Budget crises have hit NMU hard over the past few years; have the various divisions of the university felt this pressure at a level proportional to their relative institutional size? Head-count is a popular metric used by this administration to describe enrollment; have the head-counts of the various groups of employees across campus divisions been equally impacted by the changing budgets?

This latter question is an interesting one which highlights one of the primary problems with such a metric. Should a student who takes a single 4-credit course be counted as equivalent to a student taking a full load of 16 credits? Similarly, should an employee who worked one month of the year be counted as equivalent to one who worked all 12 months of the year? The answer to both of these questions should obviously be no if the intention is to accurately describe a given population. The past and ongoing impacts on various employee units across campus divisions remains an important consideration as new budget cuts are proposed or enacted, however it is clear that a more useful metric than head-count is required. More often than not, faculty complete full academic years of employment, such that a comparison of fall faculty numbers from year to year gives a reliable representation of the changes and trends, however the same is not true for other employee units on campus, who more commonly have personnel turnover throughout the year.

A review of data provided by Human Resources, which was previously used in the recent investigation which ultimately led to the $262 health care refunds to NMU-AAUP members for over-payments made in the 2015 calendar year, reveals a useful and different metric for comparing the campus personnel trends: months of health plan coverage. Although not all employees on campus enjoy the benefits of the health plan, including the contingent faculty among our own membership, those who do are carefully tracked by HR in order to ensure that benefits are only received for actual periods of employment. Thus a full-time employee who worked an entire year received 12 months of health plan coverage; a new full-time faculty member who began teaching in the fall semester would receive 5 months of health plan coverage (Aug-Dec) for that same year. By examining the total number of months of health plan coverage for each employee group on campus, we begin to see revealing trends regarding personnel on campus. As expected given the shrinking enrollment and correspondingly shrinking budgets, most employee units on campus are shrinking. However, such is not the case for everyone. The following table contains the total number of months of health care coverage for the various employee units for calendar years 2014 and 2015, along with the respective percent change for each group. For reference, the classification of Non-Reps is defined by HR as including Executives, Senior Management, Deans, Department Heads, Senior Administrators, and Coaches.

Beautiful weather, Border Grille and bluegrass music welcomed NMU-AAUP members and their families at the second annual, Picnic at Presque Isle.

Thanks again to Lynne Johnson and Andrea Jordan for organizing this wonderful family event. Also, thanks to the “Union Suits” for once again providing great music to help us get the year started on the right “note.”

Click here to see a short music video of faculty, families and fun!

Biology Professor Brent Graves has been elected as the new NMU AAUP President with 86 votes to incumbent Becky Mead’s 62 votes. Graves is certainly no stranger to the NMU AAUP. He has served as the union’s grievance officer since 2010 and is excited about his new role in the union. “I think that we have many opportunities to have a positive impact on NMU. Part of the chapter’s job is to make sure that faculty are treated fairly. The other role for the NMU AAUP is to help to make NMU a place where faculty can have happy, productive, and rewarding careers. Toward this end, the process of shared governance can shape the decisions that affect how the university is run, and this is where the president has greatest influence. Faculty want to work at a quality university where they have the resources necessary to do their jobs well. I will work to make our AAUP chapter efficient and effective at promoting these goals,” Graves said.

Becky Mead, who served as president for the past two years, voiced her support for the ideals stressed by Graves. “I congratulate Brent on his win, and I wish him the best as the NMU AAUP continues the work of defending faculty rights and protecting the principles of shared governance and academic freedom,” Mead said.

In the short-term, Graves feels the biggest problem facing the union and NMU is having sufficient faculty and resources. “Falling enrollment has impacted NMU’s budget and, consequently, resources for faculty. Our job then is twofold. First, we must help administration understand that teaching and scholarship (in their many forms) allow us to accomplish the core mission of the university. Second, we must help to grow enrollment. I firmly believe faculty are the best student recruiting and retention tool available,” Graves said.

Graves will serve a two year term as the head of the NMU AAUP starting July 1.

At the end of the fall semester we said a premature good-bye to Dave Lucas. Now, as we near the end of the winter semester, we must unfortunately do the same for my dear colleague Chuck Ganzert.

