WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSllY Volume 21, Number 32 June 15,1995 7.8 percent appropriation increase intact as Legislature hammers out final budget bill A 7.8 percent state appropriation boost islators, including Rep. Don Gilmer, Rep. for WMU - the largest percentage in- Ed LaForge, Rep. Chuck Perricone and crease among the state's 15 public univer- Sen. Dale Shugars." sities - remains intact as the 1995-96 Gilmer is chairperson of the House fiscal year budget bill nears approval by Appropriations Committee and has led the the Legislature. legislative charge for equitable funding for The Senate passed its version of the WMU. higher education funding bill June 1. For "We also credit our Legislative Ad- the next fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, vocacy Network with helping us get our WMU's state appropriation would be $97.6 message to the legislators," Pretty said. million, an increase of $7 million over last That effort, spearheaded by the Office of year. External Affairs, involves organizing fac- While the amounts proposed for Michi- ulty, staff, students, alumni and friends gan institutions have stayed essentially the around the state to contact lawmakers. same since proposed by Gov. John Engler "Now," he continued, "we could use the in the executive budget and approved ear- resources of the network to once again lier this spring by the House, the two cham- make our voice heard regarding the poten- bers disagree over a possible one-time al- tial surplus funds distribution." location of surplus funds from the 1994-95 A Senate bill amending the state Man- Ready for the rayce budget. agement and Budget Act calls for the first Going over a final checklist in preparation for Sunrayce 95 last week were, "Under the joint rules of the Legisla- $22.6 million of any 1994-95 fiscal year from left: Ken Ladd, an April graduate in engineering graphics from Bloomfield ture, there are very few issues remaining to budget surplus to be available for appro- Hills, who is the leader of the technical support team; Robert Haeske, a be resolved by the joint conference com- priation to state universities and commu- graduate student in engineering management from Milan, who is the project mittee on higher education funding," said nity colleges for special maintenance manager; and Kerri Lake, a graduate student in mechanical engineering Keith A. Pretty, vice president for external projects on campus buildings. A total of from Portage, who is one of three drivers for Sunseeker 95, WMU's solar car. affairs and general counsel. "All of the $18.8 million of that money would be The 1,100-mile race begins June 20 in Indianapolis and ends June 29 in budgets for next year are set. The commit- Golden, Colo. (see article on page two). tee will just have to work out the dispute (Continued on page four) over the allocation of surplus funds, if any, at the end of this fiscal year in September." Engler based this year's executive bud- Four win Fulbright grants for work and study abroad get on the classification system developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Ad- Three WMU faculty members and a Darmstadt, Germany, he managed two to publish and distribute the work of women vancement of Teaching. It includes special graduating senior have won Fulbright grants weekend visits to the Czech Republic. writers in Zambia. adjustments for Michigan State Univer- and will use them for work and study A member of the WMU faculty since Trenary, who will be on sabbatical leave sity, WMU and Grand Valley State Uni- abroad beginning in June. 1985, Balik has just completed a term as from WMU during the 1995-96 academic versity - the universities in each of the Robert J. Balik, finance and commer- president of the Midwest Academy of Fi- year, says he has had a long-standing de- three Carnegie classifications (Research, ciallaw, will spend 10 months beginning nance and Insurance. sire to live and work for a time in an urban Etter-Lewis, a WMU faculty member Doctoral and Master's, respectively) that in September lecturing and conducting re- area of a Third World country. Botswana, since 1986, has been collecting oral nar- which is just north of South Africa, has the had the lowest state funding per student search at the School of Business Ad- ratives from African American women advantage of being a stable democracy relative to their peers. ministration at Silesian University in the In addition to WMU at a 7.8 percent Czech Republic city of Karvina across the country since 1985. She has with a rapidly expanding economy. increase, MSU is slated for a 7.5 percent Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis, English, will produced two books focusing on those oral "Botswana has the fastest growing gross narratives: "My