Calendar

January 31
·   Retirement Party for Paul Schultz
·   Singer Johnsmith
February 3
·   Residential Life Boot Hockey and Softball in the Snow
February 3 and 4
·   Hockey – UMC vs. Milwaukee School of Engineering
February 4
·   February Fitness – Crookston Pool
February 5
·   Brown Bag Lunch Series
February 6
·   Blood Drive
February 9
·   Campus Preview
·   Basketball – UMC vs. Concordia, St. Paul (Women
    and Men)
February 9-17
·   UMC Snow Daze “Snow Dazed and Confused”
February 10
·   Basketball – UMC vs. Winona State University
    (Women and Men)
·   UMC Snow Daze Dance
February 11
·   Snow Sculpture Building
·   February Fitness – Lysaker Gymnasium
February 12
·   Brown Bag Lunch Series
·   UMC Snow Daze 2001 Royalty Coronation
February 14
·   Valentine’s Day
·   Open Mic Night
February 15
·   Movie Night
February 16
·   Survival Bingo
February 16 and 17
·   Hockey – UMC vs. Minnesota State University,
    Bottineau
February 18
·   February Fitness – Skating at Crookston Civic Arena

News Items

The U and Governor Ventura’s Budget
As you may have heard, the Governor yesterday (January 23) released his budget proposals for the coming biennium, recommending only $56.6 million of the $221 million requested by the University.  This is the third lowest appropriation for the University in a non-recession year since 1945.  Unless the legislature is more generous, it will require a major retrenchment at the University, including reductions in personnel and substantial increases in tuition.  It goes without saying that any efforts to increase faculty salaries will be jeopardized, and we will fall further behind other research universities in our ability to attract and keep top faculty.  This is a great personal disappointment to me and represents a major step backward for the University.  

The University has requested $221 million for the biennium.  Of that, $150 million is earmarked for core operations, including meeting double-digit increases in health care premium costs for employees, providing a cost of living increase in wages and addressing an annual deficit in the Medical School.  The remaining $71.5 million would support initiatives that fuel Minnesota's economy, including health professional education, computer science and information technology, and the biological sciences.

The people of Minnesota have responded enthusiastically to the initiatives that we have taken over the last three years both in the quality of undergraduate education and in areas that fuel Minnesota's economy.  This budget does not include one thin dime for either of these and that is shortsighted in today's knowledge economy.

I want you to know that I will do everything in my power to assure adequate funding for the University - I will travel the state, I will speak out, and I will engage our alumni and friends.  But I need your help:  contact your legislators and let them know that you do not agree with the Governor's proposed funding for the University.  Tell them that the very foundation of the University is at risk and that the gains we have made together will be lost without more dollars than the Governor has allocated.

Please help!  The University's full request and information on contacting your legislators can be found on the Web at www.umn.edu/govrel.
--Mark G. Yudof, U of M President

Michael Chowdry Killed in Plane Crash
Atlas Air Headquarters contacted UMC on Wednesday, January 24, and notified us that Michael Chowdry, 45, was killed in a plane crash that morning.  Mr. Chowdry was a 1978 UMC graduate who had achieved remarkable business success with his air freight company Atlas Air, Inc, which hauls cargo for several major airlines.  Mr. Chowdry felt strongly that his American dream began at UMC, and he was extremely grateful to everyone who helped him while he was a student here.  He and his wife Linda have been extremely generous donors to UMC, and in 1997 they established the Michael Chowdry Entrepreneurial Scholarship Fund, which has assisted many entrepreneurial-minded UMC students in the years since.  The UMC community offers its warmest condolences to his family.

The family has indicated that memorial donations may be made to the Chowdry Family Foundation, the foundation that has funded the student scholarships at UMC. 

Linda Chowdry
c/o Atlas Air
538 Commons Drive
Golden, CO  80401  

I have sent a note to the UMC Chowdry Student Scholars with the address for their cards and notes.  There was a private service for Michael in Golden, Colorado, on Saturday, January 27.  Del Roelofs, Derek Hoffbauer, and I represented UMC.  Derek worked at Atlas Air in Golden on his internship this summer. 
--Donald Sargeant, UMC Chancellor

Minnesota House Higher Education Finance Committee Visit February 2
On Friday, February 2, the Minnesota House Higher Education Finance Committee will be on campus from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. to learn more about our enrollment and technology.  The following members of the committee will visit the campus:  Peggy Leppik, chair; Doug Stang, John Tuma, Steve Dehler, George Cassell, Joe Opatz, Paul Marquart, Gene Pelowski, Lyn Carlson, Marty Seifert, Dave Bishop (Ex-Officio),  (Bret Walsh, staff)

A tentative schedule is listed below:

--Curt Almlie, Director of University Relations

Human Resource Training Follow-Up
To all who participated in the Human Resources Training:  as a part of the Crookston Study Implementation Plan Carol Carrier, Robert Jones, Julie Swietzer and Jane Canney conducted two days of discussions and training regarding recruitment, retention development, promotion, P&T, Post Tenure Review, etc.

I want to thank all of you for your energetic and thoughtful participation.  The discussions certainly reinforced my belief that there are many individuals on this campus dedicated to positively impacting the teaching and learning that is taking place here at UMC.  I know that I learned a great deal, and I also see that we have a few challenges ahead as we look to using the promotion and tenure processes and the suggestions for hiring practices that will help us grow and mature as an institution. 

