Board committee discusses international graduate student enrollment

This information comes from the Board of Trustee committee meetings from April 23, where university representatives also discussed new degree programs, student-led engagement and continued progress on facilities improvement were on the agendas for the four committees. 

Academic and Student Affairs Committee

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Jennifer DeHaemers, the Vice President of Student Recruitment and Retention, shared that applications and admissions for international graduate students is down nearly 25% from 2024. She said this is a major area of concern, as they are generally the largest population of international students that come to CMU. 

She cited geopolitical and economic reasons as the main contributors to these declines. For example, she said some students are having issues obtaining visa appointments and getting approved for visas.

“As the government continues to decrease the federal workforce, and as the impact of tariffs and other geopolitical things carry out, we do have a lot of concern about the availability of visa appointments overseas, because either they’re just not making as many of them or they have fewer staff in various locations,” DeHaemers said. 

She said visa approval rates are also an area of concern for incoming international students.

"You might get an appointment, but (officials) might be becoming more stringent on the individuals they give visas to,” she said.

Along with international graduate students, DeHaemers discussed slight declines in domestic undergraduate enrollment as well. She cited economic uncertainty as a factor in incoming freshman’s decisions, and that undergraduate and in-state students may opt for free or more-affordable community college over public universities. 

DeHaemers also said they had heard some concerns from families who are worried that financial aid will not materialize. (Although, she said, the funds are in their system and “available to pull down” and apply to student accounts this year).

Other important data changes for the Fall 2025 semester include:

• Enrollment deposits are down by 5.9% (Over 100 deposits)
• Overall headcount is down for undergraduate students by 0.84%
• Applications, admissions, and deposits are all down on the main campus, but enrollment is still up by 30.7% (31 students)
• Increases in orientation registrations (10.4% or 123 people) and housing contracts (2.7% or 29 people)
• A 23.4% increase in first time in any college (FTIAC) international students (265 students)
• A 17.4% increase in admissions from domestic graduate students for main campus programs (with 28 students)
• As of April 21, undergraduate admissions have a 3.71% increase in headcount, with over 200 students and a 3.55% increase in credit hours 
• Retention between 2024 and 2025 is at 66.4% 

Erica Johnson, the interim Vice President of Student Affairs, spoke about a variety of accomplishments the division has seen, including but not limited to:

• The Food Pantry seeing an increase in visits, and the opening of a new office in Robinson Hall on June 1 
• The Sustainability Fee Committee distributing $115,000 to seven projects and programs that will “enhance student driven campus sustainability”
• The Multicultural Greek Council raising $35,000 for charity during Greek Week
• 100% of DSA staff members being certified in Mental Health First Aid

In addition, trustees heard from Central Michigan Life, the student-run newspaper on campus. Johnson had members of CM Life’s staff speak on their accomplishments and the practical experience they provide to students across disciplines. 

Editor-in-Chief Lauren Rice said that the newspaper has provided her with both professional experience and bonding experiences she hadn’t expecting when arriving at Central.

“The most important part of this to me is not just the impact that we have, but the people who are here,” she said. “The people that you see in front of you are people that I’ve worked with pretty much every day for the last three years, and I love them dearly. These kinds of connections… I wasn’t sure I’d get to experience them for myself until it smacked me in the face. This is just a really loving, educational and supportive community.”

For Academic Affairs, the Dean of CMU’s College of Business Administration (CBA) Christopher Moberg gave a presentation discussing how experiential learning plays a role in business education. 

Moberg highlighted the importance of developing technical and soft skills with students, and getting them practical, hands-on experience through events, internships and career development opportunities. 

He said one way students can get this experience is through the CBA’s Office of Student Engagement, also called “The HUB.” He also stressed the importance of providing positive student experiences at CMU not just professionally, but emotionally as well.

“Student support and well-being is as important as ever,” Moberg said. “So for us, (it’s) taking care of our faculty and investing in them, but also (investing in our) students' well-being and doing little things to support them and make sure they’re aware of their resources.

“This is the right thing to do so they have an amazing, three-dimensional journey,” he continued. “It also inevitably leads to positive outcomes for our students. A higher percentage will have jobs at graduation or six months out, or will get into the grad school of their choice. Retention rates (and) graduation rates will go up if we continue to do this well.”

Finance and Facilities Commitee 

Facilities Management Associate Vice President Jonathan Webb updated the trustees on the projects that his department is working on.  

