Various departments and organizations at Central Michigan University are utilizing Facebook pages and Twitter accounts to stay better connected with students, prospective students and alumni.

Sarah Barnard, outreach coordinator for the Study Abroad Program, said she uses the “Central Michigan University Study Abroad” Facebook page to keep students informed and enthusiastic about the programs offered.

“We love to post pictures of students’ trips,” Barnard said. “I also put up articles related to the benefits of studying abroad or journals that students keep while they’re away. Things like that shed a lot of light on the study abroad program for students who may be curious.”

The athletics department uses social media sites on a bigger scale, rolling out 12 Facebook pages and 13 Twitter accounts within the last year.

“(They) are used to strengthen our brand, start conversations and deliver information directly to students, alumni and fans,” said Director of Communications Jason Kaufmans. “The department and each of our 11 sports has an official Facebook page and Twitter account managed by our social media team, and Athletics Director Dave Heeke has a Twitter account that he manages.”

Director of Information Services at the Charles V. Park Library Timothy Peters is in charge of the Facebook page for the main library.

“Using social media is a good way to get our message to a place where we know students are. It’s another avenue for us to promote ourselves,” he said. “I post information about library closings, changes in hours and reminders about services we provide. It’s good to jog people’s memories and remind them that we’re here to help.”

Kaufman said using social media is a necessity in today’s climate, where fans want information delivered directly to them instead of having to find it themselves.

“As future students of CMU get involved with social media at an earlier age, they come in with an expectation that our organization is integrated in the social media world,” he said.

Barnard said using social media is the best way to stay in contact with students.

“It’s a great way to get the word out and share information,” she said. “Facebook and Twitter are new and hip ways to stay connected with students.”

The athletics department plans to continue to utilize social media in the future.

“We are continually looking for new ways to reach our fans with social media,” Kaufman said. “Future plans include building more awareness of our social media pages, providing unique content that is only available with social media and measuring the effectiveness of our efforts.”

The Speaker Series Committee has continued to look for speakers to bring to Central Michigan University and the funding to get them here, said Director of University Events Bob Ebner.

“The Academic Senate kept (the committee going and part of its charge was to find funds),” Ebner said. “It was never eliminated as a committee, just the funding was.”

Ebner said Goodall, who will speak at the CMU Events Center on March 28, will be the fourth major speaker arranged by the committee since it lost regular funding in 2003. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke in Plachta Auditorium in November 2009 and was paid $35,000. The series also brought in British-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie in October 2008 and Gen. Wesley Clark in April 2007.

“I think it’s good to have high-profile speakers. It’s good to have people like (Goodall) come to interact with students. I think it’s a great opportunity, and not everyone gets an opportunity like it,” said Lapeer sophomore Ellen Meinecke. “Maybe not once a year, but every five years or so we should have a speaker like that come to campus, so that while you’re at Central, you can come across a good speaker like that — that way everybody gets a chance.”

The committee pays to bring in speakers like Goodall through donations provided by the university president, provost, Program Board and various academic departments on campus. CMU, through one-time funds from the provost’s office and college deans, is paying $60,000 to the Jane Goodall Institute for the conservationist’s appearance. In 2009, the family of former University President Harold Abel donated $100,000 to create the Abel Endowment Lecture Series, focused on dictatorship, democracy and genocide, though it was not directly part of the Speaker Series.

“I think (having these speakers) is a good thing,” said Fremont sophomore Sarah Smith. “However, I think $60,000 is a lot of money. I think it’s great to have these speakers, but not at that cost.”

Ebner said the committee’s main goal is to bring in speakers who will enhance CMU’s academic programs.

“We have a huge biology undergraduate program,” he said. “(Goodall’s visit) will be good for that.”

The future of the series, however, remains dependent upon donations from the university and administration.

“I feel like not a lot of people really go to these things unless they have to. I don’t personally go to them for my own pleasure or for fun, and I feel like the price is a little outrageous,” said Atlanta sophomore Rachael Sherbonda. “I’m sure some people enjoy them, and it’s worth it for them, but other than that, I don’t know.”

Several departments on campus have endorsed the Dec. 6 vote of no confidence against University President George Ross and Provost Gary Shapiro, and three more can be added to that list.

