Provost's Blog

A new structure has grown on campus. The Bubble will provide a year-round indoor athletic practice facility as well as indoor soccer fields for the community.

Superbowl or Chinese Spring Festival at Eastern Michigan University. I joined several hundred people who chose the Chinese Spring Festival. Thanks to the hard work of Mandarin Intructor Yen-ling von Meister and the faculty, students, and staff of the World Languages Department and the Chinese Student Association, hundreds enjoyed a wonderful evening sharing Chinese culture.  Umbrella dancers, yo-yo demonstrations, tai chi, games, folk songs, harpist, and more, I think we gained far more then those who watched the Superbowl (but I must admit I recorded it, for the commercials!).

Please join us at the many events planned for Chinese Week, February 7-15.  For details go: acs-association.blogspot.com

Eastern Michigan University’s Autism Collaborative Center was featured on PBS today. I joined Auent on “A Wider World” this evening. Our Autism Collaborative is a model of interdisciplinary cooperation that focuses on Service/Education/Research/Community. tism Collaborative faculty, staff, and friends who gathered to watch the segmIn collaboration with families, and community partners, comprehensive and accessible services are provided to individuals with autism spectrum disorders and their families.

The Autism Collaborative Center brings together professionals for Dietetics and Nutrition, Music Therapy, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Psychology, Social Work, Special Education, Speech and Language Therapy, and Therapeutic Recreation.

For more information go to < www.accemu.org >.

Congratulations to the Autism Collaborative on their well-deserved national publicity.

One thing I love to do in this blog is brag about the great programs and faculty at Eastern Michigan University. Today I get to brag about our Department of Physics and Astronomy. Lots of universities talk about their commiitment to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Eastern Michigan University was recently recognized as one of the top producers of bachelors degrees in physics in the United States by the American Institute of Physics in their 2010 report: “Physics Undergraduate Enrollments and Degrees.”

During 2005-07, Eastern Michigan University produced an average of 7 physics majors per year compared to the national average of 5.7.  Overall. Eastern Michigan University ranked 14th (tied) in the nation of 63 universities in our category. For a copy of the report click here.

Dr. James Carroll, Department Head of Physics and Astronomy at Eastern Michigan University, reveals some information about the accomplishment that should cause us all to take note.

This distinction is more impressive when one considers our low number of faculty (half the national average for the number of degrees we produce), we are successfully competing with nationally ranked phys doctoral-granting institutions (Michigan is #12 and MSU is #33 among the 180 universities ranked), we do not have a college of engineering as a recruiting tool, we do not have a fancy building and EMU is renown for producing teachers, not scientists (these data do not include physics teachers produced in the major and minor programs).

Please join me in congratulating rhe faculty, staff, and students of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Jerome David Salinger was born 1 January 1919. He died 27 January 2010. Like millions of other youth, I was compelled to read Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye in high school, engaging in a crude literary analysis of the work and struggling to understand what I was supposed to learn by looking at the motives of Holden Caulfield. He just seemed disillusioned to me, and I did not buy for one moment that he was innocent. I never could grasp why my English teacher thought him to be an urbanized Huckleberry Finn.

Yet, there was something fascinating about Salinger’s work, and his subsequent “Franny” and “Zooey.” Perhaps I liked Salinger because the critics labeled his work “immoral,” “subversive,” “vulgar,” and “repellent.” Perhaps I liked Salinger because he wanted his work read, and did not want the attention placed on himself. Perhaps I liked Salinger because of his desire for “reclusivity” over celebrity.

After writing this I came across Mitch Albom’s column titled “Salinger’s greatest trick: To disappear” (Detroit Free Press, 31 January 2010, p. 21A).  I could not agree more with Albom’s sentiment:

And hearing that he died this past week without ever giving in makes me admire him all the more. Salinger never swallowed this capitalize-on-your-fame command that Simon Cowell an YouTube have turned into an American birthright. He never even sold the movie rigths to his most famous work. The more fuss people wanted to make, the less interested he was. The last written work to carry his name was in 1965. Then he stopped. He was 46.

I joined tens of millions of people around the world in watching the first State of the Union Address by an African-American President. I have not missed a State of the Union since as a ten-year-old I watched John F. Kennedy on January 30, 1961.

I must confess that I enjoyed this speech far more than any in the past 16 years, since this year not a single media outlet asked me to provide commentary on the speech, which always forced me to superficially examine the speech and come up with some catchy 20 second sound bite on how the President healed the nation or engaged in a surgical strike on some issue.

Despite the negativity surrounding the President’s attempt to reform health care, President Obama used his speech to attempt a conversation with the American people. He was witty, at times self-deprecating, hopeful, bold, and even questioned at one point why he was not getting applause.

He did not shy away from unpopular actions, drawing the Congress in concert with hating the actions to bail out the banks. He admitted he made mistakes, taking his “share of the blame” in not explaining health care reform. He pledged not to give up.

