The University Record, September 3, 1996
SUMMER ROUNDUP
$3 million grant will help fund Cancer and Geriatrics Center
The Edward & Helen Mardigian Foundation has pledged $3 million toward the new facility to house the Cancer and Geriatrics Centers on the Medical Campus. The Cancer and Geriatrics Center will bring together research and treatment activities scattered across campus, fostering multi-disciplinary interaction among investigators and clinicians and enabling patient care to be focused in one place.
747-exchange campus phone numbers are now 647
All campus telephone numbers with the 747 exchange were changed over the summer to a 647 exchange. Presently, callers can successfully dial into the old 747 exchange number using either the 747 or 647 exchange. On Nov. 30 when the 747-xxxx numbers stop working, however, callers must dial the correct exchange.
GEO ratifies three-year contract
Members of the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) voted overwhelmingly to accept a three-year contract. Changes in the new agreement include a joint committee on graduate student pedagogy and a jointly chaired committee on equal opportunity and affirmative action issues that will begin reviewing the composition of Graduate Student Instructors in various departments and comparing their population with the composition of the student body.
U-M College Bowl team places first in national competition
The U-M’s varsity academic games team placed first this year in a competition held in April, beating out 15 other schools to win the College Bowl 1996 National Championship Tournament. They are the first U-M team ever to win a College Bowl national championship. The U-M not only won the national championship title, but also took first place at the Pennsylvania Bowl, one of the three events that are considered the “Triple Crown” of the academic game circuit.
Campaign for Michigan reaches $1 billion goal
The U-M reached its $1 billion goal for the Campaign for Michigan in May, 17 months before the official end of the five-year public fund-raising campaign. A major remaining goal of the Campaign is to raise an additional $100 million in endowment gifts in the months left in the campaign. The gifts will provide support for faculty and students and will advance a wide variety of research and other program initiatives in the University’s 18 schools and colleges on the Ann Arbor campus and on the Dearborn and Flint campuses.
Third report on Women at U-M released
The third report on Women at the University of Michigan, which tracks the status and progress of women on the Ann Arbor campus, was released in May. The report identified some areas of “modest progress,” but also noted that, in general, as in past years, “the higher the rung on the academic ladder, the fewer women are to be found.”
“The gains identified in the report, while modest, are important because they demonstrate what can be accomplished when attention is paid to the academic environment,” noted Lisa A. Tedesco, professor and associate dean in the School of Dentistry, and a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Women’s Issues.
University Record now available on Internet
The University Record is now available to readers on the WorldWide Web at URL http://www.umich.edu/~newsinfo. Information contained on the Web site is the same as will appear in the paper edition. The site includes pointers to other offerings from the office of News and Information Services, such as news releases.
Center will develop new manufacturing system
The University has received $12 million in federal funding from the National Science Foundation to create the Center for Reconfigurable Machining Systems, where researchers will develop a new type of manufacturing system with the flexibility, adaptability and productivity U.S. firms must have to compete in today’s technology-driven global economy. In addition to $12 million in NSF funding, the center will receive $10 million in cash and in-kind support from 31 industrial partners and $6.2 million from the College of Engineering and the Office of the Vice President for Research.
The new manufacturing research center represents one of the largest packages of federal and private funding received for a single research program in the University’s history.
Many bid farewell to Duderstadts at May event
Hundreds of staff members packed Schembechler Hall May 30 to honor the accomplishments of the Duderstadt presidency. “What stands out most is you folks,” former president James J. Duderstadt said. “We’ve gotten to work with you on such a wide range of functions. After all, the University is not bricks and mortar, it’s people.”
Duderstadt stepped down from the presidency June 30. Homer A. Neal, who was vice president for research, has succeeded him as interim president.
McLoyd and Moss named MacArthur Fellows
McLoyd, who will receive $280,000, is a developmental psychologist studying the interactive influences of race, ethnicity, family and economic hardship on human development. She has been a pioneer in attempting to describe the psychological processes through which economic deprivation influences African American families and children.