I would encourage all of you to continue some of the discussions started during these two days in your center meetings.  We will be looking at campus-wide dialogues and decision-making processes to address the questions raised during this training.  If there were questions or issues brought up that I could assist you with, please let me know.  Thanks.
--Doug Knowlton, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Singer Songwriter to Perform January 31
Come and join us for a nice evening of songs and stories.  Johnsmith writes his own music and shares the stores behind them.  This show will be at 7 p.m. in the Eagles Roost (Morsels) Wednesday, January 31^st, and is free.  It would be very appropriate for any age.  Sponsored by the Bede Student Center.
--Pam Holsinger-Fuchs, Director of Student Activities and Service Learning

Brown Bag Lunch Series at UMC
UMC will receive an ITV broadcast from the Twin Cities as part of the 2001 Brown Bag Lunch Series.  The session is free of charge and open to all UMC employees and family members.  Bring your lunch and join us for the following workshop.

--Les Johnson, Director of Human Resources

Semester Leaves
The University of Minnesota, Crookston has been allocated two faculty semester leaves for the academic year 2001-2002.  The completed application for these leaves must be in the Academic Affairs office by March 30, 2001.  If more than two requests are received, the Academic Coordinating Committee will review and rank the requests.  The application form can be found at the following web location:
http://process.umn.edu/groups/hr/documents/form/semester.doc

Policies and information regarding single semester leaves and sabbaticals are available at:
http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/humanresources/FacultyDevLeaves.pdf

--Doug Knowlton, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Retirement Party for Paul Schultz
There will be a retirement party for Paul Schultz on Wednesday, January 31, at 2 p.m. in Brown Dining Room.  Paul has been employed at UMC for the past 20 years.  If you would like to contribute to a gift for Paul, please contact Sharon Olson at 281-8491.

New CSA Executive Members
The UMC Student Association would like to congratulate all the people who took the time to run for Crookston Student Association (CSA) positions.  We had 13 applicants from the student body. 

We would like to congratulate the winners for the 2000-2001 year.  Our new senators are Cheryl Isder, Angela Altepeter, Meghan Ulrich, and Rudolph Stith.  Our new Student Senate Consultative Committee (SSCC) Representative is Matt McBlair, and the new Regents Representative is Isaac Dallager. Congratulations.  We look forward to working with this new group!
--Lisa Detloff, CSA Senator

President's Award for Outstanding Service
An award recognizing faculty and staff who have provided exceptional service to the University was established in 1997 and is presented each year in the spring.  Called the President's Award for Outstanding Service, this award honors active or retired faculty or staff members who have gone well beyond their regular duties and have demonstrated an unusual commitment to the University community.  Nominations for this award are due by March 2, 2001.

Nominators must be current members of the University of Minnesota faculty or staff or alumni of the University.  Nomination letters should focus on the nominator's personal knowledge of the nominee's exceptional service, such as innovative service to students, the University community, individual units of the University, or outreach beyond the University.

Nominations should be submitted to: 

President's Award Committee
c/o Vickie Courtney
University Senate Office
427 Morrill Hall

For more information about this award or the nominating process, please call the University Senate Office at 612-625-9369.

Ole’s Canoe Trip
On January 23 Craig Ohlhauser, ’00 Alumnus, spoke to UMC students and faculty about his solo canoe trip down the Mississippi River.  He began his trek October 21, 2000, at Lake Itasca, traveled nearly 2550 miles, and reached New Orleans on January 4, 2001.  More information is available at www.olescanoetrip.com.

Update of Faculty-Staff Directory
An update to the printed faculty-staff for spring semester 2001 is available for download and print.  It is an Adobe PDF file [fac-staff-spr2001.pdf].  The update reflects new faculty and staff, and those who have moved to different office spaces over the semester break.
--Andrew Svec, Director of Communications

Ag-Arama Awards
Congratulations to Ag-Arama King Paul Detloff, Queen Angie Pommerening, Prince Steve Waling, and Princess Cheryl Isder.  Also congrats to Barb Heinze, who received the True Grit Award.  Approximately 250 people attended the Ag-Arama events in UTOC on Saturday, January 27.  More information will follow soon on the Ag-Arama website: http://webhome.crk.umn.edu/clubs/agarama/

Ag-Arama Senior Court: King Paul Detloff, Queen Angie Pommerening, Joe Gamradt, Becky Seifert, Greg Read, Kelly Fulton, Jason Bock, Kylene Odegaard, James Maus, and Kim Rankin

Ag-Arama Junior Court:  Prince Steve Waling, Princess Cheryl Isder, Dallas Koplin, Sara Ehlers, Andrew Holle, DeeAnn Durheim, Danny Larson, and Staci Slykerman

UMC Insight
UMC Insight will be aired Saturday, February 3, at 8:45 a.m. on KROX (AM 1260).  Tune in to hear about UMC’s Maroon and Gold Week, set for February 19-24, with Curt Almlie, Director of University Relations.  UMC student Dana Prudhomme, who is working for UMC University Relations, will serve as host. 

UMC Insight files are also available via the Web at http://www.umcrookston.edu/newsevents/insight/00-01/index.htm.

UMC Bulletin
The UMC Bulletin is posted at:
http://www.umcrookston.edu/campusinfo/wkbulletin/bulletin.htm

Attachments

• Weekly Schedule for February 5-11, 2001

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