We all know that the State of the Union Address, although securing much media attention, has virtually no long-lasting impact on Washington politics or on public policy. However, this populist President who, as some claim, was reeling from the loss of the Massachusetts Senate seat and in danger of losing some of his populism, showed that he could indeed engage the nation in a conversation. I do not recall a State of the Union Address that produced as much laughter as did this one; not laughter of ridicule, but laughter that penetrated the tension of the frightening state of our union.

Visually, what did you think of the standing ovation from those who surrounded the Supreme Court Justices in the audience who remained seated as the President scolded the Court for overturning a century of progress in restricting the influence of business and lobbying? Is this one more in a series of jabs boxer Obama delivered; is this a spoiled child mad that he did not get his way and therefore acting out; or is this a President who truly believes that we must come together in the common purpose in which “all of us love this country” and will put aside school yard antics?

The optimist in me tells me that the visionary Obama is back. His campaign brought together a diverse coalition of people who felt that they were finally empowered to participate in a national conversation. Hopefully, this conversation will now bring together an even more diverse coalition who will force a new national and perhaps international agenda that allows us to care about one another.

In President Obama’s own words:

“No wonder there is so much cynicism out there.”

“Change we can believe in.”

“What keeps me going, what keeps me fighting is that spirit of optimism … lives on.”

“We are strong, We are resilient. We are Americans.”

“It lives on in the 8-year-old who sent me his allowance and asked me to give it to the people of Haiti.”

“A new decade stretches before us. We don’t quit. I don’t quit.”

Please, let the conversation continue. And do not let the media spin stop the conversation. Immediately following the speech, the media went to the other side of the House to find out what was wrong with the message. Why not go to the people?

And maybe, just maybe, this will be the first State of the Union Address that makes a difference.

I have been meaning to add this post for quite some time, but have been overwhelmed by emails and falling further behind in the paper crush. I attended my first EMU MLK celebration a week ago Monday. I felt so very proud of our faculty, students, staff, and alumni, and the vital activism they undertake in advancing justice and making our community a better place. I could not help but think that had Dr. King heard of the contributions of our award winners, he too would have been very proud.

I would love to detail the contributions of all our award winners. Instead, I am selecting just one of the honorees, to exemplify the lasting impact of the work of our faculty, staff, alumni, and students.

Dr. Dennis Patrick, Professor of Communication in the Department of Communication, Media and Theatre Arts, was recognized with a Humanitarian Award. Dr. Patrick combines his expertise in family and relational communication with a passionate commitment to children in need of family. Over 120,000 children in the United State are waiting to be adopted and nearly half-a-million children are in foster care. Dr. Patrick is a tireless advocate for these children. Nationally and locally, Dr. Patrick is a leader in giving voice to these children, seeking to place them in loving families. The Human Rights Campaign, featuring Dr. Patrick in the Adoption Week National Chat, reports that “Patrick and his partner Tom have fostered 16 children and have adopted four boys through the foster care system.”

Dr. Patrick, thank you for your activism. You exemplify the “make a difference” character of Eastern Michigan University. Thank you to all the award winners and to all the unsung heroes in our community.

For more information on the MLK celebration at EMU, click here. For information on adoption and an interview with Dr. Patrick, click here to go to the web site of the Human Rights Campaign.

Congratulations to the Eastern Michigan University Women’s Basketball team for a great game and win against Ball State at the Convo tonight. Yeah–the team is 14 and 3! I got to enjoy the game with faculty and staff. Thanks to all who accepted my invitation. I will try to set up some more of these events. It was great to talk to one another outside of the normal routine.

On February 4th, EMU Athletics will present their MVP  (Most Valuable Professor award as selected by the Men’s Basketball team.

Watch for information about the Guest Coach Program sponsored by Women’s Basketball. Winners meet the team and coaches, partake in the pre-game meal, and get a number of perks. Contact kthomps2@emich.edu for information. Nominations are due by February 1.

A special thanks to Professor Elizabeth Broughton, EMU’s Faculty Athletics Representative, for her tremendous work supporting our student athletes.

Whenever I think of Martin Luther King, Jr., who I think about quite frequently these days, I am fortified by being reminded of the power or the spoken word. By word and deed, Dr. King moved a nation to action, action not self-serving, but action calling for uplifting, liberating, and empowering those who had been denied opportunity. As we take pause this week to celebrate the work of Dr. King, let us always remember the importance of opportunity. Our universities must work harder to truly provide opportunity. Although there are universities like Eastern Michigan University that have worked hard to keep costs down, to increase scholarships and financial aid, and to provide those services that help make the opportunity of student success real, we must all work harder to ensure that educational opportunity is not merely a dream. I too have a dream. Someday in our great nation every child and adult will benefit from a high quality education.

Okay blog readers. I have had almost 7,000 unique individuals from 91 countries view over 15,760 pages of this blog since August, 2009. Yet, I have received only 58 comments.

Please, react. Let me know someone is really out there and reading my ramblings. Reacting is easy and you can remain anonymous. Just move your cursor above “comments” at the bottom of the blog entry and follow the instructions on leaving a message. Please, interact!