Join Student Leadership & Involvement for some fun this summer. We will be hosting fun events throughout the summer that you won’t want to miss!
Our summer events schedule includes a 90’s Throwback Crafts day, Plant-a-Palooza where you can adopt a succulent, a S’mores collab with IPS, Outdoor Yoga, Hanging Out complete with hammocks, and slack-lining, and of course – Root Beer Floats!
To keep up with all the fun that we have planned, follow us on Facebook and Instagram
One of the most important reasons to join a registered student organization (RSO) is to have fun! Meeting new people, making new friends, trying new things, and participating in activities will help you make the most of your Michigan Tech experience. What could possibly be better?
It’s true, it’s a competitive world out there. Your future employers will be extremely excited to hire someone who has had a great deal of experience and been relatively active throughout their college career, as opposed to someone who has simply gone to class. Being involved will ultimately make you a stronger and more well-rounded candidate for internships, co-ops, graduate schools, job opportunities, etc.
Joining an RSO gives you a convenient way to meet and spend time with other people–many of whom will likely share similar interests, values, and goals. This allows you to form lifelong friendships and expand your social circle, thereby placing you in closer contact with faculty/staff, members of the community, fellow students, and even possible new lifelong friends!
Since a lot of Michigan Tech students live quite far away from their family and friends back home, they may feel homesick at school. Getting involved enables you to re-establish a sense of belonging, create a chosen family, form an additional circle of friends, and will no doubt ease the transition from high school to college.
Participating in a student organization not only teaches you leadership skills but also helps you broaden and improve those you already have. You’ll learn the best way to communicate with both individuals and large groups, and you’ll gain emotional intelligence as you develop new relationships. And you will be surprised to discover all kinds of fascinating new things about yourself by being involved in group activities and events. The management skills you learn as a result will be highly useful in the future when you must venture out into the real world and begin the ever-dreaded job search.
Joining an RSO presents many opportunities to learn more about yourself, your goals, your passions, and your strengths. You can also find out what you’re good at, what you enjoy (or what you don’t), whether that’s leading, event planning, generating ideas, or serving others. This self-awareness will be beneficial in your future. These can provide you with a sense of self-worth, lead you in new and unexpected directions, and–most importantly–help you succeed in life.
Remember that college is all about learning new information (about yourself, about others, about the world, and about life in general), yet oftentimes the best learning happens outside of the typical classroom setting. Being part of an organization allows you to put all of those things you’ve been learning in class to the test in real-world situations. You’ll get to learn what works and what doesn’t, and you’ll be able to take that knowledge back to the classroom, and then, of course, along with you in a future career.
Chances are, the RSO you choose to participate in will include a diverse group of people — you’ll be faced with the same situation in the working world! Learning how different people respond and react to certain situations will help you develop your skills in presenting and implementing ideas, creating inclusive environments, and become a more effective leader.
Concentrating on schoolwork is obviously important during a graduate program, but giving your mind a break is necessary (and beneficial). While taking part in your RSO, you’ll be able to socialize with like-minded individuals and actually learn as much from them as you would your schoolwork. And everyone needs a break once in a while–especially college students who are constantly swamped with school work. Getting involved is the perfect way for you to take some time out of your busy day to focus on hobbies, passions, or other activities.
Knowing how to work well with a team is an essential skill for any career. Being in an RSO teaches you how to do this by putting you in situations where you are required to take advice from others, as well as give your own.
Michigan Tech is full of wonderful opportunities for students to get involved, but RSO’s might just be the best option (in our opinion!). Joining an RSO and getting involved will not only enhance your overall Michigan Tech experience but will also introduce you to a world of endless opportunities. So what are you waiting for? Go out there and explore all the incredible things our awesome RSO’s has to offer! You can start by checking out our RSO’s on Involvement Link!
We highly value the work that our faculty and staff do with our many registered student organizations (RSO), and we want to take some time to celebrate them and recognize how important they are.
All of our RSO’s must have an advisor who is a full-time faculty/staff member at Michigan Technological University – meaning we have faculty and staff helping to support all 240+ of our organizations!
The role of the advisor may or may not be spelled out in the organization’s constitution (and it does vary from organization to organization), but there are some traits and practices which we know are important for our student leaders to be as successful as possible within their organizations. First and foremost, our advisors serve as educators who act in accordance with the goals and values of their student org and Michigan Tech. Advisors must have knowledge and skills which enable them to empower students within the group they advise. Advisors must also role model ethical behavior and, when appropriate, provide direction to organizations to assist them in their successes.
Advising a student organization can be a rewarding experience, but can also be nerve-wracking. Enthusiastic new advisors can easily fall into the trap of over-advising, or micromanaging, a student group. Conversely, well-meaning advisors can adopt a “hands-off” attitude which can significantly lower the morale and productivity of a student group. As advisors, we often search for balance: we struggle to balance the demands of our “job” with the demands of this “outside” influence. It is our hope that our office can help support you balance that task.
