, and 45 years of service to Michigan Tech.

Within the College of Sciences and Arts, the following employees were recognized.

25 Years
Lois Blau, Chemistry

30 Years
Diane Shoos, Humanities
Karen Kangas, College of Sciences and Arts
Robert Kolkka, Mathematical Sciences

40 Years
Bradley Baltensperger, Cognitive and Learning Sciences

Retirees
Steven Seidel, Computer Sciences
Susan Bagley, Biological Sciences

Read more at Tech Today.