Moss, who will receive $265,000, is a poet who conjures an evocative sense of place and community in her work. She draws on her experiences and ethnic history in her books of poetry, which include Hosiery Seams on Bowlegged Woman, Pyramid of Bone, Rainbow Remnants in Rock Bottom Ghetto Sky, and Small Congregations: New and Selected Poems.
Health Systems announce budget cuts
The U-M Health Systems announced in April that it will need to trim $60 million from its costs in the coming fiscal year, $35 million-$40 million in the form of employee reductions. Lloyd A. Jacobs, associate dean for clinical affairs, said that changes in the health care industry are forcing institutions to reduce costs to be competitive. Patient costs at the U-M, coupled with insurance carriers’ unwillingness to authorize care at a facility that costs considerably more than the competition have forced the Health Systems to look at massive cost reductions. The average cost per patient case is currently well above the cost at other southeastern Michigan health care facilities.
540 from Health System receive RIF notices
More than 540 U-M Health System employees have received reduction in force (RIF) notification as part of the system’s $60 million cost reduction plan. The Health System includes the seven hospitals; M-CARE, the U-M’s HMO; a growing primary care network; the clinical Delivery System; and Michigan Health Corp., a corporate arm that covers potential new businesses, acquisitions and joint ventures.
Under the plan, created by the Redesign Coordinating Group (RCG), fewer than 200 staff members will be laid off—in part because last October the Health System enforced a hiring freeze on open positions.
As a result of this cut, the Health System work force will be reduced by 13 percent—1,055 full time equivalent positions—though RIFs, attrition and retirement. This reduction will cut $35 million-$40 million from the Health System’s budget.
Forsyth, Bole leave Medical Center
John D. Forsyth, who was president and chief executive officer of the U-M Health Systems, was appointed president and CEO of ISAD Health Services Corp., which does business as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa, Blue Cross of South Dakota and six subsidiaries, and is the leading health insurer in those two states. Larry Warren, senior associate hospital director and chief operating officer of the U-M Health System, was named interim executive director of U-M Hospitals.
Giles G. Bole stepped down as dean of the Medical School Aug. 1 to return to the faculty. Bole, who served as dean for six years, has spent his entire career at the U-M. In addition to serving as a member of the faculty, he has held a number of senior administrative positions, culminating with his appointment as dean in 1990. A. Lorris Betz, executive associate dean of the Medical School, will serve as interim dean of the School.
$1.5 million gift will endow funds at three schools
The Pharmacia & Upjohn Foundation gave $1.5 million to the University to endow special funds in the Business School, the Medical School and the School of Public Health. The gift will help accomplish a number of goals, including expansion of the Corporate Environmental Management Program, a cross-disciplinary program of the business School and the School of Natural Resources and Environment; funding scientific leadership awards for promising graduate students and junior faculty in molecular medicine; and creating a research professorship in biostatistics.
Richards, Mazmanian named to deanships
James W. Richards was named dean of the College of Pharmacy for two years, effective July 1. Richards had been interim dean since January.
Daniel A. Mazmanian was named dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment. Mazmanian had been director of the Center for Politics and Economics and the Luther Lee Professor of Government at the Claremont Graduate School in California. He assumed the deanship Sept. 1.
Griffiths is executive director, CIO of ITD
Jose-Marie Griffiths, formerly of the University of Tennessee, is the new executive director and chief information officer of the Information Technology Division (ITD). Griffiths is directly responsible for ITD operations and will work with others to develop and implement strategic planning for information technology at the U-M.
Michigan Radio unveils new programming
Michigan Radio unveiled a programming line-up in July that places a new emphasis on “intelligent and reasoned discussion of public policy,” said Donovan Reynolds, director of broadcasting. The station is among the first in the nation to air a new midday news/talk programming package offered by National Public Radio, including “The Diane Rehm Show,” “The Derek McGinty Show,” “Fresh Air with Terry Gross” and “Talk of the Nation.”
