‘Enrollment is number one’
MacKinnon discusses his enrollment plan, 21 employees given emeritus status during Board of Trustees meeting
Central Michigan University students, staff, and locals attend the last Board of Trustees meeting of the school year in the Bovee UC on Thursday, April 24, 2025. During the meeting merit ties were awarded to faculty and staff of CMU. (CM Life | Jasmine Brookins)
Central Michigan University President Neil MacKinnon briefly discussed his plan to improve the university’s enrollment in his report during the CMU Board of Trustees meeting. The president said his administration is taking the first steps in implementing a strategic enrollment plan.
“We have selected a national firm with expertise in strategic enrollment management plans ... to develop a plan tailored to CMU,” he said. “This fall's recruiting cycle will incorporate parts of that plan.”
MacKinnon said the university is working with the firm SEMWorks. In an interview with Central Michigan Life, he stated that the plan won’t be fully implemented until around the end of the calendar year.
However, he said that the university will be making some changes over the summer to help increase enrollment starting in the fall semester. One way is by helping Provost Paula Lancaster find high-demand degree programs and expand them.
“If we added one or two new faculty or did some small tweaks, then it would open new sections, we could expand enrollment for this fall,” MacKinnon said.
He said that “enrollment is number one” in priorities for the Board of Trustees and his administration
During the Trustees’ Academic and Student Affairs Committee meeting on April 23, Vice President of Student Recruitment and Retention Jennifer DeHaemers reported that the university has had a 25% decrease in applications from international graduate students.
MacKinnon said the college is trying its best to support the university’s current international student population and that this issue stems from orders made by the federal government.
“Part of it would be what many international students experienced over the past three weeks with changes in visa status, even challenges on tariffs and international policy,” he said. “It creates a level of uncertainty.”
“We certainly are doing all we can on our side to wrap our arms around international students and make sure they feel cared for,” MacKinnon continued.
Dean of CMU’s College of Arts and Media shares new degree plan and future changes
Dean of the College of Arts and Media Jefferson Campbell announced that his college is in the process of finalizing a new Administrative Arts degree. This new program would teach students skills such as negotiating and leadership, along with their traditional art courses.
“The whole purpose of that degree, and this is something that is very near and dear to me, is to provide stable, strong leadership for arts organizations not just in Michigan, but throughout the country,” Campbell said.
He said students in other art majors will have to enroll in some of the classes in this new degree to learn skills in these areas.
Campbell also discussed new additions to the college, such as a new animation professor and a graphic design professor who works with augmented reality.
“We tell stories in a million ways,” he said. “Every one of my units tells stories in some different way, whether that's through interpersonal communication, journalism, broadcasting, filmmaking, music, theater, art.”
Student advocates for additional vehicle registration on permits
Senior Annie Cummings spoke during the public comment portion of the trustees’ meeting, asking that they allow students to add two vehicles to a permit.
She said that this would remove a burden off of students who possibly share a car and are often switching between different vehicles
“Allowing students to register two vehicles on one permit would reduce the instances of fines incurred for driving an unregistered vehicle to campus,” Cummings said. “There are many reasons that students need to switch cars. Some might be commuter parents that only have one set of car seats. They may be commuters or on-campus students whose own car broke down and they are just trying to get to school any way possible.”
Currently, students are only allowed one vehicle on a permit and must get a temporary pass if they park on campus in an unregistered vehicle.
Chairman Todd Regis said that Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services Mary Hill will investigate what the university is able to do.
“Our secretaries will share it with Vice President Hill so she can start looking at it,” Regis said. “Look at what we can and can’t do and bring it to one of our committees.”
21 employees given emeritus status
The trustees gave several emeritus statuses to various employees for their last formal meeting for the spring semester. Here are the recipients:
- Kathryn Atkinson, Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) Master Clinical Educator, Communications Sciences and Disorders
- Laurie Bahlke, SLP Master Clinical Educator, Communications Sciences and Disorders
- Patricia Cwiek, Lecturer, The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions
- Mingsheng “Ming” Dai, Manager of Instructional Design, Instructional Development
- Dianne DeSalvo, Director of Study Abroad, Global Engagement
- Steven Esch, Manager of Research Building Systems, Energy and Utilities
- John Gawryk, Manager of FM Financial Services, Financial Services
- Edward Hinck, Professor, School of Communications, Journalism and Media
- George Kikano, Executive Vice President/Health Affairs and Dean, College of Medicine
- Larry Klaus, Chief of Police, CMU Police
- Duane Kleinhardt, Director of Veterans Resource Center, Veterans Resource Center
- Melinda Kreth, Professor, English Language and Literature
- Robert Miller, Professor, Business Information Systems
- Tracy Nakajima, Director of International Students and Scholar Services, International Affairs and Graduate Recruitment
- Sivaram Narayan, Professor, Mathematics
- Guy Newland, Professor, Philosophy, Anthropology and Religion
- Vickie Oliver, Assistant Director of Enrollment Student Services, CMU Online
- Amie Pifer, Director of Acquisitions and Resource Management, Libraries – Acquisitions and Resource Management
- Edward Roth, Senior School Lead, Gov. John Engler Center for Charter Schools
- Stephen Tracy, Lecturer III, Business Information Systems
- Keith Voeks, Assistant Director of University Events, University Events
- B. Jeanneane Wood-Nartker, Professor, Fashion, Interior Design and Merchandising
Trustee Edward J. Plawecki said emeritus status isn’t given out freely.
“We do not give emeritus rank lightly,” he said. “It really does mean something to us … this university doesn't function unless we have everybody like that really working.”
The Trustees’ next meeting will be June 26 at the Bovee University Center.