Like many of you, when I first encountered Chuck, I discovered a man with uncommon hospitality, humility and of course a good sense of humor.

I had the pleasure of knowing Chuck for over eighteen years. He was a great colleague and an even better friend. From the minute I set foot in Marquette in the summer of 1997, Chuck and Pish made sure I was introduced to nearly everyone they knew and had me out to their house for meals and social gatherings. I was able to partially return the favor on many Sunday afternoons with Chuck and I cheering on the Packers at my place with our buddy Wally Niebauer.

Despite his many accomplishments and awards, Chuck was a team player and was always highly supportive of his colleagues, his community and of course his students. Chuck also loved to laugh, and he engaged his students with a sense of humor as well. In fact, the last thing I heard from my good friend was his laughter echoing through the hall as he left for the airport last week. May we all hear his laughter for a long, long time.

Ballots for the NMU AAUP elections will soon be arriving in your mailbox. This year’s election features two candidates vying for the top leadership position in our chapter. Our current president Becky Mead (Professor of History) is running for reelection and Brent Graves (Professor of Biology) is challenging Mead for the presidency.

Members of the NMU AAUP Executive Council asked the candidates to respond to four questions. You can view the responses from each candidate by clicking on their name below.

Brent Graves             Becky Mead

Great food and pragmatic presentations were on the menu for the 2016 Spring Chapter Meeting on March 23, in the Explorer Rooms of the University Center. The meeting offered a chance to look back on the work of the union for the academic year and the calendar year as well.

One year ago, the NMU AAUP was engaged in stalled contract negotiations with little sign of a compromise. However, the NMU AAUP stepped up its efforts with a public rally in April, a media campaign and tireless work by the negotiating team. As the semester ended, so did the stalemate, and a five-year contract was ratified. Since that time, we have endured a series of budget cuts that have affected contingent, adjunct and some term faculty with more cuts likely on the horizon.

In her address, NMU AAUP President Becky Mead reviewed the chapter’s efforts to maintain internal stability during the transition to Right to Work. As of March 15, 2016, nearly all tenure track-faculty have joined the union, and according to Treasurer Carol Johnson, the chapter’s financial health is also good at this time. Mead also emphasized the need for greater transparency with regard to the process of decision making at NMU. For more details on Mead’s address, click here.

Grievance Officer Brent Graves recapped his recent efforts to amend contract language regarding seniority for contingent faculty. The MOU will allow contingent faculty to retain their seniority in a department even if there are employment gaps in their service to that department. The MOU also would allow contingent faculty to retain seniority in multiple departments. Graves also reminded the membership to engage in activities that will improve enrollment.

Information Officer Dwight Brady invited more story ideas for the “Faculty Focus” segment of the NMU AAUP website. He also called upon members of the union to emphasize the heroic efforts of the faculty when speaking to media and students rather than adding more negativity to already bad news about budget cuts and declining enrollment.

George Wilson presented key elements of his report on student to faculty ratios at NMU. This data was the centerpiece of a recent two-part series in the Marquette Mining Journal and on nmuaaup.org. Using NMU’s internal data and a commonly used methodology for reporting such ratios, Wilson’s report showed far higher student to faculty ratios at NMU compared to competing universities. For more details on this data, click here.

Executive Committee member and our health insurance guru Brandon Canfield highlighted news relating to our health insurance. According to Canfield, our new health insurance plan is not costing as much as anticipated. This has resulted in a cost savings for union members and the university as a whole. For more details on this, click here.

The most discussed item of the meeting pertained to a new early retirement buyout program that appears to target lower enrollment departments. Initially, all faculty members with ten or more years of service received the offer in the mail with little explanation. Now, it appears all faculty members will have the opportunity to apply if they would like. The union has not taken an official position on this plan because we have not reached an agreement with the administration. It was pitched directly to our membership. For more information on the buyout, click here.

Despite the seemingly incessant budget cuts, there are some positives to take away as we close out this academic year. Faculty are working with Admissions and Communications and Marketing to reverse enrollment trends. These efforts could result in a positive financial outcome due to the enrollment incentive in our current contract. A reversal in these trends could also mean rehiring some of the adjunct and contingent faculty who lost their positions this past year.