The Biology Department voted to support Academic Senate’s vote of no confidence last Tuesday, and the Department of Journalism and the Department of Teacher Education and Professional Development voted last Friday. This makes a total of eight departments that have endorsed the vote.

The Department of Journalism also voted against the Faculty Association’s decision to withhold vote totals after their Jan. 12 contract ratification.

“In a separate vote, the department’s personnel committee — tenured and tenure-track faculty — unanimously objected to FA’s refusal to release the vote totals on the recent contract,” said Associate Professor of Journalism Tim Boudreau in an email.

In addition to a unanimous vote of support, the Department of Teacher Education and Professional Development passed a resolution.

Faculty member Norma Bailey said the resolution was outlined in an email to Central Michigan Life on Friday.

“We direct our chairperson to forward the resolution to the Board of Trustees with our call that its concerns be addressed,” the resolution states. “We also give the authority to our chair to support such a measure when this matter is discussed and/or voted on at the Council of Chairs.”

Biology Department Chairman Stephen Roberts said the department endorsed the motion to support the vote of no confidence after being introduced by Phil Hertzler at a recent staff meeting.

The motion read as follows: “The faculty members of the Department of Biology support the Senate’s motion of no confidence and call upon the Board of Trustees to address the concerns expressed therein,” Roberts said in an email.

Boudreau said with numerous departments expressing unhappiness with the campus leadership, he hopes action will be taken soon.

“I’d like the board of trustees to sit up and take notice of the widespread dissatisfaction with campus leadership,” he wrote in an email Sunday afternoon. “This is more than just a few disgruntled faculty members. I think that dissatisfaction is why almost 90 percent of the journalism faculty joined with colleagues across campus in endorsing this vote of no confidence.”

William Wandless, chairperson for the department of English, said a vote regarding the endorsement of the vote of no confidence would occur by ballot at a staff meeting scheduled for Friday.

Five other departments, including sociology, anthropology and social work; philosophy and religion; political science; foreign language, literatures and cultures have since endorsed the December vote. The Department of Mathematics voted to support the vote on Thursday.

Though no specific solution has been suggested by any department, faculty members continue to watch for action to be taken.

“I’ll let the Board of Trustees decide what the next step should be, but acknowledging the problem would be a good start,” Boudreau said.

With Siblings Weekend right around the corner at Central Michigan University, every hall on campus is preparing for its guests.

Robert Dolecki, Farmington Hills senior and co-chairman of Sibs Weekend, said a variety of events have been planned for the weekend using the $57,000 budget.

“We start the weekend with a life-sized version of the board game LIFE on Friday afternoon. Then, we’re offering a choice of three movies for the night,” Dolecki said. “On Saturday, we kick off the day with a huge pancake breakfast and host a carnival in Finch Fieldhouse for the afternoon. At 10 p.m., Club Bovee will be held in the University Center until about 1 a.m. There will be karaoke, dancing and board games. It should be a great time.”

Andrea Purrenhage, Residence Hall Director at Larzelere Hall, said rules and regulations in the dorms remain the same during the weekend.

“Each room can still only have 10 people staying in it for the weekend,” she said. “Drug and alcohol policies are the same as any other day and, as always, students are responsible for the actions of their guests.”

Canton freshman Bridget McEvilly is having her 16-year-old brother stay with her for the weekend.

“He seems excited about it,” she said. “He decided on his own that he wanted to come. My parents didn’t make him or anything. I’m going to let him see the activities planned and if he wants to do anything, we can, and if not, we’ll find other things to do.”

Though a lot of the planned activities are geared toward younger siblings, there are other experiences for older students.

“Siblings Weekend is all about the experience the student can provide,” Dolecki said. “You create the experience and it’s unique for each person. For some siblings, just being in a dorm room with three strangers is a lot of fun, and for others, ordering Menna’s or pizza at 3 a.m. is a blast. It’s all about new experiences and sharing those times with your sibling.”

McEvilly said planning something for older siblings would make the weekend more appealing.

“I think they should include activities for younger kids, but include some tours or something for older kids to come to,” she said. “A lot of siblings come who are looking to go to Central one day, so it would be nice to offer things like that for them. I’m going to use the weekend to show my brother that it’s fun to be here and hopefully make him want to come to (CMU).”

In a vote conducted by the department Thursday, 92 percent of faculty members stand behind the Academic Senate’s 52-percent majority vote at the Dec. 6 meeting. At the request of the voters, specific counts are not being shared.