At the end of the day, our students are blessed to have the support and guidance of our talented faculty and staff. Because of your support, our students accomplish great things, challenge each other, build networks, meet friends, create memories, and gain skills long after they leave Tech. We appreciate you and hope that you get just as much out of the advising experience as our students do.
Being an advisor provides a multitude of benefits for faculty and staff:
If you are not currently an advisor and you’d like to volunteer, please feel free to check out our list of organizations on Involvement Link and send an email to rso@mtu.edu.
The Student Leadership & Involvement office is here to serve as a resource to you and to answer your questions or concerns. Contact us with questions, and be sure to look at the resources available on our website.
Thank you for all you do with our student organizations!
HuskyLead is a leadership development series open to all Michigan Tech students.
This program encourages all students from campus leaders and student organization officers, to individuals who just want to learn, to elevate their leadership skills by learning the best techniques, tips, and tricks for their personal, organizational, academic, and professional success. Check out our Fall Sessions below!
Wednesday, January 15 – “College: Am I Doing This Right?” – Focus on your goals, and learn how to say NO to over-commitment. Attend the first HuskyLead of the semester being held in Library East Reading Room from 4-5 p.m.
Thursday, January 23 – “Get it Together” – The opportunity to learn skills in building an effective and long lasting organization that serves the needs of all. Attend this HuskyLead being held in MUB Alumni Lounge A from 5-6 p.m.
Tuesday, March 17 – “Seize the Awkward” – Everyone experiences stress and mental health differently, gain the tools to be able to reach out and support friends who may be struggling. Attend this HuskyLead held in Library East Reading Room from 4-5 p.m.
Wednesday, March 25 – “Effective Transitions” – Focus on transitions in your life, whether that is starting a new job or being at home for the first time since starting college. Learn how to manage your lifestyle in an effective manner. Attend this HuskyLead being held in the Library East Reading Room from 4–5 p.m.
Wednesday, April 1 – “Financial Well-Being” – Attend this HuskyLead held in Library East Reading Room from 4-5 p.m.
Thursday, April 9 – “Getting into the Nitty-GRITty” – Becoming a leader takes passion and perseverance, in other words “grit”. By attending this HuskyLead in MUB Alumni Lounge from 5–6 p.m., students will learn tips on how to persist and build mental toughness to reach long term goals.
Involvement Link has many great features to help your student organization be successful . Make sure you are keeping your student organization site updated – including your organization’s officers! This will ensure the correct members are getting information pertinent to their position.
To edit who holds various Positions within your organization, navigate to your organization’s Action Center. Use the Switchboard to enter the “Manage” view. If you are a member of the organization, you will see its name listed here and can select it to enter the organization’s Action Center. If you are not a member of the organization but you have access to the organization through other means, you can also search for the organization within Manage, or open it from the organization list in the corresponding branch.
Once you are in the Organization Action Center, open the hamburger menu on the upper left and navigate to the Roster section.
(If you first need to create a new Position, please note that you will need to hold the correct level of access to manage the Roster in order to make these changes. See specifics below.)
On the Roster page, find the user for whom you would like to add, change, or remove a Position. Click the edit button under Positions to the far right of that user’s name. A list of all available Positions will populate. Click the check box next to the position you would like to add or remove from that user, and then select Save. The user’s permissions within the organization will be updated based on the Positions they hold.
Every organization is unique, and you might find that your organization has its own specific Position titles that you want to create in your organization’s site. To create new Positions for your organization, navigate to the Action Center for your organization site and click on the Roster tool.
Please note that you are REQUIRED to label the following positions within your organization so that we are able to send those members information:
Keep in mind you will need the appropriate level of access to manage the Roster in order to create new Positions. From the Rostermenu, click Manage Positions. A list of all the current positions available for your organization will be listed. Some of these may have been created by the organization, while others may be site-wide positions created by your campus administrators.
To create a new Position, click +Position at the top of the page. Give the Position a name. Keep in mind the name should be of the Position itself, not of the user who will eventually hold this Position in your organization. You then need to assign the Position to the Position Type that is most appropriate. These types are determined by your system administrators. Check the box next to “Show holders of this position on the organization’s roster” if you want the user holding that position to be visible on the roster page of your organization. If you want the position to be available for users to hold immediately, select “Active.” If this is not checked, the position will only be available as a past position.