The Executive Committee of the NMU AAUP will continue to work hard on your behalf, and we wish you all the best as you conclude this semester and launch into your summer activities.

Despite enrollment declines over the past several years, a new report from the NMU AAUP shows the student to faculty ratio has remained relatively high and is likely to increase. NMU faculty already outpace their peers with regard to the number of students to full-time equivalent faculty, and further cuts proposed in the administration’s realignment plan could push that ratio to new highs. NMU AAUP’s Data Analyst George Wilson has assembled an analysis of student enrollment and faculty levels at NMU based upon data gathered from NMU’s public reports to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the university’s public reports on its Institutional Research website (www.nmu.edu/institutionalresearch/), and data provided by the university to the NMU AAUP. To read Dr. Wilson’s entire report click here.

Mistrust and a lack of clear communication about budget decisions were the main takeaways from the survey results presented at the Transparency Action Steering Committee’s presentation on Thursday, February 11, in Jamrich Hall. Co-Chairs Rhea Dever, Dir. of Human Resources and Jes Thompson, Associate Professor in CAPS presided over the meeting attended by about 30 faculty and staff, ten students and members of the TASC.

The survey involved 975 participants with 846 completing their surveys. Over 670 students participated with just over 300 faculty and staff. Some of the most notable findings show 94 percent of faculty and staff agreed the campus-wide decision-making process mattered to them, and 83 percent of students said it mattered to them as well. Seventy-one percent of faculty/staff and 65 percent of students said decisions having campus-wide impact are not effectively communicated. A vast majority of faculty and staff (83%) did not believe there is a climate of trust on campus while 48 percent of students said they agreed there is a climate of trust.

On specific questions about hiring and input on curriculum, both faculty and students agreed there was sufficient transparency. However, when asked about satisfaction with the level of transparency and involvement in the budget, the numbers fall off dramatically. Seventy-two percent of all respondents disagreed there was adequate transparency concerning budget issues while 70 percent felt the same about the level of involvement. More details and slides from the presentation can be viewed by clicking here. The text of the report can be reviewed by clicking here.

During finals week of the fall 2015 semester, NMU AAUP faculty provided free cookies and coffee to students passing by in the lounge area of the Jamrich Building. The students were also asked to fill out an informal survey about course availability. They were also asked to respond with written comments concerning things that should or should not be cut from the budget.

Of the 187 students who participated in the survey, 25% said they were at least somewhat dissatisfied with their ability to get into classes they wanted for winter 2016. Two out of five students indicated they were unable to get into all the classes they wanted. Of the 78 students who were unable to get all of the classes they wanted, half of them said these courses were necessary to graduate. Nevertheless, 68 % of the respondents said they were at least somewhat confident they would get the courses needed to graduate within their timetable.

Written comments reflected widespread criticism of the extra fee charged for online courses. Another theme was the concern over cutting too many classes out of the schedule. Students also expressed concerns that cuts to the educational offerings at NMU would further impact enrollment in the future. One student wrote, “I used to be very confident and sincere in recommending high school students and friends come to NMU because of all of the amazing opportunities I have had while here (field trips, small classes, ability to do research as an undergraduate, funding to travel to conferences, scholarships for summer internships, scholarships for an education here, leadership development programs, other support for extracurricular activities, etc.). Although none of these programs (funding for the Harden Scholarship, for the honors program, for SLFP, for freshman fellows, from individual departments to travel for research, etc.) have specifically been cut, I seriously fear they will be. These are the things that made NMU stand out for me, and these are the programs that made this university for me. If the programs get cut, I won’t be able to tell people to come here because I know they won’t be able to have the same small school with many opportunities experience I had.”

To view all of the written comments from survey respondents, click here. NMU faculty members Lynne Johnson, Bonnie Betzinger and Jamie Kuehnl contributed to this article through data collection and/or data entry along with our NMU AAUP secretary Andrea Jordan. NMU student Joe Rowles assisted with writing the article and reviewing the data.