SGA ends the semester with an administration town hall
CMU President Neil MacKinnon, Provost Paula Lancaster and Dr. Shawna Patterson-Stephens sit on stage at the SGA Administration Town Hall on Nov. 24, 7:30 p.m. in Anspach 161
The Student Government Association held an administration town hall at the SGA meeting on Monday, Nov. 24.
CMU President Neil MacKinnon, Provost Paula Lancaster and Dr. Shawna Patterson-Stephens bridged the gap between administration and students.
MacKinnon opened the discussion with new initiatives across campus. He spoke about the new academic building, challenges international students are facing, CMU being the number one opportunity university in Michigan and growth in the university.
The questions began with asking about expanding high-demand academic programs, like counseling, computer science and health professions.
“The simple answer is yes. We do engage in those conversations in academic affairs; those happen in a few different ways,” Lancaster said about expanding academic programs. “They happen in each college. ... The department chairs work together and identify those programs where they see potential for growth.”
She said the potential for growth is based on students' interests, and that happens later with all the deans coming together. There is an office in the provost's office that collects data to ensure they are on the right track.
Lancaster discussed how CMU can better work on education around mental health through faculty training and programs.
“I do know that we have many faculty who really pay attention (to) this area and incorporate specific practices and procedures to do exactly what you’re talking about," she said.
CMU wants to see those programs grow, and there are instructional experts that really keep an eye on what is needed in the classrooms, Lancaster said.
The next question a student asked was about having more institutional support for civic engagement and whether CMU could make an office of civic engagement.
Lancaster commended the Central Votes Coalition for the work they do and for ensuring that CMU received the “Voter Friendly Campus Designation.”
“I am absolutely committed to working really closely with our deans and leaders for all of our colleges to ensure that we’re doing our part to message, to support and to lift up the work that you all are doing,” Lancaster said.
Patterson-Stephens spoke about the residential college for civic engagement on campus, which has 40-50 students. These students are learning what it means to be civic servants.
“If you’re not taking advantage of your Griffin chair, you might want to think about that,” she said. “We are one of the few universities in the state of Michigan that actually has on-boarded legislators.”
The next question asked for more clarity about the student service fee, which is $225 per semester, and whether there is a way for it to be more accessible for students.
MacKinnon said the student service fee budget is currently posted on the CMU website, and it’s open for anyone to access.
The breakdown of this budget is:
- 22% goes to academic student services
- 19% goes to counseling and wellbeing
- 40% goes to student services
- 17% goes to student activities
- 2% go to student communications.
He went on to discuss initiatives to expand student employment on campus. The Human Resources Department at CMU told him that $400,000 goes to the CMU Student Assistance, which holds money for student jobs on campus.
The second initiative that started this fall was giving domestic students more hours they are able to work in a week. It changed to 25 hours from the previous 20 hours.
Another change starting in January is the Career Central Job Posting Program. It said that every CMU department is required to post every student position available.