Finally, you will need to set the management access for this Position. Users who fill Positions with “No access” will not be able to manage any tools within the organization. “All access” allows Position holders to manage every tool within the organization’s site – these are the users who will have the most power within your organization. Limited access allows you to select the level of access the Position should have for each tool within the organization site. See below for information about what each level of access will allow for each tool.
| Tool | None | View | Full |
| Registration Forms | Cannot view registration form submissions. | Can view the organization’s registration submission, but cannot edit it. | Can edit and resubmit the organization’s registration form. |
| Documents | Only able to see documents that have been shared publicly or with that user’s position. | Able to view all documents, but cannot edit, delete, or create them. | Has full access to documents, including the ability to create, edit, and delete them. |
| Messaging | Does not have access to the messaging tool, but will receive messages sent to them. | Can view messages sent from the organization but cannot create new message relays. | Has full access to send message relays to members of the organization |
| Events | Only able to see events that have been shared publicly, within their organization, or ones they have been invited to. | Able to view all event details and submissions, but cannot edit, delete, or create them. | Has full access to events, including the ability to edit and delete them, manage invitations, manage event attendance, and submit event requests. |
| Finance | Cannot access the finance tab. | Can view transactions and requests, but cannot edit or create them. | Can submit purchase and funding requests on behalf of the organization. |
| Wall | Can view and contribute to the wall. | Can view and contribute to the wall. | Can view and contribute to the wall. |
| Roster | Can view the public roster of members but has no management access for the roster or Positions. | Can view all members of the organization, organization created positions, but cannot make edits to the roster or create new organization positions. | Can manage the roster, including the ability to create and edit positions, invite members, and approve memberships. |
| Profile | Can only see the basic profile of the organization. | Can view the full organization’s profile but cannot update it. | Can edit the organization’s profile. |
| News | Only able to see news posts that have been shared publicly or with the organization. | Able to view all news posts, but cannot edit, delete, or create posts. | Has full access to news, including the ability to create, edit, and delete posts. |
| Forms | Only able to see forms that have been shared publicly or with that user’s position. | Able to view all forms, but cannot edit, delete, or create them. User can also view form submissions but cannot approve or deny them. | Has full access to forms, including the ability to create, edit, and delete forms and manage form submissions. |
| Photos | Only able to see photo galleries that have been shared publicly or with that user’s position. | Able to view all photo galleries, but cannot edit, delete, or create them. | Able to manage all photo galleries, including the ability to edit, delete, and create them. |
| Service Hours | Able to see their own service hours and submit service hours for review. | Able to see service hours submitted by any user, but cannot approve or deny them. | Able to view all service hours for all users and make decisions about approving and denying service hours. |
| Elections | Only able to see elections that have been shared publicly or with that user’s position. | Able to view all elections and election results, but cannot edit, delete, or create them. | Able to create, edit, and delete elections and view results. |
When you are finished determining the level of access for the position, click Create. Once the position has been created, it may take a few minutes before it can be assigned to a member. If you do not see the position immediately, give the system a few minutes while the position is being generated.
Involvement Link has many great features to help your student organization be successful including the calendar. To feature your organization’s event on the calendar (and on the Michigan Tech Calendar!), just follow the steps below.
Note: Only primary contacts and positions with full access over Events can create events within an organization. If you do not have the proper permissions, you should first refer to your primary contact or your site administrators in order to request the required access.
Manage your organization by selecting Manage from the switchboard and choosing your organization. When you are at your organization’s page, use the top left-hand side menu. Choose Events in the organization tool menu and click on the blue Create Event button on the top right.
Enter an event title, theme, description, start and end time, and location into their respective boxes. You can also identify if the event will be co-hosted with other organizations. Required fields are marked by the red asterisk at their start.
You can add up to 18 different times/locations within one event submission. Upon approval, each instance of the event you created will become its own event that can be individually edited or changed. Click “Add Another Date” to create a recurring event.
You can also choose whether to include a helpful map, courtesy of Google Maps, to your event details page. Note that selecting the space will not reserve it. Your next couple of options are about event visibility and are outlined below.
Each field after this point is detailed below:
| Field | Description |
| Show-To | Determine whether the event should show to the public, authenticated users only, only members of hosting organizations (and cohosting organizations), or only to invited users |
| Event Categories | Associate the event with one or more event categories |
| Perks | Associate the event with one or more event perks (special benefits for your attendees) |
| Additional Information | Complete any additional fields that may be required by your campus. Depending on your institution’s settings, your responses to these questions may show publicly on your published event page. |
The next page allows you to customize your RSVP settings. Use this tool to collect information from your attendees before the event or to set a specific attendee limit.
The third page allows you to customize your event’s cover photo by clicking Choose File and adding an image that you feel will draw attention to your event. We recommend a photo that is 1024px by 600px or larger, under 10MB, and of one of the mentioned formats (JPG, JPEG, GIF, or PNG). The image will run through an image re-sizer, so the larger – the better! If you choose not to upload a photo, a default photo will be chosen for you based on the theme of your event. As this photo will be displayed alongside event details across Engage, it is best to choose a cover photo that is simply an image without text.
