MyMichigan or Central Michigan: Conversations and concerns continue
Editor's Note: This story was updated to reflect an announcement made by the university on Thursday pausing the plans to consider partnerships with external health clinic providers.
Central Michigan University President Neil MacKinnon addressed some concerns and gave updates on the possible partnership with MyMichigan, a University of Michigan health clinic, at the Academic Senate meeting that occurred on Tuesday, March 4. This came roughy 48 hours before the university announced it was pushing the pause button on plans to merge the clinic in light of a leadership change.
After Michigan health service employees expressed their hesitancies about the partnership at the February Board of Trustees meeting, MacKinnon said he met with multiple CMU employees in health services to listen to their views on the change.
“Something to think about is the branding of a different university on our university’s property to provide medical services at a university that has a medical school that is not actually providing those services,” Senator Tracy Davis said.
MacKinnon said that the threat to CMU's branding was one concern that had been brought up in the conversation about partnering with MyMichigan.
Despite having a medical school, CMU does not have its own health system, MacKinnon said, but practice plans with other companies and clinics to make one possible on campus. Some of these partnerships include Covenant, McLaren and possibly MyMichigan. Despite MyMichigan being a U of M clinic, MacKinnon said that the on-campus health services would continue to be CMU-based and not U of M-based.
“If these partnerships were to happen, they understand some of the sensitivities around that,” MacKinnon said.
In an announcement from the university late Thursday, March 6, MacKinnon said CMU is pausing its plans regarding external partners for the campus health clinics.
Ongoing search to fill vacant seats
Provost Paula Lancaster gave some updates on the ongoing search for many vacant seats in senior office positions. These searches include:
- Dean of the College of Health Professions
- University Communications Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
- Vice President of CMU Innovation and Online
Lancaster said that there are three finalists for the Dean of College of Health Professions and that the search for the two vice president positions has just begun.
Campus service update from Student Athletic Services
The Fall 2024 semester had the highest average GPA since 2020 among student-athletes who go through student athletic services, according to Gabrielle Lathrop, the associate athletic director of student-athlete services.
“This is our 52nd semester of having a 3.0 or higher cumulative department GPA,” Lathrop said. “The fall of 2024 we had a 3.3, which was the highest semester GPA since the spring of 2020.”
Student Athletic Services (SAS) is an organization on campus that works to provide support to student-athletes who qualify for the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Lathrop spoke on what SAS was, what its purpose was on campus, how it impacts student-athletes on campus and how services compare to other campuses.
“Our goal is to keep our student-athletes eligible and to help create independent, lifelong learners,” Lathrop said.
Lathrop said that student-athletes must follow NCAA guidelines that have requirements for passing credit hours, GPA and more. SAS works with student-athletes to ensure that they continue to meet NCAA standards and remain eligible.
When working with students, Lathrop said NCAA tracks:
- What academic year a student is in
- Credit hours needed to pass each term and each year to remain NCAA eligible
- Degree progress
- GPA
- Miscellaneous rules that may go along with certain guidelines in a certain sport
SAS will also look at the academic progress rate of each student or a way to look at the eligibility and retention of a student-athlete. Lathrop said that in the current 2023-24 academic year, 97% of the student-athletes in the program were NCAA eligible and 96% were retained.
SAS not only tracks progress relating to NCAA and academics, but it also provides support for student-athletes. These services include peer tutoring and mentorships, academic check-ins for freshmen and transfers, study hall policies to ensure that athletes have the time they need to get school work done, and support for career planning.
In Other News:
- MacKinnon announced that he and Lancaster will continue to send updates on current political news to students and staff weekly.
- The Senate discussed a General Education Quality Initiative. One of the discussion points was to minimize the amount of Gen Ed classes required for students to take.