As part of the change to news from the stations’ classical music format, broadcast producers Peter Greenquist, Alan B. Young and Gerald J. Brennan and broadcast director Mary Ellyn Cain were released from their positions.
U-M has one of smallest tuition increases in 30 years
The U-M will have one of the smallest tuition increases during the past 30 years as part of the 1996-97 General Fund budget. The tuition rate for resident, incoming freshmen on the Ann Arbor campus will increase by 3 percent for the coming year. The figure is within the range of other Michigan public universities, whose increases range from 0.0 percent to 5.9 percent.
“I am pleased that we will have one of the lowest tuition increases in the last three decades,” Provost J. Bernard Machen said. “We have given extensive consideration to the financial burden borne by our students and their parents. The support we received in Lansing—a 4.6 percent increase in our appropriation this year—has had a direct impact on our ability to keep tuition down.”
Charges against Matlock dropped
Criminal misdemeanor charges against John H. Matlock, director of the Office of Academic and Multicultural Initiatives, and a formal grievance Matlock filed against two University police officers were dropped in July. The charges resulted from a Feb. 17 incident at the Central Campus Recreation Building.
A newly formed Task Force on Campus Safety and Security will look into a broad array of campus safety and campus climate issues. The task force will be chaired by Paul Boylan, dean of the School of Music and vice provost for the arts. Boylan chaired a similar task force in 1989.
Presidential Search Advisory Committee presents first report
Jeffrey S. Lehman, dean of the Law School and chair of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee, presented the committee’s first progress report to the Presidential Search Committee (PSC) in May, with an update in July. Lehman said that the search is on track, and that he is happy with how the process is working. “We have already accumulated a large number of impressive prospects, and the list is growing every day,” he said. He added that he expects to report back to the PSC with a list of prospects and an “especially distinguished list of five candidates” in October.
New Business School program will increase minority faculty membership
The Business School has launched a “Faculty of the Future” program to increase the numbers of underrepresented minority faculty members at American business schools. The program will be funded by a three-year, $300,000 grant from the General Electric Fund. In order to develop new sources of minority applicants for Ph.D. programs, the program will join forces with Morehouse College, Navajo Community College, North Carolina A&T State University, South Carolina State College, and Tuskegee University to develop an Undergraduate Research and Teaching Program. The Business School also plans to establish Graduate Fellowship and Forgivable Loan programs for minority graduate students.
$5 million grant to School of Information will benefit non-profit agencies
A four-year, $5 million grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to the School of Information will allow the School to build an educational model for practical learning and service that will directly benefit non-profit community organizations and agencies. Projects could include creating a publicly accessible online system for maintaining city council minutes and other records; analyzing computer training needs of a countywide consortium of small, non-profit organizations; training community librarians to provide citizens with online data via the WorldWide Web; and deploying and evaluating digital library technologies in middle schools, high schools and public libraries.
Center receives $18 million in flat panel display equipment
Lucent Technologies donated $18 million in flat panel display manufacturing equipment and intellectual property to the Center for Display Technology and Manufacturing. In addition to the donation from Lucent Technologies, the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is transferring related equipment, valued at approximately $4 million, to the U-M. The Center conducts a wide range of advanced research in display manufacturing, assists in providing technical employee training, and provides technology transfer and commercialization.
Faculty retreat works to identify ways to improve teaching, peer reviews
A day-long faculty retreat to identify methods to help colleagues improve their teaching through peer reviews and teaching portfolios was held in May. The retreat, “Enhancing and Evaluating Teaching: Colleagues Helping Colleagues,” was sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. The conference focused on the importance of good teaching, peer reviews and portfolios, and ways to ensure that they are approached with care.
New institute supports environmental research
The U-M will establish the Frederick A. and Barbara M. Erb Environmental Management Institute to “focus the capabilities and resources of the University to create and support high-quality teaching and research in the field of environmental management.” The institute is made possible by a financial commitment of $5 million from Frederick A. and Barbara M. Erb. The institute will be a jointly administered unit of the Business School and the School of Natural Resources and Environment.