Mathematics faculty member Donna Ericksen said she hopes the vote doesn’t go unnoticed.

“There are more than just a few disgruntled people that have a problem with the (administration),” she said.

The Mathematics Department has no plans to take any more action.

“I would like to see the Board of Trustees take note of the fact that many faculty members on this campus do not have confidence in the leadership of this university,” she said. “The rest is up to them.”

Math is the fifth academic department to endorse the Dec. 7 vote of no confidence. The sociology, anthropology and social work, philosophy and religion, political science and foreign languages have since passed faculty votes endorsing the vote.

Check back with cm-life.com for updates to this story. 

The hour-long seminar was lead by SAPA members, including programming coordinator Paul Carbini, who stressed the purpose of the presentation was to educate people about potential threats stalking creates.

“People don’t really know how common it is, or how dangerous it really is,” Carbini said. “We are just hoping to educate the people that will come, and to get the word out there.”

When asked why she decided to come out to SAPA’s event, Indiana freshman Heather Hadden said, “I had heard about it and I thought it would be cool. I have been to other SAPA events, and I liked them a lot.”

Hadden said she is not concerned with the issue of being stalked on campus, though she uses caution when communicating with strangers.

“I try to watch who I give my phone number out to, and my full name,” she said. “Especially now, being in college, if I don’t know you on sites like Facebook, I’m not going to add you, because you just never know.”

SAPA members defined what stalking is through a series of video clips, definitions and statistics. Different methods of stalking were also explained, including the utilization of Foursquare, a social-networking application where people can “check-in” to locations in real-time, allowing others to know where they are.

Through this and several other means, SAPA members said technology has created the easiest way to become prey to stalkers. As the seminar came to a close, SAPA members suggested steps that could be taken when dealing with a stalker. The group offers a 24/7 help line, as well as an online chat that provides free, confidential support.

“Safety, safety, safety …  it cannot be stressed enough,” is the message one member of SAPA repeated during the presentation.

When the presentation finally came to an end, Director of Sexual Aggression Services Stephen Thompson said he was very proud of his SAPA team.

“They know their stuff,” Thompson said. “Whatever the topic, if it relates to sexual aggression, they can talk about it.”

Thompson said he hopes the campus community, with help from SAPA, will rid themselves of the “bystander” mentality.

“We don’t want the audience to take this for granted, or think it’s no big deal,” Thompson said. “If something is wrong, we have to notice, interpret and then act upon it. That’s the process we want to engage people in. That’s what we’re here to do.”

She created the Ganiard History Project.

The Central Michigan University graduate said she got the idea when a child asked her about George Ganiard, who served as Mount Pleasant School District’s superintendent for 25 years.

While still teaching, Wolters started the Garniard History Club for third and fourth graders in which 45 kids attended, eventually leading to the start of the Ganiard History Project.

As part of the project, she stopped by professor Marguerite Terrill’s EDU 493 class Wednesday morning to give a presentation about the history of George Ganiard and Ganiard Elementary School, as well as her experiences as a teacher.

“After Ganiard’s passing, the PTA board unanimously decided to vote to change the school’s name after him,” Wolters said. “It was originally West Side School because of its location on the west side of Mount Pleasant.”

Ganiard died in 1939 at the age of 56.

The students in the class are also a big part of the elementary school. Nineteen of the 25 students enrolled in the class are volunteering their time as recess and lunch room monitors and teacher aides in the classroom.

For Escanaba junior Kaylee Hanson, this was a great way to learn about what was around years ago.

“I thought it was interesting,” Hanson said. “It’s good to know what’s around you, and know the history of the community.”

The teaching experience Wolters brought to the class also had an impact on those in attendance.

“It showed students to do what they do, and find what’s valuable in the classroom,” said Milford senior Jordan Fox.

Along with the project, Wolters is also collecting donations to help grow the Ganiard History Project Scholarship Fund. The goal is to reach $10,000 to use for multiple scholarships worth $500 each. The scholarship is for graduating seniors at Mount Pleasant High School who also attended Ganiard Elementary School.

When asked why she continues to contribute to this school, Wolters said she “strongly believes in them” and the scholarships that help kids further their educations are “the important part of the project” to her.