When you’re ready, advance using Next or Skip. Your organization’s branch may require each event submission to provide additional details that will be kept on the private record of the event submission. You will be prompted at this time to complete this information. Fill out the rest of the form and submit for campus administrative approval.
HuskyLead is a leadership development series open to all Michigan Tech students.
This program encourages all students from campus leaders and student organization officers, to individuals who just want to learn, to elevate their leadership skills by learning the best techniques, tips, and tricks for their personal, organizational, academic, and professional success. Check out our Fall Sessions below!
Tuesday, September 10 – “Get Time on Your Side” – A strategic semester begins with planning. Learn how to maximize the time you have to work with by beginning with the end in mind. Attend the first HuskyLead of the semester being held in Library East Reading Room from 4-5 p.m.
Thursday, September 19 – “Bringing in the Bystander” – The opportunity to learn skills in bystander intervention in this peer-to-peer program. Attend this HuskyLead being held in MUB Superior Room from 5-6 p.m.
Tuesday, October 8 – “Dear Stress, Let’s Break-Up” – Is stress running your life? Need some tools to reduce your stress? Learn how to handle stress so that you can be your best you! Attend this HuskyLead held in Library East Reading Room from 4-5 p.m.
Tuesday, October 29 – “Super Hero Dynamics” – Are you ready to form your own super hero team? Well first you’ll need to develop some super team dynamics. Join us to learn about how you can make your team excel. We’ll explore the different stages a team goes through and how you can manage some of the different dynamics along the way. Attend this HuskyLead being held in the Library East Reading Room from 4–5 p.m.
Tuesday, November 12 – “Failure is a State of Mind” – Everyone experiences setbacks from time to time. Learn how rethink how you feel about failure and use it as an opportunity to grow. Attend this HuskyLead held in Library East Reading Room from 4-5 p.m.
Monday, December 2 – “Risky Business” – Have you ever thought of a brilliant idea for an event that may have some element of risk? Join us in discovering ways to still be able to have all the fun while understanding how to stay safe. Attend this HuskyLead held in MUB Alumni Lounge from 4-5 p.m.
Join Student Leadership & Involvement for some fun this summer! We have painting, games, snacks, plants, and plenty of fun! Check out the schedule below and mark your calendars – you won’t want to miss out!
If you have any questions, please email us at activities@mtu.edu
Involvement Link has many great features to help your student organization be successful . Make sure you are keeping your student organization site updated – including the profile picture!
Your organization’s profile photo appears next to your organization in the directory.
The photo also appears at the top of your organization’s public-facing page.
Note: You must be the Primary Contact of your organization or have officer rights to make changes to your organization.
If you meet this criteria, you can change your organization’s profile picture navigating to your Action Center by accessing the Manage view of your Engage Switchboard. Select your organization and open the organization tool drawer. Select the About tab along your organization’s tool drawer. Upload the image under the section labeled Profile Picture. Your image will be sized to fit. Keep in mind that since the photo appears in a circular shape throughout the site, edges of square and rectangular images will be cropped.
HuskyLead is a leadership development series open to all Michigan Tech students.
Tuesday, January 29 – “Rise Up: Don’t Throw Away Your Shot at Better Marketing” – Come rise up and work with Adobe Education Leader Jeremiah Baumann as we tackle the problem of “same old organization marketing tactics”. Learn some new tools and tricks to make your marketing stand out on a campus full of marketing doppelgängers. You’ll leave excited to “think past tomorrow” and create some amazing materials for your organization. Attend the first HuskyLead of the semester being held in MUB Ballroom B from 6–7 p.m.
The presenter is Jeremiah Baumann, Assistant Director, Creative and Technology Services.
Tuesday, February 26 – “Improving Leadership through Perceptual Engineering” -Our interactions with people are based on how we interpret life experiences. Applying perceptual engineering to our thinking process, we can listen in to our thoughts and make a few fact-based adjustments. Learning to understand, influence, and modify our point of view by seeking the perspectives of others not only improves our leadership, but also improves the engagement and satisfaction of those who work with us. Attend this HuskyLead being held in MUB Ballroom B from 6–7 p.m.
The presenter is Ruth Archer, Director of Continuous Improvement.
Wednesday, March 20 – “Getting into the Nitty-GRITty” – Becoming a leader takes passion and perseverance, in other words “grit”. By attending this HuskyLead in DHH Ballroom from 6–7 p.m., students will learn tips on how to persist and build mental toughness to reach long term goals.
The presenter is Beka Horsch, Coordinator of Student Leadership & Involvement.
Tuesday, April 9 – As the semester is winding down it is time to start thinking of transitioning your leadership within your organization. Attend this HuskyLead in MUB Ballroom B from 6-7 p.m. to gain some tips and techniques to make this transition a smooth process.
The presenter is Jessie Stapleton, Director of Student Leadership & Involvement