Soul is My Own: Oral national product of any country on the increase and GVSU for a 6 percent in- spend three months this summer in the African nation of Zambia. Based at the Narratives of African American Women in continent," he says. crease. the Professions," published in 1993; and All of the rest of the state institutions Institute for African Studies at the Univer- In addition to his teaching duties at the sity of Zambia at Lusaka, she will conduct "Unrelated Kin: Race and Gender in University of Botswana, he will help fac- would get a 3 percent appropriation in- Women's Personal Narratives," co-edited ulty there further develop a new computer crease, except for Central Michigan Uni- research on women's education and with Michele Foster, which will be pub- versity, which would get a 3.8 percent women's oral narratives. science curriculum to meet the needs of lished in July. students who are just getting to the senior increase with extra funds to establish a Robert G. Trenary, computer science, level. He has been a WMU faculty member higher education charter school center. will spend 10 months, beginning July 31, This will be the second time Etter-Lewis has visited Zambia. During a trip there since 1980. "Weare delighted that the governor's in Botswana lecturing and helping develop three years ago, she made some connec- proposal has made it this far through the advanced computer science courses for Abernethy, who expects to receive her House and the Senate," Pretty said. "We students at the University of Botswana. tions with women who, she says, were bachelor's degree in theatre from WMU in Mychelle L. Abernethy, a Kalamazoo doing "really exciting things." One of the June, has been the director of the Kalamazoo had some important support from area leg- senior, will graduate from WMU in June enterprises that interests her, she says, is a and begin work on a master's degree at the new publishing company started by women (Continued on page four) Shakespeare Institute of the University of Did you know? Birmingham in England. She also will work Commencement ceremonies cap record year at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at • The University libraries have Stratford-upon-Avon. for the number of doctoral degrees awarded 3,205,619 volumes, representing The four are among about 2,000 U.S. WMU will award more than 1,800 de- toral programs that have been added to the fourth largest holdings in scholars who will travel abroad during the grees in commencement exercises Satur- WMU's offerings since 1991, nearly dou- Michigan and the largest in West 1995-96 year under the auspices of the day, June 24, in Miller Auditorium. bling the number of doctoral degree pro- Michigan. The total includes 5,444 Fulbright Program. There will be two ceremonies: one at 9 grams available to 21. With the 17 degrees periodical subscriptions, 19,232 Balik, who teaches finance at WMU, a.m. for graduates of the Haworth College on June 24, WMU will have bestowed records, tapes or compact discs, will lead classes on "International Finance" of Business, the College of Education and 1,250 doctoral degrees since it first began 512 databases and nine on-line and "Money and Capital Markets" in the the College of Health and Human Ser- awarding them in 1968. services. Czech Republic through a special Fulbright vices; and one at 11:30 a.m. for graduates Students who are completing their de- • The University's World Wide program called the Alexander Hamilton of the College of Arts and Sciences, the grees at the end of the spring session in Web home page has been accessed Lectureships. The lectureships were funded College of Engineering and Applied Sci- June, as well as those who will finish at the more than 8,200 times since it was to support Eastern European democracies ences, the College of Fine Arts and the end of the summer session in August are released to the Internet April 10. by lecturing and developing business ad- Division of Continuing Education's Gen- invited to participate in the ceremonies. Its address ishttp://www.wmich.edu. ministration programs at institutions in 14 eral University Studies Program. WMU has no August commencement. • As offall 1994, WMU has 775 countries. A total of 1,168 bachelor's, 624 mas- Music for the ceremonies will be per- full-time faculty members, 40 I In addition to lecturing, Balik also plans ter's and specialist and 17 doctoral degrees formed by organist Karl Schrock. The na- part-time faculty members, 476 to do research on privatization in the Czech will be awarded. tional anthem and the alma mater will be AFSCME employees, 566 cleri- Republic and curriculum guidance for the The 17 doctoral degrees bring the 1994- sung by WMU's chapter of Phi Mu Alpha cal/technical employees, 18 school's developing finance program.