To make a donation to the Ganiard History Project, go to mpacf.org and click “Donate Now” to designate a donation.

According to a news release from Central Michigan University, finalists include Charles Howell, chairman of the College of Education’s leadership, educational psychology and foundations department at Northern Illinois University; Henry Clark, current senior associate dean for academic affairs at the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University and Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson, associate dean of the College of Education at the University of Nevada- Las Vegas.

Kathryn Koch has been serving as interim dean, following the unexpected death of former dean Karen Adams in April 2009.

Each candidate will visit CMU and take part in an interview and hour-long open forum held in the Lake Superior Room of the Bovee University Center.

Howell’s forum will take place from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Monday. Clark and Pehrsson will each hold their forums from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 6 and 7, respectively.

Candidate forums will be open to the public.

“A lot of teachers told students they could go for extra credit,” said Conley, a student panelist for the event.

This is the second annual conference to be hosted by the Teaching and Learning Collective, or TLC, a faculty group in the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences focused on improving student learning and performance at CMU.

This year’s conference will be a response to the book, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses. The book, published last year, examined student learning at colleges and universities across the country, and found that students were not learning how to think critically and were “drifting” through school.

“(Students) are getting lots of information, but they aren’t thinking in a mature way about complex themes,” said Merlyn Mowrey, TLC co-chair and conference co-director.

The authors, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, gave five presentations at CMU on Oct. 3, 2011, to approximately 600 people, Mowrey said. The conference will build on Arum and Roksa’s presentations and book, with presentations and panel discussions focused on different aspects of the problems presented in the book.

The free conference will include three sessions and lunch. Session topics range from the impact of electronic devices on student learning to how to best design courses to help students learn more effectively.

Conley is one of six students participating in a panel on student reactions to the book and presentations.

“The authors did a good job of presenting the issues,” Conley said. “But they didn’t give any solutions. We will be presenting some of the ideas we have come up with.”

Mowrey said the ideas presented by Arum and Roksa apply to CMU and she hopes the conference will lead to changes in the university.

“The book is very provocative and speaks to everyone in the university,” Mowrey said. “We need to turn the focus [of the university] back to student learning and away from other things. We need to bring intellectual rigor and intellectual development back.”

Since its creation in fall 2006, the number of students looking to obtain a leadership minor at CMU has grown from 70 to 600 students, while approximately 400 students have graduated with the minor.

Faculty member Eric Buschlen serves as adviser for the program and said the minor can benefit any student, regardless of their major.

“We all need to learn to become better servants in our community and stronger leaders,” he said. “The leadership minor caters to students from across campus and brings them together in an environment where they can learn the philosophy and styles behind leadership.”

According to a survey distributed in spring 2011 to almost 300 alumni of the program, 68 percent of those that responded currently hold a leadership role. Additionally, 92 percent of respondents agreed that “the leadership minor has taught me specific life skills applicable to my life today.”

Since the minor is unique to CMU, alumni are often asked to explain what the minor entails and what coursework is involved.

“During each of my job interviews, I have been asked to describe this minor and how it has prepared me to lead,” said an anonymous survey respondent.

Nathan Tallman, a 2007 graduate and current Corporate Director of Government Relations for Ross Medical Education Center in Saginaw, said the minor is unique in that it caters to virtually any major students choose, and the capstone project is the most rewarding part of the coursework.

As part of the capstone project, students must serve 120 hours of documented service to a local, national or international agency. CMU students have logged more than 57,000 hours of volunteer work.

“(The capstone project) is a hands-on experience and doesn’t matter what your major or minor is,” Tallman said. “It allows you to evaluate your personal leadership regardless of what professional track you’re looking to take, and most importantly, it allows you to work with something you’re passionate about.”

When survey respondents were asked if they felt the leadership minor added to their academic major, 95.5 percent said yes. Buschlen said this statistic is overwhelmingly important.

“This is what the university wants to see,” he said. “This minor can be used to benefit any student and that’s why we have such academic diversity in both the courses offered and the range of students that sign the minor.”

Tallman said he would recommend the leadership minor to CMU students.

“The coursework in the classroom and the experiences from the classroom that relate to real life is a crash course of what the real world is. It’s a launching pad for individuals to use and take aspects learned from the course,” he said. “Although people may not realize it when they’re doing the work, as a graduate of the program, I’ve found immense value in the courses.”