Facilities Management has 76 active projects in 2025, which total $28.8 million. Some of them are: 

• Replacing roof sections at Wightman Hall ($400,000); 
• Upgrading wood floors at the Student Activity Center ($65,000); 
• Renovations of the Park Library first floor ($845,000); 
• Renovations of Merrill Dining ($5 million); 
• Other architectural, civil, electrical and mechanical deferred maintenance.  

Additionally, Webb said facilities management completed a schematic design of the women’s and men’s golf training facility and will be asking the board to approve the resolution to allow continuing the work on this project. 

He said Athletics Director Amy Folan already fundraised about $5 million toward this project.

“It’s an exciting project, and we look forward to keeping the board informed as we move forward with the design and fundraising,” Webb said. 

Webb also said CMU is actively working on installation of exterior access controls on 50 campus buildings. The project is 60% complete, with six more buildings in progress and 14 remaining, Webb said. 

“All of this work is being done in-house with all of our CMU employees, and so it is much more involved than we can imagine,” Webb said. “It includes putting stickers on the doors, numbering the doors, wiring everything in and making sure we control the access of all of our facilities.”  

In other events at the meeting, Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services Mary Hill introduced several agenda items to be approved at the formal session of the board on April 24. 

One of those was an international student orientation fee increase. The item plans to increase the international orientation fee from $175 to $200 to align it with the domestic orientation fee, according to Hill. 

Trustees-Faculty Liaison Committee 

Jay Batzner, a faculty member at the School of Music, presented the Bachelor of Applied Arts in Commercial Music degree.

He said it is a new program that started in the fall 2023 semester and aims to prepare students for a contemporary landscape of business and help them get a job in the music industry.  

“When folks in high school are saying they want to be a musician, they aren't necessarily thinking of classical (music) and jazz,” Batzner said. “(We) bring students that are interested in a wider variety of genres, and (we) help them make the music that they want to make ... with integrity and with skill and knowledge.” 

Batzner said the program offers a variety of classes in music theory, digital music production, experimental audio techniques, audio production, recording and others.

The first student with a BAA in commercial music graduated in spring 2024, and now the program has 45 signed majors, Batzner said. 

One of those students is Jacob McLeod. He said with this program, he was able to travel to different conferences and meet people in the music industry. 

“Songwriting is my biggest passion, and through this degree, I've able to pigeonhole a path through myself as a freelance songwriter," McLeod said. "But then also looking at signing with a music publishing company to get some songs into the professional world."  

Batzner said he wants to grow the program by expanding available minors to advertising, offering internships and creating a five-year master’s degree in commercial music.  

Trustees-Student Liaison Committee

This committee meeting started with introductions, as Program Board, Residence Housing Administration and the Student Government Association prepare for new leadership in the 2025-26 academic year. 

Program Board introduced Kendall Fowler as the incoming president, Samantha Dave as the next vice president of marketing and Christian Dunn as next year’s vice president of development. 

There will also be a new position in Program Board for an engagement director, Vice President Lauren Rupe said. 

Current President Kathlyn Allmacher reported that Program Board will have completed 58 events by the end of the academic year, and noted that number is several more than the prior year. 

Next up is Maroonzie, an end-of-year celebration with food, games, performances and activities from 1 to 4 p.m. on Friday, May 2 in Lot 18. According to Allmacher, the funds raised by the event will go to the Student Food Pantry.

Assistant Director of Residence Life and Residence Housing Administration (RHA) Advisor Brittnie Vithanage said next year’s leadership will include support from Kulhavi Residence Hall Director Mars Ward and Assistant Director for South Campus Tim Mulligan. 

Over the course of the year, Vithanage said RHA sponsored events with the following themes: 

• Alcohol awareness and education 
• Belonging 
• Service 
• Leadership
• Empowerment 

The largest financial sponsorship of the year was to the annual “Black Care Starts Somewhere” event, which received $12,000 from RHA. 

“That means we were able to expand all four offerings and continue to offer more (of) both skin care, but also hair care items to our students on campus,” Vithanage said. 

Current Student Government Association (SGA) President Carolina Hernandez-Ruiz and Vice President Aashka Barot presented the organization’s activities over the course of the year. Those included: 

• Food insecurity initiatives over winter break 
• A scholarship fair 
• Designating funds from the sustainability fee to support the feminine hygiene product initiative 
• Four pieces of legislation

The committee was also introduced to SGA President-elect Akua Acheampong and Vice President-elect Kathryn House. 

The Formal Session of the Board of Trustees will meet at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, April 24, in the Presidential Conference Room at the Bovee University Center. The meeting, which is open to the public, can also be viewed over livestream.